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Posts tagged as “New Orleans”

Jill Scott, Maxwell Return to Re-Branded Essence Fest

By goodblacknews on January 9, 2013
Singers Jill Scott (L) and Maxwell arrives at the 41st NAACP Image awards held at The Shrine Auditorium on February 26, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NAACP)

Singers Jill Scott (L) and Maxwell arrive at the 41st NAACP Image awards held at The Shrine Auditorium on February 26, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NAACP)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Essence Music Festival is dropping the music — from its name, that is.
The festival held in New Orleans every July 4th weekend for the past 18 years has rebranded itself The Essence Festival. Organizers say the change is designed to showcase the event as more than a music festival.
Still, music will remain a focus for the 19th annual festival, which is July 4-7.
The lineup includes more than 30 acts — a number of them Essence veterans. On the roster are Jill Scott, Maxwell, New Edition, Charlie Wilson, Keyshia Cole, LL Cool J and Brandy.
As in past years, concerts will be held at the Superdome while empowerment seminars on health, beauty, careers, education and relationships are held at a nearby convention center.
article by Stacey Plaisance via thegrio.com

Exhibit to Explore History of African-Americans in Medicine During Civil War

By goodblacknews on December 6, 2012
(File Photo)Some may not know how much of a part African-Americans played in the Civil War, but the National Library of Medicine has produced a free, traveling exhibit to shed light on their work in the health field during that time.  “Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries” explores black Americans’ contributions as nurses, surgeons and hospital staff during the war.

According to the National Library of Medicine, for African-Americans, the Civil War was “a fight for freedom and a chance for full participation in American society.”  “Their participation challenged the prescribed notions of both race and gender and pushed the boundaries of the role of blacks in America,” the site reads.

Ninety-Seven Years Ago Today: Xavier University Was Founded

By goodblacknews on November 11, 2012
Xavier University of Louisiana is founded(Photo: Xavier University of Louisiana)

Xavier University of Louisiana began its mission to educate Native American and Black students when St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament opened its doors in New Orleans on Nov. 11, 1915. After seeing the lack of Catholic schools for higher education that catered to Blacks in the South, Drexel used her inheritance to open the institution. It started as a small high school, and later became known as Xavier Prep A. Normal School. The school taught the few career fields open to Blacks at the time and grew into an institution that taught 47 major areas on the undergraduate, graduate and professional degree levels. The co-ed liberal arts college remains the only historically black Roman Catholic college in the country. 

article by Dorkys Ramos via bet.com

 

 

Born On This Day in 1911: Gospel Powerhouse Mahalia Jackson

By goodblacknews on October 26, 2012
“You going to be famous in this world and walk with kings and queens,” an aunt told  twelve year-old Mahalia Jackson. Born on October 26, 1911, in New Orleans, where she shared a shotgun house with thirteen people, the future could only get better. 

But before it did, Jackson’s mother died when she was just four and she had to leave school in the fourth grade to help out at home. She had music though — the jazz bands that entertained the city and the gospel that healed souls, with some Bessie Smith in between. On Every Wednesday, Friday and four times on Sunday, when Jackson sang at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, the sound wafted out into the street so that, one imagines, sinners also could enjoy her energetic contralto voice.

Lil Wayne Breaks Elvis Presley's Billboard Record

By goodblacknews on September 28, 2012
Lil Wayne, Elvis Presley
Lil Wayne is the new Elvis Presley when it comes to Billboard hits. The inimitable MC from New Orleans has just surpassed the king of rock in total number of songs to land on the Hot 100.  “Celebration,” the latest single from Game, is the 109th song to make the chart with Wayne appearing as either a lead or featured artist. Presley’s record was 108 spanning between 1958 and 2003.

Lil Wayne Breaks Elvis Presley’s Billboard Record

By goodblacknews on September 28, 2012
Lil Wayne, Elvis Presley
Lil Wayne is the new Elvis Presley when it comes to Billboard hits. The inimitable MC from New Orleans has just surpassed the king of rock in total number of songs to land on the Hot 100.  “Celebration,” the latest single from Game, is the 109th song to make the chart with Wayne appearing as either a lead or featured artist. Presley’s record was 108 spanning between 1958 and 2003.

Lower 9th Ward Passes Test During Hurricane Isaac

By goodblacknews on September 25, 2012
Gloria Guy enjoys her new “Brad Pitt” house  after being rescued from her rooftop during Hurricane Katrina. “I’m glad I stayed,” she says. “I’m tired of running.”

NEW ORLEANS — Seven years ago, as floodwaters in the wake of Hurricane Katrina rushed into her living room and swallowed cars, homes and friends around her, Gloria Guy spent 9 1/2 hours on the roof of her Lower 9th Ward home until a neighbor with a boat took her to higher ground.

Gloria Guy enjoys her new “Brad Pitt” house and new neighborhood after being rescued from her rooftop during Hurricane Katrina. “I’m glad I stayed,” she says. “I’m tired of running.”  Last week, Guy mostly napped and chatted with family members inside her newly built home on the same lot where Katrina’s floods nearly took her life as Hurricane Isaac wailed and moaned outside but failed to deliver any damage.

Reflections in Black: Celebrating African Americans in Photography

By goodblacknews on August 21, 2012


Augustus Washington (1820–1875)
Unidentified woman, probably a member of the Urias McGill family, daguerreotype, sixth plate, 1855, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LZ-USZC4-3937.
article via blog.charlesguice.com
Twelve years ago, Reflections in Black became the largest exhibition ever conceived to explore the breadth and history of work by black photographers.
It is unlikely that many people would be familiar with the name Jules Lion. A free man of color, Lion established the first daguerrean studio in New Orleans and, in doing so, became somewhat of a local celebrity. Alone, his accomplishments might have been of little interest. But the fact that he did this in the early spring of 1840, soon after the announcement of the daguerreotype process, is worthy of special attention. Moreover, there is evidence that Lion may have immigrated from France with knowledge of the process. For historian Deborah Willis, Lion’s achievements mark not only the beginning of photography in the U.S., but the pioneering involvement of blacks in the medium. As a result, Lion is included in the landmark exhibition,Reflections in Black: Smithsonian African American Photography.