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Black Firsts: Dr. Carla D. Hayden, U.S. Librarian of Congress (LISTEN)

Black Firsts: Dr. Carla D. Hayden, U.S. Librarian of Congress (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on April 21, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today, GBN celebrates Dr. Carla D. Hayden who in 2016 became the first woman and first African American person to serve the nation as Librarian of Congress.

To read about Dr. Hayden, read on. To hear about her, press PLAY:

[You can subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or 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 daily drop of Good Black News for Thursday, April 21st, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

 It’s in the category of Black Firsts we call “It’s About Time.”

When President Barack Obama hired Dr. Carla D. Hayden in 2016, he was doing things by the book – literally! University of Chicago graduate Hayden became the first woman and first African American person to hold the position of Librarian of Congress.

Sworn in on September 14th of that year, Hayden also became the first professional librarian to hold the post in over 60 years.

Hayden was president of the American Library Association from 2003 to 2004. In 1995, she was the first African American person to receive Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year Award in recognition of her outreach services at the Pratt Library, which included an after-school center for Baltimore teens offering homework assistance and college and career counseling.

Hayden received a B.A. from Roosevelt University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago.

And just last week, Columbia University announced that Dr. Hayden will receive its honorary doctorate of letters during commencement this May.To learn more about Dr. Hayden, follow her on Twitter @LibnofCongress, watch her testifying in a recent U.S. Senate hearing regarding the efforts to modernize the Library of Congress on C-SPAN, read The Black Librarian in America: Reflections, Resistance, and Reawakening by Shauntee Burns-Simpson, or read the children’s book Carla Hayden: Librarian of Congress by Kate Moening from the Women Leading the Way series.

Links to these sources and more are provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

“Librarianship was really an adventure for me-to find out that there’s a profession that was dedicated to making books and reading and knowledge available to people. And that just seemed ideal. The confirmation process was really an eye-opener for me in so many ways because I got to meet legislators that were committed to not only the nation’s history, but making information available. And that made me very pleased that I was confirmed. My vision for this library is very simple: that people will realize that they have a national treasure and that it is  part of their heritage and everyone can find something in the Library of Congress, produced by the Library of Congress, that relates to their lives or where they want to go.”

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, written, produced and hosted by yours truly, Lori Lakin Hutcherson. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

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.

Sources:

(amazon links are paid links)

GBN’s Daily Drop (bonus): Celebrating U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop (bonus): Celebrating U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on April 9, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is a bonus episode about U.S Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose historic appointment this week can’t be celebrated enough.

To read about her, read on. To hear about her, press PLAY:

[You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or 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 bonus daily drop of Good Black News for Saturday, April 9th, 2022, based on the format of the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Just two short days ago, history that was a long time in coming was finally made when Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was officially confirmed by a Senate vote of 53 to 47 to become the 116th Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and first African American woman ever to serve on the highest judicial body of the nation.

In a bit of poetry, the vote was called for and presided over by Vice President Kamala Harris, who herself is quite familiar with making U.S. history as a Black woman.

Nominated by President Joe Biden in February, Justice Jackson faced over a month of scrutiny in the Senate confirmation hearings as well as in the media, but navigated it all with intelligence, grace and candor.

Senate Confirms Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson as National Endowment for the Arts Chair, 1st African American and Mexican American to Lead the NEA

Senate Confirms Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson as National Endowment for the Arts Chair, 1st African American and Mexican American to Lead the NEA

By goodblacknews on December 21, 2021

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson was confirmed by the U.S Senate on Saturday as Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.  Jackson is the first African American and Mexican American to lead the organization.

To quote The Washington Post:

Jackson, 56, earned a doctorate in urban planning from the University of California at Los Angeles, and she’s a professor at Arizona State University and a sought-after speaker on how to embed arts, culture and design into community life. Jackson previously worked at the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington.

In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed her to the National Council on the Arts, the panel that advises the endowment. She has served on many boards of arts organizations, including the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Music Center in Los Angeles, where she lives.

President Biden made the historic nomination in October, during National Arts and Humanities Month. At the same time, he nominated Shelly Lowe to be the first Native American to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities. Lowe’s nomination has not been confirmed.

In a statement released by the NEA, Jackson thanked President Biden for the opportunity and said she plans to lead the institution with “dedication to inclusivity, collaboration, and with the recognition that art, culture, and creativity are core to us reaching our full potential as a nation.”

“The NEA plays a crucial role in helping to provide funds and other resources needed for the sector to recover, retool, and reopen,” Jackson also stated. “The agency also has the opportunity and responsibility to deepen and expand its already purposeful efforts to reach communities who have been traditionally underserved.”

Artist Kerry James Marshall to Create Racial Justice-Themed Stained Glass Art for Washington National Cathedral to Replace Confederate Iconography

Artist Kerry James Marshall to Create Racial Justice-Themed Stained Glass Art for Washington National Cathedral to Replace Confederate Iconography

By goodblacknews on September 25, 2021

Washington National Cathedral recently announced it will replace its stained-glass windows that formerly featured Confederate iconography (removed in 2017) with racial-justice themed windows created by world-renowned artist Kerry James Marshall.

The Cathedral’s commission represents Marshall’s first time working with stained-glass as a medium, and the windows are expected to be his first permanent public exhibition anywhere in the country. 

In addition, celebrated poet, author, and scholar Dr. Elizabeth Alexander has agreed to create a new poem that will be inscribed in stone tablets alongside Marshall’s window installation, overlaying the previous stone tablets which venerated the lives of Confederate soldiers.

Completion of both Marshall’s new windows and the stone tablets featuring Dr. Alexander’s new poem is expected in 2023, at which time they will be permanently installed at the Cathedral.  

Dr. Elizabeth Alexander (photo via elizabethalexander.net)

The Cathedral removed windows featuring Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson – which were located along the southern face of its nave, or its main worship space – in September 2017, following the white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In the summer of 2020, amid the historic movement for racial justice following the police killing of George Floyd, the Cathedral began collaborating with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to plan the public exhibition of the Robert E. Lee window. 

“For nearly 70 years, these windows and their Confederate imagery told an incomplete story; they celebrated two generals, but they did nothing to address the reality and painful legacy of America’s original sin of slavery and racism. They represented a false narrative of what America once was and left out the painful truth of our history,” said The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral.

“We’re excited to share a new and more complete story, to tell the truth about our past and to lift up who we aspire to be as a nation.”   

Marshall—the artist and professor whose paintings depicting Black life in America have been sold, viewed, and showcased across the world for decades—will design the stained-glass windows that will replace the Lee/Jackson windows.

Obamacare Enrollment Period Extended to August 15 by Biden Administration; Premiums Decreased

Obamacare Enrollment Period Extended to August 15 by Biden Administration; Premiums Decreased

By goodblacknews on March 24, 2021

According to usatoday.com, the Biden administration is extending a special opportunity for people to sign up for government-subsidized health insurance through the federally run marketplace, commonly referred to as as Obamacare.

The special enrollment period will no longer end May 15 but extend to Aug. 15 to give people more time to take advantage of the expanded subsidies included in the recently passed $1.9 trillion stimulus package.

The package increased the subsidies already available to people who don’t receive health insurance from an employer or through a government plan like Medicare or Medicaid.

The package also makes the subsidies newly available for people earning more than four times the federal poverty level, which is about $51,520 for a single person.

Additionally, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, insurance premiums will decrease an average of $50 a month per person, but some people could possibly save several hundred dollars each month. The savings are available starting April 1.

President Joe Biden made the announcement yesterday on the 11th anniversary of the day former President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law.

“[O]n this anniversary, we should remember just how close we have come to losing that act we so fought so hard for,” Biden said during an event in Ohio. “And we have a duty not just to protect it, but to make it better and keep becoming a nation where healthcare is a right for all and not a privilege for a few.”

People who already have insurance through an exchange can either apply the new subsidies to their existing plan to lower their monthly payments or can switch plans. Switching could allow someone to buy a plan with a much lower deductible, with the higher subsidy covering that plan’s higher premium.

To learn more: https://www.healthcare.gov/apply-and-enroll/how-to-apply/

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/23/obamacare-enrollment-period-extended-health-insurance-subsidies/6972257002/

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson Earns Prestigious Oersted Medal from American Association of Physics Teachers

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson Earns Prestigious Oersted Medal from American Association of Physics Teachers

By goodblacknews on February 18, 2021

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Next time you glance at your phone, see an unwelcome name, and send that unwanted call to voicemail, know physicist Shirley Ann Jackson is the one who had your back.

The first African American woman to earn a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Jackson is responsible for major advances in telecommunications research that led to the invention of the touch-tone phone, portable fax, fiber optic cables, solar cells, call waiting and yes, Caller ID.

Recently, Dr. Jackson was named the 2021 recipient of the esteemed Hans Christian Oersted Medal presented by the American Association of Physics Teachers.

According to the Journal of Black Educators, the Oersted Medal is named for a Danish physicist who made significant contributions to the field of electromagnetism. The medal is awarded annually to a person who has had outstanding, widespread, and lasting impact on the teaching of physics.

To quote from jbhe.com:

“Dr. Jackson has made many contributions to physics and physics education. Her valuable contributions to science have resulted in useful technologies in the telecommunications field,” stated Beth Cunningham, executive officer of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

“She continues her effort to preserve and strengthen the U.S. national capacity for innovation by advocating for increased support for basic research in science and engineering. She has also advocated for expanding the domestic talent pool by attracting women and members of underrepresented groups into careers in science.”

Dr. Jackson was chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1995 to 1999, then moved into academia when she took over as the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1999, the oldest technological research university in the U.S.

In 2016, Dr. Jackson was awarded the National Medal of Science from President Barack Obama.

[Photo: Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson and President Barack Obama via commons.wikipedia.org]

GBN Celebrates African American Music Appreciation Month 2020 (LISTEN)

GBN Celebrates African American Music Appreciation Month 2020 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on June 1, 2020

Even as our nation is in the grips of a necessary battle against injustice and institutionalized racism, we will not temper the celebration of our culture and our contributions to it.

June is African-American Music Appreciation Month and typically there are scores of live concerts and performances to honor the beauty, art, respite, truth, wisdom, information, strength, joy and freedom in the music Black people have created in this country – no matter the circumstances – and still create to this day.

But since live gatherings are not possible in the foreseeable future, Good Black News wants to provide another way to honor our past and present musical greats during this time. All month, we will be offering playlists from myriad genres, artists and themes save one: they will all be in tribute to African American music.

To kick us off first is GBN contributor Marlon West‘s expansive offering. In Marlon’s words:

“It’s June and that brings African-American Music Appreciation Month! While President Jimmy Carter initiated as “Black Music Month” back in 1979, I’ll admit, that I was sleeping on it until it was rebranded as African-American Music Appreciation Month by President Barack Obama.

In his 2016 proclamation, he noted that African-American music and musicians have helped this nation “to dance, to express our faith through song, to march against injustice, and to defend our country’s enduring promise of freedom and opportunity for all.”

Here’s my freewheeling, daylong, genre-jumping offering celebrating AAMAM. In the weeks to come, I’ll do deep dives on specific styles and/or artists. So get ready to immerse yourself in the music of your favorite Black artists and genres.

Whether it’s Jazz or Neo-Soul or classic Rhythm & Blues or hip-hop, let the music speak to you. Share old favorites and the newly discovered on social media using #AfricanAmericanMusicAppreciationMonth and #AAMAM.

And always stay safe, sane, and kind you all. Damned if that ain’t getting harder to do the days.”

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:4aJCoQPsq2ge3OjTk2IWeS”/]

(FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

Universities Partner to Produce the Official Oral History of Barack Obama’s Presidency

By goodblacknews on June 6, 2019
President Barack Obama is photographed during a presidential portrait sitting for an official photo in the Oval Office, Dec. 6, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza via commons.wikipedia.org)

The Obama Foundation has selected the Columbia Center for Oral History Research to produce the official oral history of Barack Obama’s presidency, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

The project will provide a comprehensive, enduring record of the decisions, actions, and effects of his historic administration. The University of Hawai’i and the University of Chicago will also serve as contributing partners for the project, documenting Obama’s early life in Hawaii and his years in Chicago, respectively.

“Michelle Obama famously observed, ‘You can’t really understand Barack until you understand Hawai’i,’” said University of Hawai’i President David Lassner. “UH and our extraordinary Center for Oral History are looking forward to exploring those early days with those who were part of President Obama’s story.”

“We are pleased to collaborate with Columbia on this exciting project,” said University of Chicago faculty members Adam Green and Jacqueline Stewart in a joint statement. “The stories of Michelle and Barack Obama are intertwined with the story of Chicago and the South Side in particular. We look forward to contributing to that historic narrative, with a focus on how their city helped to shape them as civic leaders.”

Starting this summer and over the next five years, the Obama Presidency Oral History Project will conduct interviews with some 400 people, including senior leaders and policy makers within the Obama administration, as well as elected officials, campaign staff, journalists, and other key figures outside the White House.

The project will also incorporate interviews with individuals representing different dimensions of daily American life, whose perspectives will enable the archive to include how the general public was affected by the Obama administration’s decisions. Additionally, the research team will collect information about Michelle Obama’s work and legacy as First Lady.

“We are honored to document the legacy of President Obama. Our goal is to set a new benchmark for presidential oral histories in terms of the diversity and breadth of narratives assembled and depth of understanding achieved,” said Mary Marshall Clark, director of the Columbia Center for Oral History Research and a project co-investigator. “Central to our project is a commitment to candidly document the stories of key administration alumni and bring them into conversation with the varied experiences of Americans from all walks of life.”

In addition to hosting the project, Columbia has announced the formation of the Obama Presidency Oral History Advisory Board, composed of leading presidential historians, authors, and scholars who can speak to how the Obama administration affected the lives of those inside and outside of Washington D.C.

To read more: https://www.jbhe.com/2019/06/universities-partner-to-produce-the-official-oral-history-of-barack-obamas-presidency/

Michelle Obama Announces 10-City Book Tour for “Becoming”

By goodblacknews on September 12, 2018

by Tonya Pendleton via blackamericaweb.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Michelle Obama will visit 10 cities to promote her memoir “Becoming,” a tour featuring arenas and other performing centers to accommodate crowds far too big for any bookstore.

The former first lady will begin at the United Center in her native Chicago on Nov. 13, the book’s release date. She will finish at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Dec. 17, Live Nation and the Crown Publishing Group announced Wednesday. In between, appearances will include Barclays Center in New York City, the Pepsi Center Arena in Denver and The Forum in Los Angeles.

Obama and former President Barack Obama each have been working on memoirs, for which they negotiated a multimillion dollar deal with Crown. No date has been set for his book, although it’s expected in 2019.

You will have to register via the link below between now and September 18, to buy tickets that go on sale on September 21st. VIP packages and Meet and Greet tickets will be available as well.

Tour Dates – Tickets available HERE. 

11/13 – Chicago, IL @ United Center

11/15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum

11/17 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena

11/24 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden

11/29 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center

12/1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center

12/11 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena

12/13 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center Arena

12/14 – San Jose, CA @ SAP Center

12/17 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center

Source: https://blackamericaweb.com/2018/09/12/michelle-obama-announces-10-city-book-tour/

Los Angeles City Council Approves Changing Name of Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard

By goodblacknews on September 1, 2018
President Barack Obama (photo via twitter)

by  via latimes.com

The Los Angeles City Council voted to rename Rodeo Road as Obama Boulevard in honor of former President Obama, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced in a tweet Tuesday night.

“We’re thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President @BarackObama when traveling across L.A.,” he said in the tweet.

City Council President Herb Wesson proposed the name change in June 2017.

Not to be confused with the upscale Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Rodeo Road is a 3.5-mile street that runs from near the Culver City border east to Mid-City.

In his proposal, Wesson noted that Obama held a campaign rally at Rancho Cienega Park on Rodeo Road when running for president and that the area already has streets named after presidents, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It’s a residential strip in a predominantly African American community.

The road is also home to Dorsey High School, Baldwin Hills Elementary School and Rancho Cienega Sports Center and Park — where Obama held a campaign rally when he was running for president. East of La Brea Avenue, the new Obama Boulevard will intersect with Martin Luther King Boulevard (which was renamed from Santa Barbara Avenue in 1983).

The move is not the first to honor the former president in the greater Los Angeles area. In September, a resolution by state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) to rename a portion of the 134 Freeway passed. Several California schools have also been named after Obama, and in the Monterey Bay town of Seaside, city leaders designated one street Obama Way.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-oabma-boulevard-20180828-story.html