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Devin Robinson's Beauty Supply Institute Earns $10 million in Revenues for Urban Communities

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013

In 2005, Devin Robinson was threatened with a golf club by a store owner while shopping in the owner’s beauty supply store. Out of anger, two months later Robinson had his own store. Eighteen months later he had two additional locations.

Black-owned beauty supply store

Another Black-owned beauty supply store opens. In this $15 billion industry, 96 percent of the revenues come out of Black pockets, but only 3 percent of the stores are owned by Blacks.

In 2007, he self-published “Taking it Back: How to Become a Successful Beauty Supply Store Owner” and launched Taking it Back University to train others how to be successful in beauty supply ownership too. In 2008 he was featured in Ebony magazine and appeared in the documentary, “Black Hair.” In 2009 Devin Robinson led a national boycott against non-Black-owned beauty supply stores. Since then, he has rebranded Taking it Back University into Beauty Supply Institute.
Beauty Supply Institute staffs 11 people working in two divisions: Training Operations and Field Operations. The company is in its sixth year of business, in its fourth year of two annual conferences and recently partnered with Herzing University to offer a nine-month beauty supply ownership program. The company also has online courses, materials, on-site consulting and full store opening services.
By the end of 2012, the revenues of stores Beauty Supply Institute is responsible for opening topped $10 million. When asked about this accomplishment, Robinson said: “Putting these revenues back into the hands of Blacks and in urban communities is severely important to me. For the past six years when aspiring entrepreneurs ask how to open a beauty supply store or how to become a beauty supply store owner, I wanted us to have every single answer for them. I am very pleased with my team. In this industry, we have more answers now than any question a client can ask us. I view the problems in this industry as an economic hate crime against Blacks, thus making entrepreneurship the 21st century civil rights issue.”

Black History Facts of the Day: Feb 3rd

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013

Check out the facts below:
– In 1903 Jack Johnson became the first black Heavyweight Champion
– In 1956 Autherine J. Lucy becomes the first black student to attend the University of Alabama. She was expelled three days later “for her own safety” in response to threats from a mob.
– In 1964 NYC School officials reported that 464,000 Black and Puerto Rican students boycotted New York City public schools. More than 267,000 were absent during second boycott, March 16.
– In 1965  Geraldine McCullough Wins Widener Gold Medal
article via blackenterprise.com

Robert Griffin III Named AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013
Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the New York Giants, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Giants won 27-23. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the New York Giants, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Giants won 27-23. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins has won The Associated Press 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award, beating out two other sensational first-year quarterbacks.
Griffin, whose thrill-a-minute combination of running and passing skills led Washington to its first NFC East title in 13 years, pulled away from Andrew Luck of the Colts and Russell Wilson of the Seahawks in a lopsided vote announced Saturday.
RG3 earned 29 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league. Luck was next with 11 and Wilson got 10.  All three led their teams to the playoffs.  Griffin, who severely injured his right knee in a wild-card round loss to the Seahawks, set the NFL record for best passer rating by a rookie QB.
He accepted his award at the “2nd Annual NFL Honors” awards show on CBS saluting the NFL’s best players, performances and plays from the 2012 season.
 article by Barry Wilner, Associated Press via thegrio.com

‘Our Roots’: EURweb’s Illustrated Black History Month Salute

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013
our roots (02-03-13)“Our Roots” is an Illustrated educational and informative Comic art by TAYO Fatunla that documents various stages in the history of the black race featuring black achievers in the US, the UK, in Europe and in Africa.

This Black History month in the US, “Our Roots” will highlight Black people, places and things that have helped shape the world history as we know it today. This inaugural feature for EURweb highlights African History.  Nelson Mandela said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”  “Our Roots”  tries to do just that. 
TAYO Fatunla is an award winning Nigerian Comic Artist and illustrator and Editorial cartoonist. He is a graduate of the prestigious U.S. Art school, The Kubert School, New Jersey. He has extensively drawn cartoons and illustrations in Africa, in Europe and the US through the years and has exhibited “Our Roots” at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York.   See his work at: www.tayofatunla.com
article via eurweb.com

Adrian Peterson Awarded NFL MVP, Offensive Player of the Year Honors

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013
Adrian Peterson #28 of the Minnesota Vikings walks off the field after his team's 24-17 loss to the San Diego Chargers during their season-opening game on September 11, 2011 at Qualcomm Stadium in San DIego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)

Adrian Peterson #28 of the Minnesota Vikings walks off the field after his team’s 24-17 loss to the San Diego Chargers during their season-opening game on September 11, 2011 at Qualcomm Stadium in San DIego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Adrian Peterson called it a blessing in disguise.  Strange way to describe career-threatening major knee surgery.  The Minnesota Vikings’ star came back better than ever, just missing Eric Dickerson’s longstanding rushing record and closing out the season with two of the top NFL awards from The Associated Press: Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year.
As sort of an added bonus, he beat Peyton Manning for both of them Saturday night.  “My career could have easily been over, just like that,” the sensational running back said. “Oh man. The things I’ve been through throughout my lifetime has made me mentally tough. ”I’m kind of speechless. This is amazing, ” he said in accepting his awards, along with five others at the “2nd Annual NFL Honors” show on CBS saluting the NFL’s best players, performances and plays from the 2012 season. The awards are based on balloting from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL.

Born on this Day in 1935: Blues and Funk Legend Johnny "Guitar" Watson

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013

imagesA flamboyant showman and guitar picker in the style of T-Bone Walker, Johnny “Guitar” Watson was born John Watson, Jr. in Houston, Texas on February 3, 1935.  Watson recorded throughout the 1950s and 1960s with some success. His creative reinvention in the 1970s with disco and funk overtones, saw Watson have hits with “Ain’t That a Bitch”, “I Need It” and “Superman Lover.”  His successful recording career spanned forty years, with his biggest hit being 1977’s “A Real Mother For Ya”.  Watson was known for his virtuosic guitar playing and inspired musicians ranging from Bobby Womack to Frank Zappa.

To learn more about his life and music, click here, and enjoy “A Real Mother For Ya” below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jr0qPqK3vw&w=420&h=315]
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Princeton University Art Museum Opens "Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe" Exhibit on February 16

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013

Annibale Carracci, attrib. (Italian, 1560 – 1609), Portrait of an African Slave Woman, ca. 1580s.
Annibale Carracci, attrib. (Italian, 1560 – 1609), Portrait of an African Slave Woman, ca. 1580s.

PRINCETON, NJ – The Princeton University Art Museum presents Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe, an exhibition exploring the presence of Africans and their descendants in Europe from the late 1400s to the early 1600s and the roles these individuals played in society as reflected in art. Africans living in or visiting Europe during this time included artists, aristocrats, saints, slaves, and diplomats. The exhibition of vivid portraits created from life—themselves a part of the wider Renaissance focus on the identity and perspective of the individual—encourages face-to-face encounters with these individuals and poses questions about the challenges of color, class, and stereotypes that a new diversity brought to Europe. Aspects of this material have long been studied by scholars, but this exhibition marks the first time the subject has been presented to a wider American public.
Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe will be on view at the Princeton University Art Museum from February 16, 2013 to June 9, 2013, and will feature over 65 paintings, sculptures, prints, manuscripts, and printed books by great artists such as Dürer, Bronzino, Pontormo, Veronese, and Rubens. Organized by the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore in collaboration with the Princeton University Art Museum, the exhibition includes artworks drawn from major museums and private collections across Europe and the United States, including works from both Princeton and the Walters.
“The exhibition focuses new attention on an important but poorly understood aspect of Western history and the history of representation and thus continues our commitment to expanding the borders of scholarship and public understanding,” according to Princeton University Art Museum Director James Steward. “This exhibition affords an exceptional opportunity to discover great works of art and encourages us to reflect on our understanding of cultural identity both past and present.”
The presence of Africans and their descendants in Europe was partially a consequence of the drive for new markets beginning in the late 1400s. This included the importation of West Africans as slaves, supplanting the trade of slaves of Slavic origin. There was also increasing conflict with North African Muslims and heightened levels of diplomatic and trade initiatives by African monarchs.

Journalist Dion Rabouin Challenges U.S. to Redefine Black History Month

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2013

black history 2013
Below is the complete text of journalist Dion Rabouin’s recent Huffington Post blog challenging this country to engage in a more comprehensive and far-reaching celebration of African and African-American achievements during Black History Month.  GBN couldn’t agree more, and has added links to his blog for just that purpose.  Enjoy!
Malcolm X was fond of saying, “Our history did not begin in chains.” Yet every year that’s where Black History Month lesson plans in schools across America begin. They begin telling the story of our history — black history — in chains.  Young black school children don’t learn that our people mapped, calculated and erected some of the greatest monuments ever, like the pyramids, the sphinx and the obelisks (after which the Washington Monument is modeled) or that our people were literally the lifeblood of some of history’s greatest civilizations. They don’t learn that calculus, trigonometry and geometry all trace their origins back to African scholars.
Black History Month lessons never begin with Haile Selassi I, ruler of Ethiopia, who could trace his ancestry to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and beyond that to Cush in 6280 B.C. Never mind that Selassi actually has the most ancient lineage of any human being in history.
Black History Month lessons certainly never begin with one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known, Hannibal, an African who conquered and extended the rule of the Carthaginian Empire into Italy, Rome and Spain. Most school children (and most adults, truth be told) don’t even know that Carthage, Hannibal’s homeland, is in Africa.

The 13th National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Is February 7

By goodblacknews on February 2, 2013

NBHAAD_2013_Postcard_FRONTObserved each year for the past thirteen years on February 7, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) is a day to promote HIV testing and raise awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS in the Black community, one of the communities hardest hit by the disease. This year’s NBHAAD theme, “I am my brother/sister’s keeper: Fight HIV/AIDS,” reminds us that to effectuate change in any movement, we must work together for the collective good and sometimes this work requires us to put up a good fight.
More than any other racial/ethnic minority group, the Black community, and Black gay men in particular, continue to be disproportionately affected by this disease. In young, Black gay men, the numbers are especially staggering with approximately 1 in 4 new HIV infections occurring among this group according to the CDC.
There are four specific focal points of NBHAAD: education, testing, involvement, and treatment. Educationally, the focus is to get Blacks educated about the basics of HIV/AIDS in their local communities. Testing is at the core of this initiative, as it is hoped that Blacks will mark February 7 of every year as their annual or bi-annual day to get tested for HIV. This is vital for those who are sexually active and those at high risk of contracting HIV. When it comes to community and organization leadership, getting Blacks involved to serve is another key focus. Black people from all walks of life, economic classes, literacy levels, shades and tones as well as communities (large and small) need to get connected to the work happening on the ground in their local areas. And lastly, for those living with HIV or newly testing positive for the virus, getting them treatment and care services becomes paramount. 
To find a testing location close to you, go to http://hivtest.cdc.gov

Magic Johnson, Common and Debra Lee join Coca-Cola to Help ‘Pay it Forward’

By goodblacknews on February 2, 2013

magic johnson debra lee & common
NBA legend and business mogul Earvin “Magic” Johnson, multi-Grammy Award-winning musician, actor and philanthropist Common, and Black Entertainment Television (BET) chairman and CEO Debra Lee join forces with Coca-Cola this month in a movement to uplift and pay it forward to the next generation.
Kicking off the second year of its signature program, “Coca-Cola Pay it Forward,” the world’s most recognized brand enlists the help of some of today’s leading African-American history makers to offer exciting apprenticeship experiences to aspiring youth. Magic Johnson, Common and Debra Lee will serve as mentors, giving four lucky young people the opportunity to shadow them and their teams for a week during the summer. The four apprenticeship experiences will focus on: business (Johnson); music and community (Common); and media/entertainment (Lee). Expanding this year’s program offering, the Company has partnered with UNCF (United Negro College Fund), the country’s largest minority education organization, for a text-to-donate program.
“I have and always will remain committed to uplifting the urban community in my business and nonprofit endeavors, and that makes the Coca-Cola ‘Pay It Forward’ program a perfect fit,” said Johnson. “There is no better way to empower a community than to arm its youth with the necessary skills to succeed.”