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MUSIC MONDAY: “Where I’m From” – A Free-Wheeling Celebration of African American Music Appreciation Month 2021 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Where I’m From” – A Free-Wheeling Celebration of African American Music Appreciation Month 2021 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on June 7, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Monday again, you all.

Well, it is always African American Music Appreciation Month (aka Black Music Month) around these parts! We celebrate Black music every week here at Good Black News.

It’s been more than a year since I started making weekly playlists honoring African American music in its many forms.

If you’ve been tuning in with any regularity, you know I am no stranger to a free-wheeling and hours-long playlist.

When it comes to a collection that tracks Gospel, Blues, Jazz, R&B, Rock, Hip-Hop, and everything in between, this one was bound to be a long one:

Have a great week.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

[Editor’s Note: ICYMI, below are links to some of Marlon’s most popular playlists from 2020. Enjoy!]

Animated U.S. Civics Series “We The People” Produced by Obamas to Debut on Netflix July 4 (WATCH TRAILER)

Animated U.S. Civics Series “We The People” Produced by Obamas to Debut on Netflix July 4 (WATCH TRAILER)

By goodblacknews on June 3, 2021

Michelle and Barack Obama announced yesterday that they have executive produced and Netflix will stream We the People, a 10-episode television series aimed at educating children on United States civics lessons, starting on July 4 of this year.

Across all three-minute music videos, the Obamas have enlisted artists such as Grammy and Academy Award winner H.E.R., Andra Day, Janelle Monáe, rapper Cordae, rock singer Adam Lambert,  Frozen and Frozen 2 composers Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Hamilton‘s Daveed Diggs, Brittany Howard, In the Heights and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brandi Carlile, KYLE, Bebe Rexha, , and Biden inaugural poet Amanda Gorman to perform original songs and compositions that will soundtrack each narrative.

Episodes were directed by Peter Ramsey, Trisha Gum, Victoria Vincent, Benjy Brooke, Mabel Ye, Tim Rauch, Jorge R. Gutierrez, Daron Nefcy, Everett Downing, and Kendra Ryan. Each episode will offer lessons on basics of U.S. citizenship and rights, evoking the beloved Schoolhouse Rock series that originally aired on ABC in the 1970s.

Other producers on the project include Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and Doc McStuffins creator Chris Nee.

Ahead of We the People‘s July 4 premiere date on Netflix, the show will premiere at a free screening in the DOCS Talks section of the American Film Institute‘s DOCS film festival on Thursday, June 24.

Read more: https://ew.com/tv/barack-obama-michelle-new-netflix-animated-series/

“We Will Never Forget”: Omarion, Lalah Hathaway and Kierra Sheard’s Tulsa Tribute Anthem Proceeds to Aid Reparations Campaign for Massacre Survivors and Descendants (WATCH)

“We Will Never Forget”: Omarion, Lalah Hathaway and Kierra Sheard’s Tulsa Tribute Anthem Proceeds to Aid Reparations Campaign for Massacre Survivors and Descendants (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on June 2, 2021

It’s more than fitting that this year’s Black Music Month begins with the release of a tribute anthem honoring the legacy of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the 100th anniversary of its purposeful destruction, which was officially acknowledged by President Joe Biden in a speech yesterday.

“We Will Never Forget” is the featured track from LeBron James’ Springhill Company and CNN Documentary film, Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street, that premiered on CNN on the centennial anniversary of the Black Wall Street Massacre May 31, 2021.

This soul stirring song recorded by Omarion, Lalah Hathaway and Kierra Sheard, written and produced by Greg Curtis and executive produced by Michelle Le Fleur, honors the families and descendants of the 1921 Greenwood District massacre in Tulsa. 

Proceeds from the single benefit social change grassroots organization Color of Change to aid the social justice movement to end systemic racism and racially motivated violence.

Color of Change currently has a campaign going to demand the Centennial Commission and City of Tulsa give 80% of the $30 million raised to the survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Learn more about it here.

To learn more about Tulsa, read: Tulsa, 1921: Reporting a Massacre

or The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

(paid links)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Birth of the Cool” – a Tribute to Miles Davis (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Birth of the Cool” – a Tribute to Miles Davis (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on May 31, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Memorial Day, you all. I also need to acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the Black Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Last week included the 95th anniversary of the birth of Miles Davis. His hometown of East St. Louis, Missouri was the site of another race massacre in 1917.

So much has been written about Miles Davis. Including is his own autobiography. There have been documentaries long and short about him, so I won’t go on.

At over 10 hours this collection is still the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes his creative output. Miles was a giant in American music, and one of this nation’s most iconic and influential figures in music and culture.

In a career that spanned five decades, he kept at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz. From being of the vanguards of bebop and blazing the trail of electric jazz.

The list of his collaborators is far too long, but here are just a few: Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Max Roach, Gil Evans, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, and Joe Zawinul.

Miles Davis gave many of these now-legendary artists, who all appear on this playlist, their first break. Davis was tough as nails from all reports, though he seemed more than willing to imbue great vulnerability and tenderness in his playing.

Do enjoy.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
HISTORY: Honoring Memorial Day and its African American Origins

HISTORY: Honoring Memorial Day and its African American Origins

By goodblacknews on May 31, 2021

[Photo/Image via chicagocrusader.com]

Although May 30, 1868 is cited as the first national commemoration of Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, events lead by African Americans in Charleston, SC to decorate the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers occurred on May 1, 1865, less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered.

Reports of this early version of Memorial Day or “Decoration Day” as it was called, were rediscovered in the Harvard University archives in the late 1990s by historian David Blight, author of the 2018 biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.

To quote from history.com:

When Charleston fell and Confederate troops evacuated the badly damaged city, those freed from enslavement remained. One of the first things those emancipated men and women did was to give the fallen Union prisoners a proper burial. They exhumed the mass grave and reinterred the bodies in a new cemetery with a tall whitewashed fence inscribed with the words: “Martyrs of the Race Course.”

And then on May 1, 1865, something even more extraordinary happened. According to two reports that Blight found in The New York Tribune and The Charleston Courier, a crowd of 10,000 people, mostly freed slaves with some white missionaries, staged a parade around the race track. Three thousand Black schoolchildren carried bouquets of flowers and sang “John Brown’s Body.” Members of the famed 54th Massachusetts and other Black Union regiments were in attendance and performed double-time marches. Black ministers recited verses from the Bible.

Despite the size of the gathering and newspaper coverage, the memory of this event was “suppressed by white Charlestonians in favor of their own version of the day,” Blight stated in the New York Times in 2011.

On May 31, 2010, near a reflecting pool at Hampton Park, the city of Charleston reclaimed this history by installing a plaque commemorating the site as the place where Blacks held the first Memorial Day on May 1, 1865.

During the dedication of the plaque, the city’s mayor at the time, Joe Riley, was present to celebrate the historic occasion which included a brass band and a reenactment of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment.

In 2017, the City of Charleston erected yet another sign reclaiming the history and commemorating the event:

Read more:

Michael Jordan Donates $1M to Boost Journalism and Sports-Related Studies at Morehouse College

Michael Jordan Donates $1M to Boost Journalism and Sports-Related Studies at Morehouse College

By goodblacknews on May 30, 2021

NBA champion and living legend Michael Jordan, along with Nike‘s Jordan Brand, is giving $1 million to Morehouse College to boost journalism and sports-related studies, according to espn.com.

The gift announced Friday was originally launched with a donation from director Spike Lee. The donation will help fund scholarships, technology and educational programming for students in those fields.

“These grants will be well-spent,” says Lee, film director, producer and alumni of Morehouse. “There’s going to be a rich legacy of storytellers who will be supported by these programs. Many people are influenced to think a certain way about Black folks based on what they see on television and in Hollywood. We’ve got to tell our story.”

The donation is part of a larger philanthropic donation by Jordan and Jordan Brand called the Black Community Commitment, which has directed donations to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Ida B. Wells Society, among other organizations.

“Morehouse is grateful to Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand for an investment in the education of talented men of color who will ensure there is equity, balance, and truth in the way sports stories are framed and the way the Black experience is contextualized within American history,” said Monique Dozier, vice president for institutional advancement at Morehouse.

“Education is crucial for understanding the Black experience today,” Jordan said. “We want to help people understand the truth of our past and help tell the stories that will shape our future.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/michael-jordan-donates-1m-to-morehouse-journalism-sports/2021/05/28/a6035cb8-bff3-11eb-922a-c40c9774bc48_story.html?outputType=amp

Darnella Frazier, Brave Teen Who Filmed George Floyd’s Fatal Arrest and Testified at the Derek Chauvin Trial, Issues 1st Public Statement

Darnella Frazier, Brave Teen Who Filmed George Floyd’s Fatal Arrest and Testified at the Derek Chauvin Trial, Issues 1st Public Statement

By goodblacknews on May 26, 2021

Darnella Frazier, the young woman who was 17 years old when she filmed on her cell phone Derek Chauvin and three other former Minneapolis police officers arrest and subsequently murder George Floyd, issued her first public statement about the tragic incident she witnessed on the year anniversary of Floyd’s death.

Frazier, who offered her testimony at Chauvin’s trial along with her video footage, helped lead to his conviction on all counts of second degree murder, third degree murder and second degree manslaughter, posted to her Facebook page yesterday:

In addition to expressing how witnessing such an atrocity and abuse of power has affected her,  Frazier speaks on the value of George Floyd’s life, and what needs to change in policing and in society to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again:

My video didn’t save George Floyd, but it put his murderer away and off the streets. You can view George Floyd anyway you choose to view him, despite his past, because don’t we all have one? He was a loved one, someone’s son, someone’s father, someone’s brother, and someone’s friend. We the people won’t take the blame, you won’t keep pointing fingers at us as if it’s our fault, as if we are criminals. I don’t think people understand how serious death is…that person is never coming back.

These officers shouldn’t get to decide if someone gets to live or not. It’s time these officers start getting held accountable. Murdering people and abusing your power while doing it is not doing your job. It shouldn’t have to take people to actually go through something to understand it’s not ok. It’s called having a heart and understanding right from wrong.

Continued praise and strength to this young woman who acted extraordinarily in extraordinary and horrifying circumstances.

To read her statement in its entirety, click above on the link to Frazier’s Facebook post or read it below:

MUSIC MONDAY: “Money Is King” – A Classic Calypso Collection (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Money Is King” – A Classic Calypso Collection (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on May 24, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Monday from your friend and selector, Marlon. This collection features Calypso classics from the late 1930s to the 1960s, where this musical style reached many through the internationally popular recordings of Harry Belafonte.

I have included many of his predecessors: Attila the Hun, Roaring Lion, The Mighty Sparrow and Lord Invader to name but a few. Lord Invader’s “Rum and Coca-Cola” was covered with great success by the Andrews Sisters.

Another “Lord,” Lord Kitchener, was one of the longest-lasting calypso stars in history. He continued to release hit records until his death in 2000.

The roots of Calypso music started in 17th century Trinidad. The Africans brought to toil on sugar plantations, were stripped of all connections to their homeland and family, and not allowed to talk to each other.

They used calypso to mock the slave masters and to communicate with each other. It is characterized by highly rhythmic and harmonic vocals and is usually sung in a French creole and led by a griot.

While Calypso is most often danceable, there often much social commentary, and innuendo laced in the lyrics.

Hope you enjoy this collection of music that would go on to influence Ska, Rocksteady, and Reggae.

Have a great week! And as always stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
Mariah Jones, 18, Goes from Women’s Shelter in Pittsburgh to Full Ride Scholarship for Astrophysics at Vassar

Mariah Jones, 18, Goes from Women’s Shelter in Pittsburgh to Full Ride Scholarship for Astrophysics at Vassar

By goodblacknews on May 22, 2021

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, high school senior Mariah Jones, who once lived with her mother and her older sisters at the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, is now on her way to Vassar College in NY this fall on a full scholarship.

Jones, 18, is currently working with an astrophysicist at the University of Pittsburgh as a part of a project that endeavors to estimate the distance to other galaxies, an opportunity that came about when she cold-called Brett Andrews, a research assistant professor at Pitt.

To quote the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“She had reached out to me and a bunch of other professors at Pitt,” Andrew said. “Her curiosity and her drive make her unique. She’s taken the initiative and reached out to people she doesn’t know to make an opportunity for herself.”

That opportunity culminated in a prestigious QuestBridge scholarship to Vassar. QuestBridge is a national nonprofit based in CA that connects exceptional, low-income youth with leading colleges and opportunities.

“I’ve always been a very aggressive, very strong-willed person and I’m very open to taking challenges head-on. I don’t let anything stop me.”

To see Jones talk about her interests and journey, click below:

Read more: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/19-neighbors/2021/02/27/19-Neighbors-Mariah-Jones-Baldwin-High-School-COVID-19/stories/202102260171