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Gospel Legend Shirley Caesar's Viral #UNameItChallenge Leads to New Fame, More Charity

Gospel Legend Shirley Caesar's Viral #UNameItChallenge Leads to New Fame, More Charity

By goodblacknews on November 27, 2016

Shirley Caesar (photo via defendernetwork.com)
Shirley Caesar (photo via defendernetwork.com)

article by Bil Carpenter via blackenterprise.com
A couple of weeks ago, a friend of DJ Suede, also known as “the Remix God,” sent him a video clip of traditional gospel music legend Pastor Shirley Caesar’s 2007 remake of her 1988 classic “Hold My Mule.” Suede, an Atlanta-based mixer with an Instagram following of almost 100K,  has said that he’ll remix anything. Since his mom was also a big fan of the 11 time Grammy Award-winning artist, he just remixed the song for fun, posting it online with the tag, “Grandma, what are you cooking for Thanksgiving?”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMwPboqZ-F8]
That intoxicating hip-hop music mashup has now become the viral success story of the season. It was even referenced during this year’s American Music Awards telecast, and pushed “Hold My Mule,” a song recorded long before Billboard started compiling gospel song charts, into the No. 1 spot on this week’s Gospel Streaming Songs chart, thanks to over 800,000 streams within the last week. It’s the song’s first time on any national chart.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyutFBpelGE]
In the original song, Caesar tells the story of an 86-year-old man named Shouting John, who joined a church that didn’t believe in dancing and speaking in tongues. John was kicked put out of the church for shouting too loudly during the sermon.
He countered his ouster with a testimony that God had blessed him as a farmer.”Look!” he shouted. “I got beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes, lambs, rams, hogs, dogs, chickens, turkeys, rabbits … you name it!” (See the 5:45 mark in the YouTube video above.) That line became the foundation for Suede’s “You Name It! ” remix.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwIhtU9XtrE]
“It was just a song,” Suede told Big Tigger, on Atlanta’s V103 radio station. Then, on November 13, R&B star Chris Brown reposted the song with his signature choreography with the hastag #UNameItChallenge on his Instagram page. It has since racked up over 2.3 million views on Brown’s page, motivating thousands of people to share it and to answer the challenge with their own video dance responses.
Initially, some observers wondered if the 78-year-old Caesar, who was a hardliner in her younger days about the separation of gospel and mainstream music, would object to the viral video. However, she’s in nearly full support of this new incarnation of it.

Junior Olympian Sheppard Sisters Named Sports Illustrated SportsKids Of The Year

By goodblacknews on November 23, 2016

(photo via Sports Illustrated)

article by Rachaell Davis via essence.com
This week, young track and field stars Tai, Rainn and Brooke Sheppard were announced as the recipients of the 2016 Sports Illustrated SportsKids Of The Year award for their athletic accomplishments and unwavering dedication in the face of extreme hardships. ESSENCE caught up with the young track stars and their proud mother Tonia Handy for a quick chat just as they were preparing for the SI SportsKids of the Year announcement.
The girls first took an interest in track and field when their babysitter signed them up for a track meet in January of 2015. When the family fell on hard times and relocated to a homeless shelter that September, the encouraging spirit of those around them played a big role in helping to keep them going.
My coach really inspired me to try hard and to really put everything into it,” 9-year-old Brooke told ESSENCE. “Also, my babysitter Sharon Davis, who introduced us to track and field and really helped us work as hard as we could to get us where we are now.” Brooke also credits Olympic champion Alex Felix with inspiring her to push forward. “My inspiration is Alex Felix,” she adds. “She really inspires me to work really hard like her.”
To read full article, go to: Sheppard Sisters Named Sports Illustrated SportsKids Of The Year Essence.com

The Cowgirls of Color: Black Women's Team is Bucking Rodeo Trends

By goodblacknews on November 22, 2016

Pinky, Pennie (in background) and KB calm their horses before riding in the grand entry. (Photograph: M Holden Warren)

article by Annalies Winny via theguardian.com
The Cowgirls of Color are frustrated. It’s the final stop of Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo and the only all-female team has had a difficult first ride, making their chances at a victory very unlikely. “The whole point was to win, not just to be in [the event] because we’re girls,” says KB, a 39-year-old legal administrator who has been riding with the team for a year and a half.
In a sport dominated by white men, the all-female, all-black team is a rarity. At the Bill Pickett rodeo, the only black rodeo in the country, high-octane events such as bull riding and steer wrestling remain almost exclusively male. But every year brings more female contestants than the last.
Since the team formed two years ago, they have set out to prove that they’re more than just a novelty team – that they can beat their male-dominated competition in the most intense events and go on to win thousands of dollars in prize money.
When they first started riding as a team just two years ago, “we were terrible!” says KB. “But I wanted to master it. I wanted to compete on a larger scale where I [could] make money.”
Selina “Pennie” Brown, Sandra “Pinky” Dorsey, Kisha “KB” Bowles and Brittaney Logan met through a veteran horseman, Dr. Ray Charles Lockamy, at a riding event in Maryland. Despite being relatively new to the sport, they decided to form a women’s team to compete in the Bill Pickett rodeo, with Lockamy as their coach. Only Pinky had competed in rodeo events as a teenager. “I was the only black person there,” she says.
Like most equestrian sports, rodeo has always been mostly white. Black cowboys competed in rodeos from the 1940s, but tales of corrupt scoring and judges literally turning their backs on black contestants proliferated for decades thereafter, stalling the growth of the sport among black riders. Black cowboys who entered rodeos “would be discriminated against in ways that were supposed to be subtle”, says Carolyn Carter, the general manager of the Bill Pickett rodeo. In 1968, the legendary bull rider Myrtis Dightman was advised to “turn white” if he wanted to claim the top prizes.

Magic Johnson Pledges $250,000 to Aid Flint, MI Schools, Inspires Kids at Local Holiday Event (VIDEO)

Magic Johnson Pledges $250,000 to Aid Flint, MI Schools, Inspires Kids at Local Holiday Event (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on November 21, 2016

Magic Johnson took part Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016 in the Holiday Hope event at Flint Northwestern High School. The Lansing native spoke with children about the importance of education and chasing their dreams before helping to give out food, clothing, and toys to families as part of a partnership between the Magic Johnson Foundation and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan. (Photo via Roberto Acosta | racosta1@mlive.com)
Magic Johnson took part Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016 in the Holiday Hope event at Flint Northwestern High School. The Lansing native spoke with children about the importance of education and chasing their dreams before helping to give out food, clothing, and toys to families as part of a partnership between the Magic Johnson Foundation and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan. (Photo via Roberto Acosta | racosta1@mlive.com)

article by Roberto Acosta via mlive.com
FLINT, MI — Earvin “Magic” Johnson helped load up meals in the back of vehicles lined up outside Flint Northwestern High School on a snow Saturday morning, but he also delivered an assist to Flint children ahead of the giveaway.
In the Vehicle City for the Holiday Hope Flint event that provided meals, clothes, and toys to families, the NBA Hall-of-Famer told kids seated in the gymnasium to chase their dreams.
“We want you to understand dream big. Get your education and you’ll be able to do anything in life you want to do,” he said. “I was once just like you. A little kid from Lansing, Michigan right down the street. I grew up poor, but I didn’t have poor dreams.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ozLwX4rW4?rel=0&autoplay=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlive.com&widgetid=1]

Johnson stressed to children “Nobody defines who you are going to be but you, but you must get a good education so it starts in school.”
He pledged $250,000 toward Flint Community schools during a September visit that will be used to establish three walk-in clinics within the district and athletic facility improvements and told people he would return to the community.

The NBA Hall of Famer returned to the Flint-area on Friday night for a fundraising event titled “An Evening with Magic Johnson” at the Holiday Inn Gateway Centre.

SodexoMagic, Johnson’s food service company, was approved for a $3.36 million contract with the school district in June. The company also holds a contract with the Saginaw School District.
 To read more, go to: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/11/magic_johnson_tells_flint_chil.html

Civil Rights Pioneer Pauli Murray’s Home in NC Slated to Become National Historic Landmark

By goodblacknews on November 20, 2016

Civil Rights Pioneer Pauli Murray (Photo via thegrio.com)
Civil Rights Pioneer Pauli Murray (Photo via thegrio.com)

article via jbhe.com
The Pauli Murray Project at the Human Rights Center at Duke University has been working for many years to obtain landmark status for the civil rights activist’s home in Durham, NC. Those efforts have finally reached fruition.
Recently the Landmarks Committee of the National Park Service unanimously voted to recommend that the home at 906 Carroll Street become a National Historic Landmark. The final decision on the matter rests with the Secretary of the Interior and the decision can be made before the change in presidential administrations. The Pauli Murray Project has fully restored the home and it is expected that it will be made into a museum and social justice center.
A native of Baltimore, Pauli Murray was orphaned at age 13. She went to Durham, North Carolina to live with an aunt. After graduating from high school at the age of 16, she enrolled in Hunter College in New York City. She was forced to drop out of school at the onset of the Great Depression. In 1938, she mounted an unsuccessful legal effort to gain admission to the all-white University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1940, 15 years earlier than Rosa Parks, Murray was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of a bus in Virginia.
pm-house-side-by-side-smaller
Pauli Murray’s home before and after restoration

Murray enrolled at the Howard University in 1941 and earned her degree in 1944. She later graduated from the Boalt Hall Law School at the University of California at Berkeley. She became a leader of the civil rights movement and was critical of its leadership for not including more women in their ranks. In 1977, Murray, at the age of 66, was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church. She died in Pittsburgh in 1985 after suffering from cancer.

Motown Museum Garners $6 Million Donation for Expansion from Ford Motor Company

By goodblacknews on November 19, 2016

motown-ford-theater-rendering-2016-billboard-1548
An artist rendering of the expanded Motown Museum in Detroit. (Image courtesy of Ford)

article via eurweb.com
Ford Motor Company and UAW-Ford have announced a $6 million investment towards a planned expansion of the Motown Museum in Detroit, reports Billboard.
The figure makes the auto giant and union the lead donors in a recently announced $50 million upgrade that will create a new Ford-branded theater, space for interactive exhibits and a recording studio at the tourist attraction.
“We are thrilled to play a role in the next chapter of a global music icon,” said Joe Hinrichs, president, The Americas, Ford Motor Company. “The enhanced museum will not only upgrade the visitor experience, it also fits with our commitment to investing in the cultural heritage of Detroit and southeast Michigan.”
As part of the Ford/UAW investment, the expanded Motown Museum will include a new venue to be called the Ford Motor Company Theater, as well as a new interactive activity called the CARaoke Experience that will incorporate music with Ford vehicles. The donation will also fuel educational, music and other programming.
The Motown Museum is located in the Hitsville U.S.A. house where record company founder Berry Gordy launched his music empire in 1959. Scores of stars and hits were created there before the label moved to California in 1972.
To read original article, go to: http://www.eurweb.com/2016/11/ford-donates-6-million-toward-motown-museum-detroit/#

17-Year-Old Oakland Honor Student Elexis Webster Overcomes Homelessness, Earns 4.1 GPA

By goodblacknews on November 18, 2016

screen-shot-2016-11-18-at-8-43-43-pm
17 Year-Old SRA Student Elexis Webster (photo via cbsnews.com)

article by Charise Frazier via newsone.com
In a human interest story spotlighting Students Rising Above, an organization invested in improving the lives of low-income youth through education, CBS Oakland interviewed Elexis Webster, one of SRA’s brightest stars.
Elexis says she struggled with devastating circumstances as a young child. “I grew up on the streets with an abusive drug addict for a mother, along with an older brother who molested me countless times, plus constant sickness. My life wasn’t a life, it was a war zone,” she wrote in her application to SRA.
Her family lived on the Oakland streets, including stints in hotels and a dug out car, while they searched for shelter. Due to the stressful environment, Elexis said she developed a low immune system and fell ill, severely impacting her school attendance. She missed three years of school due to the circumstances.
One afternoon at the age of 14, police found Elexis and her sister sitting inside a car unattended. Her mother was arrested. The two sisters were placed in foster care under the tutelage of a woman Elexis affectionately calls “Mema.”
She says under the care of Mema, her life made a dramatic turn for the better. With Mema, Elexis feels safe and empowered.
Elexis is now a junior in high school with a 4.1 GPA and has her sights set on collegiate success thanks to mentoring and support from SRA.
Source: This 17-Year-Old Oakland Honor Student Overcame Homelessness & Abuse | News One

LeBron James Donates $2.5 Million for Muhammad Ali Exhibit at National Museum of African American History & Culture

By goodblacknews on November 17, 2016
Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James (DAVID LIAM KYLE VIA GETTY IMAGES)

 article via huffingtonpost.com

LeBron James is donating $2.5 million to support a Muhammad Ali exhibit at the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., the basketball star and the museum announced on Thursday.

The Cleveland Cavaliers forward said he was a longtime fan of Ali, one of the most beloved sports figures in history, who died on June 3 after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s syndrome.  “Every professional athlete, regardless of race and gender, owes a huge debt of gratitude to Muhammad Ali,” James said in a statement. “His legacy deserves to be studied and revered by every generation.”
The “Muhammad Ali: A Force for Change” exhibit features items from the late boxer, including a training robe worn at Dundee’s Fifth Street Gym in Miami. While the exhibit details Ali’s sports journey, it also highlights his community activism, spirituality and politics.
“We are extremely grateful to LeBron James,” said Damion Thomas, curator of the museum’s Sports Gallery. “As the most socially active superstar in sports today, LeBron James is a testament to the influence of Muhammad Ali (who) embodied the racial and social tumult of his times, blurring lines between politics and sports, activism and entertainment.”
James’ business partner, Maverick Carter, is also contributing to the exhibit, which has been on display since the museum opened on Sept. 24.
The funds will also support the museum itself, which is located on the National Mall.
To read more, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lebron-james-donates-25-million-muhammad-ali-exhibit_us_582dd99ae4b058ce7aa98273?

Zena Stephens Elected 1st Black Female Sheriff in Texas

By goodblacknews on November 16, 2016

Zena Stephens, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County Sheriff, is swarmed by supporters offering hugs of congratulations and celebrating her win in Beaumont Tuesday. (Photo by Kim Brent/The Enterprise)
Zena Stephens, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County Sheriff, is swarmed by supporters offering  congratulations and celebrating her win in Beaumont Tuesday. (Photo by Kim Brent/The Enterprise)

article by Liz Teitz via houstonchronicle.com
BEAUMONT – While history was being made with the election of Donald Trump as president, Zena Stephens was making a little of her own in Southeast Texas by becoming the state’s first black female sheriff.

And it took three elections to do it.
In the March primary, Stephens knocked out the incumbent sheriff’s chief deputy, who was the favorite of law enforcement and had significantly outraised Stephens. In May, she bested an African-American constable in a runoff. Then on Tuesday she narrowly defeated a 39-year retired Beaumont police lieutenant to become sheriff of Jefferson County.
According to the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas, which tracks the history of the office, Stephens is the first black woman elected sheriff in the state.
After her victory, she acknowledged the significance of her success.
“I think it is important, because I never saw anybody who looked like me in this role, or as a police chief, when I was growing up,” said Stephens. “And so the idea, not just for girls but for any minority, that you can obtain these jobs at this level, I think that’s important. And it’s important for these jobs in law enforcement and any job to reflect the community they serve.”
To read full article, go to: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Jefferson-County-elects-Texas-first-black-female-10605106.php

West Virginia Mayor Resigns After Co-Signing on Racist FB Post About Michelle Obama

By goodblacknews on November 15, 2016

First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama (photo via essence.com)

A petition calling for Mayor Beverly Whaling’s termination has garnered over 24,000 signatures.
article by Rachaell Davis via essence.com
UPDATE (11/15/16): West Virginia Mayor Beverly Whaling has resigned. WSAZ News reportedly received confirmation that Whaling has submitted an official resignation letter, following the fallout from her comments on a racially offensive Facebook post, in which Clay County Corporation Director Pamela Ramsey Taylor referred to First Lady Michelle Obama as “an ape in heels.”
Previous Report:
As racial tensions continue to rise across the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory, a disturbing incident out of West Virginia has thousands demanding action.
Clay County Development Corporation Executive Pamela Ramsey Taylor hurled words of blatant disrespect and disregard for First Lady Michelle Obama in a racist Facebook post, where she referred to FLOTUS as “an ape in heels.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling agreed with Taylor’s racially offensive statement, commenting on the original post, “Just made my day, Pam.”
To read full article, go to: West Virginia Mayor Criticized For Racist FB Post About Michelle Obama Essence.com