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National Museum of African American History and Culture to Honor March on Washington 37th Anniversary Via Free Online Films & IG Posts

National Museum of African American History and Culture to Honor March on Washington 37th Anniversary Via Free Online Films & IG Posts

By goodblacknews on August 27, 2020

On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to March for Jobs and Freedom.

This month, more than 50 years later, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will commemorate the March on Washington with a digital resource webpage exploring the historical significance of the march with collection objects, stories, videos and content related to the historic march.

This page will include voices of union leader and activist A. Phillip Randolph, Rep. John Lewis, and many unsung activists and a performance by singer Marian Anderson. The resource webpage is available at nmaahc.si.edu/marchonwashington.

To mark the anniversary day (Aug. 28), the museum will also make available the film commissioned for its grand opening by Ava Duvernay, August 28: A Day in the Life of a People. The film will be available to view on the museum’s homepage and YouTube channel starting at 10:00 a.m. for 24 hours.

MUSIC MONDAY: “Fantastic Voyage” – A Tribute to the Funk Music of Dayton, Ohio (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Fantastic Voyage” – A Tribute to the Funk Music of Dayton, Ohio (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 24, 2020

The Ohio Players (Photo Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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

Dayton, Ohio was already a mecca of grooves, before Lakeside first dubbed it “The Land of Funk” in its swashbuckling cut “Fantastic Voyage.”

In the 1970s and 1980s, southwestern Ohio – particularly Dayton’s west side – was known for its collective of funk bands whose influence can still be heard in hip-hop, house, and other forms popular today.

The Ohio Players, the grandmasters of them all, have seen their songs sampled or remade by Snoop Dogg, Puff Daddy, Salt-N-Pepa, Soundgarden, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to name but a few.

I’ve thrown in tracks by fellow Ohioans — Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, The Isley Brothers and Bobby Womack — to further show the disproportionate amount of funk Ohio has produced.

This will be another one that will make you move. Enjoy.

Stay safe, sane, and kind, you all!

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Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
Ida B. Wells Portrait to Go On Display August 24th in D.C.’s Union Station to Honor Suffragist Centennial

Ida B. Wells Portrait to Go On Display August 24th in D.C.’s Union Station to Honor Suffragist Centennial

By goodblacknews on August 23, 2020

A 1000-square-foot art installation depicting civil rights, anti-lynching and women’s rights advocate Ida B. Wells will go on display in Washington D.C.’s Union Station on Aug. 24, According to wamu.org.

Artist Helen Marshall created the portrait of Wells out of almost 5,000 black-and-white photographs from the suffrage movement early in the 20th century.

“We need to see her portrait, and African American women need to be a lot more visible,” Marshall says. “She was fighting for the same causes that women are now.”

The project — which will be up through August 28 — was created by the British Marshall after she created a massive portrait of a British suffragist and installed it in a train station in Birmingham in the U.K.

Her American piece was commissioned by the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, created by Congress to commemorate the 19th Amendment’s 100th anniversary.

To read more about Wells, click here.

To read more about the mosaic of her portrait: https://wamu.org/story/20/08/19/union-station-women-suffrage-centennial-ida-b-wells-mosaic/

Former Running Back Jason Wright Named President of NFL’s Washington Football Team

Former Running Back Jason Wright Named President of NFL’s Washington Football Team

By goodblacknews on August 20, 2020

Former National Football League running back Jason Wright was named the first Black president of an NFL team on Monday, according to The Washington Post. He will be heading up the Washington Football Team.

The hiring by team owner Daniel Snyder of the 38-year-old Wright, who rose quickly in the business world after getting an MBA at the University of Chicago and became a partner at McKinsey & Company, comes at a difficult time for a franchise that in past years was one league’s strongest.

To quote the Washington Post:

The team has had eight losing seasons in the last 11 years; it recently dropped its 87-year-old name, which is considered a racial slur, under pressure from sponsors; it has commissioned an investigation of its corporate culture after The Washington Post published a story detailing allegations of sexual harassment and verbal abuse; and Snyder’s three minority partners want to sell their roughly 40 percent stake in the team.

Yet Wright, who has lived in the Washington area since 2013, said he understands what waits for him when he takes over the team’s business operations next week.

“A lot of the high-stakes stuff that you see in and around the club at this time is something that I’m quite familiar with,” he said. “Hopefully, having not grown up in [Washington’s] front office allows me to bring some catalytic thinking. It’s the same reason organizations bring in people externally — to push the thinking, to have new, creative ways of thinking about things [and] maybe be a bit disruptive.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/08/17/jason-wright-hired-president-washington-football-team/

Senator Kamala Harris Accepts Democratic Nomination for U.S. Vice Presidency (READ FULL SPEECH)

Senator Kamala Harris Accepts Democratic Nomination for U.S. Vice Presidency (READ FULL SPEECH)

By goodblacknews on August 19, 2020

Making history as the first Black woman and nominated by the Democratic Party for Vice President, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris from California accepted the nomination tonight at the Democratic National Convention from Delaware, where she is working with Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The daughter of Shyamala Gopalan Harris, her an East Indian immigrant mother, and Donald Harris, a, Jamaican immigrant father, Harris gave a heartfelt, powerful speech acknowledging the support and love of her family as well as so many of the women who blazed the trail ahead of her, such as Mary Church Terrell, Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer, Diane Nash, Constance Baker Motley and Shirley Chisholm.

Harris also pointed to structural racism for the inequities in America — “education and technology, health care and housing, job security and transportation” — as heightened by the coronavirus, and how she and Biden are committed to doing the work to fulfill the promise of “equal justice under the law.”

To read Harris’ acceptance speech in full, see below:

MUSIC MONDAY: “Harvest For The World” – A Tribute to The Isley Brothers (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Harvest For The World” – A Tribute to The Isley Brothers (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 17, 2020

[The Isley Brothers (Photo Credit: Lewton Cole / Alamy Stock Photo)]

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

The Isley Brothers, all five of them, started as a gospel group in 1956. Twenty years later, they would create the funk classic Go For Your Guns.

The Isleys began their own record company, T-Neck Records, in 1964, shortly thereafter recruiting budding guitarist Jimi Hendrix for their band. They abandoned T-Neck and signed with Motown in 1965.

The list of Isley hits is long. It includes “It’s Your Thing,” “That Lady (Part 1),” “Fight the Power (Part 1),” and “For the Love of You (Part 1 and 2).”

More than any other band or artist, you can chart the changes in Black music via the Isley Brothers. Don’t take my word for it:

“With the possible exception of the Beatles, no band in the history of popular music, and certainly no African American act, has left a more substantial legacy on popular music than the Isley Brothers.” — Bob Gulla, Icons of R&B and Soul

“They’re the only group in the history of music to have a demonstrable influence on both the Beatles (who covered the Isleys’ take of “Twist And Shout” for one of their biggest early hits) and Ice Cube (who rapped over this album’s “Footsteps In The Dark, Pts. 1 & 2” on “It Was A Good Day”).” — Andrew Winistorfer

The Isleys have charted new music in every decade from the 1950s through the 2000s, without ever truly “crossing over” or betting any of the hyperbolic praise that other acts have received.

They have made the music they wanted to make for more than 50 years, and are arguably the most prolific and successful R&B /Rock group in the nation. Enjoy this playlist of their work.

And as always stay safe, sane, and kind.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:6KEBRovMtOQ4yd31viFRyf”/]

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC: “Grown Folks Vacation” – Smooth Jazz Covers of Classic Soul and Soft Rock by Shanachie Records Artists (LISTEN)

MUSIC: “Grown Folks Vacation” – Smooth Jazz Covers of Classic Soul and Soft Rock by Shanachie Records Artists (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 15, 2020

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

It’s the middle of August and five months into the coronavirus pandemic – is anyone longing for that summer jazzfest they haven’t been able to attend?

With today’s GBN playlist, which we’ve dubbed “Grown Folks Vacation,” you can press play, imagine yourself slipping into your backyard hammock with a glass of wine, and let a wave of classic songs and sounds wash over you (with a twist) – hopefully getting a little bit of relaxation in these stressful times.

Today, we’re celebrating music coming from the independent New Jersey-based label Shanachie Records, which, for more than 20 years, has been keeping veteran artists and favorite songs alive after many major labels have passed them by.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:1PVRxN4SRARXXd140YFK5u”/]

Shanachie was born in the 1980s as a niche independent label focusing on Celtic, folk, reggae and other branches of world music that the big companies usually ignore. But by the late ’90s, with expansion of the Quiet Storm and Wave radio formats, Shanachie expanded into a new area of music with releases from smooth jazz saxophonists like Walter Beasley and Kim Waters.

Airport in NY to be Renamed in Honor of Frederick Douglass

Airport in NY to be Renamed in Honor of Frederick Douglass

By goodblacknews on August 14, 2020

Rochester, New York‘s airport will be renamed to honor 19th-century abolitionist and freedom fighter Frederick Douglass, one of its most famous and influential residents.

According to usatoday.com, the Monroe County Legislature voted Tuesday night to change the airport’s name to the “Frederick Douglass – Greater Rochester International Airport,” adding the Douglass’ name to the existing airport’s title.

MUSIC MONDAY: “Snatch It Back and Hold It” – Celebrating Chicago Blues (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Snatch It Back and Hold It” – Celebrating Chicago Blues (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 10, 2020

[Photo: Otis Spann & James Cotton rehearsing in Muddy Waters’ basement, Chicago, IL, 1965. Courtesy Chicago History Museum]

Chicago blues began to emerge following the Great Migration of African Americans from the southern U.S. to the industrial cities of the north, particularly Chicago.

This new population included musicians, and the blues evolved as a result of these influences from musicians playing as street musicians, at rent parties, and other events in African-American communities.

One of the most significant early incubators for Chicago blues was the open-air market on Maxwell Street in the 1930s and ’40s.

This collection includes some of the great including, McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield, Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett, Little Walter Jacob, Junior Wells, Koko Taylor, and many others.

Enjoy, and of course, stay safe, sane, and kind.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:6cuqIAcGLdph6kjRL5zADc”/]

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

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
Zaila Avant-Garde, 13, Wins National Online Spelling Bee

Zaila Avant-Garde, 13, Wins National Online Spelling Bee

By goodblacknews on August 9, 2020

[Photo: Zaila Avant-Garde via Instagram | @basketballasart)]

According to wafb.com, 13 year-old Zaila Avant-Garde, a 7th grader from Harvey, LA, beat out 88 of the best young spellers in the country to win the first-ever Kaplan Online Spelling Bee, hosted in association with Hexco Academic.

Garde, who was the 2019 New Orleans regional spelling champion, won with the word “Qashqai” (definition: a migratory Turkic-speaking people of the Zagros mountains), after a hard-fought back-and-forth with runner-up Harini Logan, a 6th grader from San Antonio, TX. Chaitra Thummala, a 5th grader from San Ramon, CA, placed third.