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Disney VFX Supervisor Marlon West Organizes “A Great Day in Animation” Photo of Black Professionals in Animation

Disney VFX Supervisor Marlon West Organizes “A Great Day in Animation” Photo of Black Professionals in Animation

By goodblacknews on June 17, 2022

The iconic “A Great Day in Harlem” photograph of 57 jazz musicians taken by Art Kane in 1958 was the inspiration for the recently recreated “A Great Day in Animation” photo of 54 Black professionals in animation.

The homage was the brainchild of Disney visual effects supervisor Marlon West (who GBN is exceedingly proud to have as a regular contributor – check out his latest #MusicMonday playlist for Juneteeth here), and was taken just a few weeks ago by Randy Shropshire with Jeff Vespa as production lead.

(“A Great Day in Harlem” by Art Kane, 1958)

To quote variety.com:

For decades, West has been moved by “A Great Day in Harlem,” as well as Jean Bach’s Oscar-nominated film of the same name, which documents how the photo came to be.

“I’ve had a framed copy of that photo in my office or somewhere for 30 years,” West tells Variety. “And I thought it would be cool to do the same thing with Black animators.”

Aided by his friends and colleagues Bruce Smith, Peter Ramsey and Everett Downing Jr., West began putting together a list of animation professionals to include, aiming for legends like Floyd Norman, whose work on 1959’s “Sleeping Beauty” made him Disney’s first-ever Black animator, and his close collaborator Leo D. Sullivan.

“In the original photo, Coleman Hawkins is standing front and center. He was one of the elders of those folks,” West explains. “I just envisioned Floyd Norman standing in Coleman Hawkins’ spot, and all of us radiating out from him, and Leo Sullivan and other grandmasters who have upped the game.”

It was also important to West to invite up-and-comers such as Latoya Raveneau, who recently directed “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” and Chrystin Garland, a background painter and designer on series like “Solar Opposites.”

“If people look at this photo 10 or 20 years from now, [I hope] they’re like, ‘There’s so-and-so when they were just starting out!” West says.

(2022 photo: Pictured above: Aaron Spurgeon, Abelle Hayford, Ayo Davis, Breana Williams, Brie E Henderson, Bruce W. Smith, Camille Eden, Carole Holliday, Chris Copeland, Chrystin Garland, Constance Allen, Deborah Anderson, Devin Crane, Eric, Ramsey, Everett Downing Jr., Floyd Norman, Frank Abney, Jay Francis, Justin Copeland, Kaela Lash, Kai Akira, Karen Toliver, Kelley Gardner, Kemp Powers, Kenny Thompkins, Kwesi Davis, Latoya Raveneau, Layron DeJarnette, Lennie Graves, Lenord Robinson, Leo D. Sullivan, Leo Sullivan Jr., Lyndon Barrois Jr., Lynne Southerland, Maimuna Venzant, Marcella Brown, Marlon West, Marshall Toomey, Morenike Dosu, Peter Ramsey, Pixote Hunt, Ralph Farquhar, Reginald Hudlin, Robert Tyler, Ron Husband, Ron Myrick, Shabrayia Cleaver, Shari B. Ellis, Shavonne Cherry, Shay Stone, Sidney Clifton, Swinton Scott, Tara Nicole Whitaker, Tyree Dillihay, Umaimah Damakka)

To read more: https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/great-day-in-harlem-black-animation-nickelodeon-paramount-1235294723/

Filmmaker Tyler Perry Donates $500,000 to New York’s Famed Apollo Theater

Filmmaker Tyler Perry Donates $500,000 to New York’s Famed Apollo Theater

By goodblacknews on June 14, 2022

According to variety.com, filmmaker Tyler Perry announced he’s donating $500,000 to New York’s famed Apollo Theater during the venue’s annual spring benefit gala yesterday.

Perry made the offer during his acceptance speech for the organization’s Impact Award, which was presented to him by Whoopi Goldberg.

“My studio [in Georgia] was once a former Confederate-owned army base where there were 3.9 million negroes and slaves at the time, and there were Confederate soldiers plotting and planning how to keep them enslaved,” Perry said.

“While now that land is owned by one negro and I know the importance of what it means to honor that and honor the history of what it has been, and what it has been and to redirect it and rechange it. So it’s very important to me that we all give and support, and with that said, I’d like to give a half-million dollars to make sure this place continues to grow and thrive.”

To quote Variety.com:

Perry concluded his speech by sharing that 98 percent of the people he paid last year with his $154 million payroll were Black. He then implored those listening not to give up on their career goals, using his own uplift of Black people in the industry as an example of the good that can come from Black people’s success.

“That is the power of us, that is the power of understanding our stories, our messages, whether who gets it or who don’t. Long as you walk you path, you understand who you’re talking to, you know your audience. If you’ve got a dream in this room, please hear me when I say this, do not give up on your dreams,” Perry said.

“If I would have given up, I don’t know who would have given that payroll, or if they would be in Hollywood, if people wouldn’t let them in the door. When you come to Tyler Perry Studios, you see the most diverse group of people who have ever worked in the industry, and for that I am grateful.”

Including Perry’s gift, the Apollo raised a record-breaking $3.7 million last night as comedian Kenan Thompson hosted the fundraising event.

Read more: https://variety.com/2022/scene/news/tyler-perry-apollo-theater-1235293971/#recipient_hashed=e4ade4bb4c820e62c1711f6b9f58ef75312251d8145e19a72a9f5413dbe0fb9e

MUSIC MONDAY: “Juneteenth” – an African American Holiday Playlist for 2022 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Juneteenth” – an African American Holiday Playlist for 2022 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on June 13, 2022

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

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t done a #Juneteenth playlist for GBN. This year it shares a Sunday with Father’s Day.

While I didn’t grow up with the holiday, it’s believed to be the oldest African-American holiday, with annual celebrations on June 19th in some parts of the country dating back to 1866. Well.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1W6idXYtb7tgnLuxNowXtL?si=7263a049c70f4c77″]

Since becoming aware of it, I’ve been all-in for years. As a father and son, I am thrilled with the one-two holiday punch.

I’ve tried to gather a set of tunes that can be enjoyed while the grill is full of food, with folk sitting around the table, or when you’re chilling around the crib.

From its Galveston, Texas roots, is now one of five date-specific federal holidays along with New Year’s Day (January 1), Independence Day (July 4), Veterans Day (November 11), and Christmas Day (December 25).

Juneteenth will coincide with Father’s Day not only this year, but also in 2033, 2039, 2044, and 2050. It’s the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was declared a holiday in 1986.

Do enjoy another free-wheeling and eclectic collection celebrating this uniquely American holiday by your friend and selector.

And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “It’s Your Thing” – The Best of Ronald Isley and the Isley Brothers (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “It’s Your Thing” – The Best of Ronald Isley and the Isley Brothers (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on June 6, 2022

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

“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

While they’re well respected enough to be in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame since 1992, The Isley Brothers are not afforded their proper place of widespread esteem in the pantheon of popular music.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6u11OosJolq31zJQcRlyuC?si=d5c3a38ba94a41a4″]

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 “Footsteps In The Dark, Pts. 1 & 2” on “It Was A Good Day”).

Over a 60-year run the group changed – one brother, Vernon, died young, while another, Rudolph, became a church minister, to be replaced by a family member – one aspect has remained constant: Ronald’s instantly recognizable, golden voice.

Ronald Isley (photo: commons.wikipedia.org)

Last month he turned 81 years old. Any listener to the playlists I’ve created for GBN knows I’ll slip an Isley Brothers track into a collection whenever possible.

This one is an unapologetic tribute to the vocalist that fronted the most essential band this nation has produced. He’s mastered a series of genres and has also sung the modern American of songbooks.

Ronald Isley has song standards from Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley. He has gifted us definitive versions of classics penned for the Motown production line by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland, as well as delicate reinterpretations of ballads by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Enjoy this hours-long collection of the best of one of America’s greatest and most enduring vocalists.

And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
UNCF Partners with Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation to Offer Scholarship for Black and Brown NYC Students – Apply by June 30!

UNCF Partners with Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation to Offer Scholarship for Black and Brown NYC Students – Apply by June 30!

By goodblacknews on May 31, 2022

The United Negro College Fund is offering the Pierre and Tana Matisse Scholarship for New York City students of Black, Latinx or Indigenous descent.

Funded by a $1 million grant from this Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, the program provides students attending any accredited two-year community or four-year college in the United States with scholarships of up to $5,000.

The deadline to apply for the 2022-2023 academic year is June 30, 2022. Eligibility requirements  are listed below. For more detailed information on the scholarship and to apply, click here.

To see a FULL LIST of other scholarships currently available through UNCF, click here.

Eligibility Requirements

  1. Be Black, Latinx, or Indigenous.
  2. Be a US citizen, permanent US resident, an undocumented student, or an undocumented student with DACA status.
  3. Be a permanent resident of one of the five boroughs of New York City: Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, or Staten Island. (See the list of eligible NYC ZIP codes here.)
    1. Applicants who are permanent residents of New York City and attend college outside of NYC may apply if their permanent home address is in NYC.
  4. Have a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale.
  5. Be currently classified as a graduating high school senior, or college freshman, sophomore, or junior. Current first-semester college seniors who are graduating in December 2022 may also apply.
  6. Will be enrolled as a full-time freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior at any accredited US 4-year institution or 2-year community college in the 2022-2023 academic year. 
  7. Have completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and have a demonstrated unmet financial need, as verified by the applicant’s institution.

NOTE: Undocumented students and students with DACA status will be exempt from Eligibility Requirement #7.

Learn more: https://scholarships.uncf.org/Program/Details/69fe5148-0820-442b-9a38-6a00ab3c65d0

How “Decoration Day” in May 1865, Held by African Americans in South Carolina Led to Memorial Day

How “Decoration Day” in May 1865, Held by African Americans in South Carolina Led to Memorial Day

By goodblacknews on May 30, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

On Memorial Day 2022, we take a look at the African American origins of the federal holiday established to remember America’s fallen soldiers.

To read about it, read on. To hear about it, press PLAY:

[You can 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. Full transcript below]:

Hey, this is Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and Editor-in-Chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Monday, May 30th, 2022, which is also Memorial Day, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

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, South Carolina 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:

“On May 1, 1865 a parade to honor the Union war dead took place here. The event marked the earliest celebration of what became known as “Memorial Day.” The crowd numbered in the thousands, with African American school children from newly formed Freedmen’s Schools leading the parade. They were followed by church leaders, Freedpeople, Unionists, and members of the 54th Massachusetts 34th and 104th U.S. Colored Infantries. The dead were later reinterred in Beaufort.”

To learn more about African Americans’ role in the creation of Memorial Day, check out the links to sources provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, written, produced and hosted by me, Lori Lakin Hutcherson.

Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

If you like these Daily Drops, follow us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon,Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.

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

Sources:

Baird Steptoe Sr. Elected Head of International Cinematographers Guild, 1st Black President in its History

Baird Steptoe Sr. Elected Head of International Cinematographers Guild, 1st Black President in its History

By goodblacknews on May 13, 2022

Baird Steptoe Sr. was recently elected to a three-year term as president of the International Cinematographers Guild, according to Variety.com.

Steptoe has served for some time on the guild’s national executive board and was most recently a second national vice president.

Steptoe’s credits as a first assistant cameraman include Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Sixth Sense and Brewsters Millions.

To quote Variety.com:

The ICG, otherwise known as Local 600 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, is the largest of the 13 IATSE locals that bargain the Basic Agreement for film and TV workers, with more than 9,000 members. It is also one of three of those unions with a nationwide jurisdiction.

Read more: https://variety.com/2022/film/news/baird-steptoe-international-cinematographers-guild-1235266541/

Economist Lisa Cook Confirmed to Federal Reserve Board, 1st Black Woman Governor in Agency’s 108-Year History

Economist Lisa Cook Confirmed to Federal Reserve Board, 1st Black Woman Governor in Agency’s 108-Year History

By goodblacknews on May 10, 2022

According to washingtonpost.com,  economist Lisa Cook was confirmed today to serve on the Federal Reserve Board.

She is the first Black woman to help oversee the nation’s central bank as it works to stabilize financial recovery in the United States.

To quote from washingtonpost.com:

Cook was confirmed by a 51-to-50 vote in the Senate, with Vice President Harris casting the tiebreaking vote.

No Republicans voted for Cook, and Democrats, who hold a razor-thin majority, had delayed moving forward on her nomination until they could assemble all 50 of their members to back her.

Cook is among the country’s preeminent economists and teaches at Michigan State University.

Her research has focused on macroeconomics, economic history, international finance and innovation, particularly on how hate-related violence has harmed U.S. economic growth.

Her work has analyzed how patent records show that the riots, lynchings and Jim Crow laws that targeted African American communities in the late 1800s and early 1900s hurt Black people’s ability to pursue inventions and discoveries at the time.

Cook also worked on the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration and has held visiting appointments at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the University of Michigan and the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and Philadelphia.

Read more:

HISTORY: Jockey Oliver Lewis Won the 1st Kentucky Derby 147 Years Ago (LISTEN)

HISTORY: Jockey Oliver Lewis Won the 1st Kentucky Derby 147 Years Ago (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on May 9, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

In the wake of the recent Kentucky Derby upset, today we take a brief look at Oliver Lewis, the jockey who won the very first Derby, and the history of Black jockeys at the event.

To read about it, read on. To hear about it, press PLAY:

[You can 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. Full transcript below]:

Hey, this is Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Monday, May 9th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Jockey Oliver Lewis won the inaugural Kentucky Derby  atop the colt Aristides on May 17, 1875. One of thirteen Black jockeys in the fifteen-strong field, Lewis set an American record with his time of two minutes, 37.75 seconds over the mile and a half distance. (For the record, the Kentucky Derby became a 1.25 mile race in 1896).

Although Blacks dominated horseracing in the late 1800s, winning fifteen of the first twenty-eight Kentucky Derbies, by the early 1900s, they’d been pushed out of the sport, which also had become less accessible to the working classes.

James Winkfield won the Kentucky Derby in 1901 and 1902, but after 1921 there were no Black riders in the race until Marlon St. Julien in 2000.

To learn more about Oliver Lewis and the long heritage of African American people in horse racing, including the recent group of Black women owners who made history at the annual Kentucky Oaks Day horse racing event in Louisville when their horse “Seven Scents” scored first place during competition, you can watch the Kentucky Derby video on the history of Black Jockeys on YouTube, and check out the links provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, written, produced and hosted by me, Lori Lakin Hutcherson.

Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

If you like these Daily Drops, follow us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon,Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.

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

Sources:

MUSIC MONDAY: “Written by Wonder, First Sung by Another” – a Stevie Wonder-Composed Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Written by Wonder, First Sung by Another” – a Stevie Wonder-Composed Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on May 9, 2022

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

If you are a regular listener of Good Black News’ Music Monday playlists, we’re sure you’ve noticed by now that we’ve got some serious Stevie Wonder fans in the house. In 2020, we even celebrated his 70th birthday with a whole month of fantastic playlists (some links below).

And now that Mr. Wonder’s birthday week again (on this Friday the 13th), we’ve got a new playlist to share – this one built around songs that he composed for other artists – it’s called “Written By Wonder, First Sung By Another”:

[spotifyplaybutton play=”https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6GAkiGK8QJRFyHcOdnCQmv?si=7b9eb6f8dd184912″]

This playlist is comprised of over 90 songs spanning from the mid-60s when he was still just a teenage songwriter, up through the list’s most recent composition, a 2011 release from smooth jazz vocalist Maysa called “Have Sweet Dreams.”

Many people already know of the hits Stevie wrote for others – classics such as The Spinners’ “It’s A Shame,” Jermaine Jackson’s “Let’s Get Serious,” Third World’s “Try Jah Love,” Rufus feat. Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good,” and of course, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ “The Tears of a Clown.”

But his writing legacy goes so much deeper than that.