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“Being Mary Jane” and “Girlfriends” Creator Mara Brock Akil Signs Overall Deal with Netflix

“Being Mary Jane” and “Girlfriends” Creator Mara Brock Akil Signs Overall Deal with Netflix

By goodblacknews on September 14, 2020

Mara Brock Akil, the creator and writer/producer behind such hit series as Being Mary Jane, Black Lightning, Girlfriends and The Game and has signed a multi-year overall deal with Netflix to create new original content, according to Deadline.com.

The deal was announced the same week that Akil’s beloved comedy Girlfriends debuted on Netflix, marking the series’ 20th anniversary. All eight seasons of the sitcom starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Persia White and Jill Marie Jones join The Game on the platform.

“We are thrilled to welcome Mara Brock Akil to Netflix,” said Channing Dungey, VP Original Series, Netflix. “Her signature storytelling, authentic perspective and captivating characters have long entertained audiences and proven to be relevant, timely and endlessly engaging. We look forward to bringing her distinct voice, vision and passion to our global members.”

Akil becomes the latest showrunner to sign with Netflix and joins a roster of powerhouse content creators that includes Shonda Rhimes, Kenya Barris and Ryan Murphy,  among several others.

(Mara Brock Akil; Photo by Emma-Feil via Netflix)

One Down, Two To Go: Charlottesville Removes “At Ready” Confederate Statue Near 2017 White Nationalist Rally Site

One Down, Two To Go: Charlottesville Removes “At Ready” Confederate Statue Near 2017 White Nationalist Rally Site

By goodblacknews on September 13, 2020

Yesterday, city workers in Charlottesville, VA brought down a Confederate statue near the site of a violent white nationalist rally three years ago, where dozens were injured and one woman, Heather Heyer, was killed when a self-avowed white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of people protesting the rally.

The removal of the bronze figure of a Confederate soldier known as “At Ready,” is what is being seen in Charlottesville as a milestone in eliminating oppressive symbols of the Civil War from public properties shared by all taxpayers.

According to the Washington Post, Albemarle County supervisors voted earlier this summer to take down “At Ready,” even though the statue was not the focal point of the 2017 rally, but a block away from the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups said they were defending in the clash.

Naomi Osaka Wins Her 2nd U.S. Open with Victory over Victoria Azarenka, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3

Naomi Osaka Wins Her 2nd U.S. Open with Victory over Victoria Azarenka, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3

By goodblacknews on September 12, 2020

Naomi Osaka came through in all ways during her journey to today’s victory in the women’s singles title match of the 2020 U.S. Open.

Not only did now two-time U.S. Open winner Osaka rally to beat challenger Victoria Azarenka (who bested six-time U.S. Open champion Serena Williams in the semi-final in three sets with the mirrored score of  1-6, 6-3, 6-3), she did so while making powerful protest statements before every match.

Osaka wore seven different masks with seven different names of Black individuals who have died violently, unnecessarily, and mostly at the hands of police officers: Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Elijah McLain, Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Philando Castile and today, before her final match, Tamir Rice.

EDUCATION: College Board Creates Advanced Placement Curriculum on African Diaspora for High School Students

EDUCATION: College Board Creates Advanced Placement Curriculum on African Diaspora for High School Students

By goodblacknews on September 12, 2020

(Photo of high school students by AP/Jaime Henry-White via Creative Commons)

Years in the making, the influential College Board is launching an ambitious national curriculum on race with an Advanced Placement (AP) program on the African diaspora, the Washington Post reports.

Given AP’s current importance on high school transcripts and influence on college admissions, the program has the potential to make Black studies a college-prep offering in coming years.

Black students’ scores on AP tests in recent years have remained significantly lower than those for other groups. In 2019, Black students passed 32 percent of the AP exams they took, compared with 44 percent for Latino students, 65 percent for White students and 72 percent for Asian students.

The College Board collaborated on the project with African Diaspora Consortium a not-for-profit organization, as well as Columbia University’s Teachers College.

University of Maryland Renames Women’s Studies Department to Honor Harriet Tubman

University of Maryland Renames Women’s Studies Department to Honor Harriet Tubman

By goodblacknews on September 8, 2020

The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies has a nice ring to it. As of September 4, it’s the name the University of Maryland‘s Women’s Studies department will bear.

New UMD President Darryll J. Pines hailed the change in a letter to the campus community:

[This is] the first honorific naming of an academic department at UMD, the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. It is fitting that this heroic Marylander is now honored at the state’s flagship university.

The department is widely acclaimed for its unique concentration in Black feminist thought and intersectionality, and it is the only department in the nation that offers a Black women’s studies minor, jointly with the Department of African American Studies.

Historically, Black women have played a brave and critical role in social justice. Harriet Tubman’s life and her dedication to freedom and equality speaks directly to the department’s mission, now and in the years ahead.

Bonnie Thornton Dill, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland said to WTOP News  she hopes the name change helps to bring awareness to Tubman’s contributions locally and nationally.

“You Are The Solution”: Dena Crowder’s 6-Minute Power Shot on Why Voting This November is So Crucial (WATCH)

“You Are The Solution”: Dena Crowder’s 6-Minute Power Shot on Why Voting This November is So Crucial (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on September 7, 2020

In today’s “Power Shot,” TEDx speaker, Power Lab performance coach and GBN’s “This Way Forward” contributor Dena Crowder explains so clearly and succinctly in three simple steps exactly how and why mobilizing to vote is so crucial this November, Good Black News is adding a fourth step:

WATCH and SHARE Dena’s video everywhere so anyone who is on the fence about voting can hop on over into the right side of history and utilize their power to affect significant change.

To quote just some of Dena’s insightful guidance:

There is no perfect, uncorrupted, ideal candidate, do not get caught up in that… Whoever wins this election is going to set the tone for the direction that we take on every single issue facing Black Americans.

We’re talking prison, we’re talking police, we’re talking human rights, we’re talking civil rights, we are talking healthcare and housing. So prioritize what really matters and vote the bigger picture.

Watch below… and share!

MUSIC: “That’s The Way Love Goes” – End of Summer Celebration of ’90s Slow Jams (LISTEN)

MUSIC: “That’s The Way Love Goes” – End of Summer Celebration of ’90s Slow Jams (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on September 4, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

As we head into Labor Day Weekend, the unofficial end of Summer, it’s one more chance to relax a little amidst such a stressful year for so many of us.

We’ve had such a great reaction here at Good Black News to so many of our Spotify playlists, including our decade-spanning slow jam playlists that we made for the ‘70s (Ultimate ‘70s Slow Jam Summer) and the ‘80s (Ultimate ‘80s Champagne Slow Jams).

So it only made sense, in time for the long weekend, to unveil our playlist of slow jam faves from the ‘90s – entitled Ultimate ‘90s Sunset Slow Jams, available at this link here, and of course you can listen to or access below. All you ‘90s soul music fans, it’s time to favorite this playlist and represent!

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:43oaIWo1oj8UlZSqX3Oix1″/]

R&B music in the ‘90s underwent a true sea change that had been slowly building up through the prior decade. If ‘80s slow jams were the sound of lushly-produced, upscale elegance via superstar duets from well-dressed veteran singers, the ‘90s tossed a lot of that in the rearview mirror. 

Dr. Namandjé Bumpus Becomes 1st Black Woman Department Chair at Johns Hopkins Medical School

Dr. Namandjé Bumpus Becomes 1st Black Woman Department Chair at Johns Hopkins Medical School

By goodblacknews on September 3, 2020

[Dr. Namandjé Bumpus (photo via Johns Hopkins University)]

According to jbhe.com, Dr. Namandjé Bumpus was appointed chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.

Dr. Bumpus is the first African-American woman to chair an academic department at the highly-rated medical school and the only Black woman currently chairing a pharmacology department at any medical school in the nation, according to Johns Hopkins.

Teyana Taylor Directs Powerful Protest Video of Her New Single “Still” (WATCH)

Teyana Taylor Directs Powerful Protest Video of Her New Single “Still” (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on September 2, 2020

Teyana Taylor dropped a stunning and powerful music video today for “Still” from her third LP, THE ALBUM, which came out on Juneteenth of this year via G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings.

The video, produced by Teyana’s all-female led production company “The Aunties” and directed by Taylor under her pseudonym Spike Tey, highlights footage of important moments in America’s ongoing fight for social justice, with Teyana blending herself  into the iconic imagery of Malcolm X (see photo above),  Huey P. Newton and Breonna Taylor by donning their clothes and assuming their poses.

The video also includes words and footage of Malcolm X, footage of Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Angela Davis, the Black Panthers, Civil Rights Movement protesters, Black Lives Matter protesters and several victims of hate crimes and police brutality including Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice and George Floyd, to name a few. It is, in a word, gripping. Watch below:

In Tribute to Chadwick Boseman, ’42’ to be Re-Released in Theaters

In Tribute to Chadwick Boseman, ’42’ to be Re-Released in Theaters

By goodblacknews on September 1, 2020

According to Variety.com, AMC Theatres will pay tribute to beloved actor and Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who died last week of colon cancer at 43, by screening 42, Boseman’s leading man debut as Major League Baseball barrier breaker and icon Jackie Robinson. (To read GBN’s review of 42, click here.)

Warner Bros. and Legendary, the studios behind the 2013 film, have teamed up with the theater chain to make “42” viewable in more than 300 locations. That’s nearly every AMC venue that’s open as coronavirus closures start to lift. Tickets for 42 will only be $5 and will go on sale by the end of Tuesday.