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GBN’s Daily Drop: Learn About Designer and Hip Hop Style Icon Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Learn About Designer and Hip Hop Style Icon Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 17, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Thursday, February 17 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about designer and hip-hop style innovator and icon Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day.

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Thursday, February 17th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

In the wake of New York Fashion Week, today we take a look at designer Daniel Day, best known as “Dapper Dan.”

Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day made his mark in the 1980s by reworking luxury label products with a hip-hop aesthetic and a signature style.

Known first for his jackets and coats, the self-taught tailor dressed artists such as LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Eric B. & Rakim and Salt-N-Pepa and athletes such as boxing champions Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather.

After legal trouble with several designer brands, Dan made a comeback in 2017 by partnering with Gucci to create a new menswear line. Dan and Gucci built on that success and in 2018 opened the first luxury fashion house in his home neighborhood called Dapper Dan’s of Harlem.

To learn more about Dapper Dan, you can read his 2019 New York Times Bestseller Dapper Dan Made In Harlem: A Memoir, check out his CBS Sunday Morning interview, his appearance on The Breakfast Club, Dan’s own webpage and a compilation post of some of Dan’s classic, iconic designs.

Links to these and other sources on Dapper Dan are provided in today’s show notes and also in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

Sources:

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing, and available at workman.com, Amazon, Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

(paid link)

Erin Jackson Makes History by Winning Gold in 500m Individual Speedskating Final at Beijing Olympics

Erin Jackson Makes History by Winning Gold in 500m Individual Speedskating Final at Beijing Olympics

By goodblacknews on February 13, 2022

U.S. speedskater and World Cup Champion Erin Jackson claimed a gold medal today in the 500-meter individual speed skating final at the Beijing Olympics, becoming the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal in any Winter Olympics.

Jackson, 29, is a former inline skater who made the US team for the 2018 Olympics after only four months on the ice. Jackson’s win also marked the United States’ first gold in the 500m since Bonnie Blair won three straight from 1988 through 1994.

“Hopefully, this has an effect,” Jackson said. “Hopefully, we’ll see more minorities, especially in the USA, getting out and trying these winter sports. I just hope to be a good example.”

The Ocala, FL native finished 0.08 seconds ahead of Japan’s Miho Takagi in second and 0.17 seconds ahead of the Russian Olympic Committee’s Angelina Golikova in third.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/feb/13/usas-erin-jackson-speedskating-500m-gold-winter-olympics-2022-beijing

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/13/sport/erin-jackson-500m-speed-skating-winter-olympics-gold-medal-spt-intl/index.html

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Washington Commanders President Jason Wright, the 1st Black Person to Run an NFL Franchise (LISTEN)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Washington Commanders President Jason Wright, the 1st Black Person to Run an NFL Franchise (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 6, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Here is GBN’s Daily Drop for Sunday, February 6th on Washington Commanders president Jason Wright, the first Black person to run a National Football League franchise.

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.comor create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of GoodBlackNews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Sunday, February 6th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing. It’s in the category for Black Firsts we call “It’s About Time”:

Not many NFL players set their post-career sights on graduate school, but former pro running back Jason Wright traded in his cleats for wingtips when he earned his master’s degree in business administration from University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2013.

Wright scored even bigger in 2020 when he became President of the Washington Football team (now officially known as the Washington Commanders) and the first Black person to run a National Football League franchise.

If you want to learn more about Wright, links are provided in today’s show notes.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing, and available at workman.com, Amazon, Bookshop and other online retailers.

Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot. For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: February 5th – #OnThisDay in Black History (LISTEN)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: February 5th – #OnThisDay in Black History (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 5, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Here is GBN’s Daily Drop for Saturday, February 5th, a bonus episode sharing some of the historical events #onthisday in Black History.

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

Bob Douglas, the “father of Black professional basketball”

SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of GoodBlackNews.org, here to share with you a bonus daily drop of Good Black News for Saturday, February 5th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Today I’m taking a look at some of the historical events in Black History that happened on this day. Because honestly, pick a day, any day, and I can tell you some good Black facts about it. And right now it’s February 5th, so were going to do that.

On February 5, 1972, Bob Douglas, owner and coach of the New York Renaissance who was known as “The Father of Black Professional Basketball”, became the first Black person elected and inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Then seventeen years later on the same date, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the first NBA player to score 38,000 points and to this day the former Lakers center remains the all-time leading scorer in the league with 38,387 points.

On February 5th, 1994, the white supremacist murderer of Mississippi NAACP field secretary and civil rights leader Medgar Evers was finally convicted and sentenced to life some thirty years after he perpetrated his hate crime.

We’d also like to mention some Aquarians born on this day – Major League Baseball homerun king Henry “Hank” Aaron, Saturday Night Live and Ladies Man comedian Tim Meadows, New Edition and “My Prerogative” singer Bobby Brown and Barrett Strong, singer of Motown’s very first hit single “Money (That’s What I Want).” Strong turns 81 years young today – Happy Birthday to one and all.

Today also would have been the 27th birthday of Trayvon Martin, who was unjustly murdered almost ten years ago. May he forever rest in peace and never be forgotten.

This has been a bonus daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing, and available at workman.com [50% off until 2/28/22 with code:CAL50], Amazon, Bookshop and other online retailers.

Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot. For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Spike Lee to Direct Multi-Part Colin Kaepernick Documentary for ESPN Films

Spike Lee to Direct Multi-Part Colin Kaepernick Documentary for ESPN Films

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2022

According to Variety.com, Academy Award winning filmmaker Spike Lee is directing a multi-episode documentary on former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick for ESPN Films.

Production has commenced on the documentary, which was first announced in July 2020 as part of Kaepernick’s production deal with Walt Disney through his company, Ra Vision Media.

“Kaepernick, who has never given a full, first-person account of his journey, is collaborating closely with Lee who plans to use extensive new interviews and a vast never-before-seen archive to help Kaepernick tell his story from his perspective,” the press release states.

To quote Variety.com:

Kaepernick recently executive produced and starred in the Netflix series Colin in Black & White, which premiered on the streamer in October. Starring Jaden Michael as a young Kaepernick, the show chronicles the athlete’s formative years, focusing on how he navigated obstacles of race, culture and class as a Black child adopted into a white family.

In 2016, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback began to kneel during the national anthem in order to protest police brutality and systemic racism in America. After that season ended, Kaepernick became a free agent and went unsigned by any other NFL team. In November 2017, the former player filed a grievance with the NFL, claiming that they were conspiring to keep him out of the league. In February 2019, he reached a settlement with the NFL and remains a free agent.

Lee, who won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for 2019’s “BlacKkKlansman,” has directed and produced documentaries such as 1997’s “4 Little Girls”, “When The Levees Broke” and the HBO series “NYC Epicenters: 9/11 – 2021½.”

ESPN Films will executive produce the documentary, in association with 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. Jemele Hill will also serve as a producer on the project.

Willie O’Ree, the National Hockey League’s 1st Black Player, Receives Unanimous Support from U.S. Senate for Congressional Gold Medal

Willie O’Ree, the National Hockey League’s 1st Black Player, Receives Unanimous Support from U.S. Senate for Congressional Gold Medal

By goodblacknews on August 2, 2021

While the U.S. Senate hasn’t agreed on much of anything for several years, this week it unanimously passed legislation granting the Congressional Gold Medal to Willie O’Ree, the first Black player to compete in the National Hockey League.

The legislation now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for approval so O’Ree, 85, and known as the “Jackie Robinson of hockey,” can receive this much deserved honor.

O’Ree broke the NHL’s color barrier in 1958 by playing as a winger for the Boston Bruins, one of six teams at the time. O’Ree, who is Canadian, played professional hockey in his home country before joining the NHL and retiring from the sport in 1979. He has spent the past two decades as the NHL’s diversity ambassador with his Hockey is for Everyone youth program.

To quote cnn.com:

In every game he played in, O’Ree… heard name calling from opposing players and from fans in the stands. “Besides being Black and being blind in my right eye, I was faced with four other things: racism, prejudice, bigotry and ignorance,” he said.

The legislation would award O’Ree the nation’s highest civilian award that Congress can bestow “in recognition of his extraordinary contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity.”

O’Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 for his off-ice contributions to the sport. The Bruins retired O’Ree’s No. 22 jersey in February of this year.

In addition to his 2020 memoir Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player, O’Ree has also been the subject of children’s books like Willie O’Ree: The story of the first black player in the NHL by Nicole Mortillaro and Scholastic Canada Biography: Meet Willie O’Ree by Elizabeth MacLeod.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/politics/willie-oree-congressional-gold-medal-nhl-senate/index.html

https://www.theroot.com/willie-oree-nhls-1st-black-hockey-player-set-to-recei-1847384678

(paid amazon links)

WNBA Champion and All-Star Candace Parker to be 1st Woman on Cover of NBA 2K Game

WNBA Champion and All-Star Candace Parker to be 1st Woman on Cover of NBA 2K Game

By goodblacknews on July 15, 2021

WNBA powerhouse Candace Parker will be on the cover of NBA 2K22 in honor of the WNBA’s 25th anniversary as a pro league. This makes the Chicago Sky star the first woman player to take center stage on the latest edition popular NBA2K video game series.

“I grew up a video game fanatic, that’s what I did, to the point where my brothers would give me the fake controller when I was younger where I think I was playing and I wasn’t,” Parker said. “All I wanted to do was just be like them. As a kid growing up, you dream of having your own shoe and dream of being in a video game. Those are an athlete as a kid’s dreams. To be able to experience that, I don’t take it lightly.”

Parker has been a national presence in the sport since college, where she lead Tennessee to back-to-back national championships (2007 and 2008).

In 2016, Parker helped the Los Angeles Sparks win their first WNBA championship since 2002. Parker has also won two Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012), two WNBA Most Valuable Player Awards (2008, 2013), a WNBA Finals MVP Award (2016), a WNBA All-Star Game MVP Award (2013) and the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award (2008). She has been selected to six All-WNBA teams and five All-Star teams.

NBA 2K22 will be released on Sept. 10.

Read more: https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/31816516/chicago-sky-candace-parker-first-woman-cover-nba-2k-game

https://thegrio.com/2021/07/14/candace-parker-first-woman-cover-nba-2k/

Story of Race Car Driving Pioneer Charlie “Speed King” Wiggins to be Told in Feature Film Biopic “Eraced”

Story of Race Car Driving Pioneer Charlie “Speed King” Wiggins to be Told in Feature Film Biopic “Eraced”

By goodblacknews on July 13, 2021

[Photo: Charlie Wiggins via For Gold and Glory on PBS]

According to deadline.com, the story of Charles “Charlie” Wiggins, the most famous African American race car driver of the 1920s and 1930s, will be told in the feature film Eraced. Producing partners on the film will include racing brands Firestone and IndyCar.

Eraced will chronicle the victories and struggles of the once-legendary-now-little-known Charlie “Speed King” Wiggins, who worked his way from shoe shine to mechanic to star racer despite the brutal inequities of segregation and Jim Crow laws.

After being barred repeatedly from whites-only racing events, Wiggins took the parallel Colored Speedway Association by storm and won the prestigious annual Gold and Glory Sweep-stakes four times between 1926 and 1935. When he suffered a career-ending injury in 1936, Wiggins had to deal with exorbitant medical bills and died almost penniless.

Wiggins will be inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame next week in Detroit.

B. Garida (Reagan & Gorbachev), Courtney Gay Wilson (Bronze), and Madisun Leigh (Raphead Response) adapted the feature screenplay from the Emmy-winning documentary and book, For Gold and Glory: Charlie Wiggins and the African American Racing Car Circuit, both written and produced by Todd Gould.

Check out the documentary below:

Read more: https://deadline.com/2021/07/african-american-racing-pioneer-charlie-wiggins-subject-of-movie-biopic-eraced-indycar-firestone-among-partners-1234791501/

https://theundefeated.com/whhw/charlie-wiggins-the-negro-speed-king/

(amazon paid link)

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

Basketball Hall of Fame Kobe Bryant Exhibit Designed with Vanessa Bryant’s Input

Basketball Hall of Fame Kobe Bryant Exhibit Designed with Vanessa Bryant’s Input

By goodblacknews on May 15, 2021

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has created a special exhibit honoring the late Kobe Bryant, a 2020 Hall of Fame inductee, that has been co-designed and approved by his wife and widow, Vanessa Bryant.

According to the Hall of Fame’s President and CEO, John Doleva, the Bryant exhibit is predicted to become the “most talked about” exhibit inside the Springfield, Massachusetts landmark.

“The family had time to think about what they wanted to do,” Doleva said [as reported by espn.com] during Friday’s news conference for each of the 2020 inductees. “[It’s] about Kobe’s accomplishments but also about what Kobe was after he left the Lakers, after he left basketball.”

Vanessa Bryant and her oldest daughter, Natalia, accepted Bryant’s Hall of Fame blazer on his behalf and joined the other 2020 inductees at Friday night’s Hall of Fame awards tipoff celebration and awards gala.

NBA Legend Michael Jordan, at the request of Vanessa Bryant, will introduce Kobe Bryant into the Hall this Sunday. Other members of the star-studded 2020 class that will be inducted include Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.

Read more: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31445551/basketball-hall-fame-prepared-special-exhibit-kobe-bryant-wife-vanessa-input