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Good Black News

GBN’s Daily Drop: “Black Girl Magic” – (Gen) Z is for Zendaya (LISTEN)

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop Podcast is based on the Saturday, February 19 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about the multi-talented former Disney Channel star, global box-office phenom and fashion icon Zendaya Coleman, in the category of what else… Black Girl Magic!

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 Friday, February 18th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing. Today’s category? Black Girl Magic. The person? Zendaya.

“Euphoria” must describe the feeling Zendaya Coleman has on the regular. Not only did she become the youngest person ever to win a Primetime Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2020 for her performance in HBO’s Euphoria, the multi-talented performer has landed Top 40 hits as a musical artist, starred in blockbusters such as Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home and The Greatest Showmanshe can even do a convincing trapeze act!

The Dune and Malcolm and Marie star also claimed fashion icon status with various magazine covers, red carpet arrivals and the 2019 launch of her Zendaya x Tommy collection with Tommy Hilfiger.

To learn more about Oakland native Zendaya, 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, 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.

Sources:

(paid links)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Donyale Luna – the First Black Supermodel (LISTEN)

[Photo: Woodgate/Associated Newspapers/Rex USA]

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop Podcast is based on the Friday, February 18 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about Donyale Luna, who emerged in the 1960s as the first Black supermodel:

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 Friday, February 18th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Beverly Johnson made waves in 1974 as the first African American model to appear on the cover of American Vogue, and almost 50 years later she is still at it, having just walked in two shows at this year’s New York Fashion Week.

But did you know that the first African American model to grace any Vogue cover ever did so eight years before Beverly? In 1966, Donyale Luna graced the March cover of British Vogue. A Detroit native, Luna is widely considered to be the world’s first Black supermodel and served as one of the inspirations for the 1975 Diana Ross film Mahogany.

Luna’s career was unfortunately short-lived as she passed in 1979 at the age of 32, but her legacy lives on. To learn more about Luna and to see photos from her modeling days, check out the links provided in today’s show notes and also in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

Source links:

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

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.

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Will Smith and David Oyelowo Partner to Produce and Adapt “Oneyka and the Academy of the Sun” for Netflix

According to Variety.com, Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios and David Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon have partnered with Netflix to produce the film adaptation of the upcoming book Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by British-Nigerian author, journalist and hair care educator Tọlá Okogwu. Ola Shokunbi is set to write the film adaptation.

To quote variety.com:

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun tells the tale of a teenager who learns she has powers and travels to Nigeria to learn more about her origins, where she discovers a threat to her newfound magical community.

Described as Black Panther meets X-Men or Percy Jackson, the book is the first in an action-packed series for middle-grade children and will be published by Simon & Schuster in the U.S. and U.K. this June.

In 2021, Westbrook Studios produced the Academy Award-nominated film King Richard and most recently debuted the series Bel-Air on Peacock, the dramatic reboot the 1990s comedy series Fresh Prince of Bel Air that starred Smith.

Read more: https://variety.com/2022/film/news/will-smith-david-oyelowo-netflix-movie-1235183223/

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Ann Lowe – Fashion Designer for Harlem, Hollywood and the White House (LISTEN)

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Wednesday, February 16 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about haute couture designer and entrepreneur Ann Lowe.

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 Wednesday, February 16th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

As New York’s Fashion Week for 2022 concludes, today we take a look at esteemed designer and dressmaker Ann Lowe.

In 1914, when Ann Lowe was sixteen years old, her mother, who was a seamstress, died suddenly. Though grieving, Lowe finished her mother’s last job—creating four ball gowns for the First Lady of Alabama and launching her career as a designer of haute couture.

Years later, although she received no credit for either, Lowe made both actress Olivia de Havilland’s distinctive flower-covered dress for the 1946 Academy Awards and Jacqueline Kennedy’s iconic wedding dress in 1953.

Her store, Ann Lowe’s Gowns, opened in Harlem in 1950, and in 1968, when she opened a second location, Lowe became the first Black woman to own a boutique on Madison Avenue.

To learn more about Ann Lowe’s life and career, read Something To Prove: A Biography of Ann Lowe America’s Forgotten Designer by Julia Faye Smith, check out her designs on the Fashion Institute of Technology’s website, the National First Ladies Library lecture on Lowe that’s on YouTube, as well as links to other sources provided in today’s show notes as well as in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

Other sources for Lowe:

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 links)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Director and Playwright George C. Wolfe Quote on the Source of Style (LISTEN)

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Tuesday, February 15 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 and helps celebrate New York Fashion Week with a fun quote from Tony Award-winning director, filmmaker and playwright George C. Wolfe:

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 Tuesday, February 15th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

As New York’s Fashion Week for 2022 continues, today we offer a quote from George C. Wolfe, the Tony Award-winning director of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Bring In ‘Da Noise/Bring in ‘Da Funk. He’s also the former artistic director of New York’s Public Theater and he also wrote 1986’s acclaimed off-Broadway play The Colored Museum. Here’s the quote:

“God created Black people, and Black people created style.”

To learn more about American Theater Hall of Fame inductee George C. Wolfe, check out the 2018 Oprah Winfrey/Rose Byrne film adaptation of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on HBO or Hulu, which Wolfe wrote and directed based on the book of the same name, of head to Netflix for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom which was his 2020 film starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman.

Or you can watch his TIFF Originals Master Class on YouTube, and read more about Wolfe on the Internet Broadway Database, thehistorymakers.org and theundefeated.com. Links to these sources are provided in today’s show notes as well as in the episode’s full transcript 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. 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’s Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 is 50% off at workman.com with code:50CAL until 2/28/22

(paid links)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Love Is The Thing” – Valentine’s Day 2022 Playlist (LISTEN)

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

Happy 14th of February! It’s your friend and selector, Marlon!

We are halfway through Black History Month. It’s Valentine’s Day! If you are like my kid, it could be your birthday too. And of course, it is Music Monday here at GBN.

I am thrilled to offer this collection of mushy stuff. Here is a full workday wit of music devoted to affairs of the heart. Love is the thing all right here, at Good Black News.

This playlist brings together classics by Aretha, Stevie, Marvin, Sade, and others, along with new voices of artists like Tamia, Mario, and Liza.

There are songs here about new and enduring love. Tracks about the peril and pain of romance, everything in between.

Hope you enjoy this Valentine’s Day offering. See you all next month.

Until such time, stay safe, sane, and kind.

-m-

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

 

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Tina Turner – Quote on How to Find Your Freedom and Creativity (LISTEN)

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast, on Valentine’s Dayis based on the Monday, February 14 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022. It’s an inspirational quote from the one and only “Queen of Rock and Roll” — singing legend Tina Turner.

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 Monday, February 14th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

On this Valentine’s Day, we offer an inspirational quote from author, twelve-time Grammy® winner and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Tina Turner, whose signature song is her number-one pop hit “What’s Love Got to Do With It”:

“Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go–purge yourself. I did that. I had nothing, but I had my freedom… [W]hatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”

To learn more about Turner’s life and music, check out her 2018 bestseller My Love Story, her 2020 book Happiness Becomes You: A Guide To Changing Your Life For Good, her 1986 memoir I, Tina: My Life Story, which was adapted into the Academy Award nominated feature film What’s Love Got To Do With It? starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne.

Also, the 2021 documentary Tina is currently available on HBOMax and Hulu, and just this past week it was announced that Tina – The Tina Turner Musical will start a multi-city North American tour in the Fall of 2022. Fans can visit www.TinaOnBroadway.com to sign up for updates on upcoming tour news and announcements.

Links to these sources are provided in today’s show notes as well as in the episode’s full transcript 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. 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’s Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 is 50% off at workman.com with code:50CAL until 2/28/22

(paid links)

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

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: #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay (LISTEN)

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Even though most Americans think of today as Super Bowl Sunday, on GBN’s Daily Drop podcast bonus episode we instead celebrate what’s been the day’s other moniker since 2018 — #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay.

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 bonus daily drop of Good Black News for Sunday, February 13th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Although today is known by most Americans as Super Bowl Sunday, for the past four years, thanks to Academy Award-winning filmmaker Matthew A. Cherry, it’s known among millions on Twitter and beyond as #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay.

#JanetJacksonAppreciationDay is where fans of Janet Jackson (aka “#JanFam”) flood their social media timelines with loving GIFs, memes, and videos of the legendary “Rhythm Nation” performer.

This annual trend began in 2018 in reaction to Justin Timberlake being invited to headline that year’s Super Bowl halftime. In 2004, when Jackson and Timberlake performed together at halftime, Jackson alone bore the blame for the “wardrobe malfunction” that occurred when Timberlake ripped a revealing part of her costume.

The moment that came to be called “Nipplegate” sparked controversy and damaged Jackson’s career for years while Timberlake’s soared.

Today’s #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay is particularly special because just a few weeks ago, the four-part documentary Janet Jackson and brother Randy Jackson executive produced on her life and career aired in the U.S. on Lifetime and A&E. In it, Janet shared footage and information from her life and career that had never seen or heard before by the public.

The widely watched doc set off a current surge of appreciation for Jackson’s contributions to popular culture in the following ways:

  1. top ratings in the U.S. and airings across the globe
  2. soaring iTunes sales and streams of her singles and albums, with Control hitting the #1 spot on the iTunes pop album charts 36 years after its release.
  3. Twitter and IG filled with fan and celebrity tributes alike.

As a #JanFam member myself since childhood – from Good Times, Diff’rent Strokes, the early albums and on – well, today I personally would like to appreciate Janet Jackson who, since 1989, has used her music to tackle and highlight issues such as racism, sexism, illiteracy, domestic violence and homophobia.

I wrote a piece on Good Black News about it last year and created a playlist to which I’ve included links in this episode’s show notes.

But I also appreciate Janet’s decades-long contributions to charities and causes such as the NAACP, the United Negro College Fund, Feeding America, and the American Foundation for AIDS Research, among so many others.

Currently, Janet is selling her vintage tour swag on The Real Real to support the non-profit organization Girls Leadership, which teaches girls to exercise the power of their voices through programs grounded in social emotional learning.

Some other sources that can help you get your Janet Jackson appreciation on are the incredible book in the 33 and 1/3 series dedicated to Velvet Rope by Ayanna Dozier, and Janet’s own 2011 part memoir, part health and lifestyle bestseller True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself written with David Ritz.

There’s also an awesome podcast called Janet Today, Janet Tomorrow, Janet Forever where cousins Courtney and Kam discuss Janet’s music and videos song by song, as well as conduct fun and informative interviews with musicians, dancers, stylists and the like who have worked with Janet throughout her career.

There’s also Janet Jackson’s own Instagram, her IG stories and Twitter, the hashtag #janfam to see posts from her devoted fan base and the hashtag #JanetsLegacyMatters, whose creators helped organize the grassroots push for Janet’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which happened in 2019.

And of course, you can always jump on social yourself and add to or check out the #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay tributes that are all for her! Links to everything I mentioned and more are provided in today’s show notes.

Additional sources:

This has been an extra-long 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, Amazon, Bookshop and other online retailers.

Music used in today’s episode includes “The Knowledge” off Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation: 1814 album, “Control (The Video Mix)” from the Control: The Remixes album, “All For You” from the 2001 album of the same name, and “The Pleasure Principle (Dub Edit – The Shep Pettibone Mix)” from Control: The Remixes.

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

Btw, GBN’s Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 is 50% off at workman.com with code:50CAL until 2/28/22!

(paid links)