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“Surviving 9/11”: The Story of Genelle Guzman-McMillan, the Last Survivor Pulled From the World Trade Center Rubble 20 Years Ago

“Surviving 9/11”: The Story of Genelle Guzman-McMillan, the Last Survivor Pulled From the World Trade Center Rubble 20 Years Ago

By goodblacknews on September 11, 2021

[Photo: Genelle Guzman-McMillan and family. Credit: Courtesy Genelle Guzman]

In commemoration of the lives lost and forever changed by the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., today Good Black News highlights the story of the last person pulled alive from the rubble at the World Trade Center in New York — Genelle Guzman-McMillan.

Trapped under the rubble for 27 hours before being rescued, Guzman-McMillan, a young Black immigrant woman from Trinidad, was working as an office assistant for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on the 64th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower when it was hit by a plane hijacked by terrorists.

Guzman-McMillan had made her way down to the staircase to the 13th floor before the entire building collapsed, shattering her leg, injuring her head and burning her face. It took over a day for first responders to find her, and she kept herself alive with thoughts of reuniting with her daughter Kimberly, who was 12 at the time, and through her faith.

After spending over a month in the hospital healing from her wounds, on November 7, 2001 Guzman-McMillan (then Guzman) affirmed the continued gift of her life by marrying boyfriend Roger McMillan, who proposed not long after her rescue. They since have had two more daughters and live in Long Island.

“I was given a new life,” says Guzman McMillan to people.com, now a supervisor for the Port Authority at LaGuardia airport. “I know that God has a bigger plan for me and I just try to do what is right. And encourage people in order to try to move forward despite the adversity in life. My faith is just growing stronger and stronger.”In 2011, Guzman-McMillan wrote her memoir Angel in the Rubble about her experience, which is available on Amazon.

She discusses her story with Robin Roberts on ABC below:

Guzman-McMillan is also featured in Surviving 9/11: 27 Hours Under the Rubble (trailer above) available for free in Oculus TV on the Oculus Quest Platform. You can read more about her story and journey by clicking through the links below:

https://tech.fb.com/how-one-woman-survived-9-11-and-shared-her-story-through-vr/

https://people.com/human-interest/9-11-woman-survived-27-hours-in-rubble-september-2001-north-tower-genelle-guzman-mcmillan/

GBN’s “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022 Now Available for Pre-Order

GBN’s “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022 Now Available for Pre-Order

By goodblacknews on September 10, 2021
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, Good Black News Editor-in-Chief

This March in our Good Black News anniversary post, I mentioned GBN would be coming out with its first physical product this fall: a Page-A-Day® Calendar from Workman Publishing entitled A Year of Good Black News for 2022. Well, guess what – it’s fall!

A Year of Good Black News, written by yours truly, is filled with facts, history, bios, quotes, jokes and trivia in easy-to-read entries delivered on the daily.

The calendar’s official drop date is Tuesday, October 12, and if you pre-order at Workman.com using the code: GOODBLACKNEWS from now until December 31, you will receive 20% off.

A Year of Good Black News offers fun Black facts about inventors, entrepreneurs, musicians, comedians, historians, educators, athletes and entertainers, as well as info shared in fun fact categories like “Lemme Break It Down: Black Lexicon,” “We Got Game: Black Trivia,” “Get The Knowledge: Black Museums and Landmarks” and “You Know We Did That, Right?: Black Inventors.”

Here’s a sneak peek inside:

Although I’m biased because I wrote it, the A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day 2022 calendar is an awesome way to get inspired every day by the good things Black people do (and have done) for centuries, but haven’t always been widely known or shared.

Well, no more! If this site is for you, this calendar is, too!

It’s also a great gift for family members, friends, teachers, kids and loved ones. Did I mention if you use the code: GOODBLACKNEWS at Workman.com, you get 20% off?

Or, if you prefer, you can also order from the retailers below:

Bookshop: https://www.bookshop.org/a/368/9781523514298

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781523514298?aff=workmanpub

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781523514298

Books-A-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781523514298

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523514299?tag=workmanweb-20

Workman.com: https://www.workman.com/products/a-year-of-good-black-news-page-a-day-calendar-for-2022

Onward and upward –  hope you enjoy – and share!

Artist Amy Sherald’s Breonna Taylor Portrait on Display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Artist Amy Sherald’s Breonna Taylor Portrait on Display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

By goodblacknews on September 9, 2021

Best known for painting the official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama that hangs in the National Gallery, artist Amy Sherald’s painting of Breonna Taylor officially goes on display Friday at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C.

Sherald’s posthumous painting of Taylor, now part of the museum’s new exhibition, “Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience,” was first seen en masse by the public when it graced the September 2020 cover of Vanity Fair. 

Acclaimed for her photo-based, realistic, minimalist style and creative exploration of skin tone, Sherald’s vision of Taylor simultaneously honors the police violence victim’s beauty, humanity and the tragedy of her loss.

A painting of Taylor now hangs in a darkened gallery on the fourth floor of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It is displayed behind glass, in the warm glow of soft light. It is the only artwork in the room, a commanding presence, and the heartbreaking apex  opening Friday.

The painting was acquired by both NMHAAC and the Speed Art Museum in KY, where it was displayed in April of this year. It will hang at NMHAAC until May 2022.

Statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee Finally Removed from Richmond, VA, Former Capital of the Confederacy

Statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee Finally Removed from Richmond, VA, Former Capital of the Confederacy

By goodblacknews on September 8, 2021

This morning in Richmond, VA, capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War, its top general was finally cut down. His statue, that is.

Erected in 1890, a full 35 years after he surrendered at Appomattox, the statue of Robert E. Lee was removed from its downtown perch to chants of “Na Na /Hey Hey /Goodbye”, the last of six confederate statues to come down on Richmond’s Monument Avenue.

To quote from nytimes.com:

At 8:54 a.m., a man in an orange jacket waved his arms, and the 21-foot statue rose into the air and glided, slowly, to a flatbed truck below. The sun had just come out and illuminated the towering gray pedestal as a small crowd on the east side of the monument let out a cheer.

“As a native of Richmond, I want to say that the head of the snake has been removed,” said Gary Flowers, a radio show host and civil rights activist, who is Black and was watching the activity. He said he planned to celebrate on Wednesday night and would tell pictures of his dead relatives that “the humiliation and agony and pain you suffered has been partly lifted.”

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam had planned to remove the Lee statue in June 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the following protests, but faced legal challenges from a group of Richmond residents.

Protesters toppled the monument erected of Confederate President Jefferson Davis that same month, and in July 2020 Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney invoked his emergency powers to remove other Confederate monuments, such as those honoring Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Gen. J.E.B. Stuart.

In an opinion issued last week, the Virginia Supreme Court dismissed the Lee statue case, saying that all the plaintiffs’ claims were without merit, and dissolved injunctions the lower court imposed, paving the way for today’s statute removal.

MUSIC MONDAY: “Nola Step” – A Collection of New Orleans Jazz (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Nola Step” – A Collection of New Orleans Jazz (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on September 6, 2021

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

Happy Monday, y’all.

After Ida tore through the northeast of the country, leaving turmoil in its wake, I have been thinking of, and listening, to the beautiful music to emerge from the Crescent City. Here’s a collection of New Orleans Jazz to take you through this week.

From early 20th century figures like Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong to modern masters like Trombone Short and Christian Scott, this collection is full of classic grooves. I couldn’t help but include some fine brass band music too.

Hope you enjoy this eclectic playlist of artist from and/or based in New Orleans.

As always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
After 114 Years, Buffalo Soldiers Honored with Statue at U.S. Military Academy at West Point

After 114 Years, Buffalo Soldiers Honored with Statue at U.S. Military Academy at West Point

By goodblacknews on September 1, 2021

Yesterday, 114 years after coming to then-segregated West Point to teach horsemanship to White cadets, the U.S. Military Academy honored the contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers by raising its first statue of a Black man.

Created by sculptor Eddie Dixon, the statue is of Staff Sgt. Sanders H. Matthews Sr., who is believed to be the last known Buffalo Soldier to serve at West Point.

The words etched into the granite say: “In Memory of the Buffalo Soldiers who served with the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments as part of the United States Military Academy Cavalry Detachment at West Point.”

“Everybody has a right to have their story told,” said Dr. Aundrea Matthews, West Point’s cultural arts director and Matthew’s granddaughter. “Because it’s a powerful story. Just what [the Buffalo Soldiers] endured, their determination and their commitment to prove to the world that African American men can contribute and are viable citizens of this country.”

To quote washingtonpost.com:

Dixon pored over old photographs of Sanders Matthews to get the facial image right.

A model was built on an inner structure of carved foam, over which Dixon spread a layer of light-brown clay. Molds were made from the model, and the statue was cast with molten bronze at Schaefer Art Bronze Casting, in Arlington, Tex.

It was transported by truck and arrived Monday morning, escorted by eight motorcycles from the National Association of Buffalo Soldiers and Troopers Motorcycle Club.

The sculpture, which features an image of Matthews carrying a swallow-tailed cavalry flag that reads “USMA Detachment,” is the culmination of a project that was started by him before he died at age 95 in 2016.

Matthews hoped for the day when a monument honoring the Buffalo Soldiers of West Point would come to fruition, not knowing he would be the image for the tribute, his granddaughter said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/08/31/west-point-buffalo-soldiers-statue/

[Photo: Jackie Molloy for The Washington Post]

MUSIC MONDAY: “The Upsetter” – A Tribute to Reggae/Dub Legend Lee “Scratch” Perry (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “The Upsetter” – A Tribute to Reggae/Dub Legend Lee “Scratch” Perry (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 30, 2021

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

Yesterday we lost the great Lee “Scratch” Perry, the monumental reggae singer, producer, and studio wizard who pushed the boundaries of Jamaican music.

He worked with and produced for many artists, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Congos, Adrian Sherwood, the Beastie Boys, and many others.

Perry also was a crucial figure in the development of the homegrown art form of dub, which involved the stripping of vocals from previously released recordings and treating the instrumental beds with a variety of otherworldly effects.

Perry serviced dozens of classic “dub plates” to Jamaican sound system dancehalls. Keith Richards told Rolling Stone back in 2010, “You could never put your finger on Lee Perry – he’s the Salvador Dali of music. He’s a mystery. The world is his instrument. You just have to listen. More than a producer, he knows how to inspire the artist’s soul. Like Phil Spector, he has a gift of not only hearing sounds that come from nowhere else but also translating those sounds to the musicians. Scratch is a shaman.”

Brotha had a healthy sense of his own impact, too. “I am the best record producer that Jamaica has seen. Many say that l am the best in the world!” he said in 1984.

Here’s a collection devoted to the best of one the greats. Stay sane, safe, and kind, y’all.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “One O’Clock Jump” – A Swingin’ Count Basie Collection (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “One O’Clock Jump” – A Swingin’ Count Basie Collection (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 23, 2021

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

This week are celebrating William James “Count” Basie. He was born 117 years ago on August 21, 1904.

In 1935, Basie formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He would lead that group for almost 50 years.

Many musicians came to prominence under Basie’s direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry “Sweets” Edison, plunger trombonist Al Grey, and singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams.

Here’s a solid dose of his half century of artistry. Do enjoy.

And as always, stay safe, sane and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
Clinton College, a South Carolina HBCU, Offers Full-Time Students Free Tuition

Clinton College, a South Carolina HBCU, Offers Full-Time Students Free Tuition

By goodblacknews on August 22, 2021

Clinton College, a small historically Black college (HBCU) located in Rock Hill, South Carolina is offering all full-time students free tuition for the upcoming 2021-22 academic year.

According to the Associated Press, Clinton College President Lester McCorn announced in early August that qualifying full-time students could attend at no cost for tuition.

The College had earlier committed to slash fall tuition by 50 percent for its students, and offer every student a new tablet, but with the continued financial strain of the pandemic, decided to do away with tuition altogether.

“It has been taxing for each and everyone of us,” McCorn said of the pandemic. “At Clinton College, we have done our best to keep the school moving forward and providing a quality education, even in a virtual environment.”

The cost of tuition for full-time students is listed as  $4,960 per semester, while a full year costs $9,920. Vaccinated students are permitted to live on campus and will still be responsible for the costs of room and board. Those who attend full-time and live off campus can take their courses online free of charge.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna1662

MUSIC MONDAY: “Respect” for the Queen – Aretha Franklin Playlists (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Respect” for the Queen – Aretha Franklin Playlists (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 16, 2021

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

While our #MusicMonday main man and selector Marlon West takes a well-earned break from creating thoughtful and unique playlists exploring the musical diaspora, I’m stepping in to post two curations honoring the woman of the weekend, Aretha Franklin.

Respect, the MGM biopic starring Jennifer Hudson as the Queen of Soul, was released exclusively in theaters this past Friday and earned almost $9 million in its first weekend. In addition to being a satisfying film experience, Respect makes you appreciate even more how creative and intelligent Aretha was in her musical expression across all genres.

In addition to being an unparalleled singer who could turn tunes by other artists into her own signature songs, Franklin also composed, arranged and produced several of her biggest hits.

In honor of those aspects of her genius, I offer the playlists “How I Got Over”: Aretha Franklin’s Cover Songs, which includes (of course) “Respect,” by Otis Redding, “Until You Come Back To Me” by Stevie Wonder and “Spanish Harlem” originally recorded by Ben E. King:

and “Rock Steady”: Songs Aretha Franklin Wrote which includes classic compositions such as “Think,” “Rock Steady” and “Day Dreaming”:

Until next time, I’ll bid you farewell as Mr. West always (and lovingly) does:

Enjoy, and please, be safe, sane and kind.