April 29, 2026
Joshua Smith, a 9-year-old boy from Detroit, Mich., has made national headlines over his ambitious efforts to help his hometown rise out of its ever-sinking debt.
He started off with a goal of selling $1000 worth of popcorn and lemonade and delivering a check of the said amount to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s office.
National Public Radio, criticized in recent years for a lack of diversity of its staff and coverage, is using a $1.5 million grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to put together a six-person team to report stories on race, ethnicity and culture.
“Whether you have a Ph.D., or a D.D. or no D., we’re in this together. Whether you’re from Morehouse or No house, we’re in this bag together.”
–Fannie Lou Hamer, civil and voting rights activist
“You are young, gifted, and black. We must begin to tell our young, there’s a world waiting for you, yours is the quest that’s just begun.”
— James Weldon Johnson, poet, civil rights activist and co-writer of “Lift Every Voice And Sing” (the Negro National Anthem)
Landra Johnson of Charlotte, N.C., lives an all-natural lifestyle. Not only is she a vegetarian but she also only uses products free of preservatives, artificial ingredients and toxins. When her first child, Davis, was born in 2006, Johnson was determined to keep him away from these as well. But, it wasn’t an easy task. Johnson set out on a quest to find products that would naturally soothe Davis’ skin and care for his hair’s curly kinks and coils. She scoured the aisles of local hair care stores but all she found were products filled with petroleum, mineral oil and artificial concoctions.
“I wanted products that were genuinely chemical free and effective,” said Johnson, 38, a former broadcast journalist who now has two children. “The market at that time was really dominated by general products with nothing for the ethnic market.” “When we couldn’t find it, we decided to make it,” said Johnson, adding that she and her sister, Kristi Booker, launched in 2009 a hair and skin care line for children of color called Cara B Naturally. With little prior knowledge of the beauty industry, Johnson spent three years researching and collaborating with chemists who work with natural ingredients. Her line of all natural shampoo, soap, leave-in conditioner and body lotion is now certified by the Natural Products Association, Johnson said, noting CVS and Target offer her products.
Doug E. Fresh and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer during the 2011 Soul Train Awards at The Fox Theatre on November 17, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images)
When hip-hop icon Doug E Fresh first graced the mic, he simply wanted to entertain the masses by doing what he loved. After building his career and subsequent fame, he decided that it was best to use his success to educate and empower others. As a father of five, and vegetarian for nearly 25 years, the 45-year-old believes that good health is essential for a fulfilling life.
“Health has always been an important thing to me. I exercise and try to take care of myself, and drink a lot of water! And I push that to my kids so that they can carry on that same energy,” said Doug E.
So when he partnered with Dr. Olajide Williams, a neurologist from New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, to join in the fight against childhood obesity, he merged two very important components of his life: hip-hop and health. The partnership produced Hip Hop Public Health, a program that uses hip hop as a way to educate African-American and Latino children about obesity and the resulting chronic and acute diseases. HHPH engages and informs students through music, videos, comic books and live shows that tour schools. As the program’s Vice President of Entertainment, Doug E. stated that he “felt like it was necessary to take what people love, which is hip-hop, and use it as tool to get kids motivated.”
Read the rest of this story on Ebony.com.
via Doug E. Fresh uses hip-hop to teach healthy habits to black and Latino youth with Hip Hop Public Health | theGrio.
They drive their kids to swim team practice at 5 a.m. And bring them back to the pool at night for more .The Kingfish parents buy everything in orange, the team color. Sandals, shoes, purses, pants, hats. And they wear all of it, even to practice. They create spreadsheets, newsletters, bar graphs and a Web site, which began counting down the days and hours to the first swim practice sometime back in February. They even have a team sandwich — The King Fishwich. Five years ago, the Kingfish swam in the least competitive division in the Prince-Mont Swim League. “We’d set out a table by the Giant, trying to recruit swimmers,” said Calvin Holmes, intense swim parent extraordinaire and president of the swim club. “And people would just walk by us. Or think we were selling fish.”
The “2012 Nation’s Best Advocates: 40 Lawyers Under 40” were honored by IMPACT and the National Bar Association (the largest network of African-American attorneys and judges) on Sunday. The event aims to recognize talented individuals (age 40 and under) within the African American legal community who have achieved prominence and distinction, professionally and philanthropically.
The “2012 Nation’s Best Advocates: 40 Lawyers Under 40” were honored by IMPACT and the National Bar Association (the largest network of African-American attorneys and judges) on Sunday. The event aims to recognize talented individuals (age 40 and under) within the African American legal community who have achieved prominence and distinction, professionally and philanthropically.
“Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It’s important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It’s the way in which we grow and develop.”
— Dr. Dorothy Height, Former Head of The National Council Of Negro Women