Good Black News joins in the honoring and remembrance of the women who gave us life, nurtured and raised us, and also offered us solace, counsel and wisdom. To all the mothers out there – be they Aunties, Grandmothers, Cousins or Friends – thank you for all you do! Happy Mother’s Day!
Tag: commemorations
Enjoy the day with friends, loved ones and/or in reflection!
Love and Peace,
The Good Black News Staff
According to Wikipedia.org, Stevie Wonder was born May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michgan, and has spent over fifty years as a revered, award-winning musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, he has become one of the most creative and loved musical performers of the late 20th and early 21st century. Wonder signed with the Motown label at the age of eleven and continues to perform and record for Motown as of the early 2010s. He has been blind since shortly after birth.
Among Wonder’s works are singles such as “Superstition”, “Sir Duke”, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You”; and albums such as Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist, and has sold over 100 million albums and singles, making him one of the top 60 best-selling music artists. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a holiday in the United States.
In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart’s 50th anniversary, with Wonder at number five.
To learn more about Wonder’s life and music, click here. To hear him do a live version of “As” with a moving speech towards the end, click below:
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson).
To all the mothers, grandmothers, daughters and sons – may you have a wonderful day celebrating or being celebrated as the most important women in our lives. Happy Mother’s Day – like Kevin Durant says, you are the real MVP!
Despite his current health status and the speculation that ranges from a critical condition to on the road to recovery, today is Nelson Mandela’s 95th birthday, and we want to celebrate his incredible life and work on this momentous occasion. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, South Africa, a Xhosa born to the Thembu royal family.
According to Wikipedia, Mandela attended Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law. Living in Johannesburg, he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the African National Congress and becoming a founding member of its Youth League.
To learn more about his work to overthrow apartheid in South Africa, his decades-long imprisonment, leadership of the country at its President, and how he inspired freedom fighters and activists around the world, click here.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Rose gave fans a hint on Instagram last week that their marriage was near when she posted a photo of Wiz with the caption, “My soon to be husband…. I Love his crazy hair @mistercap :-)”
However, many wondered whether or not they held secret nuptials without anyone ever knowing back in January when the then-pregnant Rose used the H-word after a videographer in Los Angeles gave her a Ninja Turtles ice cream bar.
“My husband loves Ninja Turtles! That’s really cute, thank you,” she told him. Wiz popped the question back in March 2012, and announced the happy news on Twitter. “She Said Yes!!!” the rapper wrote, and included a pic of his fiancée’s hand flashing a gorgeous and blinding engagement ring.
Shortly after, Rose tweeted, “He has made me the Happiest Woman in the World!!!!”
The couple welcomed their first child together, a son named Sebastian ‘The Bash’ Taylor Thomaz, in February. “He’s a good boy,” Rose gushed with a smile.
article by Bruna Nessif via eonline.com
Born to Joe and Katherine Jackson on May 16, 1966, Janet Damita Jo Jackson is the youngest of nine children of the musically legendary Jackson family. Although she started her career in entertainment primarily as a television actress (Good Times, Diff’rent Strokes, Fame), it was Jackson’s music, produced by Minneapolis duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, that catapulted her to international fame and stardom. Though Control was her third solo album, it was the first one to go multi-platinum and kick-started a career that has spanned decades and generated over 100 million record sales worldwide. To celebrate Janet and her musical legacy, above is one of her early, iconic dance videos – “Pleasure Principle.” Enjoy!
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Born Walker Smith Jr. on May 3, 1921 in Ailey, Georgia, boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson is often regarded as the greatest boxer in history. Robinson began his boxing career at 19 after moving to New York City with his family as a teenager. Using the borrowed Amateur Athletic Union boxing card of a friend named Ray Robinson, he began to practice regularly at a Harlem gym where his talent was recognized. Robinson earned the moniker “Sugar” from his coach George Gainford, who characterized the boxer’s style as being “sweet as sugar.” In just six years, he became the world welterweight champion, boasting an 91 fight winning-streak. He held the title from 1946 to 1951. At the height of his career, Robinson’s record was 128-1-2 with 84 knockouts. To learn more about Robinson’s life and career, click here and watch video footage of Robinson below:
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
LeBron James is getting his fourth Most Valuable Player award — and the only mystery left is whether the vote was unanimous. The Miami Heat star will be introduced Sunday as the award winner, according to a person familiar with the results and who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league has not publicly announced the result. James will become the fifth player with at least four MVP awards, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.
No one has ever swept every first-place vote in the NBA’s MVP balloting. After the season he had, James could be the first. “I don’t know who else you’d vote for,” Heat forward Chris Bosh said Friday. “No offense to everybody else, but that’s just how good he has played this year.”
James averaged 26.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.3 assists this season, shooting a career-best 56 percent. It was absolutely no surprise that he won the award, and given the timetable for Miami’s next game — the Heat don’t open Eastern Conference semifinal play until Monday night against Brooklyn or Chicago — it had been widely assumed for several days that Sunday would be the day.
On June 4, the New York State Writers Hall of Fame will induct eight outstanding authors – Walter Mosley, Countee Cullen, Maurice Sendak, Alice McDermott, Miguel Pinero, James Fenimore Cooper, Calvin Trillin and Marilyn Hacker. Mosley is best known for his Easy Rawlins novels Devil in a Blue Dress and Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, while Cullen came to prominence as a poet during the Harlem Renaissance, publishing classics such as Color and Copper Sun.
Each honoree is inducted personally with a few words by a friend or representative, and the 2013 ceremony will be held at New York’s Princeton Club.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson