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Documentary “Donayle Luna: Super Model” on 1st Black Supermodel Debuts September 13 on HBO

Documentary “Donayle Luna: Super Model” on 1st Black Supermodel Debuts September 13 on HBO

By goodblacknews on September 1, 2023

“Donayle Luna was the first Black woman to be on the cover of Vogue. Why don’t we know more about her?”

This pointed question from the recently released trailer for Donyale Luna: Super Model will hopefully no longer be relevant after the feature-length documentary about Luna’s life and career debuts on HBO September 13.

Born Peggy Anne Freeman in Detroit, Donyale Luna went on to revolutionize the fashion industry in the 1960s and 1970s, becoming the muse to some of the foremost photographers of the 20th century until her untimely death at the age of 33 in 1979.

Though Luna was one of the first Black models who graced the covers of both Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar in Europe, today, most people have never heard of her.

Directed by Nailah Jefferson, produced by Melissa Kramer, Isoul H. Harris, Melanie Sharee and executive produced by Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Jeff Friday, Dream Cazzaniga, participants in the doc include Luna’s daughter, Dream Cazzaniga, husband, Luigi Cazzaniga, supermodels Beverly Johnson and Pat Cleveland; Vogue global editor-at-large Hamish Bowles; photographers David Bailey, David McCabe, and Gideon Lewin; and many more.

GBN highlighted Luna last February in our post GBN’s Daily Drop: Donyale Luna – the First Black Supermodel (LISTEN) based on our entry about her in the Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022.

We are looking forward to learning even more about this mostly unsung trailblazer in the global fashion industry.

Vogue and YouTube Originals Documentary Series “Supreme Models” Chronicles History, Impact and Influence of Black Models (WATCH TRAILER)

Vogue and YouTube Originals Documentary Series “Supreme Models” Chronicles History, Impact and Influence of Black Models (WATCH TRAILER)

By goodblacknews on September 27, 2022

Vogue and YouTube Originals explore the legacy of Black models with a six-part documentary series based on Marcellas Reynolds’ 2019 book, SUPREME MODELS: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion.

The series chronicles the evolution of Black beauty and its impact on the fashion industry, the civil rights movement, the “Black is Beautiful” era and the influence on American culture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fu2Prg0GTg

Supreme Models features trailblazers such as Iman and Bethann Hardison to superstar models Joan Smalls, Indya Moore and Precious Lee with legends including Pat Cleveland, Roshumba Williams and Veronica Webb.

Anna Wintour, Chief Content Officer, Condé Nast and Global Editorial Director, Vogue, as well as Vogue European Editorial Director Edward Enniful, Vogue.com editor Chioma Nnadi and more also share personal stories of these boundary breaking women who set new standards in the worlds of beauty and fashion – from the 1960s to the unlimited potential of the digital age today.

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Black Lexicon: What “Afrofuturism” Means (LISTEN)

Black Lexicon: What “Afrofuturism” Means (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on May 3, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

In today’s Daily Drop, we explore the term “Afrofuturism” and its origin. To read about it and see links to sources, read on. To hear about it, press PLAY:

[You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out 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 Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

It’s in the category we call “Lemme Break It Down,” where we explore the origins and meanings of words and phrases rooted in the Black Lexicon and Black culture. Today’s word? “Afrofuturism.”

[Excerpt from “Space Is The Place” by Sun Ra]

“Afrofuturism” is a term that was coined in the 1994 essay “Black to the Future” by Mark Dery that describes a movement within Black culture from the 1950s to the present that employs science fiction and fantasy as frameworks to reimagine the African diaspora in music, art, literature, film, and fashion.

Musicians such as Sun Ra, who you are hearing right now, George Clinton, Janelle Monae, Erykah Badu; visual artists such as David Alabo, Ellen Gallagher, Kerry James Marshall, Kaylan F. Michael; and authors such as Octavia E. Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Tananarive Due and N.K. Jemisin all explore Afrofuturism in their work.

To learn more about “Afrofuturism,” read Mark Dery’s 1994 essay, available online in PDF, read Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture by Ytasha L. Womack, Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise fo Astro-Blackness edited by Reynaldo Anderson and Charles E. Jones.

 You can also watch the short PBS documentary called Afrofuturism 101 at pbs.org, download the This American Life “We Are The Future” podcast episode on Afrofuturism by Neil Drumming, check out the list of other Afrofuturism-themed podcasts on player.fm, and listen to the awesome “Space is The Place” Afrofuturism playlist curated by Good Black News contributor Marlon West.

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.

Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

Excerpts from Sun Ra’s “Space is the Place” are included under Fair Use.

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.

Sources:

(amazon links are paid links)

GBN’s Daily Drop: “Black Girl Magic” – (Gen) Z is for Zendaya (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: “Black Girl Magic” – (Gen) Z is for Zendaya (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 19, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop Podcast is based on the Saturday, February 19 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about the multi-talented former Disney Channel star, global box-office phenom and fashion icon Zendaya Coleman, in the category of what else… Black Girl Magic!

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

FULL 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 Friday, February 18th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing. Today’s category? Black Girl Magic. The person? Zendaya.

“Euphoria” must describe the feeling Zendaya Coleman has on the regular. Not only did she become the youngest person ever to win a Primetime Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2020 for her performance in HBO’s Euphoria, the multi-talented performer has landed Top 40 hits as a musical artist, starred in blockbusters such as Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home and The Greatest Showman—she can even do a convincing trapeze act!

The Dune and Malcolm and Marie star also claimed fashion icon status with various magazine covers, red carpet arrivals and the 2019 launch of her Zendaya x Tommy collection with Tommy Hilfiger.

To learn more about Oakland native Zendaya, check out the links to sources provided in today’s show notes or 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, and available at workman.com, Amazon, Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

(paid links)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Donyale Luna – the First Black Supermodel (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Donyale Luna – the First Black Supermodel (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 18, 2022

[Photo: Woodgate/Associated Newspapers/Rex USA]

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop Podcast is based on the Friday, February 18 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about Donyale Luna, who emerged in the 1960s as the first Black supermodel:

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

FULL 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 Friday, February 18th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Beverly Johnson made waves in 1974 as the first African American model to appear on the cover of American Vogue, and almost 50 years later she is still at it, having just walked in two shows at this year’s New York Fashion Week.

But did you know that the first African American model to grace any Vogue cover ever did so eight years before Beverly? In 1966, Donyale Luna graced the March cover of British Vogue. A Detroit native, Luna is widely considered to be the world’s first Black supermodel and served as one of the inspirations for the 1975 Diana Ross film Mahogany.

Luna’s career was unfortunately short-lived as she passed in 1979 at the age of 32, but her legacy lives on. To learn more about Luna and to see photos from her modeling days, check out the links provided in today’s show notes and also in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

Source links:

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, and available at workman.com, Amazon,Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

GBN’s Daily Drop: Learn About Designer and Hip Hop Style Icon Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Learn About Designer and Hip Hop Style Icon Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 17, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Thursday, February 17 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about designer and hip-hop style innovator and icon Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day.

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

FULL 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 Thursday, February 17th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

In the wake of New York Fashion Week, today we take a look at designer Daniel Day, best known as “Dapper Dan.”

Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day made his mark in the 1980s by reworking luxury label products with a hip-hop aesthetic and a signature style.

Known first for his jackets and coats, the self-taught tailor dressed artists such as LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Eric B. & Rakim and Salt-N-Pepa and athletes such as boxing champions Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather.

After legal trouble with several designer brands, Dan made a comeback in 2017 by partnering with Gucci to create a new menswear line. Dan and Gucci built on that success and in 2018 opened the first luxury fashion house in his home neighborhood called Dapper Dan’s of Harlem.

To learn more about Dapper Dan, you can read his 2019 New York Times Bestseller Dapper Dan Made In Harlem: A Memoir, check out his CBS Sunday Morning interview, his appearance on The Breakfast Club, Dan’s own webpage and a compilation post of some of Dan’s classic, iconic designs.

Links to these and other sources on Dapper Dan are provided in today’s show notes and also in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

Sources:

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, and available at workman.com, Amazon, Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

(paid link)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Ann Lowe – Fashion Designer for Harlem, Hollywood and the White House (LISTEN)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Ann Lowe – Fashion Designer for Harlem, Hollywood and the White House (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 16, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Wednesday, February 16 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about haute couture designer and entrepreneur Ann Lowe.

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

FULL 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 Wednesday, February 16th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

As New York’s Fashion Week for 2022 concludes, today we take a look at esteemed designer and dressmaker Ann Lowe.

In 1914, when Ann Lowe was sixteen years old, her mother, who was a seamstress, died suddenly. Though grieving, Lowe finished her mother’s last job—creating four ball gowns for the First Lady of Alabama and launching her career as a designer of haute couture.

Years later, although she received no credit for either, Lowe made both actress Olivia de Havilland’s distinctive flower-covered dress for the 1946 Academy Awards and Jacqueline Kennedy’s iconic wedding dress in 1953.

Her store, Ann Lowe’s Gowns, opened in Harlem in 1950, and in 1968, when she opened a second location, Lowe became the first Black woman to own a boutique on Madison Avenue.

To learn more about Ann Lowe’s life and career, read Something To Prove: A Biography of Ann Lowe America’s Forgotten Designer by Julia Faye Smith, check out her designs on the Fashion Institute of Technology’s website, the National First Ladies Library lecture on Lowe that’s on YouTube, as well as links to other sources provided in today’s show notes as well as in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

Other sources for Lowe:

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, and available at workman.com, Amazon,Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

(paid links)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Director and Playwright George C. Wolfe Quote on the Source of Style (LISTEN)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Director and Playwright George C. Wolfe Quote on the Source of Style (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 15, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Tuesday, February 15 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 and helps celebrate New York Fashion Week with a fun quote from Tony Award-winning director, filmmaker and playwright George C. Wolfe:

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

FULL 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, February 15th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

As New York’s Fashion Week for 2022 continues, today we offer a quote from George C. Wolfe, the Tony Award-winning director of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Bring In ‘Da Noise/Bring in ‘Da Funk. He’s also the former artistic director of New York’s Public Theater and he also wrote 1986’s acclaimed off-Broadway play The Colored Museum. Here’s the quote:

“God created Black people, and Black people created style.”

To learn more about American Theater Hall of Fame inductee George C. Wolfe, check out the 2018 Oprah Winfrey/Rose Byrne film adaptation of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on HBO or Hulu, which Wolfe wrote and directed based on the book of the same name, of head to Netflix for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom which was his 2020 film starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman.

Or you can watch his TIFF Originals Master Class on YouTube, and read more about Wolfe on the Internet Broadway Database, thehistorymakers.org and theundefeated.com. Links to these sources are provided in today’s show notes as well as in the episode’s full transcript 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, and available at workman.com, Amazon, Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

GBN’s Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 is 50% off at workman.com with code:50CAL until 2/28/22

(paid links)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley – Dressmaker, Author and Confidante to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln (LISTEN)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley – Dressmaker, Author and Confidante to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 12, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast, on Lincoln’s birthday, is based on the Saturday, February 12 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022. It’s about the amazing Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, an enslaved woman owned by her own father who managed to buy her freedom and become dressmaker and confidante to first lady Mary Todd Lincoln.

(Btw, GBN’s Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 is 50% off at workman.com with code:50CAL until 2/28/22!)

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or 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 Saturday, February 12th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing. Today, on Lincoln’s birthday, we are honoring 19th century dressmaker and designer Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley.

Against all odds, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley had perseverance, talent and style. Owned by her own father, Keckley was born enslaved in 1818. Despite being treated brutally, she eventually became an accomplished seamstress, and in 1855 Keckley had earned enough money to purchase her and her son’s freedom.

She then built a dressmaking business and became dresser and confidante to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. In 1863 she founded a relief association for newly freed Blacks. Keckley published her autobiography, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House, in 1868.

To learn more about Keckley, you can read her autobiography, which is in the public domain and online at the internet archive, check out The Elizabeth Keckley Reader, Volumes 1 & 2, which are two collections of essays and other published works about Keckley, check out the dresses she designed online, including the one for Mary Todd Lincoln that resides at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, and watch her short biography on YouTube produced by the Smithsonian Channel.

Keckley, played by Gloria Reuben, is also a featured character in Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film Lincoln. Links to these sources and more are provided in today’s show notes.

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, and available at workman.com, Amazon, Bookshop and other online retailers.

Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation Launches $2M Grant to HBCU Scholarship Program

Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation Launches $2M Grant to HBCU Scholarship Program

By goodblacknews on January 2, 2022

The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation announced a $2 million commitment to support scholarships for Black, African and African American students, including those at Morehouse College, Spelman College and 10 additional historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) through the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

These scholarships are part of Ralph Lauren Corporation’s previously announced commitments to address systemic racism and racial injustice by creating more pathways for equity within the fashion industry and beyond, beginning with education.

“Students represent the best of the human spirit – passion, curiosity and boundless dreams,” said Ralph Lauren, Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Ralph Lauren Corporation. “When all students have an equal chance to succeed, their dreams become realities and inspire us all.”

“The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation works to make the dream of a better life a reality by championing equity and investing in historically underserved communities,” said Roseann Lynch, Ralph Lauren Corporation’s Chief People Officer and Head of the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation. “Our hope is that these scholarships will deepen pathways of access to education for our future leaders and help enable them to pursue their own dreams.”

“Morehouse has a common cause with partners like the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation who believe that equity begins with education,” said David A. Thomas, Ph.D., Morehouse College president. “Through educational investments, which help elevate the creativity and professional competence of talented students of color, we today empower the innovators who will develop the fashions, products and services the world will demand tomorrow.”

“This new scholarship will allow high-achieving students in need of financial support to graduate with less debt, ready to step into their careers,” said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman College. “We’re extremely proud to join forces with the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation in its effort to increase equity and access in the fashion industry.”