Good Black News wants to take a moment on this day to honor and remember the women who gave us life, who nurtured and raised us, and also offered us solace, counsel, wisdom, humility and humor.
We are excited to acknowledge that because of progress with vaccinations in the U.S., many of us can be with our mothers or mother figures this year when we could not in 2020.
For those of us who still aren’t able to be with our mothers or mother figures in person, we are with you in voice, online and always – in spirit!
And to all the mothers out there – be they Aunties, Grandmothers, Cousins or Friends – thank you for all you do!
Practically all Americans celebrate or at the very least know about the national Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. But how many know it came to pass because of the activism and efforts of his widow, Coretta Scott King?
Today, on what would have been Coretta Scott King’s 94th birthday, we honor and celebrate her.
Coretta Scott King worked alongside MLK Jr. throughout the civil rights movement, and continued social justice work for decades after his assassination in 1968 until her own passing in 2006.
In 1983 she finally succeeded when President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law declaring MLK Day starting on January 20, 1986. Coretta Scott King honored the occasion in Atlanta, Georgia, placing a wreath on King’s tomb and holding a ceremony at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King had served as co-pastor for eight years before his death.
Coretta Scott King also spoke up for women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, against the Vietnam War, against apartheid in South Africa and called out the FBI for its extensive surveillance of both her and MLK. King wrote about her life and work in the book My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr., first published in 1969.
In 2005, King allowed her alma mater, Antioch College, to create the Coretta Scott King Center as a learning resource to address issues of race, class, gender, diversity, and social justice for the campus and the surrounding community. The Center opened in 2007.
To learn more about her life and legacy, watch the video above, or check out the books My Life, My Love, My Legacyand Coretta Scott by Ntozake Shange and Kadir Nelson.
Today’s Mardi Gras is unlike practically any other in recent times. With the COVID 19 pandemic still rampant in the U.S. and most of the world, no parades are scheduled, public gatherings are prohibited, bars are shut down and most significantly, Bourbon Street in New Orleans, the epicenter of U.S. Mardi Gras celebrations, is closed.
For those who still want a way to celebrate safely as they enjoy king cake, Good Black News is happy to re-post a playlist by Marlon West entitled “Working in the Coal Mine: A Collection of New Orleans Funk and Soul”:
This collection of New Orleans Funk features acknowledges masters next to some of the earlier artists who shaped the meaning of funk. It covers the period from the emergence of New Orleans Funk in the early 1960s through to the present day.
[This] mix offers The Meters, Queen Ida, Eddie Bo, Professor Longhair, Lee Dorsey, Wild Magnolias and many more.
New Orleans is a port town. Originally owned by the French. Many of the Africans who ended up there came from Haiti and brought with them the religion of Voodoo and its drums and music.
The Crescent City became one of the first parts of America to develop a strong African-American culture leading to the invention of Jazz.
This playlist offers the sound of the New Orleans Funeral March Bands, Mardi Gras Indian Tribes and Saturday Night Fish Fries.
We hope this playlist helps you access the spirit of New Orleans and Mardi Gras. We also hope that in 2022, you can do so in a communal way as well.
More than 50 years after his death, I can only wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would think of the upheaval of 2020; of the push back on the sentiment that “Black Lives Matter,” and a white supremacist insurgency in our nation’s capital.
Would-be nazis and neo-confederates beating and murdering police on their way into storming the people’s house. We have come far as a nation, and yet what Brotha Ta-Nehisi Coates calls the “beautiful struggle” continues unabated.
As well all celebrate, serve, and/or reflect on this special of American holidays, here’s a collection of music for your mind, heart, and soul. (And in some cases, dat booty too.)
Many are classics that inspired the Freedom Riders during the civil rights movement, and others were written in the wake of George Floyd‘s murder and the protests that followed.
For my money 2020 was a good year for films by and Black people, as well as the sounds from them. One Night In Miami, Sylvie’s Love, Soul, and the Small Axe series to name but a few. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Da 5 Bloods both featured posthumous performances by the great Chadwick Boseman.
Here’s more than 17 hours of music to help steel you for the days, weeks, and months 2021 is certain to bring.
I plan to be back with more next week, y’all. Stay safe, sane, and kind.
Good Black News would like to kick off 2021 by thanking our readers and followers, old and new, for working so hard to persevere, create community and foster change in 2020 even in the face of a global pandemic, nationwide protests and political sea changes.
We sincerely wish the best of everything to you and your loved ones in 2021 and beyond. Happy New Year!
Donny Hathaway‘s recording of “This Christmas” is a holiday staple on Black radio and in Black households, and we are honored to celebrate its 50th anniversary today.
It’s difficult to remember a time when “This Christmas” wasn’t a popular seasonal tune, but when the song was released on December 9, 1970, the single failed to register on the R&B and Pop charts and didn’t get much airplay.
Decades later, however, Hathaway’s vision for African American representation in modern Christmas music shone through.
Co-written with Nadine McKinnor, Hathaway’s celebration of the season grew in popularity thanks to a 1990s re-release and covers by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Alexander O’Neal, Ne-Yo, The Braxtons, Seal, Mary J. Blige, Patti LaBelle, Destiny’s Child, and Pentatonix.
Preston Whitmore‘s 2007 film This Christmas starring Loretta Devine, Regina King, Delroy Lindo and Chris Brown (who also recorded the title track) helped maintain the popularity of the song.
Today, “This Christmas” has since become one of the most-performed holiday songs of all time, and in honor of its golden anniversary, Rhino Records released the animated video above drawn by famed cartoonist Lonnie Milsap for all to enjoy.
This Christmas, unlike any other in our lifetime, is a time to forgive, be thankful, grateful, generous, kind and compassionate.
Good Black News thanks you all for your support and goodwill over the years and especially in 2020 when we have collectively experienced so much challenge.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas, a blessed and bountiful Kwanzaa and what we all hope will be a healing new year.
Whether you are among those celebrating the Christmas holiday with loved ones (via Zoom or in the same room) or doing it solo, you may want some mellow-yet-festive holiday music playing as you spend the day.
From Take 6 to Duke Ellington to Geri Allen to Oscar Peterson, this playlist includes vocal and instrumental jazz renditions of traditional and modern Christmas and end-of-year classics for all to enjoy.
Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Etta James, Dinah Washington, Esperanza Spalding and Billie Holiday are among the female jazz vocalists represented on “Cool Yule,” with Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Louis Armstrong lending their deeper pipes to the playlist.
Also represented are jazz titans Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Count Basie Orchestra, Benny Carter, Kenny Burrell, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, the McCoy Tyner Trio, Jimmy Smith, the Elvin Jones Quintet and the Ramsey Lewis Trio.
Wishing you all the best tomorrow and in the coming new year. Enjoy!
Yesterday hip hop artist and activist Meek Mill along with his Dream Chasers record label delivered toys, clothes, and new Xbox consoles to 35 families in Philadelphia impacted by the criminal justice system.
In partnership with the REFORM Alliance, Puma, GoPuff, and DocuVault, the rapper helped arrange the deliveries, and saw the families receive everything from MacBook Air laptops or iPads, to baby clothes and Xbox Series X consoles.
“It’s been a tough year for all of us, but through all the ups and downs, I’ll always do my part to support and give back to the Philly community that raised me,” said Meek. “I remember not having much growing up, so it’s important to use my platform to give back, especially to the families trying to provide for their kids while also dealing with the criminal justice system.” Among the recipients was Anthony Morse, who fosters five kids as well as raising his own children.
Conducted with social distancing protocols, Meek personally FaceTimed some of the families to hear their stories as the deliveres were conducted. He also announced that he has donated $30,000 to the Philadelphia chapter of volunteer organization Twelve Days of Christmas, which aims to help families make it through the holiday season. His contribution will go towards 30 families across North Philadelphia, include those who went to his old school, James G. Blaine Elementary School.
Robert Rihmeek Williams aka Meek Mill was born and raised in Philadelphia and was executive producer and subject of the 2019 Free Meek documentary on Prime Video detailing his own personal battles with the criminal justice system.
Happy Holidays, in this fifth day of Chanukah. I’ll keep it brief this time. Other contributors are also offering Christmastime collections.
Though as is my style, this one is pretty free-wheeling. This collection has Soul, Reggae, Gospel, Ska, and Jazz Christmas tracks. (I included a few Christmas songs by the late Charley Pride too.)
There are Yuletide classics from legendary artists like Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye, to recent cuts by Lil Nas X, Daveed Diggs and Sharon Jones.
I have again included tracks about food, cold weather, and songs like Love’s “Alone Again Or” that is particularly apt for Christmas 2020.
I hope these collections have been as sustaining for you to listen to as they have been for me to make them. Please enjoy this Afroclectic playlist selected for this holiday season.
There are a couple of funky Chanukah tracks include, not only because they are great, but this year in particular the Festival of Lights that celebrates a small victory in the midst of battle, has a lesson and meaning for us all.
Whatever lights you have in your window this year, it is a stalwart signal of joy and tenacity in these toughest of times.
