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Charles Ramsey, Rescuer of Amanda Berry, Recounts his Heroic Day to CNN's Anderson Cooper

By goodblacknews on May 8, 2013

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5elloa4kOc&w=560&h=315]
Charles Ramsey
On Monday, Charles Ramsey became a national hero.  Ramsey is the next door neighbor to the three Castro brothers, who allegedly held three women captive in a Cleveland home for more than a decade.  Ramsey says shortly after he’d returned home from McDonald’s on Monday, he heard “a girl going nuts” at the Castro house.

It was Amanda Berry. But Ramsey didn’t know who she was. He’d lived next door to the Castro brothers and barbequed with Ariel Castor in the back yard. But he’d never seen this young woman before.   “She said help me get out,” he says. “I figured it was a domestic violence dispute,” he told The Associated Press. The door would only open a crack, so he told her to kick out the screen.  “She comes out with a little girl and says ‘Call 911.’

Camden Sophisticated Sisters Drill Team Performs on "DWTS" (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on May 7, 2013

Camden Sophisticated SistersIn case you missed it last week, here is the inspiring story and performance of Camden, New Jersey’s drill team, the Camden Sophisticated Sisters, formed twenty-six years ago by Camden native and CNN Hero Tawanda “Wa-Wa” Jones, on ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars”:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VARCjIF1zhY&w=560&h=315]If you’d like to help, donate or follow the Sophisticated Sisters, click here.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Bill Duke’s ‘Dark Girls’ Headed to OWN; More Films in the Making

By goodblacknews on May 6, 2013

ddark girlsBill Duke’s thought-provoking film, “Dark Girls” is headed to Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network this June.
The documentary first emerged in 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival and had great promise of becoming something bigger and better. But it never turned up as a national theater release and continued to tour across the country.
Duke announced in 2012 at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, that he was in the middle of developing two feature documentaries as follow ups to “Dark Girls.”
“Yellow Brick Road” will look at the ‘colorism’ issue from the perspective of light-skinned Black women. The other documentary, “What Is A Man?” will explore masculinity and manhood as it has transformed from the beginning of time to present day. Filming for the project has already begun and it turns out Duke has been interviewing people from all around the world.
Watch the trailer for “Dark Girls” below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXG38QxXY-s&w=560&h=315]
article by Brittney M. Walker via eurweb.com

Documentaries 'Girls of Daraja' & 'School of My Dreams' to Air on PBS May 9th

By goodblacknews on May 5, 2013

Educate GirlsTwo short documentaries directed and produced by Barbara Rick about Daraja Academy in Kenya air back-to-back on PBS on May 9th, “Girls of Daraja” followed by “Schools of My Dreams.”

Girls of Daraja:
A boarding secondary school for Kenyan girls with top academic scores and exceptional leadership skills but no means to continue their education. The academy provides shelter, food, healthcare and counseling services which allows students to focus on their academic and personal potential, without being hindered by the everyday barriers of poverty.
School of My Dreams:
An engaging portrait of students of Daraja Academy, a free Kenyan boarding school for exceptional girls living in poverty. In their own words and art, Daraja’s first graduating class demonstrates how education is expanding their vision and unlocking their dreams. They commit to transforming their communities and the world.  Watch the trailer below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfHTRrk8FEc&w=560&h=315]Click here for more info about Daraja Academy and the films.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Ten Black Students Awarded Truman Scholarships in 2013

By goodblacknews on May 5, 2013

2013-truman-scholars-feature-post
(L to R) Top row: Kemi A. Oyewole, Uzoma Kenneth Orchingwa, Deon Tramaine Jones, Gabrielle Chelsea Newell, and Jessica Laurel Anderson. Second row: Evan Daniel Shepherd, Brandon Kyle Hersey, Akunna Faith Uka, Stefan Terrell Johnson, and Jordan Alyssa Metoyer.

The Truman Scholarship Foundation, established by Congress in 1975, has announced 62 winners of Truman Scholarships for 2013. The 62 winners were selected from a field of 629 candidates nominated by 293 colleges and universities. Each winner receives up to $30,000 for graduate study. Winners also receive an admissions edge at partnering universities, career and graduate counseling, and internship opportunities with the federal government.  Since the awards were first made in 1977, there have been 2,906 Truman Scholars. This year it appears that 10 of the 62 winners are African Americans.
Kemi A. Oyewole is a junior at Spelman College in Atlanta, where she is majoring in economics and mathematics. She also is the student representative on the college’s board of trustees. Oyewole plans on pursuing a Ph.D. in economics and hopes to have a career as an economist focusing on poverty issues in sub-Saharan Africa.
Uzoma Kenneth Orchingwa is a native of Chicago but lived for several years in Nigeria. He is a junior at Colby College in Maine, where he is majoring in philosophy and sociology. Orchingwa plans on attending law school and hopes to have a career in civil rights law.

Tia and Tamera Mowry Launch Line of Herbal Tea for New Moms

By goodblacknews on May 5, 2013
Tamera Mowry with son Aden Housley and Tia Mowry with son Cree Mowry-Hardrict host the Milky launch event. (CHARLEY GALLAY/GETTY IMAGES)
Tia and Tamera Mowry have both experienced the joys of motherhood and have teamed up to create an innovative herbal supplement to help new moms boost the quality and quantity of breast milk. The supplement is called Milky and the sisters recently celebrated the launch of their new brand at A Pea in the Pod in L.A. 

Mom-to-be Tamar Braxton was just one of the famous faces who came out to support Milky at the VIP launch event. 
There’s no word yet on when Milky will be available for purchase, but consumers can sign up for exclusive notices via the Milky website. If you’re wondering if the supplements really work, Tamera, mother of 6-month-old Aden Housley, uses them and gives them her stamp of approval. 
“Believe me — it works!” Tamera told People. The twins also dish on Milky and their adventures in motherhood on their blog, Tia and Tamera.
article by Nicole Marie Melton via essence.com

Maya Angelou Honors Mom, Grandmother in New Book

By goodblacknews on May 4, 2013
Dr. Maya Angelou poses at the the Special Recognition Event for Dr. Maya Angelou � The Michael Jackson Tribute Portrait at Dr. Angelou's home June 21, 2010 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Ken Charnock/Getty Images)

Dr. Maya Angelou (Photo by Ken Charnock/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (AP) — Writer, actor, dancer. Activist, teacher, composer. In the melange of Maya Angelou’s 85 years is also daughter, of two women who deserved one with a good memory.  So Angelou writes in her latest literary memoir, “Mom & Me & Mom,” a sweet ode to “Lady,” her mother Vivian Baxter, and “Momma,” her paternal grandmother Annie Henderson, who took her in at age 3 in tiny, segregated Stamps, Ark., and returned her at age 13, when the time was right.
Baxter, rough-and-tumble poor from St. Louis, and Henderson, refined believer in southern etiquette, are both long gone but figure big in Angelou’s legendary life.  The fierce and fun Vivian was Angelou’s abandoner and, later, her most loyal protector. She and Annie are familiar to admirers of the poet and spinner of autobiographical fiction. It’s Angelou’s eighth book to unravel her often painful and tumultuous life, including the 1969 National Book Award winner “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” chronicling her rape as a girl that left her mute for five years.
Angelou lost her beloved older brother Bailey in 2000, after his slide into drugs, and her mother in 1991, at age 79 or 85, depending on who’s doing the counting, joked Angelou in a recent telephone interview from her home in Winston-Salem, N.C., where she has lived part-time for more than 30 years while on the faculty of Wake Forest University.  Her son, Guy, whom she had at age 17, remains with us, enduring years on crutches after numerous surgeries for spinal injuries he suffered in an auto accident.

Fats Domino’s Katrina-damaged Grand Piano Finally Restored

By goodblacknews on May 4, 2013
A photo of musician Fats Domino lies in the street next to his home in the heavily damaged Lower Ninth Ward December 24, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Nearly four months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area, the worst-hit parts of New Orleans and surrounding areas are still uninhabitable. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
A photo of musician Fats Domino lies in the street next to his home in the heavily damaged Lower Ninth Ward December 24, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Nearly four months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area, the worst-hit parts of New Orleans and surrounding areas are still uninhabitable. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A white Steinway grand piano salvaged from musician Fats Domino’s home after Hurricane Katrina has been restored and will be the centerpiece of an exhibit in New Orleans’ French Quarter.  The piano was damaged after water poured through a broken levee during the August 2005 storm, flooding Domino’s home in the Lower 9th Ward.  Its restoration came through $30,000 donated to the Louisiana Museum Foundation.  
The largest gift of $18,000 came from Allan Slaight, a retired music producer in Miami. Other donations came from Sir Paul McCartney, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Tipitina’s Foundation. The piano was to be unveiled Thursday at the Old U.S. Mint, now a museum in the French Quarter.  It will be part of the Louisiana State Museum’s music exhibition opening in 2014 but separately will go on display at the Mint in June.  A second Steinway piano belonging to Domino is on permanent display at the Presbytere Museum in the exhibition “Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond.”
“Fats Domino is a seminal figure in American music, and he will have a prominent place in the coming Louisiana music exhibit,” said Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, who oversees the Louisiana State Museum. “His beautiful grand piano, fully restored, will serve as the perfect symbol for Louisiana’s resilient nature and ever-evolving musical heritage.”
Born in New Orleans in 1928, the pianist, singer and songwriter sold more than 65 million records between 1950 and 1963, made Billboard’s pop chart 77 times and its rhythm and blues chart 61 times.  Katrina tore into Louisiana and Mississippi on Aug. 29, 2005. Flooding from storm surge and broken levees washed over an estimated 80 percent of New Orleans.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press; article by Stacey Plaisance via thegrio.com

Homeless Teen Drew Gooch Earns Full Scholarship To College in Tennessee

By goodblacknews on May 3, 2013

Drew Gooch, 17, is homeless student that is graduating at the top of his class and a full ride to Middle Tennessee State University.
Drew Gooch, 17, is a homeless student who is graduating at the top of his class and earning a full ride to Middle Tennessee State University.
There are plenty of students that have problems to contend with at home that no one knows about. These brave soldiers still get up every morning and go to school to get some relief from their situation and try hard to focus.
Drew Gooch is a high school senior that was living in his 1997 Toyota Camry because his mother’s live-in boyfriend is a registered sex offender which prevented him from legally living with her. He has had an uphill struggle to survive, but managed to earn a full scholarship to Middle Tennessee State University, along with the Bootstrap Scholarship, a scholarship for “hardworking students who overcame odds to excel in their classes,” as well as a Martin Luther King Jr. scholarship.
He doesn’t mention much about his mom in his story, but talks about how he has taken care of himself buying his own groceries and washing his clothes and simply fending for himself, according to the Daily News Journal.  He told Nashville’s News 2 how he had been taking care of himself for as long as he can remember.  It wasn’t the first time Gooch was alone, though…he remembers being ages six and seven, and not having anyone around to do things like make meals.  ”I’ve always taken care of myself,” he said.”
To survive, he would stay with an older sister or friends, he’d stay in the library until it closed, slept in his car behind Embassy Suites, and provided a donut to teachers that would agree to work with him on his studies a half an hour before school started at Holloway High School.  The 17-year-old is obviously mature beyond his years and his principal believes he’s a godsend:
“Drew is every teacher and every principal’s dream,” said Holloway High School principal Sumatra Drayton. “I know Drew will be back here, speaking at graduation. Drew will be back here mentoring students and being a model.”  Gooch has a job at McDonald’s and he is the valedictorian of his graduating class with a 3.9 GPA.  This is a story of perseverance and dedication to education that every child should read.  Gooch wants other students to know:  “Take what life gives you. Don’t give up. Don’t sell yourself short. The only person who can decide who you can be is you,” Gooch said. “That’s what I tell myself when I look in the mirror every morning.”  To see video of Drew and his story, click here.
article via eurthisnthat.com

Jay-Z Joins Pitch to Redevelop Nassau Coliseum

By goodblacknews on May 3, 2013

Jay-Z attends the 'The Great Gatsby' world premiere at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on May 1, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
Jay-Z attends the ‘The Great Gatsby’ world premiere at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on May 1, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

NBC New York – Jay-Z is part of a group trying to renovate Nassau Coliseum.  The music mogul attended a meeting Thursday on Long Island, where the media was briefed on four proposals to renovate the arena and surrounding property.  Nassau County officials have been trying to come up with a plan to redevelop the 40-year-old arena for many years.  Its primary tenant, the New York Islanders hockey team, is moving to the new arena in Brooklyn when its lease expires in 2015.  Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is part of a group that built Barclays Arena and is bidding for the Long Island project.

Click here to read more.
article via thegrio.com