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#WomensHistoryMonth: Cora “Lovie” Austin – 1920s Jazz and Blues Pianist, Composer and Bandleader (LISTEN)

#WomensHistoryMonth: Cora “Lovie” Austin – 1920s Jazz and Blues Pianist, Composer and Bandleader (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 30, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

As #WomensHistoryMonth comes to a close, today in our Daily Drop podcast, we spotlight Chicago-based blues and jazz pianist Cora “Lovie” Austin.

Austin isn’t well known now, but in her day she was a well-regarded bandleader and composer and one of the best accompanists around.

Austin played with singers such as Ma Rainey, Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith, and Ethel Waters and musicians such as Louis Armstrong, lead her band the Blues Serenaders, and held down her spot as musical director at Chicago’s Monogram Theater for over 20 years:

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 (transcript below):

SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, a little stuffed up, but here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Wednesday, March 30th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Cora “Lovie” Austin did two incredibly rare things for a Black woman born in 1887: she studied formal music theory in college, then used that knowledge to gig the vaudeville circuit as a blues and jazz pianist!

Austin played with singers such as Ma Rainey, Alberta Hunter and Ethel Waters and was known as one of the best accompanists of her time.

She also led her own band, the Blues Serenaders, which played with top musicians like Louis Armstrong, and co-wrote the blues standard “Down Hearted Blues.”

[Excerpt from “Down Hearted Blues”]

Austin also composed and performed lively early jazz songs such as “Charleston Mad” and “Traveling Blues”:

[Excerpt of “Traveling Blues”]

Early in her career, Austin settled in Chicago, ultimately serving as musical director for Chicago’s Monogram Theater for over 20 years. In 1961, Austin  reunited with Alberta Hunter and the Blues Serenaders to record an album as part of Riverside Records Living Legends series entitled Chicago: The Living Legends (Live).

To learn more about Lovie Austin, stream or purchase her music on Apple Music or Amazon Music, or stream on Spotify, and check out the links to sources provided in today’s show notes or in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org. 

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.

Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot. Excerpts of music by Lovie Austin are included under fair use.

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following 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, you can check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

(paid links)

Henry “Box” Brown Mails Himself from Slavery to Freedom 173 Years Ago #OnThisDay (LISTEN)

Henry “Box” Brown Mails Himself from Slavery to Freedom 173 Years Ago #OnThisDay (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 29, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Henry “Box” Brown gave literal meaning to the term “precious cargo” 173 years ago today, when he ingeniously shipped himself from enslavement in Virginia to freedom in Philadelphia by hiding inside a crate. Listen:

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 (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 Tuesday, March 29th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

173 years ago on March 29, 1849, Henry “Box” Brown escaped to freedom in a most ingenious way — he had himself mailed in a wooden crate from Virginia to abolitionists in Philadelphia. To get out of work on the day of his escape, Brown burned his hand to the bone with sulfuric acid.

All together, the extremely rough journey took 27 hours, but Brown succeeded and was celebrated for his inventiveness.

His status as a fugitive from slavery led Brown to move to England in 1850, but in 1875 he returned to the United States, where he toured and performed as a speaker, mesmerist and magician, pulling off feats of prestidigitation until his dying day.

To learn more about Brown, read Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself, originally published in 1851 or read 2020’s BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Michele Wood.

Links to these and other sources are 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, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing.

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

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following 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, you can check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social. Onward and upward.

Sources:

(paid links)

MUSIC MONDAY: Celebrating “Summer of Soul” and Questlove’s Best Documentary Oscar Win (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: Celebrating “Summer of Soul” and Questlove’s Best Documentary Oscar Win (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 28, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

There was a great moment that happened at last night’s Academy Awards, but because it happened directly after a shocking moment, it’s not getting the all the flowers and love it should.

So for this #MusicMonday, we are fully celebrating the fact that Summer of Soul, the feature documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival directed by The Roots co-founder and musical impresario Questlove, won a much-deserved Oscar. And if you (like so many of us) missed his acceptance speech, here it is:

https://youtu.be/IPbOF4wpEVw

Still streaming on Hulu and available on DVD, Summer of Soul is an education and gift to the eyes and ears and if you don’t currently have access to Summer of Soul, the movie, listening to the music from the acts featured in the film is the next best thing:

I’ve included the playlist of the official soundtrack album along with an extended playlist.

From Sly and the Family Stone to the Fifth Dimension, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, The Staples Singers, Mongo Santamaria, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples and others, the music on display and the stories behind the event are close to (if not completely) mind-blowing.

And if you need another push to check it out (or revisit it), here’s the trailer of the documentary:

Thank you, again, Questlove and all the artists involved that helped bring the “Summer of Soul” into our lives for all seasons.  You all truly made — and resurrected — important cultural history.

Enjoy!

Quote from Mary McLeod Bethune – Educator, Community Builder, Civil Rights Leader (LISTEN)

Quote from Mary McLeod Bethune – Educator, Community Builder, Civil Rights Leader (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 28, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today we share a quote from and some facts about the mighty Mary McLeod Bethune, educator, activist and founder of Bethune-Cookman University and the National Council of Negro Women.

This GBN Daily Drop is based on the Monday, March 28 entry in “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022:

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 (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 Monday, March 28th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Today we offer a quote from esteemed educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune:

“Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.”

Born during Reconstruction in Maysville, South Carolina in 1875, Bethune was the 15th out of 17thchild of formerly enslaved parents Samuel and Patsy McIntosh McLeod, and the first of theirs born into freedom.

At an early age, Bethune pursued education any way she could, even if it meant walking eight miles each way to the only school around. After attending college in North Carolina and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Bethune became a teacher herself.

She eventually started a school of her own in Daytona, Florida with husband and fellow teacher Albertus Bethune, that evolved into what is now Bethune-Cookman University.

In her lifetime, Bethune went on to become a national advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of his “Black” cabinet, represented the NAACP at the founding of the United Nations in 1945, raised money to open the first hospital for Black people in Daytona, Florida, founded the National Council of Negro Women and co-founded the United Negro College Fund.

To learn more about Bethune and her legacy, read Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World, Essays and Selected Documents edited by Audrey Thomas McCluskey and Elaine M. Smith, Mary McLeod Bethune in Florida: Bringing Social Justice to the Sunshine State by Dr. Ashley N. Robinson, and Mary McLeod Bethune: Her Life and Legacy by Nancy Ann Zrinyi Long.

Also check out the 2016 documentary Mary McLeod Bethune – African Americans Who Left Their Stamp on History, the Mary McLeod Bethune documentary posted by Gig Bag Media on YouTube, and cookman.libguides.com to access newsreels, videos and audio recordings of Bethune herself.

In fact, here’s a taste of her voice from a 1949 radio broadcast with Eleanor Roosevelt speaking on the importance of democracy, coalition and human rights:

[Excerpt from 1949 broadcast with Eleanor Roosevelt]

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.

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

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following 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, you can check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

(paid links)

Black Oscar Firsts: A Brief History of the Trailblazing Academy Award Winners in Each Category (LISTEN)

Black Oscar Firsts: A Brief History of the Trailblazing Academy Award Winners in Each Category (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 27, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

You might know about Hattie McDaniel, Sidney Poitier or Halle Berry being the first Black recipients of Oscars in their respective acting categories, but have you ever wondered who were the first in all the others? Writing? Producing? Hair and Make-Up? Sound?

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is a bonus episode for Sunday, March 27 — the day the 94th Academy Awards ceremony are being held — that takes note of every Black Oscar first:

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.

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 Sunday, March 27th, 2022, based on the format of the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony is being held today and with Will Packer producing, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall among the hosts and Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Aunjanue Ellis and Questlove among the nominees, I thought I’d take a brief look at the talented Black people in film who were the first in their category to ever win an Oscar.

The very very first was Hattie McDaniel, who won in the Best Supporting Actress category for the 1939 film Gone With The Wind.

In 1948, actor James Baskett received a special Academy award for his characterization of Uncle Remus in Song of the South, but the next to win an award in competition was Sidney Poitier in 1963, who won Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field.

It took almost a decade after that for the next win, which was Isaac Hayes in the Original Song category for 1971’s “Theme from Shaft.”

[Excerpt from “Theme from Shaft”]

Up next 11 years later was Lou Gossett, Jr. for his Best Supporting Actor win in 1982 for An Officer and a Gentleman.

[Excerpt of “The Beautiful Ones”]

In 1984 Prince won Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain, and he was the first and last Black person to win in that category because after 1984, it was retired as a category from the Academy.

Contrary to popular belief, Prince didn’t win for the actual song “Purple Rain” — the Original Song Oscar that year went to Stevie Wonder for “I Just Called to Say I Love You” from the film The Woman in Red.

[Excerpt of “I Just Called To Say I Love You”]

The following year, in 1985, jazz titan Herbie Hancock took home the Oscar for his Original Score for ‘Round Midnight.

And jazz kept the Gold Guys a coming – in 1988 Willie D. Burton accepted the Best Sound Oscar for his and his team’s work on the Charlie Parker biopic Bird, and in 1994, though nominated for several of his scores, the Oscar that Quincy Jones brought home was the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

In 2001, Halle Berry won the Best Lead Actress Oscar for her work in Monster’s Ball, and 2009 saw Roger Ross Williams win for Best Documentary Short Subject for Music By Prudence and Geoffrey Fletcher won for Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious, which was based on the novel Push by Sapphire.

In 2012, T.J. Martin won for Best Documentary Feature for Undefeated, and in 2013, Steve McQueen shared his Best Picture Oscar with his producing partners for 12 Years A Slave.

In 2017, NBA legend Kobe Bryant won in the Best Animated Short Film category for Dear Basketball, and Jordan Peele won in the Best Original Screenplay category for Get Out.

The following year, Peter Ramsey won an Oscar in the Animated Feature Film category for co-directing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. 2018 also saw Ruth Carter win in the Costume Design category for her work on Black Panther and Hannah Beachler for Production Design for the same marvel of a movie directed by Ryan Coogler.

And for 2020, Travon Free won in the Best Live Action Short Film category for Two Distant Strangers, and Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson took home Oscars in the Make-Up and Hairstyling category for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

To learn more about Black Academy Award winners and nominees, read Black Oscars: From Mammy to Minny, What the Academy Awards Tell Us About African Americans by Frederick Gooding, Jr. and check out the links to more sources provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

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.

Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.  And any additional music included is done so under Fair Use.

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following 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, you can check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

(paid links)

Quote from Award-Winning Author Alice Walker on #WorldPurpleDay (LISTEN)

Quote from Award-Winning Author Alice Walker on #WorldPurpleDay (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 26, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today, on World Purple Day (which began in 2008 to increase awareness around epilepsy), we share a quote from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Alice Walker in our GBN Daily Drop podcast.

It’s based on the Saturday, March 26 entry in “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022:

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 (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 Saturday, March 26th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar”, published by Workman Publishing.

Today, on World Purple Day, which was started in 2008 to increase worldwide awareness around epilepsy, we offer a quote from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Alice Walker:

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”

That quote of course, is from Walker’s acclaimed 1982 novel The Color Purple, a phrase and a title she will forever be remembered for. It was recently announced that The Color Purple, having already been a successful movie directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985, oh, it was also a Tony Award-winning 2005 Broadway sensation that has had numerous revivals… well, now The Color Purple will become a 2023 movie musical based on the Broadway version.

And it will star Fantasia, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Ciara, Halle Bailey, Coleman Domingo, Corey Hawkins and H.E.R., among others.To learn more about all the Color Purples, and author Alice Walker, 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, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing.

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

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following 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, you can check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

Born 80 Years Ago #OnThisDay: Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul (LISTEN)

Born 80 Years Ago #OnThisDay: Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 25, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today we celebrate the one and only Aretha Franklin, who was born 80 years ago #OnThisDay.

Franklin, whose voice was rightfully declared a natural resource by her home state of Michigan in 1985 is the focus of our Daily Drop podcast as GBN takes a brief look at her legacy through career highlights and offers sources to learn even more about the Queen of Soul.

Based on entries in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022, 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 (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 Friday, March 25th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

“Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin was born on this day 80 years ago and offered a heavenly blend of gospel, R&B, blues, jazz, rock and pop (and even classical!) that this Earth may never see again. A piano prodigy from childhood, this Grammy-winning Rock & Roll Hall of Famer wrote and performed classics such as “Think”:

[Excerpt from “Think”]

“Dr. Feelgood”:

[Excerpt from “Dr. Feelgood”]

“Day Dreaming”:

[Excerpt from “Day Dreaming”]

“Spirit in the Dark”:

[Excerpt from “Spirit in the Dark”]

and “Call Me”:

[Excerpt from “Call Me”]

Franklin also used her musical genius to turn cover songs into signature masterpieces such as “I Say a Little Prayer” – first recorded and released by Dionne Warwick:

[Excerpt from “Say a Little Prayer”]

“Until You Come Back to Me” – originally recorded by Stevie Wonder, though Aretha released her version first:

[Excerpt from “Until You Come Back to Me”]

And, the mother of all covers and remakes, ever, originally written, recorded and released by Otis Redding… “Respect”:

[Excerpt from “Respect”]

https://youtu.be/6S1_skidDFI

 

Additionally, Aretha Franklin’s 1972 Amazing Grace double album remains the best-selling live gospel music recording of all time, and her rendition of the title track to this day remains superlative:

[Excerpt from “Amazing Grace”]

Aretha continued to define and redefine singing and the sound of music in the 1980s and 1990s with songs like “Jump to It”:

[Excerpt from “Jump to It”]

“Freeway of Love”:

[Excerpt from “Freeway of Love”]

“I Knew You Were Waiting For Me” with George Michael:

[Excerpt from “I Knew You Were Waiting For Me”]

The anthemic “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” with Annie Lennox:

[Excerpt from “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves”]

and her 1998 collaboration with Lauryn Hill, “A Rose Is Still A Rose.”

[Excerpt from “A Rose Is Still A Rose”]

That same year, Franklin made Grammy Awards show history and received a standing ovation when she filled in last-minute for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti by singing the operatic aria “Nessun Dorma”:

[Excerpt from “Nessun Dorma’]

Still going strong in the 21st century, in 2014 at the age of 72, Aretha scored a #1 hit on the U.S. Dance Charts with her remake of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”:

[Excerpt from “Rolling In The Deep”]

All hail, now and forever, the Queen.

To learn more about Aretha Franklin, read her 1999 autobiography Aretha: From These Roots, Respect: The Life and Times of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz, The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, An Intimate Portrait by Linda Solomon, watch the must-see musical documentary Amazing Grace on DVD or currently streaming on Hulu [see my review here], the 2021 limited series Genius: Aretha starring Cynthia Erivo also now on Hulu or the 2021 feature film Respect starring Jennifer Hudson.

You can also check out a few Aretha Franklin playlists curated by me, one of the biggest Aretha Franklin stans around, on Spotify and Apple Music.

Links to these and other sources are 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, 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.

Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot. Excerpts of songs performed by Aretha Franklin are permitted under Fair Use.

If you like our Daily Drops, please consider following us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon,Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You could give us a positive rating or review, share your favorite episodes on social media, or go old school and tell a friend.

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

Sources:

(paid links)

Flowers to Civil Rights and Voting Rights Activist Fannie Lou Hamer For #WomensHistoryMonth (LISTEN)

Flowers to Civil Rights and Voting Rights Activist Fannie Lou Hamer For #WomensHistoryMonth (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 24, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

We celebrate grassroots organizer, civil rights and voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer in today’s Daily Drop podcast. Our salute to Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party founder Hamer is based on the Thursday, March 24 entry in “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022:

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 (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 Thursday, March 24th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

“Sick and tired of being sick and tired,” in the 1960s, Mississippi plantation worker Fannie Lou Hamer was fired, threatened by white supremacists, and beaten in police custody when she tried to vote and register others to do the same.

But Hamer would not be silenced. She formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and demanded to represent her state at the 1964 Democratic Convention. Hamer fought for voting rights, education rights, and economic rights and even ran for Senate.

Although she wasn’t rich, traditionally educated or well-connected,  Hamer was a grassroots leader who got involved – and stayed involved — because she believed to her core “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

Hamer passed in 1977 after years of dealing with serious health issues, but her legacy as an outspoken and effective activist, organizer and champion for equal rights will never be forgotten.

Last February, rapper and activist Common announced he’s producing a biographical movie on Hamer based on her 1967 autobiography To Praise Our Bridges and the book God’s Long Summer by Charles Marsh, which chronicles the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Just last month, the documentary Fannie Lou Hamer’s America debuted on PBS and can now be seen in full via WORLD Channel on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/5h2MzXavgEg

To learn more about Fannie Lou Hamer, you can read her autobiography on snccdigital.org, that’s SNCC digital dot org, read 2013’s The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like it Is, or check out 2021’s Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America by Keisha N. Blain and Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer by Kate Clifford Larson.

You can also watch clips of Hamer’s speeches on YouTube, and check out links to these and other sources provided in today’s show notes and the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

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.

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

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following 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, you can check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

(paid links)

20th Century Global Superstar, Activist and Spy Josephine Baker’s Cheeky Quote on Getting Ahead From Behind (LISTEN)

20th Century Global Superstar, Activist and Spy Josephine Baker’s Cheeky Quote on Getting Ahead From Behind (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 23, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

We celebrate the iconic, internationally famous entertainer Josephine Baker in today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast with some history along with her humorously clever quote regarding her ticket to fame, fortune and freedom in her adopted homeland of France, and around the world.

It’s based on the Wednesday, March 23 entry in “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022:

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 (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 Wednesday, March 23rd, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing. Today we offer a quote from internationally famous singer and dancer Josephine Baker:

“My face and my rump were famous! I could honestly say that I’d been blessed with an intelligent derriere. Most people’s were only good to sit on.”

Born in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, after stints in vaudeville and musical revues like Eubie Blake’s Shuffle Along, Josephine Baker immigrated to France in the 1920s to find freedom and grow her talents into the pinnacle of singing, dancing, acting and comedic entertainment that brought her fortune and fame.

Known for her iconic “Banana Dance” in the Folies Bergere, Baker became a global sensation.

She was a member of the French Resistance during World War Two,  spied on the Nazis for her adopted homeland, spoke out for civil rights, worked with the NAACP, spoke at the March on Washington, and adopted 12 children from all races, countries and religions, calling them her Rainbow Tribe.

Baker passed in 1975 and in 2021, she became the first Black woman inducted into France’s National Panthéon.There is so much more to learn more about Bakers’ life and work, but you can start by reading 2018’s Josephine Baker’s Last Dance by Sherry Jones, 2001’s Josephine Baker: The Hungry Heart by one of her sons, Jean-Claude Baker, watch Baker’s movies, Princess Tam Tam, Siren of the Tropics and Zou Zou, which can be found in the Josephine Baker DVD Collection, the recently restored film from 1940 called The French Way, and there’s also 1991’s The Josephine Baker Story, an HBO movie starring Lynn Whitfield, also available on DVD.

The main documentary I found on her is 2018’s Josephine Baker: The Story of An Awakening, produced by Terranoa, which can currently be found in some PBS local listings.

There’s also the BBC Wales’ 2006 documentary Josephine Baker: The 1st Black Superstar, currently posted on YouTube.

Links to these and other sources are 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, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing.

Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot. Additional music includes “J’ai Deux Amours” performed by Josephine Baker and employed under fair use.

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following 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.

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Sources:

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GBN’s Daily Drop: “We Got Game” – Which NBA Player Was 1st to be Unanimously Voted League MVP? (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: “We Got Game” – Which NBA Player Was 1st to be Unanimously Voted League MVP? (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 22, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Tuesday, March 22 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 and is the year’s second foray into our Black Trivia category called “We Got Game”:

You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Amazon, 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 Tuesday, March 22nd, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by ]Wi. It’s in the category for Black Trivia we call “We Got Game”:

Okay, so I’m going to read a multiple-choice question that you will get time to think about and answer. What I’m going to do is read the question, read the choices — and they’ll be four of them — and then I’ll prompt you to pause the episode if you want to take longer than the 10 seconds that will pass before I share the answer. Sound good? Ready to see if you got game? All right, here we go:

Who was the first NBA player to ever be voted league MVP unanimously? Was it…

A. Stephen Curry

B. LeBron James

C. Kobe Bryant

D. Michael Jordan

Now go ahead and pause the episode if you want to take more than 10 seconds before you hear the answer. Otherwise, I’ll be back in 10… Okay, time’s up. The answer is… A: Stephen Curry.

Although it wasn’t the first time Curry was voted league MVP, in 2016 the Golden State Warriors point guard scored all 131 first-place votes for the top spot.

To learn more about Steph Curry and his championship career, read I Know This To Be True: Stephen Curry by Geoff Blackwell and Ruth Hobday, Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry by Marcus Thompson, Stephen Curry: The Fascinating Story of a Basketball Superstar – Stephen Curry – One of the Greatest Shooters in Basketball History by Steve Peyton, and check out the links to these sources and more provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted ongoodblacknews.org.

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

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following 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:

(paid links)