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Posts published in “Crossovers”

R.I.P. James Hood, Student Activist Who Fought Segregation at University of Alabama

By goodblacknews on January 21, 2013
FILE - In this June 9, 1963 file photo, James A. Hood and Vivian J. Malone of Alabama pose in New York. Alabama Gov. George Wallace said he would personally bar them from registering at the University of Alabama despite a restraining order. (AP Photo/John Lindsay, File)
In this June 9, 1963 file photo, James A. Hood and Vivian J. Malone of Alabama pose in New York. Alabama Gov. George Wallace said he would personally bar them from registering at the University of Alabama despite a restraining order. (AP Photo/John Lindsay, File)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — One of the first black students who enrolled at the University of Alabama a half century ago in defiance of racial segregation has died. James Hood of Gadsden was 70.  Officials at Adams-Buggs Funeral Home in Gadsden said they are handling arrangements for Hood, who died Thursday.
Then-Alabama Gov. George Wallace made his infamous “stand in the schoolhouse door” in a failed effort to prevent Hood and Vivian Malone from registering for classes at the university in 1963.  Hood and Malone were accompanied by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach when they were confronted by Wallace as they attempted to enter the university’s Foster Auditorium to register for classes and pay fees.

R.I.P. Charles V. Bush, the First Black Page in the U.S. Supreme Court

By goodblacknews on December 1, 2012

2CharlesBushAccording to UPI.com, Charles V. Bush, the first African-American to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court page, and one of the first black Air Force Academy graduates, has died in Montana. He was 72.  Bush’s wife, Bettina Bush, told The Washington Post he died from colon cancer Nov. 5 at his home in Lolo.

Bush, who grew up in segregated Washington, was fourteen years old when he was named a Supreme Court page in July 1954. Bush worked primarily in the anteroom of Chief Justice Earl Warren, who sought the appointment of an African-American.  Bush was a member of the debate and rugby teams and a squadron commander at the Air Force Academy, before graduating in 1963.

Bush also served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, overseeing intelligence teams during the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Khe Sanh, the Post said.  He left the Air Force in 1970 with the rank of captain. His son, Chip Bush, said the elder Bush left in part because he thought he was overlooked for a promotion due to his race.

Besides his work in the corporate sector, Bush was a diversity consultant to the Air Force and the Air Force Academy, the Post said. His corporate career included work in executive-level positions for companies, including Max Factor and Hughes Electronics.  Survivors include his wife, three children, his mother, a sister, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.  To learn more about Bush’s life and career, click here.

article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

R.I.P. R&B Singer Billy Scott of The Georgia Prophets

By goodblacknews on November 20, 2012

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Rhythm and blues singer Billy Scott died November 17 in North Carolina at age 70.

Bill Kopald with the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame said Scott died from pancreatic and liver cancer Saturday at his home in Charlotte.

Born Peter Pendleton in Huntington, W. Va., he sang with various groups while in the Army. After he was discharged in 1964, he changed his name and with his wife, Barbara, in 1966 began recording as The Prophets. Their first gold record was 1968’s “I Got the Fever.” Other hits included “California” and “Seaside Love” as the Georgia Prophets.

The group recorded a number of hits in the 1970s in the beach music genre, a regional variant of R&B. Scott was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 1999.

Learn more about his life and music here and watch/listen to “I Got The Fever” below:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3EHUHW-xQ&w=420&h=315]

R.I.P. R&B and Delfonics Singer Major Harris

By goodblacknews on November 9, 2012

Major Harris, a highly-respected R&B singer out of Philadelphia, is dead at the age of 65.  Harris was known for his role as a member of the Delfonics, and for later achieving success as a solo artist.   Harris passed Friday morning at a hospital in Richmond, VA.  He died from congenitive heart and lung failure.

Harris started his career singing with doo-wop groups in the 1960s in Richmond, some of which included  the Jamels,the Charmers, Frankie Lymon‘s the Teenagers and Nat Turner’s Rebellion.

In 1974, Harris launched a solo career with Atlantic Records, creating a string of hits, including “Love Won’t Let Me Wait.”  His work has been sampled by quite a few contemporary groups, including Wu-Tang Clan, the Fugees and Notorious B.I.G., and resurrected in films like Quentin Tarantino‘s Jackie Brown.  To learn more about his life and music, click here.

Terry Callier, Singer and Songwriter, Dies at 67

By goodblacknews on October 30, 2012

R.I.P. Terry Callier, Chicago singer and songwriter, who in the 1970s developed an incantatory style that mingled soul, folk and jazz sounds around his meditative baritone (his most well-known song is “Occasional Rain”), then decades later was rescued from obscurity when his work found new fans in Britain.  To learn more about his life and music, read the nytimes.com article about Callier here and watch his collaboration with English trip hop duo Massive Attack below:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QvZK-kG030&w=560&h=315]

 

R.I.P. Native American Activist And Actor Russell Means

By goodblacknews on October 23, 2012

Russell Means Died Last Of The MohicansActivist and actor Russell Means died of cancer Monday at his home in Porcupine, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was 72. A prominent member of the American Indian movement, he was instrumental in Marlon Brando having a Native American accept Brando’s Best Actor Oscar at the 1973 Academy Awards as a way of highlighting the plight of American Indians. Means also appeared in several films: He debuted as an actor in Michael Mann’s 1992 film The Last Of The Mohicans with Daniel Day-Lewis, and his big-screen credits include Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers and the voice of the Powhatan in Disney’s 1995 animated Pocahontas as well as the 1998 sequel. Means also appeared on TV in show such as HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and CBS’ Nash Bridges.

article via deadline.com