Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Awards/Honors”

Morehouse College Student From Zimbabwe Wins Rhodes Scholarship

By goodblacknews on January 2, 2016

Prince Abudu from Morehouse College
Prince Abudu from Morehouse College

Last month, GBN published a post via jbhe.com on four African-American women who won Rhodes Scholarships to study at the University of Oxford in England. But in addition to the 32 Americans who are awarded Rhodes Scholarships each year, students from other countries that were part of the British Commonwealth are also awarded the prestigious scholarships.
Prince Abudu, a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, was awarded one of the Rhodes Scholarships given to students from Zimbabwe. Abudu is the fourth student from Morehouse College to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
Abudu grew up on a rural farm in Zimbabwe. He is majoring in computer science at Morehouse. When he travels to Oxford next fall, Abudu will pursue a master’s degree in computer science and an MBA.
Abudu said that “I’m blessed and excited. This would not have been possible without the support of my family in Zimbabwe and the new family I have been favored with at Morehouse College. This is an opportunity that I have dreamed of all my life.”
article via jbhe.com

Duke University to Further Recognize Julian Abele, the Black Man Who Designed Many Buildings on Its Campus

By goodblacknews on December 29, 2015
Julian Abele (photo: wikipedia.org)
Julian Abele (photo: wikipedia.org)

In 1902 Julian Frances Abele was the first African American to graduate from the Graduate School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. He was hired by the Horace Trumbauer architectural firm and spent his entire career there. He was responsible for the design on the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Widener Memorial Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Abele also designed many of the Gothic buildings on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. But because of his race, the university did not originally celebrate the architect of many of its most important structures. Abele died in 1950 having never visited the Duke campus where he had played such an important role.
Abele’s role in designing the Duke campus did not become widely known until 1988. That year the university hung a portrait of Adele in the main administration building and another portrait was placed in the Rubenstein Library.
Now Richard Brodhead, president of Duke University, has called for the formation of an advisory board to come up with a plan to give proper recognition to Julian Abele by February 2016. President Brodhead said that “Julian Abele envisioned the physical world of Duke University. It is time to ensure that his legacy is clearly known so that future generations of students and faculty can be inspired by his genius.”
article vie jbhe.com

NBA MVP Stephen Curry Named AP Male Athlete of Year

By goodblacknews on December 27, 2015

OAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry‘s greatness as a basketball player can be measured by his record-setting shooting numbers that are changing the game.  His immense popularity derives from something less tangible.
While many NBA greats rely on uncommon height and athletic ability that average fans can only dream of having, Curry’s game relies on the skills that every casual player can work on: shooting, dribbling and passing.
The difference is, perhaps nobody ever has put those three skills together the same way Curry has in the past year, as he has dominated on the court and made the once-downtrodden Golden State Warriors the NBA’s must-watch team.
“The way that I play has a lot of skill but is stuff that if you go to the YMCA or rec leagues or church leagues around the country, everybody wants to shoot, everybody wants to handle the ball, make creative passes and stuff like that,” he said. “You can work on that stuff. Not everybody has the vertical or the physical gifts to be able to go out and do a windmill dunk and stuff like that. I can’t even do it.”
That’s about all Curry is unable to do on the basketball court. His amazing year, in which he won an MVP, led Golden State to its first title in 40 years and helped the Warriors get off to a record-setting start this season earned him The Associated Press 2015 Male Athlete of the Year.
Curry finished first in a vote by U.S. editors and news directors, with the results released Saturday. He joined LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird as the only basketball players to win the honor in the 85 years of the award. Curry beat out golfer Jordan Spieth, who won two majors, and American Pharoah, who became the first horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown.
While American Pharoah got three more first-place votes than Curry’s 24, Curry appeared on 86 percent of the 82 ballots that ranked the top five candidates. More than one-third of the voters left American Pharoah off their list.
“That’s a real honor,” Curry said. “I’m appreciative of that acknowledgement because it’s across all different sports. … It’s pretty cool.”

Hometown Hero: Misty Copeland Gets a Street Named After Her in San Pedro, CA

By goodblacknews on December 24, 2015

Misty Copeland And Cindi Levine Light The Empire State Building Pink In Celebration Of Glamour's Girl Project
Misty Copeland (Source: Noam Galai / Getty)

San Pedro honored their hometown hero Misty Copeland by naming a street after her.
Copeland was greeted by hundreds of fans after an amazing year of breaking barriers and dancing with grace, poise, and expertise.
Misty became the first African-American principle dancer at American Ballet Theatre in June. Now her entire town is celebrating her groundbreaking acheivements.
The 33-year-old gave a heart-touching speech to a crowd of 500, saying:
“Growing up in the atmospheres that I grew up in, San Pedro was the only place I ever considered home,” Copeland said, tearing up. “There really hasn’t been a place that’s replaced that in my heart since I lived here and I’m so proud, and I never forget San Pedro.”
Misty is a perfect example of where hard work, perseverance, and pursuing your dreams full throttle can take you. Like so many other black women, the odds were stacked against her racially and economically. She almost had to quit her craft because her parents didn’t have a car to take her to and from practice. But she didn’t give up, and now she’s a legend…and a street!
The ballerina celebrated by posting on her IG page:


You make us so proud, Misty!
article by Keyaira Kelly via hellobeautiful.com

Four African-American Students Win Marshall Scholarships

By goodblacknews on December 20, 2015

2016-marshall-scholars-post
(L to R) Quenton Bubb, Robert Clinton, Ophelia Johnson, and Joel Rhone (photo via jbhe.com)

In 1953, the Marshall Scholarships program was established by an act of the British Parliament. Funded by the British government, the program is a national gesture of thanks to the American people for aid received under the Marshall Plan, the U.S.-financed program that led to the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. The scholarships provide funds for up to two years of study at a British university, and include money for travel, living expenses, and books. Applicants must earn a degree at an American college or university with a minimum of a 3.7 grade point average.
The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission is authorized to award up to 40 scholarships each year. This year 32 scholarships were awarded. It appears from JBHE research, that four of the 32 winners are African Americans.
Quenton Bubb is a senior at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who is majoring in biophysics. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Bubb hopes to go to medical school and to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics. In England, he will pursue graduate studies in chemistry at the University of Cambridge.
Robert Clinton is a senior at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. His independent study degree is focusing on the sociology and politics of urban agriculture. In England, Clinton will pursue a master of science degree in sustainable urbanism and a master of research degree in interdisciplinary urban design.
Ophelia Johnson is a graduate of the University of Alabama Birmingham with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the university in engineering. Johnson is a former UNCF Merck Undergraduate Research Fellow and won a Goldwater Scholarship. Johnson will spend a year studying medical device design and entrepreneurship at Imperial College London.
Joel Rhone is a senior at Howard University in Washington, D.C., majoring in English. A native of California, Rhone served as president of the Sterling Allen Brown English Society at Howard. Rhone will conduct research at the University of Manchester on African-American literature, particularly its impact on, and depiction of, the African-American church.
article via jbhe.com

Deanna Jordan, Single Mother Of 3 ,Graduates from UCLA with Three Degrees

By goodblacknews on December 19, 2015
UCLA Graduate Deanna Jordan (photo via cbslocal.com)

A 28-year-old single mother of three boys graduated from UCLA with three degrees.  A packed house at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion cheered for Deanna Jordan Friday night.
“I needed for my sons to see there was a legacy that preceded them with college. I am the first in my family to go to college,” Jordan said.
Jordan grew up in Compton. After high school, she got pregnant at 18. She had her third son at 22.  “I had him and in the hospital I remember thinking, ‘I’m 22, there’s no future unless I can create one,’” Jordan said.
After two years at West Los Angeles Community College and three-and-a-half years at UCLA, the department scholar is graduating with two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s in African-American Studies.  “She had limited time, plus she took the initiative,” said Dale Tatum, a UCLA lecturer.
Jordan also founded the Compton Pipeline Taskforce—she and UCLA volunteers work on academics at Compton schools, including Carver Elementary, where she attended.
tumblr_n7cjw5DQU41skd4juo1_1280
“I saw the difference in how my boys were in school in Brentwood and then how schools were in Compton where I came from,” she said.
Jordan credits family support and UCLA for making her dreams a reality.  “You can’t really succeed unless you fail, and I failed a lot of times, but it was my persistence and my willingness never to give up,” she said.
Jordan, who also works in the Compton mayor’s office, plans to take a year off before she heads to law school. She plans on becoming a district attorney.
article via risingafrica.org

Serena Williams is Sports Illustrated's 2015 Sportsperson of the Year

Serena Williams is Sports Illustrated's 2015 Sportsperson of the Year

By goodblacknews on December 14, 2015

Serena William Sports Illustrated Cover
Real life? For Serena Williams, that’s the easy part now. That’s how it works when you zoom—beyond tennis, beyond $74 million in prize money, beyond one of the greatest late-career runs in sports history—into celebrity hyperspace. That’s how it is when each “Come on!” is taken as a war cry by everyone from “Lean in” women to age-defying codgers to body-shamed kids to #BlackLivesMatter protesters to, yes, the voices of racial conciliation. The outside world accommodates. Real life does you favors.

Indeed, in 2015 Williams hit this rare sweet spot, a pinch-me patch where the exotic became the norm. She danced with Donald Trump on New Year’s Eve. She spent a night telling bedtime stories to the children of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Growing up, Williams had devoured every Harry Potter book, marveled at the business empires of Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart. Now J.K. Rowling was tweeting against a critic of Williams’s body, now Oprah was hustling to watch her at the U.S. Open, now Stewart was calling Williams “the most powerful woman I know.” President Barack Obama, the most scrutinized man alive, told her how great it was to watch her.

Even Williams’s most dubious moves paid off. In July, just as her drive for tennis’s first Grand Slam in 27 years hit the bell lap, she appeared in Pixels, a comedic bomb in which she anticipated a Lincoln Bedroom sex sandwich with Stewart and Peter Dinklage. Yet she escaped critical savaging, and, oh, the movie grossed $243 million. Williams’s November decision to chase down a cellphone thief in San Francisco seemed equally foolhardy—until, that is, the guy gave her phone back. Meekly.

Photo: Yu Tsai for Sports Illustrated

No, this year only the game gave Williams trouble. Only the 78-by-36-foot confines of a tennis court, be it blue asphalt or red clay or green grass, produced the kind of pushback that no amount of money or fame can overcome. If the real world felt like one A-list club after another, eagerly waving Williams in, tennis was the world’s most annoying bouncer, forever checking her ID. Tennis made her desperate. Then it made her hurt.
The results, of course, hardly imply that: Williams, 34, won three major titles, went 53–3 and provided at least one new measure of her tyrannical three-year reign at No. 1. For six weeks this summer—and for the first time in the 40-year history of the WTA rankings—Williams amassed twice as many ranking points as the world No. 2; at one point that gap grew larger than the one between No. 2 and No. 1,000. Williams’s 21 career Grand Slam singles titles are just one short of Steffi Graf’s Open-era record. Such numbers are reason enough for Sports Illustrated to name Serena Williams its 2015 Sportsperson of the Year.

Gymnast Simone Biles Named U.S. Female Olympic Athlete of the Year

By goodblacknews on December 14, 2015
Champion Gymnast Simone Biles (photo via blackamericaweb.com)

No one can deny that 18-year old gymnast Simone Biles is having an incredible year.

Fresh off her historic 2015 World Gymnastic Championships win this fall, the Olympic hopeful was recently awarded one of the highest accolades attainable to American athletes. On Thursday, she was named the winner of the Team USA Female Olympic Athlete of the Year, beating out tennis GOAT Serena Williams and nine-time world champion swimmer Katie Ledecky, USA Today wrote.
simonebiles
(photo via Instagram)

Even more awesome? Biles did it without having actually having been on an Olympic team. She was too young to make the 2012 Olympic team that competed in the London games, but Biles, along with Gold medalist Gabby Douglas, are prepping for the Olympic trials next July to win a spot on the U.S. team heading to Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympics. 
Biles’ athleticism is a tour-de-force as she continues to break records wherever she tumbles.
Since she began competing in 2013, the Texan-native has not lost any meets, winning “14 world championship medals in three years; 10 of them gold, the most by a woman in history,” writes ESPN.com. She is also the first woman in 23 years to win three U.S. Gymnastics Championships and this fall, she became the first woman in history to win three consecutive all-around titles at the World Gymnastics Championships.
Biles was just one of many winners announced at the ceremony held in Philadelphia, others awardees included:

  • Male Olympic Athlete of the Year – Jordan Burroughs, Wrestling
  • Olympic Team of the Year – USA Women’s Soccer
  • Female Paralympic Athlete of the Year – Tatyana McFadden, Track and Field
  • Male Paralympic Athlete of the Year – Joe Berenyi, Cycling
  • Paralympic Team of the Year – USA Hockey

article by Kellee Terrell via blackamericaweb.com

Alabama Crimson Tide's Derrick Henry Wins Heisman Trophy for 2015

By goodblacknews on December 13, 2015
2015 Heisman Trophy Winner Derrick Henry (photo via bet.com)
Alabama Crimson Tide’s Derrick Henry is the first running back to win the Heisman Trophy since 2009. He came in first with 1,832 points, beating out Standford’s Christian McCaffrey (1,539) and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson (1,165). The 2015 Heisman Trophy Ceremony was held last night in New York City.
While Henry was the favorite coming in, he knew he had tough competition, especially coming from a state with no NFL team. “I didn’t know at all. Them two guys were great contenders for the trophy. Deshaun, with how consistent and efficient he is at the quarterback position, all the success he had, I was kind of worried. Christian, breaking Barry Sanders‘ record, doing all the things he does, he’s just unbelievable.” However, the RB was more than happy to receive the highly coveted trophy, “I’m just so thankful to have this trophy. It’s just a blessing and an honor.”
Henry can add the Heisman trophy to his already impressive collection of the Maxwell, Walter Camp, and Doak Walker awards. He has also set Alabama records with 1,986 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns.
article by Evelyn Diaz via bet.com

Serena Williams Named WTA Player of the Year for the 4th Year In A Row

By goodblacknews on December 10, 2015

640x392_62980_265738
Serena Williams had an awesome 2015. While her U.S. Open loss kept her from completing a calendar slam, she won the “Serena Slam,” racking up all four major titles in a row.
At 34, Williams is still the most dominant player in tennis, and the Women’s Tennis Association just confirmed it–again.
The WTA named Williams the Player of the Year for the fourth time in a row.


Here’s why the WTA honored Williams with tennis’ top award.

Her dominance of the tour was so great that she made WTA Rankings history in the summer, too. For six weeks she actually had over twice as many ranking points as the No.2, something that had never happened before – Maria Sharapova was that No.2 for three weeks, Simona Halep the other three.
But the Grand Slams and historic ranking points lead are just the tip of the iceberg on the World No.1’s season. Her overall record was a sensational 53-3 – she won two more big WTA titles at Miami and Cincinnati, the only losses coming in the Madrid semifinals, the Toronto semifinals, and the US Open semifinals.
Williams also pocketed $10,582,642 in 2015, second only to her own $12,385,572 from 2013.

While Williams’ reign is undeniable, she wasn’t the only one in the family to take home an award. Serena’s big sister, Venus Williams, was also named WTA’s Comeback Player of the Year.
 
https://twitter.com/WTA/status/674230568545030144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
article via clutchmagonline.com