Each year, we’ve updated our popular holiday music song mix by adding a selection of new releases and new discoveries, and though we’re a little late this year, better late than never.
Now reaching over 45 hours long, it’s intended to be a mainstream background for your Christmas season – like those radio stations that turn holiday music 24/7 – except that all the music is done by Black artists (with an occasional duet with a soulful ally).
The big new Black holiday release this year comes from Jennifer Hudson (from her album The Gift of Love), but there are also new yule tunes from Mary J. Blige, Kanye West’s Sunday Service Choir, H.E.R., and other American Idol vets like Ruben Studdard and Jordin Sparks, modern jazz master Robert Glasper featuring Wicked superstar Cynthia Erivo, ‘it’ girls Coco Jones and Saweetie.
Broadway stars Norm Lewis and Ariana DeBose are also represented, along with veteran Black Brits Rebecca Ferguson, Craig David and Deniece Pearson (of Five Star fame), Tower of Power, Eric Roberson and gospel stars Anthony Evans, Jonathan McReynolds, Naomi Raine, BeBe Winans and CeCe Winans.
Every year on March 18, Good Black News celebrates the day of its founding. We continue that tradition today, fourteen years after GBN’s inception.
Even though the last two years have been challenging (details here), and changes in how people consume content (eg. TikTok, IG, IG Stories, Reels) have led to way fewer postings on the main goodblacknews.org site, we are still exceedingly proud of all we’ve offered and accomplished over the years, even as we continue to find our footing as we attempt to evolve and forge ahead into the future.
We are slowly sharing more content on GBN’s Instagram, Facebook, Threads and BlueSky profiles, figuring out what we can offer on TikTok, and every month we are still happy to offer new and/or updated Music Monday playlists from our incredible music contributors Marlon West and Jeff Meier.
I also want to acknowledge 2023’s other volunteer contributors in alphabetical order: Julie Bibb, Gina Fattore, Julie Fishman, Michael Giltz, Warren Hutcherson, Fred Johnson, Epiphany Jordan, Brenda Lakin,Joyce Lakin, John Levinson, Dena Loverde, Catherine Metcalf,Flynn Richardson,Maeve Richardson, Becky Schonbrun, and Teddy Tenenbaum.
You are all deeply, greatly appreciated.
But what truly keeps me, my co-editor Lesa Lakin and all of GBN’s wonderful volunteer contributors going is the appreciation you’ve shown us over the years and still show via follows, likes, comments, shares, reblogs, DMs and e-mails (even when we are overwhelmed and can’t respond to them all).
Your support means the world, and inspires me as Editor-in-Chief to keep working to find ways to keep GBN alive here on the main page as well as on Pinterest,Tumblr,YouTube, RSS feed, LinkedIn and Flipboard, and yeah, our sometime-y GBN newsletter you may get via email.
We are looking into switching over from a newsletter to a GBN Substack, so if you are interested in that, please consider joining our e-mail list via our “Contact Us” tab on goodblacknews.org. We will only use this list for GBN. And, of course, you may opt out whenever you like.
Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to providing you with more Good Black News on as many platforms as we can in the coming months and beyond!
Every year on March 18, Good Black News celebrates the day of its founding. We continue that tradition today, thirteen years after GBN’s inception.
Even though this past year has been particularly challenging (details here), and led to way fewer postings on the main goodblacknews.org site as well as the cessation of the GBN Daily Drop Podcast, we are still exceedingly proud of all we’ve offered and accomplished over the years, even as we continue to search for our new footing as we forge ahead into the future.
And although it’s no longer weekly, every month we are happy to offer new and/or updated Music Monday playlists from our incredible music contributors Marlon West and Jeff Meier.
I also want to acknowledge 2022’s other volunteer contributors in alphabetical order: Julie Bibb, Gina Fattore, Julie Fishman, Michael Giltz, Warren Hutcherson, Fred Johnson, Epiphany Jordan, Brenda Lakin,Joyce Lakin, John Levinson, Dena Loverde, Catherine Metcalf,Flynn Richardson,Maeve Richardson, Becky Schonbrun, and Teddy Tenenbaum.
You are all deeply, greatly appreciated.
But what truly keeps me, my co-editor Lesa Lakin and all of GBN’s wonderful volunteer contributors going is the appreciation you’ve shown us over the years and still show via follows, likes, comments, shares, reblogs, DMs and e-mails (even when we are overwhelmed and can’t respond to them all).
Your support means the world, and inspires me as Editor-in-Chief to keep working to find ways to improve GBN on the main page as well as on Pinterest,Tumblr,YouTube, RSS feed, LinkedIn and Flipboard, and yeah, our sometime-y GBN newsletter you can get via email.
Please continue to help us spread GBN by sharing, liking, re-tweeting and commenting, and consider following GBN on the main page, as well as wherever you are on social media.
Please also consider joining our e-mail list via our “Contact Us” tab on goodblacknews.org. We will only use this list to keep you updated on GBN and send you our e-newsletter from time to time. And, of course, you may opt out whenever you like.
Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to providing you with more Good Black News in the coming months and beyond!
Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is all about… GBN! Good Black News was founded 12 years ago today, and I celebrate it and our volunteer contributors proudly in the Friday, March 18 entry from the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022:
You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.comor create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):
SHOW TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Friday, March 18th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.
On March 18, 2010, Good Black News was founded as a Facebook page. Within two years, it grew into goodblacknews.org –– a website dedicated to curating and creating posts focused on the good things Black people do, give, and receive all over the world. Reader support for the site across all forms of social media has led to the lovely calendar you are experiencing now, so thank you (or whoever gifted you) – and please continue to spread the word!
Okay, so what I just read was the calendar entry for this day, but I really have so much to add to it. Every year I write a post celebrating the date Good Black News was founded, reflecting on where Good Black News came from – and I’ll post a link to our origin story and how Good Black News was born from an off-hand conversation I had with Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Backbest-selling author and screenwriter Terry McMillan — and what we’ve most recently accomplished.
I’d say for this past year, seeing the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022 get published by Workman Publishing, and me starting this podcast based on it, are the biggest ways we’ve grown over the past 12 months. And I hope to grow even more and expand this podcast beyond the calendar when I have more time and opportunity to do so.
Good Black News also managed to get a little press in 2021 when we were featured in an abcnews10 pieceon positive news. Also, last month I officially resumed the Q&A column I started in 2020 entitled “Dear Lori”where I respond to questions about white privilege and race that I’ve been asked by readers over the years.
But what truly keeps me, my co-editor Lesa Lakin and all of GBN’s wonderful volunteer contributors going is the outpouring of appreciation you’ve shown us over the years via follows, likes, comments, shares, reblogs, DMs and e-mails (even when we are overwhelmed and can’t respond to them all) and now, listens.
Sgt. Isaac Woodard enlisted and fought in World War II, defending democracy as part of a segregated combat support unit. During his time in the army, Woodard earned a battle star, the Good Conduct Medal as well as the Service Medal and World War II Victory Medal.
As he headed home to North Carolina by bus in 1946, hours after being honorably discharged, Woodard was beaten and blinded by police chief Lynwood Shull in Batesburg, South Carolina after a dispute with the bus driver over stopping for the restroom.
Thrown in jail and fined for being “drunk and disorderly,” the NAACP took up Woodward’s case, and national publicity followed, including radio programs by Orson Welles and songs by calypso artist Lord Invader (“God Made Us All”) and folk artist Woody Guthrie (“The Blinding of Isaac Woodard”).
The incident and outcry led to the U.S. Justice Department trying the case in federal court, where Shull was acquitted even after admitting to blinding Woodard.
Afterwards, President Harry S. Truman met with the NAACP and formed a Council on Civil Rights and established the Civil Rights Commission by Executive Order 9808 to study racial injustice and inequity and the need for civil rights to be enforced by the federal government.
City College Center for the Arts, on the campus of City College of New York, is honoring the 60-year history of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy® Award-winning Otis Williams of The Temptations, on Monday, November 1 at 7:30pm ET with a special live, virtual event.
Williams, who is a founding member of the legendary musical group and the sole surviving member of the original Temptations, will have a live conversation with distinguished musician, composer and entrepreneur K. Sparks.
Williams will be sharing memories on the “Evolution of The Temptations’ Music, 1961 – 2021”, and the conversation will be simulcast from CCCA’s Aaron Davis Hall, in the renowned Marian Anderson Theatre. It will also feature other special guests.
Audience members can join the free, virtual event by registering for tickets at the CCCA website, citycollegecenterforthearts.org. The special conversation is also being held in honor of the 80th birthday of Mr. Williams, who turned 80 on October 30.
CCCA’s Managing Director Greg Shanck said, “For more than four decades, Aaron Davis Hall has been Harlem’s performing arts center. World scholars, artistic giants and academic geniuses like Nelson Mandela, Alicia Keys, President Barack Obama and Ella Fitzgerald, just to name a few, have blessed these stages through the years. The City College of New York is so proud of the contributions The Temptations have made, and continue to make, to the American cultural landscape and we are honored to add their name to that distinguished list.”
Williams himself said, “I am thrilled to be celebrating the group’s 60th Anniversary and my 80th birthday with our extended Tempts’ family from across the City College campus in Harlem, and throughout New York and the rest of the country. The Temptations had some of its most memorable performances in Harlem and other parts of New York during our career. To mark these capstones with an online discussion about my career at the prestigious and diverse City College of New York, a college known for its commitment to the Performing Arts, and for recognizing one of the greatest trailblazers in American music history, Marian Anderson, is an incredible honor for me and The Temptations.”
Williams reunited with Smokey Robinson earlier this year to co-write and co-produce the recently released single “Is It Gonna Be Yes Or No” from the new Temptations 60 album due in 2022.
“A friend of mine, Derek Porter, him and I were riding down the freeways of L.A. and we’re talking about the 60th anniversary album and Smokey’s name came about. And I said, ‘Smokey. Let me call Smokey, I’d love to have him on the album,'” Williams shared in a phone interview about his historic reunion with friend and writer of classic Temptations hits such as “Get Ready,” “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” and their signature song, “My Girl.”
“So I called him and I say, ‘Smoke, I would love for you to produce a song for us, write it, and not only stop there, I would like for you to perform with us on it.’ And he calls me ‘Oak’. And he says, ‘Oak, anytime just let me know,'” Williams continued. “Here it is now, it’s out and I hear tell it’s doing very good, and that’s fine.”
Other celebratory events of the Temptations includes recent re-opening at the Imperial Theatre in NY of the Broadway musical, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, based on Williams’ personal journey.
The Temptations’ presence across multi-media platforms has never been more vivid. Their hit “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” was used as the foundation of the Migos smash “Avalanche.”
Temptations founding member Otis Williams (Photography by Scott Leon. Courtesy of UMe)
Additionally, Williams’ autobiography, Temptations, was recently released as an audiobook edition for the first time, with a new introduction by Williams.
When asked what current artists he likes, Williams offered, “Bruno Mars… He’s a heck of a showman. And he can sing. I look at that, also. And the reason I love them [Mars and Anderson.Paak as Silk Sonic] is because they’re singing what the Tempts is all about. They’re singing what Marvin Gaye is all about.”
“They’re singing great songs, great melodies. Lyric content is good, structured, right… See we were taught all those things at Motown. You know, how to be able to tell a great song. That song [“Leave The Door Open“] when I first heard it, I said, ‘They got another one, they got another one.’ And so I love listening as they come out with that kind of songs that have those elements.”
To learn more about Williams, the Temptations, and the group’s touring schedule, check out their social:
GOOD BLACK NEWS proudly celebrates its eleventh anniversary today, March 18, 2021. GBN initially launched in 2010 as a Facebook page (read the story behind GBN’s creation here), and in 2012, we created a dedicated website, goodblacknews.org, which has allowed us to provide archives, search functions and easy access to our most popular social media to you, our readers.
The outpouring of appreciation you’ve shown us over the years via follows, likes, comments, shares, reblogs, DMs and e-mails means the world (even when we are overwhelmed and can’t respond to them all), and inspires GBN to keep working to find ways to expand, improve, and offer more content on the main page as well as on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, RSS feed, LinkedInand Flipboard(new)!
In 2020, Lori also started a Q&A column entitled “Dear Lori”where she responds to questions about white privilege and race she’s been asked by readers that she intends to resume shortly, because the questions just don’t stop.
And after years of promising in these anniversary posts, we finally launched the GBN newsletter via email. The intention is for it to be weekly but for myriad reasons, it hasn’t been consistent. In the coming months, we aim to make it so.
GBN is super proud to announce that in Fall 2021 Workman Publishing will be offering our first physical product: a Page-A-Day® Calendarentitled A Year of Good Black News for 2022, chock full of history, trivia and fun Black facts to enjoy every day of the year. We will offer more information on the calendar and its availability in the coming months.
Good Black News remains a labor of love for Founder/Editor-In-Chief Lori Lakin Hutcherson and co-editor Lesa Lakin, and we must gratefully acknowledge 2020’s volunteer contributors: Susan Cartsonis, Julie Adelle Bibb, Beck Carpenter, Hanelle Culpepper Meier, Jessie Davis, Dan Evans, Gina Fattore, Julie Fishman, Michael Giltz, Eric Greene, Thaddeus Grimes-Gruczka, Ashanti Hutcherson, Warren Hutcherson, Fred Johnson, Epiphany Jordan,Brenda Lakin, Joyce Lakin, Ray Lancon, Lois Leveen, John Levinson,Rob Lowry,Catherine Metcalf, Lara Olsen,Flynn Richardson, Maeve Richardson, Rosanna Rossetto and Becky Schonbrun.
Special thanks to Zyda Culpepper Mellon for allowing GBN to share her powerful video testimony on how white friends and family can be allies, to TedX speaker and contributor Dena Crowder for creating and sharing her Power Shot video series on GBN, to incredible Tech JediSamer Shenouda for migrating and revamping the GBN website to make us bigger, stronger, faster, and to Jeff Meier, Teddy Tenenbaum and Marlon West for creating incredible Spotify playlists and posts covering a variety of genres, sub-genres and artists celebrating the musical diaspora, past and present. You are all deeply, greatly appreciated.
Please continue to help us spread GBN by sharing, liking, re-tweeting and commenting, and consider following GBN here on the main page, as well as wherever you are on social media.
Please also consider joining our e-mail list via our “Contact Us” tab. We will only use this list to keep you updated on GBN and send you our e-newsletter. And, of course, you may opt out at any time.
GBN believes in bringing you positive news, reviews and stories of interest about black people all over the world, and greatly value your participation in continuing to build our shared vision.
Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to providing you with more Good Black News in the coming year, and beyond!
On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to March for Jobs and Freedom.
This month, more than 50 years later, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will commemorate the March on Washington with a digital resource webpage exploring the historical significance of the march with collection objects, stories, videos and content related to the historic march.
This page will include voices of union leader and activist A. Phillip Randolph, Rep. John Lewis, and many unsung activists and a performance by singer Marian Anderson. The resource webpage is available at nmaahc.si.edu/marchonwashington.
To mark the anniversary day (Aug. 28), the museum will also make available the film commissioned for its grand opening by Ava Duvernay, August 28: A Day in the Life of a People. The film will be available to view on the museum’s homepage and YouTube channel starting at 10:00 a.m. for 24 hours.
Today Good Black News wants to share the excellent online resources the National Museum of African American History and Culture has that explain and explore the legacy of Juneteenth, which is now in its 155th year. Click here for more and read below for an historical overview of Juneteenth:
On “Freedom’s Eve,” or the eve of January 1, 1863, the first Watch Night services took place. On that night, enslaved and free African Americans gathered in churches and private homes all across the country awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect.
At the stroke of midnight, prayers were answered as all enslaved people in Confederate States were declared legally free. Union soldiers, many of whom were black, marched onto plantations and across cities in the south reading small copies of the Emancipation Proclamation spreading the news of freedom in Confederate States. Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation end slavery throughout the United States.
But not everyone in Confederate territory would immediately be free. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control.
As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas.
The post-emancipation period known as Reconstruction (1865-1877) marked an era of great hope, uncertainty, and struggle for the nation as a whole. Formerly enslaved people immediately sought to reunify families, establish schools, run for political office, push radical legislation and even sue slaveholders for compensation. Given the 200+ years of enslavement, such changes were nothing short of amazing. Not even a generation out of slavery, African Americans were inspired and empowered to transform their lives and their country.
Juneteenth celebration in 1900 at Eastwoods Park. (Credit: Austin History Center)
Juneteenth marks our country’s second independence day. Although it has long celebrated in the African American community, this monumental event remains largely unknown to most Americans.
The historical legacy of Juneteenth shows the value of never giving up hope in uncertain times. The National Museum of African American History and Cultureis a community space where this spirit of hope lives on. A place where historical events like Juneteenth are shared and new stories with equal urgency are told.
Although we as a species are currently going through unprecedented times of hardship and uncertainty as we grapple with a global pandemic, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the creation of Good Black News a decade ago on March 18, 2010.
You can read the detailed story of GBN’s inception and creation here, because what I want to celebrate today more than anything else is you, GBN’s loyal readers and followers, who, in concert with the Good Black News Team, have slowly but steadily built a strong, respectful, and loving community that is willing to celebrate positivity, action, achievement, humor and humanity on a daily basis.
I will admit to having wanted to do more to celebrate ten years of GBN – offered a proper retrospective of our best stories, the times we’ve been news, big up our Top Fans, announce new plans for expansion, perhaps even throw a party! – but between personal and professional challenges this past year (sick family member, demanding day job), plus the current state of affairs due to coronavirus, these words I’m writing in this moment shall have to suffice.
Thank you for the appreciation you’ve shown GBN the past decade via follows, likes, comments, shares, reblogs, letters and e-mails, as they inspire me daily to keep GBN going.
Good Black News remains a labor of love for me and Lifestyle Editor Lesa Lakin, and we gratefully acknowledge the decade’s extraordinary volunteer contributors (in alphabetical order):
Rebecca Carpenter, Susan Cartsonis, Dena Crowder, Julie Bibb Davis, Alyss Dixson, Dan Evans, Gina Fattore, Julie Fishman, Michael Giltz, Eric Greene, Thaddeus Grimes-Gruczka, Skip Heller,Ashanti Hutcherson, Warren Hutcherson, Fred Johnson, Epiphany Jordan, Fabio Koelsch, Brenda Lakin, Joyce Lakin, Ray Lancon, John Levinson, Jason Lief,Neeta McCulloch, Hanelle Culpepper Meier, Jeff Meier, Catherine Metcalf, Minsun Park, Tajamika Paxton, Patrick-Ian Polk, Flynn Richardson, Rosanna Rossetto,Gabriel Ryder, Terry Samwick, Becky Schonbrun, Susan Shaffer, Kelly Spears, Callie Teitelbaum, Teddy Tenenbaum, Arro Verse, Marlon West,and Joshua A.S. Young.
And extra special thanks to friend and best-selling author Terry McMillan for being the inspiration behind it all. P.S. GBN Patron Saint Terry has a new book arriving March 31. Consider checking out It’s Not All Downhill From Here! (amazon link)
Please continue to help us spread GBN by sharing, liking, re-tweeting and commenting, and consider following GBN on the main page, as well as wherever you are on social media.
Please also consider joining our e-mail list via our “Contact Us” tab on goodblacknews.org. We will only use this list to keep you updated on GBN and send you our upcoming weekly e-newsletter (which may finally launch for real for real, as we will soon have a lot more time to focus on it!) — nothing else. And, of course, you may opt out at any time.
Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to providing you with more Good Black News in the coming decade, and beyond!
