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First Daughter Malia Obama Chooses to Attend Harvard

By goodblacknews on May 1, 2016
Malia Obama chooses Harvard (photo via above average.com)
Malia Obama chooses Harvard (photo via above average.com)
article by Angela Bronner Helm via theroot.com
After much speculation, Malia Obama, the eldest daughter of the President and First Lady has announced her plans to attend Harvard University, but not until 2017.
The White House announced her plans on Sunday, as well as her intention to take a “gap year” so that when she begins, her father will be out of office.
Malia is continuing the tradition of the Obamas who were both Ivy League graduates. Harvard is where both of her parents attended law school, and President Obama graduated from Columbia undergrad and Michelle Obama attended Princeton.
Malia will join a long list of presidential children who have attended the Ivy League school, including John Quincy Adams and his son, John Adams II; Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert; the sons of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt; Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of John F. Kennedy; and George W. Bush, who went to business school there.
The New York Times reports that Malia visited Harvard and a handful of other Ivy League and liberal arts schools last March on the East Coast, but because she accompanied her father to California last month, many believed Stanford was at the top of her list. Apparently Crimson won her heart.
Read more at the New York Times.

History Teacher Jacana Hayes Named National Teacher of the Year

By goodblacknews on April 30, 2016

U.S. Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes (photo via blogcea.com)
U.S. Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes (photo via blogcea.org)

article by Michael Melia via abc7ny.com
A Connecticut high school history teacher chosen as the National Teacher of the Year on Thursday says she was surrounded by poverty, drugs and violence as a child but imagined other possibilities for her life with help from educators.
Jahana Hayes, who teaches at John F. Kennedy High School in Waterbury, CT, was selected for the honor by the Council of Chief State School Officers. She will be recognized by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony this coming Tuesday.
Hayes, 44, grew up in a Waterbury housing project and became a teenage mother while still in high school. She said the influence of her own teachers taught her that a school’s job sometimes overlaps with the job of parents, and she wants her students to know there are no dead ends.
“No matter where you are or how bad you think it is, there’s always opportunities for growth and opportunities for improvement,” she said. “I think too often, especially at the high school level, people deal in absolutes and students get the message that, ‘If I mess up or I don’t do everything exactly right right now, that that’s the end of my story.'”
At an urban school with a widely diverse student body, she said she has found teaching is a lifestyle that extends beyond the contracted hours. She finds herself serving not only as a teacher but also as a counselor, a confidant and a protector of her students.

Tamir Rice’s Family Settles With Cleveland for $6 Million in Wrongful Death Lawsuit

By goodblacknews on April 26, 2016
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Tamir Rice’s family (photo via Getty Images)

article by Nigel Roberts via newsone.com

Tamir Rice’s family and the city of Cleveland, reached a $6 million settlement on Monday in a wrongful death lawsuit, ABC News reports.
Subodh Chandra, the family attorney, described the settlement as historic, according to ABC News.  But he added, via the Associated Press: “The resolution is nothing to celebrate because a 12-year-old child needlessly lost his life.”
Tamir was playing with a pellet gun at a Cleveland recreational center when Police Officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback shot him in November 2014. A video captured the moment when their patrol car, responding to a 911 call, pulls up to Tamir and Loehmann shoots the boy within seconds. They reportedly were not aware that a witness said the gun was probably a fake and Tamir looked like a juvenile.
The fatal shooting contributed to the national outcry against excessive police force in regards to Black males and protests in Cleveland. In that tense atmosphere, a grand jury declined to charge the officers. Meanwhile, a federal civil rights investigation is pending.
Tamir’s mother, Samaria Rice, said the two officers failed to administer first aid and caused intentional distress by the way they mistreated her and her daughter following the shooting, ABC News reports. Her wrongful death suit targeted the officers, dispatchers, and Cleveland.
The network reports that the U.S. District Court filed an ordered saying that Cleveland will pay Tamir’s estate $3 million this year and the remainder in 2017. Cleveland did not admit to wrongdoing.

Harriet Tubman Officially Chosen as New Face of $20 Bill, Replacing Andrew Jackson

By goodblacknews on April 20, 2016
article by Samantha Masunaga via latimes.com
Harriet Tubman will replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill, a Treasury Department official said Wednesday.
The official did not give a timetable for the change, saying only that the department is looking to make it as quickly as possible without compromising security.
The news deviates from Treasury Secretary Jack Lew’s original plan, which was unveiled last summer. Lew’s plan involved changing the $10 bill, not the $20; the department planned to put a woman on the $10 bill by 2020, in time for the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
The $10 bill currently features Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first Treasury secretary. In June, Lew said that either Hamilton would share the bill with a woman or the Treasury would release two different bills.

The Treasury Department official did not comment Wednesday morning on any planned changes for the $10 bill.
Lew’s original plan to change the $10 suffered backlash from several directions. Many who objected said the only woman on the nation’s paper currency should be featured alone on the bill, rather than sharing space with a man. Some said the $20 bill should be changed instead, as its ubiquity in ATMs gives it a much higher profile than the $10.
Some objected to the plan because of the historical figures involved: Hamilton played key roles in founding the nation and establishing the Treasury, whereas Jackson was a slave owner whose policies led to the deaths of countless Native Americans, and he opposed having a U.S. central bank. And Hamilton’s popularity has grown in the past year with the success of “Hamilton,” the blockbuster Broadway musical chronicling his life.
To read more, go to: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-harriet-tubman-20-bill-20160420-story.html

Broadway Smash "Hamilton" Wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama

By goodblacknews on April 18, 2016

"Hamilton"
“Hamilton” (photo via Variety.com)

article by Gordon Cox, Brent Lang via Variety.com
“Hamilton,” the Broadway smash that’s looked like an awards-season favorite from the moment it opened, has been awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Although it’s rare for a musical to the win the drama prize over plays, “Hamilton” had nonetheless looked like a lock for the Pulitzer, given its link to American history and the fresh, contemporary resonances it finds in the nation’s foundational moments. (The most recent musicals to nab the Pulitzer were the 2010 show “Next to Normal” and 1996’s “Rent.”)
The Pulitzer win could be the first of many victories for “Hamilton.” Much of the theater industry considers the show’s sweep of the Tony Awards as a foregone conclusion. “The Humans,” Stephen Karam’s subtly drawn portrait of one American family’s anxieties, was one of the few obvious titles that seemed likely to give “Hamilton” a little competition; that play was named a 2016 finalist, as was Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Gloria.” “Hamilton’s” victory came during the centennial year for the Pulitzers, which recognize excellence in the arts and in journalism.
The Associated Press won the gold medal in public service, considered by many to be the top Prize, for its probe into labor abuses in the seafood business.
“The Sympathizer,” debut novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen’s look at a Vietnamese spy, took the fiction prize, while “Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS,” Joby Warrick’s look at the Islamic terrorist group, nabbed the non-fiction statue. T.J. Stiles won his second Pulitzer in the biography category for “Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America.”
The New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum captured the criticism prize, one of two awards for the magazine. The other came in the feature writing category, where Kathryn Schulz was honored for her look at how the Cascadia fault line could lead to environmental disaster. Magazines have only been eligible for Pulitzers for a year. New Yorker staff writer William Finnegan was also honored in biography for his surfing memoir “Barbarian Days.”
To read more, go to: http://variety.com/2016/legit/news/pulitzers-2016-hamilton-pulitzer-prize-drama-1201755578/

Kanye West Becomes The 1st Artist to Reach No.1 On Billboard Albums Chart From Streaming Only

By goodblacknews on April 10, 2016
kanye-west-the-life-of-pablo-640x427
Kanye West (CREDIT: Getty Images)
article by Richy Rosario via vibe.com
Kanye West is reportedly the first artist in history to have an album at No. 1 solely on music streams from major outlets. His latest project The Life of Pablo, was distributed and consumed by the masses through some paid downloads from his personal G.O.O.D / Def Jam page, but most of the revenue (a nice 90k), came from music streaming services like Apple Music and Tidal, according to HITS Daily Double. 
Reports state that this strategy was created by Ye’s new management team: Scooter Braun, Steve Bartels and Def Jam. You can also catch Kanye at the top of the iTunes chart along with Drake in their collaboration on “Pop Style.”
This comes as no surprise to us as it was reported last month that TLOP was streamed over 250 million times since its release.

Kendrick Lamar Pays Homage To N.W.A At Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Event

By goodblacknews on April 9, 2016


Friday night (Apr. 8) was an evening to remember for the members of N.W.A.
Source: Kendrick Lamar Pays Homage To N.W.A At Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Event

Kim Hunter Reed Named Deputy Under Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education

By goodblacknews on April 7, 2016
Kim Hunter Reed (photo via
Kim Hunter Reed (photo via twitter.com)

article via jbhe.com

Kim Hunter Reed has been appointed by President Barack Obama as Deputy Under Secretary of Education. Dr. Reed will be a member of the senior leadership team at the Department of Education that oversees higher education in the United States.

Dr. Reed is the former chief of staff for the Louisiana Board of Regents and the former executive vice president of the University of Louisiana System. Earlier, she served on the faculty at Southern University in Baton Rouge and was executive assistant to the president and interim vice president of student affairs at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.
Dr. Reed earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalist and master of public administration degree at Southeastern Louisiana University. She holds a doctorate in public policy from Southern University.

New York High School Senior Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna Accepted to All Eight Ivy League Colleges

By goodblacknews on April 6, 2016
Image: Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna
Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna. Elmont Memorial High School (photo via nbcnews.com)

article by Sarah Donaldson James via nbcnews.com

All eight Ivy League schools — Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, University of Pennsylvania — have offered Long Island, New York high school senior Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna  places in their freshman class.

In addition to the Ivies, she was accepted by Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Augusta is valedictorian at Elmont Memorial High School, where she has a 101.64 weighted grade point average. The school is no stranger to academic superstars: Last year, senior Harold Ekeh scored the same number of Ivy acceptances.
“I am elated, but most importantly, I am thankful,” Augusta, 17, told school officials at Sewanhaka Central High School District.
Augusta’s older brother Johnson told NBC News that Augusta’s “initiative and perseverance,” as well as the family’s emphasis on learning, were responsible for his sister’s success. And the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as both their Nigerian-born parents are college-educated, and her father has a master’s and doctorate from the University of Indianapolis.
“Education is very paramount in our family,” said her brother, who also made his way to the Ivies. He is a freshman at Cornell University, studying biological engineering.
Tobias and Basillia Nna immigrated to the United States in 1994 and settled first in Indiana then New York City. They moved to Elmont in 2000. Their father has worked for various companies as a physical therapist. All four of their children were born in this country.  “Augusta’s school days start from 7 in the morning until around 8 at night,” said Uwamanzu-Nna. “Not to mention all of the homework assignments, scholarship and other miscellaneous things she gets done.”
He said that while his sister was co-founder of her own tutoring service, she also works at another tutoring center on Saturdays.
“I am humbled by all of the college acceptance letters that I recently received,” Augusta says on her high school website. “I am reminded that I have a responsibility to be a role model for others and use my experiences to encourage and inspire others, especially young women.”
To read more, go to: http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/college-game-plan/long-island-high-school-student-accepted-all-eight-ivies-n551901?cid=sm_tw&hootPostID=9c3ca1968651804b658563b28ec6dd2c

How Theresa Kachindomoto, a Female Chief in Malawi, is Effectively Putting an End to Child Marriages and Sexually Abusive Traditions

By goodblacknews on April 6, 2016
Malawi Chief Theresa
Malawi Chief Theresa Kachindomoto (photo by Hannah McNeish via aljazeera.com)

“Educate a girl and you educate the whole area … You educate the world.” – Theresa Kachindomoto

article by Hadassah Egbedi via venturesafrica.com
In 2003, when Theresa Kachindomoto was called upon to leave her job of 27 years as a secretary at a city college to become a village chief in Malawi, she refused. “I said ‘No, I don’t want to be a chief,’ she told writer Hannah McNeish for AlJazeera, but the royal family insisted, asking her to pack her bags and head home to assume her position as the senior chief of Dedza district around Lake Malawi.
In obedience, the mother of five packed up and headed home to Dezda, little did she know that she would be an agent of great change in the district of over 100,000 people. Days after she arrived, Theresa was shocked to see female children as young as 12 with a husband, and children of their own.
Malawi ranks 8th out of 20 countries with the highest child-marriage rates in the world. According to a United Nations survey, more than half of Malawi’s girls are married before the age of 18. This comes as no surprise as the country only recently, in 2015, passed a legislation which changed the legal marriage age from 15 to 18 years.
Theresa immediately called for an end to child marriage, the termination of these existing marriages, and for parents to give their female children an education instead, but no one listened. Most parents said they were too poor to keep a female child, or send her to school, as it will make them poorer. A number of them felt Theresa had no right to change this tradition, especially as a mother of five boys.
If you can’t change them, change the law
Since she could not change their set mentality, Theresa opted to change the law instead. She met with 50 sub chiefs and made them sign an agreement to end child marriage under customary law, and to annul existing unions. “I said to the chiefs that this must stop, or I will dismiss them.” Four chiefs who did not adhere to the new law got dismissed for still allowing child marriage in their areas of jurisdiction. But seeing that Theresa meant business, they ensured that existing child marriages were terminated in their areas, this action got their positions reinstated.
The issue of child marriage is not just a Malawian problem, it is one that has long existed in many African countries, and including Nigeria which is one of the countries in Africa with the highest rate of child marriage, particularly in the North. Statistics show that Africa has 15 out of the 20 countries in the world with the highest rates of child marriage. And according to predictions from UNICEF, the number of child brides will double by 2050 if the current trend continues. The problems that accompany child marriages are numerous including STD’s, Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF), and death.
In Malawi, there are certain appalling traditions that encourage child marriage and subject young girls to sexual abuse. Girls from as young as age seven are sent to “Kusasa fumbi – cleansing – camps”, a camp to prepare girls for womanhood and marriage. Here, they are taught how to please men by performing titillating dances and sex acts. Some end up leaving camp disvirgined by the teacher(s); those who are not, end up being defiled anyway by men hired by their parents to take their virginity and, or impregnate them. There is also a belief that sick men can cure themselves by having sex with virgins.
In the past three years, Chief Theresa has terminated more than 850 child unions, including putting an end to sexually abusive traditions, and sending these young girls to school. Most times, she funds their education, and sometimes she gets sponsors to do so. She also has a large network of village head, men and women who’s helping her enforce these laws. Some to ensure that the girls placed in school are not pulled out.
To read full article, go to: http://venturesafrica.com/how-a-malawi-female-chief-is-effectively-ending-child-marriages-and-sexual-initiations/