Althea Gibson, the first Black tennis player to win a Grand Slam title, was honored in her hometown of Harlem, NY with a street renaming in her honor on what would have been her 95th birthday.
The intersection of West 143rd Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, where Gibson grew up, is now called Althea Gibson Way.
The ceremony took place last week in front of Gibson’s old apartment building on 143rd Street and was attended by Gibson’s family members, who were given a replica of the new street sign.
Born in 1927, Gibson was the daughter of sharecroppers in South Carolina who moved to Harlem in 1929. There, she was introduced to the Harlem River Tennis Courts in 1941, where she developed her skills.
Gibson won the French Open in 1956, and subsequently took home back-to-back Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1957 and 1958.
As #JazzAppreciationMonth nears its end, today GBN celebrates the “Home of Happy Feet” that was one of the first integrated public entertainment spaces in the U.S., Harlem’s once famous Savoy Ballroom.
To read about the Savoy, read on. To hear about it, press PLAY:
[You can subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.comor create your own RSS Feed. Or listen every day here on the main page. Full transcript below]:
Hey, this is 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, April 24th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.
It’s in the category for Black Museums and Landmarks we call “Get The Knowledge”:
Located in Harlem, New York, the Savoy Ballroom was known as “The World’s Finest Ballroom” and the “Home of Happy Feet” from its 1926 opening to its 1958 close.
Unlike other ballrooms of the era, the Savoy always had a no-discrimination policy and showcased the finest swing music in the city.
The Savoy offered non-stop music from two bandstands that attracted dancing pros like Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers as well as everyday people looking to have a good time.
Chick Webb, of the prominent house band leaders at the Savoy, had a top 10 hit in 1934 with the song composed by his saxophonist Edgar Sampson that you are hearing now, called – what else – “Stompin’ At The Savoy.”
In 2022, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller, members of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, unveiled a commemorative plaque for the Savoy Ballroom on Lenox Avenue:
To learn more about the Savoy Ballroom, check out welcometothesavoy.com, a site that’s restoring the Savoy with a VR experience, and they have a great collection of photos from the Savoy’s heyday on view now, watch the 1992 television movie Stompin’ At The Savoydirected by Debbie Allen, available on Amazon Prime Video or Roku.
Watch clips about the history of the Savoy on YouTube, or read Swinging At The Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer by Norma Miller. Links to these and other sources are provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org
This has been a bonus daily drop of Good Black News, written, produced and hosted by me, Lori Lakin Hutcherson.
Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.
“Stompin’ At The Savoy” by Chick Webb’s Orchestra is included under fair use.
If you like these Daily Drops, follow us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.
For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
As #JazzAppreciationMonth continues, we offer a quote from true jazz royalty, — bandleader, composer, pianist, performer — the superb, sublime Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington.
To read it, read on. To hear it and more about Ellington, press PLAY:
Or just check it out every day here on the main website.) Full transcript below:
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, April 6th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.
Today, we offer a quote from jazz royalty — bandleader, composer, pianist, performer — the one and only Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington:
“Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.”
Born in Washington D.C. in 1899 to two piano playing parents, Duke Ellington began composing in his teenage years and started landing gigs through his work as a freelance sign painter by offering his band’s services to any club or party he made a sign for.
Ellington later moved to Harlem and landed the gig as the house band for the Cotton Club after King Oliver turned it down, and became a world-renowned big band leader for popular compositions and recordings like 1926’s “East St. Louis Toodle-O” which was the first signature song of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra:
[Excerpt from “East St. Louis Toodle-O”]
Also hugely popular was his composition “Caravan” which was first recorded and released by clarinetist Barney Bigard and his Jazzopaters before Ellington reclaimed it:
[Excerpt from “Caravan”]
“Mood Indigo” for which Barney Bigard is listed as a co-writer:
[Excerpt from “Mood Indigo”]
The classic swing tune “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”:
[Excerpt from “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”]
His 1953 composition with longtime collaborator Billy Strayhorn, “Satin Doll”:
[Excerpt from “Satin Doll”]
One of Ellington’s best known songs is one that Strayhorn composed for him, the song that would replace Ellington’s own “East St. Louis Toodle-O” as his orchestra’s signature song, the song titled to tell you how to get to Harlem, Ellington and the Cotton Club… “Take the “A” Train”:
[Excerpt from “Take the “A” Train”]
Ellington also composed beyond the category of jazz, writing orchestral and symphonic works such as Black, Brown, and Beige, and a Concert of Sacred Music, scored the feature films Anatomy of a Murder and Paris Blues, and influenced those who became the vanguard in jazz and bop such as Miles Davis and former orchestra member Charles Mingus.
In 1962, Ellington himself played Scrabble without the vowels when he recorded the album Money Jungle with bassist Mingus and drummer Max Roach, which included a new take on “Caravan”:
[Excerpt from “Caravan” from Money Jungle]
Ellington composed and played up until the last years of his life before passing at the age of 74 in 1974. That same year, his DC hometown renamed its Calvert Street Bridge the Duke Ellington Bridge.
In 1997, an intersection in Harlem in Central Park was renamed Duke Ellington Circle. In 1999 he was posthumously awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for his indelible contribution to art and culture and in 2009 Ellington graced the back of the commemorative District of Columbia quarter, among just a few of the honors Ellington has received since he transcended this life as we know it.
And, of course, buy or stream as much of the music as you can from the man lovingly and unforgettably referred to by modern day musical genius Stevie Wonder as “The king of all, Sir Duke.”
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.
Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot. All excerpts of Duke Ellington’s music included are permitted under Fair Use.
If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.
For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
As Pharrell Williams takes his 49th orbit around the sun today, GBN celebrates the music and contributions to the culture and community made by this prolific and inventive force of nature.
To read about him, read on. To hear about him, press PLAY:
(You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.comor create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website.) Full transcript below:
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, April 5th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.
Born April 5, 1973 in Virginia Beach, VA, prolific music producer, composer and artist Pharrell Williams (“Drop It Like It’s Hot,” “Get Lucky,” “Hollaback Girl”) has also excelled as a fashion designer (Billionaire Boys Club, G Star Raw, Adidas) as a film and television producer (Dope, Hidden Figures, the Amazon Prime series Harlem) …and, importantly, as a philanthropist.
In 2019 Williams offered “A-List internships” to 114 college-bound high school students to help set them on their career paths.
More recently, Williams co-founded the Black Ambition Initiativeto fund Black and Latinx entrepreneurs in tech, design, healthcare and consumer products and services start-ups. So, let’s wish a “Happy” birthday to this “Beautiful” Neptune on his 49th trip around the sun.
And, it goes without saying, stream or buy any and/or all of the innovative, industry-changing music he’s produced and performed over the decades.
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.
Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.
Excerpts from “Frontin’”, “Happy,” “Beautiful” and “Brand New” by Pharrell Williams permitted under fair use.
If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.
For more Good Black News, you can check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.comor 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.
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.
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.
According to New York Amsterdam News, on Saturday the northeast corner of 123rd Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue in Harlem was renamed in honor of famed acting and civil rights couple Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (Purlie Victorious, Countdown At Kusini, Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever).
The Dwyer Cultural Center hosted the ceremonial unveiling of ‘Ruby Dee Place’ and ‘Ossie Davis Way’. Dee and Davis’ children, Nora Day HasnaMuhammad and Guy Davis, attended the event, as did the Rev. Al Sharpton, former New York City mayor David Dinkins, Assemblywoman Inez Dickens and State Sen. Brian Benjamin.
The Dwyer opened its gallery to the public to view an exhibit dedicated to Dee and Davis with numerous storyboards displayed related to the work of the couple and Cliff Frazier. The public also participated in a community mosaic mural.
The Columbia University board of trustees recently approved the creation of a new African American and African Diaspora Studies Department. ProfessorFarah Jasmine Griffin, the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African American Studies, has been appointed as the chair of the new department.
“Now, more than ever, we need to have both an understanding of that history, but we also need to understand the ways that history contributes to a sense of possibility and vision for the future,”said Dr. Griffin. “Even though we are later than many of our peers, the creation of this department at Columbia is right on time because our nation and our world need the kind of knowledge we produce.”
In 1993, long before there was a centralized department for African studies, Dr. Manning Marable established the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS) at Columbia. The institute has brought together scholars from a variety of disciplines and continues to bridge scholarship, teaching, and public life. Once the new department has been created, the IRAAS will continue to conduct research.
Now that the department has been approved, Columbia plans to hire new faculty who are experts in the field of African American and African diaspora studies and create a Ph.D. program to produce additional innovative scholarship.
Additionally, the school recognizes the significance of being located in Harlem, a center of Black cultural life in the United States, and plans to collaborate with the surrounding community.
“Departments and academic institutions don’t produce knowledge for the moment, they produce knowledge for the long term,” said Dr. Griffin, who also serves as director of the IRAAS. “Creating a new department is an investment in producing knowledge that is valuable for our country at any time, but especially at this moment, as it reminds us of a historical legacy as well as a vision of America that we need to engage more now than ever.”
Jerrod Carmichael (left), Dapper Dan (Courtesy of NBCUniversal; Jon Wes)
by Mia Galuppo via hollywoodreporter.com
The life of Dapper Dan — the godfather of hip-hop fashion, who dressed everyone from LL Cool J to Jay Z — is coming to the big screen.
Sony is developing a biopic based on Dapper Dan’s upcoming memoir (due out in 2019 via Random House), which will be adapted by Jerrod Carmichael. Set in Harlem, the feature is described as a “high-stakes coming-of-age story.”
Carmichael, who is best known as the creator and star of the NBC critical darling The Carmichael Show, will also produce alongside Josh Bratman of Immersive Pictures. Dapper Dan and Jelani Day, his son and brand manager, are set to executive produce.
Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day is a streetwear pioneer that outfitted some of the biggest New York City-based stars of the ’80s and ’90s out of his iconic store on 125th Street in Harlem. His clientele included Eric B. & Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, P. Diddy, Mike Tyson, Aaliyah and Floyd Mayweather.
His style of remixing high-end logos from the likes of Gucci and Louis Vuitton into his designs led to litigation that eventually prompted the closure of his store. Over two decades later, in September of last year, Dapper Dan struck a partnership with Gucci to relaunch his exclusive Harlem atelier that includes a Dapper Dan x Gucci capsule that will be available along with the fall 2018 collection. To read more: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dapper-dan-biopic-works-sony-jerrod-carmichael-1092914
Black Panther debuts in theaters February 16, 2018 (Photo: Marvel)
via thegrio.com
A GoFundMe campaign launched to helping Harlem kids seeBlack Panthernext month has already raised more than its $10,000 goal. Black Panther, the highly anticipated Marvel film about a superhero with the same name, is the first Black-led superhero movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and already, people are celebrating the milestone by purchasing tickets in advance.
With the biggest, Blackest movie of 2018 set to hit theaters in February, some people want to make sure those that may not be able to afford to go to the movies have an opportunity to see a hero who looks like them fighting crime and looking fabulous. So, one man started a campaign to make sure kids in Harlem could see the movie. “Black Panther” GoFundMe campaign founder Frederick Joseph (photo via twitter.com)
“The release of Marvel’s film the Black Panther is a rare opportunity for young students (primarily of color) to see a black major cinematic and comic book character come to life,” Frederick Joseph, who started the campaign, wrote on Twitter. “This representation is truly fundamental for young people, especially those who are often underserved, unprivileged, and marginalized both nationally and globally.”
“I want these children to be able to see that people who look like them can be superheroes, royalty, and more. All proceeds will go to paying for the private screening tickets for children and chaperones, as well as refreshments. The release of the film is February 16th, 2018, and the screenings will take place the following week between February 19th and 22nd.”
Making the goal
Within three days of Joseph posting his GoFundMe challenge, the account raised over $13,000. As of today, it stands at over $26,000.
Joseph told The Rootthat he initially wanted the funds to go to the Harlem’s Children Zone, but when the organization couldn’t take the money, he approached the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem.
The funds will be used to pay for tickets and concessions for the kids and their guardians. Anything left over will go to the Boys & Girls Club.
“We want to thank the organizers of this great fundraiser. Your commitment will help our kids see how powerful they can be!” a representative of Boys & Girls club wrote on Facebook.
You can still donate at: https://www.gofundme.com/help-children-see-black-panther
New Black Panther trailer below:
Baseball Legend Willie Mays (photo via emaze.com) via espn.com
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball has named its World Series Most Valuable Player Award after Willie Mays. The decision was announced Friday, the 63rd anniversary of Mays’ over-the-shoulder catch in deep center field at the Polo Grounds for the New York Giants against Cleveland’s Vic Wertz in Game 1 of the World Series.
The Giants went on to sweep the Indians. The Series MVP award was given out for the first time the following year, when it was won by Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres.”I’d like to thank Commissioner Rob Manfred and his team at Major League Baseball for honoring me with this recognition,” Mays said in a statement. “Baseball has always taken care of me, and for that I am grateful. I think it’s just a wonderful thing to know that at 86 years of age, I can still give something back to the game. I am proud to lend my name to this important award. What a day this has been!”
Now 86, Mays played in 24 All-Star Games during a 22-year career with the New York and San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets.”Once again, it’s going to remind people of who Willie is and how great a player he was,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Mays was also honored the same day in Harlem, where the corner of West 155th Street and Harlem River Drive was renamed Willie Mays Drive. Source: Major League Baseball names World Series MVP award after Willie Mays
You can also watch Ellington in the short film Black and Tan from 1929, Symphony in Black from 1935 featuring Billie Holiday, the mid-1960s documentary 
You can also check out the 2020 Netflix series 
“Now, more than ever, we need to have both an understanding of that history, but we also need to understand the ways that history contributes to a sense of possibility and vision for the future,”said Dr. Griffin. “Even though we are later than many of our peers, the creation of this department at Columbia is right on time because our nation and our world need the kind of knowledge we produce.”
