Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts tagged as “Bahamas”

NBA Legend Michael Jordan Donates $1 million to Hurricane Relief in the Bahamas

By goodblacknews on September 13, 2019
Michael Jordan (photo via commons.wikipedia.com)

NBA Legend and former Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan announced on Tuesday he will donate $1 million to relief efforts in the Bahamas in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, CBS News reported.

“I am devastated to see the destruction that Hurricane Dorian has brought to the Bahamas, where I own property and visit frequently,” Jordan said in a statement, shared on Twitter by his spokeswoman and manager, Estee Portnoy.  “My heart goes out to everyone who is suffering and those who have lost loved ones.”

To read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-jordan-donates-1-million-to-hurricane-dorian-relief-in-the-bahamas-after-storm/

24 Year-Old Stefun Darts Pays Off Grandparents Mortgage, Sends Them On Vacation to Bahamas

By goodblacknews on March 27, 2016
Stefun Darts and grandparents (photo via facebook)
Stefun Darts and grandparents (photo via facebook)

article by Shenequa Golding via vibe.com

Stefun Darts ate microwave pizza for months on end just to be able to give his grandparents the surprise of their lives. The full time college student and founder of the non-profit Caring Heart Youth presented his grandmother and grandfather with a check on March 20th for $15,000 to pay off their mortgage.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Marilyn Roberts, Stefun’s grandmother said. “To have a grandson like that is truly a blessing.”
For more than 20 years, the Roberts have being paying their mortgage on time every month and were well on their way to paying off their house. However, it would’ve taken another four years to do so, which is when Darts stepped in.

Sidney Poitier to be Honored at British Academy Film Awards in February

By goodblacknews on January 14, 2016
Sidney Poitier to Be Honored at British Academy Film Awards
Cinema legend Sidney Poitier (photo via ebony.com)

Sidney Poitier will be honored by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) with the Fellowship at the EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, February 14. Awarded annually, the Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games.

Fellows previously honored for their work in film include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee, Martin Scorsese, Alan Parker and Helen Mirren. Mike Leigh received the Fellowship at last year’s Film Awards.
Sidney Poitier said: “I am extremely honored to have been chosen to receive the Fellowship and my deep appreciation to the British Academy for the recognition.”
Amanda Berry OBE, chief executive of BAFTA, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that Sidney Poitier is to become a Fellow of BAFTA. Sidney is a luminary of film whose outstanding talent in front of the camera, and important work in other fields, has made him one of the most important figures of his generation. His determination to pursue his dreams is an inspirational story for young people starting out in the industry today. By recognizing Sidney with the Fellowship at the Film Awards on Sunday, February 14, BAFTA will be honoring one of cinema’s true greats.”
Sidney Poitier’s award-winning career features six BAFTA nominations, including one BAFTA win, and a British Academy Britannia Award for Lifetime Contribution to International Film.
Poitier began his acting career on Broadway in the 1940s before moving to film in 1950, receiving his first credit as Dr. Luther Brooks in No Way Out. He was the first African American to play a wide range of leading roles; he was BAFTA-nominated for his performances in Edge of the City, A Raisin in the Sun, Lilies of the Field (for which he was the first African American to win the Oscar for Best Actor in 1964), A Patch of Blue, In the Heat of the Night and The Defiant Ones, for which he won a BAFTA and Oscar in 1959. His other acting credits include Blackboard Jungle, To Sir With Love, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Sneakers, The Jackal and Porgy and Bess.
Poitier was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2002 “for his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence.” Poitier has also been nominated for seven Golden Globes, winning once, and was presented with the Cecil B DeMille Award in 1982.
Alongside his illustrious acting career, Poitier has directed nine feature films, including the Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy, as well as Buck and the Preacher, Uptown Saturday Night and Fast Forward.
In television, Poitier’s acting credits include Separate but Equal, Children of the Dust and, portaying Nelson Mandela, Mandela and de Klerk.
As well as pushing the boundaries of his craft on screen, Poitier played an active role in the American civil rights campaign and served as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan and UNESCO from 1997 to 2007. In 1974, Queen Elizabeth II conferred a knighthood on Poitier, and in 2009 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the USA, by President Obama.
The EE British Academy Film Awards take place on Sunday, February 14, at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden. Stephen Fry will be returning to host this year’s ceremony, which will be broadcast exclusively on BBC One in the UK and in all major territories around the world. On the night, www.bafta.org will feature red carpet highlights, photography and winners interviews, as well as dedicated coverage on its social networks including Facebook (/BAFTA), Twitter (@BAFTA / #EEBAFTAs), Tumblr and Instagram.
article via ebony.com

New Scholarship for Students From The Bahamas to Attend Central State University

By goodblacknews on December 6, 2015

Central State University students (photo via central state.edu)
Central State University students (photo via central state.edu)

Central State University, the historically Black educational institution in Wilberforce, Ohio, has entered into an agreement with the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology of the nation of The Bahamas. Under the agreement, 10 students from the Bahamas will receive four-year scholarships to attend Central State University each year for the next four years.
The scholarships, for students from public schools in the Bahamas, will be financed primarily through the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology. The first students in the program are expected to enroll in the fall of 2016.
The scholarship program is designed to provide opportunities for students from The Bahamas to study in academic disciplines that are not readily available at local educational institutions. These include fine and performing arts, water resource management, accounting, entrepreneurship, and engineering.
article via jbhe.com

R.I.P. "Just Got Paid" R&B Singer Johnny Kemp

By goodblacknews on April 17, 2015
R&B singer Johnny Kemp has passed away at the age of 55-years-old.  Born in the Bahamas, Kemp rose to fame after the release of his 1988 hit single Just Got Paid and his involvement in the New Jack Swing sound.  
Kemp was scheduled to be a part of the New Jack Swing performance with Teddy Riley on Tom Joyner’s annual cruise but it has been confirmed that he was not on the ship at the time of his death.
Reach Media Inc. released the following statement:

We have received confirmation that Johnny Kemp has passed away. We do not have any other details. We can confirm he was not on the ship for the Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage Cruise.

To see video of Kemp performing his best-known song, click below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl1mQASHc48&w=420&h=315]
article via blackamericaweb.com

African-American Aviation Pioneer Charles Alfred Anderson Sr. to Be Honored by U.S. Postal Service

By goodblacknews on March 7, 2014

In a significant move that brings to the forefront African-American aviation pioneers, the first-ever U.S. postal stamp honoring Tuskegee Airmen is due to be issued this month.  The definitive stamp, which immortalizes aviation trailblazer Charles Alfred Anderson, Sr., goes on sale nationwide March 13.
The 70-cent, First-Class Mail, two-ounce rate stamp, by artist and illustrator Sterling Hundley, will be unveiled next Thursday at a dedication ceremony at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
It is part of the Distinguished Americans series, which since 2000 has honored people such as actor José Ferrer, athlete Wilma Rudolph, and scientist Jonas Salk. The Chief Anderson stamp is the fifteenth in the series.
C. Alfred “Chief” Anderson, also known as the “father of black aviation” was selected because he was “a pioneer in aviation who played a crucial role during World War II in training the nation’s first black military pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen,” says USPS regional spokesman Ray V. Daiutolo Sr.
In fact, when Anderson earned his air transport license in 1932, he was the only black American in the country qualified to serve as a flight instructor or to fly commercially. Later he because the first-ever American to successfully land an airplane in the Bahamas.

18 Year-Old Gabrielle Turnquest Becomes Youngest Ever to Pass Britain's Bar Exams

By goodblacknews on July 31, 2013
Teenager becomes youngest person to be called to the Bar
Gabrielle Turnquest

According to The Telegraph, American student Gabrielle Turnquest was called to the Bar of England and Wales after passing her exams at just 18, qualifying her as a barrister in those countries.  Turnquest is a native of Windermere, Florida who made news when she graduated from Liberty University of Virginia at 16, which made her that college’s youngest-ever graduate with a degree in psychology.   She most recently took courses at Britain’s University of Law along with her sister Kandi, who also passed her bar exams (she is 22).  The average lawyer in Britain undertakes the Bar Professional Training Course when they are 27.

The teenager hopes eventually to be a fashion law specialist and will also take the American Bar exam so she can practice law in the U.S.  But as her parents are originally from the Bahamas and the British exams cover that country as well, she may practice there for a time.  She said: “I am honored to be the youngest person to pass the Bar exams but, really, I was not aware at the time what the average age was.  I didn’t fully realize the impact of it.”
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Rhys Powell's Successful Harlem Startup Red Rabbit Aims to Fix America's Food System One School at a Time

By goodblacknews on July 18, 2013
NYC PAPERS OUT. Social media use restricted to low res file max 184 x 128 pixels and 72 dpi
Red Rabbit founder Rhys Powell at the company’s commercial kitchen on Park Ave. and 121 St.

If Rhys Powell gets his way, every student in America will be eating freshly prepared, nutritious meals and snacks – and his company, Harlem-based Red Rabbit, will be doing a lot of the serving.  Red Rabbit’s already making some big leaps in that direction. Launched in 2005, Powell’s startup is quickly becoming a force in the healthy food for kids biz.  This coming school year, Red Rabbit will be preparing and delivering 20,000 meals a day to students in more than 100 private and charter schools in the New York area.
That means many children from low-income communities will be munching on healthy items like mango yogurt parfaits and fresh fish, instead of chicken nuggets and frozen pizza.  Sales at Red Rabbit are expected to double in the 2013 school year to $10 million. Two years ago, the company moved to a 10,000 square-foot facility at 121st St. and Park Ave., where Powell, 33, employs 130 workers, many of them Harlem residents.
Those kind of strides have put Powell in the spotlight: On Monday the city is set to name Red Rabbit the Manhattan Small Business of the Year in its annual Neighborhood Achievement Awards.  “We are a young, entrepreneurial company that is trying to improve the food system in America, one community at a time,” Powell said during an interview at his Harlem offices.

Bahamas To Get ‘Sidney Poitier’ Bridge

By goodblacknews on October 10, 2012
Sidney Poitier attends the 40th AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Shirley MacLaine held at Sony Pictures Studios on June 7, 2012 in Culver City, California. The AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Shirley MacLaine will premiere on TV Land on Saturday, June 24 at 9PM ET/PST. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)Sidney Poitier attends the 40th AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Shirley MacLaine held at Sony Pictures Studios on June 7, 2012 in Culver City, California. The AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Shirley MacLaine will premiere on TV Land on Saturday, June 24 at 9PM ET/PST. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — A bridge in the Bahamas is being renamed to honor Sidney Poitier, who spent part of his childhood in the island chain east of Florida.  Prime Minister Perry Christie says the Paradise Island Bridge will be rechristened as part of next month’s 40th anniversary celebration of Bahamian independence. Christie says the 88-year-old film star is being honored because of his life story and diplomacy. Poitier has been Bahamian ambassador to Japan and UNESCO.

The Oscar-winning Poitier was born in the United States but spent much of his childhood on Cat Island, a sparsely populated island in the central Bahamas.  The Paradise Island Bridge is the largest in the Bahamas. It connects the capital to the Atlantis resort, one of the region’s top tourist destinations. The renaming was announced Tuesday.

story by The Associated Press via thegrio.com