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!
The United States Postal Service celebrated the life and legacy of the late Rep.John Lewis (1940-2020), a long-term Congressperson and key figure in several pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement, by issuing a Forever stamp on Friday with his portrait.
The issue date was marked with a ceremony at HBCU Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA.
Michael Collins, Lewis’ former congressional chief of staff, spoke about Lewis’ passion for stamps.
“Whenever a new forever stamp came out, he was like a kid in a candy store, purchasing more than he could ever use. There were so many stamps. He loved too many to count. Generations of his staff in both the district and DC offices could tell you about the countless trips to every post office. From Atlanta to the house office building to buy stamps and post his mail,” Collins said.
“This commemorative stamp serves as a timeless reminder of his remarkable legacy and the enduring impact of his lifelong dedication to the betterment of our society,” Collins stated. “May it inspire and encourage all Americans to continue the necessary work and the ‘good trouble’ of building a more just and inclusive nation.”
A young John Lewis first reached out to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through a letter, which led to them meeting. Lewis’ son, John Miles-Lewis, considers his father being honored with a stamp as a full circle moment:
“From the son of sharecroppers to being a civil rights revolutionary, to be considered the conscience of the Congress. That’s a journey that started with an envelope, a letter and a stamp.”
Insights in telling the story of this stamp can also be found on the Postal Service’s Facebook and Twitter pages at facebook.com/USPS, and twitter.com/usps.
“Look carefully at how the shadow falls on the right side of his face, illuminating the left side, in a way that seems to take the viewer from darkness into the light. A fitting tribute to a man who sought to awaken the conscience of a country,” said Ronald A. Stroman, a member of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors and dedicating official for the stamp. “The Postal Service is proud to celebrate Lewis — a national treasure — and to honor his legacy with the tribute of this Forever stamp that is as beautiful visually as was the spirit of the man whose image it bears.”
Among those joining Stroman for the ceremony were mistress of ceremonies Alfre Woodard; Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., professor and founding dean of the Martin Luther King, Jr., International Chapel at Morehouse College; John-Miles Lewis, son of John Lewis; Linda Earley Chastang, president and chief executive officer of the John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation; Michael Collins, chair of the board for the John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation and U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock.
The stamp features a photograph of Lewis taken by Marco Grob for the Aug. 26, 2013, issue of Time Magazine. Lewis’s name is at the bottom of the stamp. The words “USA” and “Forever” appear in the stamp’s top left corner. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp.
Background on John Lewis
A key figure in some of the most pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement, John Lewis was the face of the Nashville Student Movement, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, an original Freedom Rider, and one of the keynote speakers at the historic 1963 March on Washington. Even in the face of hatred and violence, Lewis remained resolute in his commitment to what he liked to call “good trouble.”
Devoted to equality and justice for all Americans, Lewis spent more than 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives steadfastly defending and building on key civil rights gains that he helped achieve in the 1960s. He was a staunch and unwavering believer in and advocate for nonviolent protests. The recipient of more than 50 honorary degrees, he was called a “saint” by Time magazine and “the conscience of the Congress” by his colleagues.
He served as executive director of the Voter Education Project; as associate director of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency that oversaw the Peace Corps and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA); and as a member of the Atlanta City Council. He was also the author of several bestselling books, including the “March” comic book series and the inspiring autobiography “Walking With the Wind.”
Elected to represent Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986, Lewis garnered the support needed to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1991, sponsored the legislation that created the 54-mile Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail, and worked for more than a decade to establish the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington, DC. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.
Good Black News wants to take a moment on this day to honor and remember the women who gave us life, who nurtured and raised us, and also offered us solace, counsel, wisdom, humility and humor.
To all the mothers out there – be they Aunties, Grandmothers, Cousins or Friends – thank you for all you do. It might not always feel like it, but you are deeply appreciated.
For those of us who aren’t able to be with our mothers or mother figures in person due to circumstance, distance or transcendence — we are with you in voice, online and always – in spirit!
[Wilma Rudolph and her parents Ed and Blanche Rudolph as they rode in a parade after Olympic victory in Rome. Rudolph agreed to participate only if the event was desegregated. This was the first desegregated public event in Clarksville, Tennessee. Photo credit: Bob Ray via https://digital.library.nashville.org/digital/collection/nr/id/2227/]
On Mother’s Day 2022, we offer a quote from three-time Olympic gold medalist and international track star Wilma Rudolph, who rightfully and fatefully choose to believe her mother.
To read it and about her, read on. To hear it and more about Rudolph, press PLAY:
[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. Full transcript below]:
Hey, this is Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Sunday, May 8th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.
US athlete Wilma Rudolph shows the gold medal she won at the Women’s 100 meters Summer Olympic Games sprint event on September 2, 1960 in Rome, Italy. (AP Photo)
Today, for Mother’s Day, we offer a quote from three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and National Track and Field Hall of Famer Wilma Rudolph, who had polio as a young child:
“My doctors told me I’d never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.”
Wilma Glodean Rudolph was born prematurely in June 1940 and after contracting Scarlet Fever, pneumonia, polio and infantile paralysis, Rudolph wore braces on her legs until she was nine years old.
Because there was so little medical care available to Black people in 1940s Clarksville, Tennessee, Wilma’s mother Blanche took her on weekly bus trips 50 miles away to Nashville to get Wilma treatment at Meharry Medical College.
Blanche and other family members also massaged Wilma’s weakened leg four times a week until Wilma had enough strength to no longer need braces, or the orthopedic shoe she wore until she was 11.
By the time she was 16, Wilma was running in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, bringing home a bronze medal in the 400-meter relay.
Rudolph earned a college scholarship to Tennessee State and in 1960, she headed to Rome with the goal of becoming the best woman runner in the world. She surpassed that goal, winning three gold medals and breaking world records in the 100 and 200 meters.
She was nicknamed “The Tornado” and became an international track star. Rudolph graduated college with a degree in elementary education, and taught for the majority of her life after she retired from athletics. Let’s hear a clip from Rudolph describing the last race she ever ran before she retired:
“It was Palo Alto, California, Stanford University, Russia versus the United States. I was running well, but the heart wasn’t there anymore. I mean, what do you dowhen you win all of it? To keep yourself motivated, you have to be a little bit hungry, to be there and stay there and to stay on top.
And this particular day, we were running a relay we were behind when we started off. And you always think on a staggered start and you know, on a staggered start that, okay, she’s gonna catch her in the turn. And by the time that baton is passed, we were going to be even. That didn’t happen. And then when they pass it the next time I said, well, by the time they get to the next person, we will be even, or be one step ahead.
And by the time it got to me, I saw that we were behind, and I made myself a promise that day I said, if you catch the Russian it’s history – retire. If you do not catch the Russian, you will have to run another four years for the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. I caught the Russian. I retired, it became history.
It was the fastest single race that I’ve ever ran in the history of my career. And to get a standing ovation in my home country, outdoors, which I’ve never had before, I think it was the grandest moment in my career. I retired that day, and I have never regretted it.”
Rudolph passed in 1994 of brain cancer, the same year her mother Blanche passed. Rudolph has been honored with a U.S. postage stamp, induction into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and National Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 2012 her hometown built the Wilma Rudolph Event Center. A life-sized bronze statue of Rudolph stands near the entrance of the building.
To learn more about Wilma Rudolph, watch videos of her Olympic races on YouTube, read her 1977 autobiographyWilma: The Story of Wilma Rudolph, Wilma Rudolph: A Biographyfrom 2006 by Maureen Margaret Smith and the children’s book Wilma Rudolph: Athlete and Educatorby Alice K. Flanagan and check out the 1977 movie Wilma starring Cicely Tyson, Shirley Jo Finney and Denzel Washington, available on Vudu.
Links to these sources and more are provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.
This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, written, produced and hosted by me, Lori Lakin Hutcherson.
Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.
If you like these Daily Drops, follow us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon,Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.
For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
[Photo: GBN Contributor Joyce Lakin (l) and GBN Editor-in-Chief Lori Lakin Hutcherson (r) in Maui, 2005]
Good Black News wants to take a moment on this day to honor and remember the women who gave us life, who nurtured and raised us, and also offered us solace, counsel, wisdom, humility and humor.
To all the mothers out there – be they Aunties, Grandmothers, Cousins or Friends – thank you for all you do!
And to one mom out there in particular — Joyce Lakin — we want to thank you for all of the above and also for agreeing to put together a playlist of some of your all-time favorite songs to share with all the other moms and children out there who grew up on their mom’s music!
On this list there’s clearly songs you grew up on (Johnny Mathis, Etta James, Sammy Davis, Jr.), songs that were your jams that became our jams (Teddy Pendergrass, Marvin Gaye, Prince) and songs that are refreshing surprises — Jay Z and J. Lo — who knew?!
If anyone out there is still lucky enough to have their mom, we encourage you to ask them for their playlist — and you’ll learn more about your mom and yourself than you’d imagine!
Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Tuesday, March 8 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 that features a quote from formidable journalist, anti-lynching and women’s rights activist Ida B. Wells Barnett:
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 Tuesday, March 8th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.
“Virtue knows no color line, and the chivalry which depends upon complexion of skin and texture of hair can command no honest respect.”
In 2020, Wells received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for journalism, and her face honored the centennial of the U.S. Suffragist Movement in a mosaic art installation in Washington D.C.’s Union Station. And in 2022, Mattel added a tribute doll of Wells to their Barbie Inspiring Women Series.
In her hometown of Holly Springs, Mississippi, the Ida B.Wells-Barnett Museum acts as a cultural center of African American history. Awards have been established in Wells’s name by the National Association of Black Journalists, the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and the New York County Lawyers Assn., among others.
Wells is a helluva historical figure who, even with recent documentaries and accolades, is still not known well enough. Her whole life is fascinating, and worth learning about extensively, and I shortly will point you to several resources. But if you don’t have time for it now, here is a great quote summing up Wells’ importance in the fight for equality and justice from the New York Times review of the 1999 biography on Wells. And here’s the quote:
“Linda O. McMurry‘s important new biography, To Keep the Waters Troubled, tells the story of an extraordinary American who would have been at the very summit of our national pantheon except for two things: her sex and her race. But then again, being born into a society that promised individual freedom and personal power — just not to blacks, not to women and above all not to black women — was the source of Ida B. Wells’s remarkable story.”
To learn more about Wells, read her pamphlet published in 1892 titled Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases, 1895’s The Red Record, which covered Black people’s struggles in the South since the Civil War and explored the alarmingly high rates of lynchings in the U.S.
Links to these and other sources are provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.
This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing. Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot. Additional music included and permitted under Public Domain license was “Gladiolus Rag” cmposed by Scott Joplin.
If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or
go old school and tell a friend.
For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
Some readers may be too young to remember the 1970s and 1980s heydays of the still entertaining and awe-inspiring traveling basketball team, the Harlem Globetrotters, but for those who do, today, on 2-22-22, we are taking a moment to honor Harlem Globetrotter #22, Frederick “Curly” Neal.
Neal, called “Curly” ironically because of his famously bald head, was a crowd favorite and featured ball handler on the team who did tricks, slips and amazing shots, all with flair and a smile. Neal played with the Globetrotters for 22 years before retiring from the game.
Neal sadly passed away on March 26, 2020 but his legacy lives on, particularly through those he entertained and inspired. Check out some of his highlights from the “Happy Birthday” video the Globetrotters put together for Neal in 2016:
Current Globetrotter Jahmani “Hot Shot” Swanson, known as the “4’9″ Michael Jordan” was inspired to become a player by Neal. Below is his open letter honoring Neal:
Dear Curly,
At nine years old, I attended one of my first professional sporting events in New York City’s famous Madison Square Garden arena with my mother. This moment was special because basketball became my first love as a child. I spent hours honing and perfecting my skills, often emulating moves of the greats like Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson.
At the time, I wasn’t yet immersed in the lure of the Harlem Globetrotters; however, as a sports fanatic, I followed the players across sports teams. I vividly remember the fanfare, the lights, the crowd and an eerily familiar song, which I would eventually come to know as “Sweet Georgia Brown.” I didn’t know on that night; another icon would enter my world and forever inspire me.
Curly, the moment you stepped onto the court, I was in awe. Unfathomable trick shots, clutch behind the back passes, supreme control of the rock, high engagement from the crowd, personality, charm, humility and yes, your signature bald head. Curly, you were the man. From that moment, I became a fan for life. I didn’t believe it was possible, but my love for the game elevated.
You were magnifying.
As I matured, I came to know you for the inspiration you left off the court. In the prime of your career, you and the Harlem Globetrotters team were breaking racial barriers, bringing people and their love for basketball together. You did more than entertain; you were a part of history. You were a catalyst to bringing joy to fans across the globe, suiting up with other Globetrotter greats like MeadowLark Lemon and Wilt Chamberlain. The makeup of one of the first all-black basketball teams in our nation’s history.
You appeared in more than 6,000 games in nearly 100 countries for 22 years throughout your career. Your commitment to excellence earned you an induction into the CIAA Hall of Fame in 1986 and the 2008 North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. With everything you accomplished, you were able to do it with the odds stacked against you.
You spoke of times when you were denied access to hotels on the road and where you and the team encountered moments of racism and hate. Through it all, you persevered and did it with a smile. Sometimes, I sit and watch videos of your games, interviews and appearances and wonder, “what did he go through that day?” “How did he push forward in those times?”
I believe through it all, you continued to show up and stand tall.
You were the ultimate athlete.
I will never forget when I attended a New York Knicks versus the Boston Celtics game in Madison Square Garden, this time as an adult, and the arena was packed. It was probably one of the most intense games I’ve experienced as a fan until you walked through the crowd. I remember seeing people turn their attention from the game to dap you up and ask for autographs and pictures. The crowd’s love for you at that moment was something I rarely saw, and the energy was unmatched. You were the epitome of star power.
You were the culture.
Now, as a Globetrotter, I stand on your shoulders aiming to leave a legacy – that if only embodies half of what you accomplished – would be the ultimate achievement for me. A few years ago, I was awarded the Star Power award from the franchise. Many staff and even coaches tell me that I remind them a bit of you, and I feel honored and blessed to be mentioned in that way. I’ve learned what it means to #SpreadGame, entertain and inspire the world. Through your legacy, you’ve shown the world that anything is possible when your heart, mind, and intentions are in the right place.
Thank you for your showmanship, professionalism, legacy, and, most importantly, your humanity.
With Love,
Jahmani “Hot Shot” Swanson
You can learn more about Neal and the Harlem Globetrotters in the 2005 documentary Harlem Globetrotters: The Team That Changed The World, by watching it here or available on Amazon Video.
President Joe Biden awarded three soldiers the Medal of Honor yesterday, including Sgt. First Class Alwyn Cashe, the first Black soldier to receive the award since the Vietnam War, ABC News reported.
Other Black soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have received high-ranking valor awards, but never the Medal of Honor.
Sgt. Cashe was 35 when he died after rescuing six fellow soldiers and one Iraqi interpreter while under enemy fire after a roadside bomb detonated under the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he was commanding in October 2005, igniting its fuel tank.
After he and another soldier extinguished the flames that had engulfed their driver and pulled him to safety, Cashe’s uniform, which was drenched in gasoline, caught fire.
With second and third-degree burns covering nearly 75% of his body, Sgt. Cashe died from his injuries about three weeks after the attack.
“No soldier is going to be left behind on his watch,” President Biden said at the White House ceremony honoring Cashe and two other troops who saved lives. “A soldier’s soldier, a warrior who literally walked through fire for his troops.”
“We remember the strength and the sacrifices of these military families, caregivers, and survivors,” added the President. “And we remember and renew our sacred obligation to those who served this nation in uniform.”
Today, when family, loved ones and friends come together for a special meal to offer gratitude for each other, survival of life’s most humbling challenges, to celebrate joy, peace and the capacity for them, GBN wants to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.
We’d also like to express our gratitude to you, our readers and followers, and offer thanks for your continued presence, positivity and support. Love and community are more important than ever – enjoy, and be safe!
Other women being honored in the series include Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, Nina Otero-Warren, a leader in New Mexico’s suffrage movement and the first female superintendent of Santa Fe public schools, Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood and Dr. Sally Ride, physicist, astronaut, educator, and the first American woman in space.
Each woman will appear on the reverse (tails) side of the quarter, with George Washington’s image remaining on the obverse (heads) side of the coin.
A celebrated writer, performer, and social activist, Maya Angelou rose to international prominence after the publication of her groundbreaking 1969 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou’s published works of verse, non-fiction, and fiction include more than 30 bestselling titles.
Maya Angelou was an inspiring writer/performer/social activist. The reverse design of #HerQuarter depicts Angelou with her arms uplifted. Behind her are a bird in flight and a rising sun, images inspired by her poetry and symbolic of the way she lived. https://t.co/Enr1I5EbXrpic.twitter.com/XFZHlmAVGh
Angelou’s remarkable career encompasses dance, theater, journalism, and social activism. She appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway plays, including Cabaret for Freedom, which she wrote with Godfrey Cambridge.
At the request of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Angelou served as northern coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.Angelou read “On the Pulse of Morning” at the 1992 inauguration of President Clinton. Angelou’s reading marked the first time an African American woman wrote and presented a poem at a presidential inauguration.
Angelou received more than 30 honorary degrees and was inducted into the Wake Forest University Hall of Fame for Writers. In 2010, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
She was also the 2013 recipient of the Literarian Award, an honorary National Book Award for contributions to the literary community.
Good Black News wants to take a moment on this day to honor and remember the women who gave us life, who nurtured and raised us, and also offered us solace, counsel, wisdom, humility and humor.
To learn more about Wilma Rudolph, watch videos of her Olympic races on YouTube, read her 1977 autobiography 
