Beautiful Braided Creations

An excerpt from the Cut - 

The Beautiful Language of Braids Black hairstylists and creative muses open up about their love for the iconic style.

By Faith Cummings

The Black hair salon is a sanctified space, with each chair getting its believer closer to goddess-level status, from the wash bowl to the hair dryer to the styling chair. These shops are portals to transformation — equal parts magic and the sweat and toil of the artisans who lather, roll, bump, press, and braid day in, day out, with unparalleled results.

These parlors of beauty and style are also spaces of choice, converting even the most ambivalent and unsure into full-blown sirens simply with a decision pulled from the salon walls. There’s no shortage of potential styles to select from blown-up poster collages in full color, fashioned on models who look like you, your mother, and your friends, with a few sightings of our patron saints Beyoncé and Rihanna in all their coiffed Black-girl glory for good measure.

I’ve reveled in these spaces all my life, from pictures that remind me of the braids I had done right before a childhood graduation to earlier this summer when friends’ weddings called for hairstyles that could emanate elegance in the face of New York’s subtropical heat and humidity. Over the past year and a half, these salons have been a lifeline when I sought to protect my hair and make it ready for anything, shifting the energy from styling it to carrying on despite a devastating virus and its resulting chaos. I bonded with braiders who were strangers mere hours before about the state of our world and politics, when we all started getting waist-long braids and all the tricks we have for not letting them fall into unsavory places, and relationships, as I definitely hopped out of the chair and headed straight to a marathon date just months ago.

https://www.thecut.com/2021/09/the-beautiful-language-of-braids.html

Lessons in Living Abroad

An excerpt from Buzzfeed - 

Two Years Ago, I Moved From The US To Europe — Here's How I Did It & My Advice For Those Wanting A Similar Change

Plus, my advice for anyone considering a similar life change.

by Michelle No

                Michelle No / BuzzFeed

Hey all! I'm Michelle and I'm an American currently living in Berlin, Germany. Ever since I moved here two years ago (and wrote all about it), a lot of BuzzFeed readers have reached out to me directly. They've been curious about what inspired such a big move, or how, logistically, I even did it. To help anyone considering a similar change, I wanted to outline exactly how it all went down.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/michelleno/moving-to-berlin-germany

Simply Stunning!

An excerpt from My Modern Met - 

Street Artist Uses Flowering Trees as “Natural Hair” To Complete Portraits of Women and Girls

By Sara Barnes

Portrait inspired by Egypt Sarai

Brazilian street artist Fábio Gomes Trindade combines painting and nature to create singular works that are only complete when viewed together. With the help of tree branches that sit above his vibrant murals, he produces portraits where only part of the head is present—such as the face and a portion of the hair. But when paired with colorful flowering trees and green leaves, the portrait has a full, beautiful coif. It's a clever and charming way to combine elements of the urban environment with the natural one.

Two of Trindade’s latest pieces are inspired by a child model named Egypt Sarai. The young girl is depicted in two ways by the artist; one with an afro comprising pink flowers and the other with her hair separated into two poofs atop her head. In each painting, Trindade captures the sweet, soft features of Sarai through spray paint and enhances her beauty with the trees.

https://mymodernmet.com/fabio-gomes-trindade-street-art/

Kingsley Ben Adir on transforming into Malcolm X and Barack Obama | Brit...

https://youtu.be/N8_oda286ys

All-Black Lineup in Baseball - 50 YEARS AGO!

An excerpt from the Undefeated - 

On this day in 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded the first all-black and Latino lineup

By Bryan Cortes

Pittsburgh Pirates Al Oliver (center) is grabbed
by teammates Willie Stargell (left) and Roberto Clemente (right)
after his three-run-homer which gave the Pirates a 9-5 victory
over the San Francisco Giants and the National League Pennant.
Getty Images

The Pirates made history with a lineup only put together due to injuries 

There were only 11,278 fans at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh on Sept. 1, 1971, but history was made anyway. The date marked 24 years after Jackie Robinson officially broke baseball’s color barrier and the Pirates became the first Major League franchise to field an all-black and Latino starting nine.

Although the normal Pittsburgh Pirates starting lineup that year was usually filled with players of color, it had never been entirely made up of men of color until Sept. 1. Normal starters Richie Hebner (third base) and Gene Alley (shortstop) were both nursing injuries, which allowed Dave Cash and Jackie Hernandez to fill in.

“The Pirates were known for their black and Latin players, and of course on that particular team, we were loaded,” former Pirate Al Oliver told MLB.com. “I don’t know how many we had on the 1971 team, but if I had to guess, maybe 11 or 12 black and Latin players. As a rule, we would start five – if Dock pitched, then it would be six.”

https://theundefeated.com/features/on-this-day-in-1971-the-pittsburgh-pirates-fielded-the-first-all-black-lineup/

Foo Fighters "Everlong" w/ 11-Year-Old Nandi Bushell, The Forum, Los An...

https://youtu.be/jsDgrKdczAE

A Refuge From Racism

An excerpt from Vice News - 

Where Black Americans Seek Refuge from Racism

Scores of Black Americans have flocked to Tulum to take a mental break after a year of so much grief.

By Adizah Eagan

All the posts about Tulum on social media this past year really got our attention: Everyone seemed to be living it up in the small Mexican fishing town south of Cancun. Some were flocking there to have a good time, but others were seeking something much deeper: They wanted to escape racism, find like-minded people, take a mental respite after a year of so much grief.

“Tulum popped up on Airbnb. [I’d] never heard of Tulum, didn't know Tulum existed,” said Kendrick Little, a photographer. “So I booked a stay here for a whole month. Then the George Floyd thing happened in the States. I had no desire to leave this tranquility of Mexico to go back voluntarily to madness.”

Another traveler, Faris Gebril, had a similar feeling. “I'm coming to Tulum because America is a cult, and I want to be anywhere else,” he said.

VICE producer Adizah Eagan went to Mexico to experience the vibes of Tulum for herself—and dig into why Black people have been seeking refuge in this beachy bohemian getaway. 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epn95a/where-black-americans-seek-refuge-from-racism

Black Bodies Redefined

An excerpt from the Guardian - 

The big picture: the black body redefined

Pioneering young black photographer Dana Scruggs’s celebration of movement and form

By Tim Adams 

Dana Scrugg

The headline act at this summer’s photography festival in Arles is an exhibition devoted to the young black photographers who are – literally – changing the face (and bodies) of fashion photography. The New Black Vanguard features the work of Tyler Mitchell, the first black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover, and Dana Scruggs, who achieved the same extraordinarily overdue milestone at Rolling Stone, when she photographed the rapper Travis Scott in 2019.

Scruggs, born in Chicago and based in New York, started out photographing vintage clothes and furniture for her own Etsy store a decade ago. In 2016, frustrated by the continuing lack of diversity in advertising and fashion, she crowdfunded the launch of her own magazine, SCRUGGS, to showcase her distinctive ways of expressing light and movement, focusing on the black male body. “There’s a fearfulness of black men in American society and globally,” Scruggs said. “I wanted to change the narrative.”

This picture, shot in Death Valley in 2018 for a swimwear campaign, is characteristic of Scruggs’s work. “I focus on shapes and bodies and skin,” she suggests. “I don’t view the model as a [clothes] hanger.” She invites her subjects – the model here is LA-based Nyadhuor Deng – to loosely improvise and take control of their presentation. “I want people to understand that black people are powerful and have autonomy over our bodies,” Scruggs has said. 

https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/aug/29/the-big-picture-the-black-body-redefined

Hot Sauce Heaven

An excerpt from Black Enterprise - 

Twin Lawyers, Howard U Grads Team Up to Revive Grandmother’s Hot Sauce Business

A family-owned hot sauce business is now back up and running after twin sisters worked to revive it.

(Photo: Alice Crowe-Bell and Alicia Crowe)

Identical twin sisters, Alice Crowe-Bell and Alicia Crowe, are Howard University School of Law graduates who have practiced as attorneys for more than 20 years but decided to use their business acumen to help get a family business off the ground.

Emmaline’s All-Natural Hot Sauce is their grandmother’s recipe. They’ve teamed up to keep their family legacy alive. They have relaunched their family business in honor of their late grandmother, Emmaline Humphries Stinson.

The twins’ mother dreamed of selling the hot sauce, so they helped their mother sell it at various farmer markets and food tastings throughout the tri-state area. It did not take long for the sauce to develop a loyal following and by  2007 Emmaline’s Hot Sauce won the Whole Foods Local Hero Award. 

Emmaline passed away last year, and the twins decided to honor their mother’s dream and continue their grandmother’s legacy by relaunching the hot sauce.

Now, the hot sauce has Emmaline’s 1910 wedding photo featured on the front of the bottle.

“The minute we reached out to her customers, within minutes, they were ordering the sauce, some by the case. They were so happy to know that we were moving forward with the sauce. That kind of response, it wasn’t because of me or my sister, it was because of my mother. She was so passionate and made her food with love,” Crowe said.

The sisters said they relaunched Emmaline’s Hot Sauce on Juneteenth and have received praise from customers for doing so.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/twin-lawyers-howard-u-grads-team-up-to-revive-grandmothers-hot-sauce-business/amp/

HBCU's in Florida

An excerpt from the Miami Herald -  

How many HBCUs are in Florida? Here’s where they are and some of their famous alumni

BY JASON DILL

Florida Memorial University President Jaffus Hardrick speaks during a
joint commencement ceremony for students graduating
in the class of 2020 and 2021 at the FMU campus in Miami Gardens, Florida,
on Saturday, May 8, 2021. SAM NAVARRO SPECIAL FOR THE MIAMI HERALD

The Orange Blossom Classic highlights two Historically Black Colleges and Universities with a football game and an event schedule away from the gridiron highlighted by the Battle of the Bands and a concert.

Florida A&M is one of the participants in the game, having to face Jackson State, which is coached by Pro Football Hall of Famer and Florida State alumnus Deion Sanders.

How many HBCU schools are in Florida? Where are they located? What are they known for?

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/article253785913.html

Why Do "We" Have to Crossover?

An excerpt from the LA Times - 

Column: Why do we praise Black performers for ‘crossing over’ to white audiences?

BY LZ GRANDERSONCOLUMNIST 

Janet Jackson, queen of pop?
(Mark Von Holden / Invision via Associated Press)

Saw a debate on Twitter this week that caught my attention: Madonna or Janet Jackson — who is the real queen of pop?

The conversation was started by Lizzo, who in sharing her list of music royalty gave the coveted title to Jackson, which set off Madonna fans. Billboard magazine, the music industry’s longtime chart tracker, gave the title to Madonna some time ago. Jackson is ranked third, behind Mariah Carey.

Before we forget the original, though, let’s be clear that in 1976, Billboard had already named Diana Ross the female entertainer of the century. She became the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of music, too often overlooked whenever people debate the “greatest of all time.”

That sort of amnesia is one of the many reasons I dislike debates of this nature to begin with. 

But this “Madonna vs. Jackson” conversation drifted toward an interesting topic: crossover appeal.

Janet Jackson’s popularity is noteworthy for crossing racial lines, which highlights the fact that Madonna’s success did not.

That’s not to say Madonna doesn’t have Black fans. Of course she does. I’m one of them.

But despite working with iconic R&B producers such as Babyface, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Dallas Austin and Timbaland, Madonna has managed just one Top 10 R&B/hip-hop single, “Like a Virgin,” which peaked at No. 9 back in 1985. The song’s producer, Nile Rodgers, is known for adding some funk to a number of white artists, such as David Bowie (“Let’s Dance”) and Duran Duran (“Notorious”).

Madonna was able to build an iconic career relying heavily on R&B production without the burden of needing to appeal to R&B listeners. She went for as Black a sound as she possibly could without being hindered by the music industry’s racism. Ranking on the R&B charts was unnecessary.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-09-01/janet-jackson-and-other-black-performers-dont-need-a-white-blessing

Leadership Matters

An excerpt from Fortune - 

A tale of two governors: COVID outcomes in Florida and Connecticut show that leadership matters

BY ANJANI JAIN AND JEFFREY SONNENFELD

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (left) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

JOHN MOORE—GETTY IMAGES; MICHAEL REAVES—GETTY IMAGES

Executive power is often circumscribed by complex geopolitical dynamics, volatile financial markets, disruptive new technologies, and tragic natural disasters. But key leaders still can have a profound impact—positive or negative—on millions of constituents. A comparison of Florida’s and Connecticut’s governors in their contrasting approach to the resurgence of the coronavirus reveals the consequential potential of individual leaders. 

This summer, tragic public-health news was exacerbated by historic levels of political grandstanding by several Southern state governors. The rapid spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant was driven by a surge of new cases in Florida, Texas, and Missouri—as these states accounted for an astounding 40% of new U.S. coronavirus cases despite representing only 17% of the nation’s population. Ignoring science and evidence, the governors of these three states have taken a rigid, cynical stance, forbidding vaccine mandates by employers and mandatory indoor mask usage—even in cases where such mandates were intended to protect young schoolchildren ineligible for vaccines. 

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis even threatened to cut off funding and educators’ salaries for schools that required protective masks in compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. Nonetheless, 10 school districts defied DeSantis by issuing mask mandates. Similarly, Disney, Carnival Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean joined Norwegian Cruise Line in defiance of DeSantis’s ban on passenger vaccination passports, despite being threatened with fines of $5,000 for each such violation of his decree. 

Florida’s hospital emergency rooms and intensive care units are now reaching capacity, with 90% of ICU beds occupied, the majority of them by COVID patients. More than 90% of these inpatients are unvaccinated; overall only one-third of Floridians between ages 12 and 64 are vaccinated. 

DeSantis’s response to such wide swaths of the unvaccinated Florida population suffering from the highly contagious Delta variant has been to consult with anti-mask advocates who promote the horse parasite drug ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, unproven elixirs, instead of scientifically developed, safe, and highly effective vaccines. 

In contrast, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has been relying on a science-based approach from the outset of the pandemic. He pulled together globally renowned virologists, microbiologists, epidemiologists, and business leaders in March of 2020, just as the pandemic was declared, and kept such advisory panels working to solve problems by relying on science, evidence, and smart management, independent of ideology. Accordingly, he worked with both top Trump administration and later top Biden administration leaders to keep manufacturing flowing without a day’s interruption, ensuring the needed supply of protective material to open schools early. Lamont also catalyzed a new nationwide weekly meeting of the nation’s governors, favoring quiet, effective, bipartisan, cross-sector problem-solving instead of seeking the public limelight. 

https://fortune.com/2021/08/31/covid-florida-connecticut-mask-mandates-vaccination-hospitalization-death-rates/

Chilled Out Golden Retriever Puppy Relaxes On Flamingo Floatie

https://youtu.be/elzCP2gok3E

Changing the Look of Astronauts

An excerpt from Black Enterprise - 

MEET THE BLACK WOMAN LOOKING TO CHANGE WHAT PEOPLE THINK AN ASTRONAUT LOOKS LIKE

by Jeroslyn Johnson

                 Lisa Alcindor (Image: Lisa Alcindor)

Lisa Alcindor is a Black woman on a mission to get to outer space. The 34-year-old Northern Virginia resident promotes herself as an “Astronaut Candidate” on her LinkedIn and Instagram pages.

“What do astronauts look like?” her Instagram bio reads. With a goal of touring the universe, Alcindor has started a GoFundMe in an effort to get help paying for the astronaut training she will need ahead of being launched to infinity and beyond.

“My goal is to show people that they truly are limitless,” she told Washington Post.

And she wants people to understand that astronauts can look like her: Long braids, long lashes and all.

While people across the world watch billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk take part in the ongoing space race, hopefuls like Alcindor are stuck resorting to more ordinary forms of achieving space flight.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/meet-the-black-woman-looking-to-change-what-people-think-an-astronaut-looks-like/?test=prebid

Tennis Boost @ HBCUs

An excerpt from the NY Times - 

Tennis Programs at Historically Black Colleges Receive a Boost

The U.S.T.A. has initiated a grant program with the ultimate goal of enhancing opportunities for players of color, especially women, to become coaches and grow the game.

By David Waldstein 

David Dinkins, shown in 1989, enjoyed playing with tennis greats
and still hit the court into his late 80s. Credit...Neal Boenzi/The New York Times

Rochelle Houston had an advantage. Her father, Joe Goldthreate, is a legendary tennis coach in Nashville, who taught her not only how to play the game, but how to coach it, too.

Houston is now the head of tennis at Florida A&M, which until recently meant she coached both teams. But the men’s team was cut in 2020 due to a lack of funding, and the women’s team makes do. It certainly does not enjoy the lavish facilities and recruiting budgets of many large Division I programs.

That is typical of many, if not all, of the 38 historically Black colleges and universities that have tennis programs. To help address that, the United States Tennis Association has initiated a grant program to contribute funding to those college programs, with the ultimate goal of enhancing opportunities for players of color, especially women, to become coaches and grow the game.

“There is a desperate need,” Houston said Wednesday from her office in Tallahassee, Fla. “We don’t have a lot of funding. We barely get by. This program will help significantly.”

The grant is named after David Dinkins, the former mayor of New York who was a board member of the U.S.T.A. and longtime tennis player, fan and active supporter. Had it not been for Dinkins’ advocacy and intervention, the U.S. Open might not even be in New York anymore, and might not have its showpiece venue, Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest in tennis.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/sports/tennis/us-open-hbcu-dinkins.html

We Should Follow Her Lead

An excerpt from Black Enterprise - 

MULTIMILLIONAIRE RACHEL RODGERS SHARES 5 STRATEGIES SHE USED TO BUILD HER EMPIRE

by Ashantai Hathaway

Dale May Photography

Rachel Rodgers is a multimillionaire. She lives on a 53-acre ranch with her husband and family in Greensboro, NC. But she says she got it all from hard work and strategic planning.

“Both of my parents were laid off from their jobs at the same time. I remember our lights getting turned off because my parents couldn’t afford to pay the electricity bill,” Rodgers told Business Insider.

Rodgers graduated from law school, but could not find a good-paying job because of the recession.

“I became an entrepreneur by necessity because there were not many good job offers. So, I clerked for a judge for a year making $41,000,” she said. After that, she focused on building her business.

Rodgers started her business working as a business coach and attorney. Her initial goal was to earn $50,000 a year while working from home. A little over a decade after starting her company, Rodgers is a multi-millionaire. Here are the strategies she used to build her wealth. . .

https://www.blackenterprise.com/multimillionaire-rachel-rodgers-shares-5-strategies-she-used-to-build-her-empire/?test=prebid

He Nailed It!

 

We are all in this video pic.twitter.com/ZebenP2Aid

— Washington Post TikTok Guy 🥉 (@davejorgenson) September 2, 2021

FAMU's Concert Choir + Marching 100 Band to Perform at NFL Kickoff

From wctv.tv - 

FAMU Marching 100 and Concert Choir to perform during NFL Kickoff festivities in Tampa

By Pat Mueller

Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 and Concert Choir
will perform as part of the pregame festivities for the
NFL’s 2021 Kickoff game in Tampa, according to a press release.(FAMU)

Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 and Concert Choir will perform as part of the pregame festivities for the NFL’s 2021 Kickoff game in Tampa, according to a press release.

The game between the Dallas Cowboys and reigning Super Bowl LV Champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers is set for 8:20 p.m. on Sept. 9.

The FAMU Concert Choir will collaborate with Alicia Keys to update her version of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before performing it live at Raymond James Stadium, says NFL Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility Anna Issacson.

“This will mark the first time ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ will be sung live at an NFL stadium and we are looking forward to shining a light on such a versatile and talented choir, while also honoring the legacy of the song,” Issacson says.

https://www.wctv.tv/2021/09/03/famu-marching-100-concert-choir-perform-during-nfl-kickoff-festivities-tampa/

Absolutely Agree!

An excerpt from the Washington Post - 

Opinion: Doctors should be allowed to give priority to vaccinated patients when resources are scarce 

By Ruth Marcus

I’m going to come right out and say it: In situations where hospitals are overwhelmed and resources such as intensive care beds or ventilators are scarce, vaccinated patients should be given priority over those who have refused vaccination without a legitimate medical or religious reason.

This conflicts radically with accepted medical ethics, I recognize. And under ordinary circumstances, I agree with those rules. The lung cancer patient who’s been smoking two packs a day for decades is entitled to the same treatment as the one who never took a puff. The drunk driver who kills a family gets a team doing its utmost to save him — although, not perhaps, a liver transplant if he needs one. Doctors are healers, not judges.

But the coronavirus pandemic, the development of a highly effective vaccine, and the emergence of a core of vaccine resisters along with an infectious new variant have combined to change the ethical calculus. Those who insist on refusing the vaccine for no reason are not in the same moral position of the smoker with lung cancer or the drunk driver. In situations where resources are scarce and hard choices must be made, they are not entitled to the same no-questions-asked, no-holds-barred medical care as others who behaved more responsibly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/03/doctors-should-be-allowed-give-priority-vaccinated-patients-when-resources-are-scarce/

Black Boy Genius!

An excerpt from Black Enterprise -

MEET THE 13-YEAR-OLD ‘BLACK BOY GENIUS’ ATTENDING CLASSES AT GEORGIA TECH

by Alexa Imani Spencer 

                        Caleb Anderson (WXIA-TV)

At just 13 years old, Caleb Anderson is attending one of the top universities in the country. The teenager recently began classes at Atlanta’s Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech. 

“The classes try to be intimidating, but they’re really not,” Caleb told local WXIA-TV about his first day. “They’re just really average classes almost with just a lot more people and more technology.”

Caleb, a resident of nearby Marietta, was the youngest Black boy to be accepted in Mensa International, the “High IQ Society,” at age 3, the news station reported. A year prior to that, he could read the United States Constitution. And while learning English as his first language, he also learned Spanish, French, and Mandarin.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/meet-the-13-year-old-black-boy-genius-attending-classes-at-georgia-tech/

More HBCU Love

An excerpt from 24/7 Sports -

Deion Sanders, Nick Saban teaming up for HBCU initiative

ByBRAD CRAWFORD  

Seven-time national champion coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders are joining forces this season to bring more exposure across college football to Historically Black Colleges and Universities while also aiding citizens in communities of color with unexpected medical bills that health insurance may not cover, supplemental insurance provider Aflac has announced.

Saban is a long-time brand ambassador for Aflac and now welcomes Sanders, the head coach at Jackson State University, to the spotlight this season. The two football figureheads have filmed three commercials that will debut this season.

"Aflac is rooted in caring for people when they need them most, whether through their policies and services or the way they tackle issues that are important to all communities. We share a vision when it comes to supporting HBCUs and, more broadly, communities of color," Sanders said in a press release. "I like to say that I see myself as standing in the gap between those who need greater support and the institutions that can provide that support. Aflac helps close gaps for their customers who have medical bills that their health insurance doesn't cover, so together, I look forward to working with Aflac, the Aflac Duck and, of course, Coach Nick Saban as we put the ball in the end zone and make a real difference in peoples' lives."

https://247sports.com/Article/Deion-Sanders-Nick-Saban-teaming-up-with-Aflac-for-HBCU-initiative--169625029/

When Your Tee Speaks For Ya

From Essence - 

Say It Loud! Embrace Your Blackness With These Fun And Empowering Graphic Tees

SELF-EXPRESSION IS ALWAYS A MUST — ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO STYLE!

BY EMERALD ELITOU 

available at Black Love Creations US $20

Fashion affords us many avenues to express our personal style, but we find graphic t-shirts are the coolest way to tell it like it is with our wardrobe. Just recently, Angela Bassett caused a shopping frenzy when she was spotted shopping at Whole Foods wearing a graphic tee that stated, Black Women Glow Differently. 

The empowering graphic t-shirt was worn shortly after news broke that the iconic actress inked a whopping $450,000 per episode deal for her part on the television series, 9-1-1. A history-making glow-up!

As you may know, we advocate for self-expression (especially when it comes to style)! Whether you’re into a vegan lifestyle or traveling abroad, there are plenty of graphic t-shirts on the market that can say it all with just a few words or a striking image. 

Below, check out some of our favorite tees that express our Blackness with the cutest phrases. And as a bonus, these shirts can be purchased by Black-owned businesses for Black Business Month. Cheers!

https://www.essence.com/fashion/these-black-owned-graphic-tees-are-equal-parts-empowering-and-stylish/#1092148

Five Black-Owned Social Media Sites

From Black Information Network - 

Five Black-Owned Social Media Sites You Should Check Out

By Ryan Shepard

When most people think about Silicon Valley, diversity and inclusion efforts are often the last things to come to mind. Furthermore, the world's most powerful social media sites have had issues hiring more Black tech professionals to work at their companies. In fact, a recent report from Future Forum pointed out that only 5.3% of tech professionals are Black. As a result, industry insiders and consumers have found it easy to push aside Black-owned social media sites. Nevertheless, several Black-owned apps and social media platforms have found a way to push forward and make their presence known. For example, apps like TrueSo and MelaninPeople take the features of the world's most popular apps and mold them into a unique playground for Black influencers, content creators and everyday users.

The new kid on the block for all #BlackTwitter #BlackPanther #melanin #BlackWomen #blackmen #blackentrepreneurs pic.twitter.com/GfcyADrHpk

— MelaninPeople App (@MelaninPeople) December 6, 2020

https://www.binnews.com/content/2021-07-30-five-black-owned-social-media-sites-you-should-check-out/ 

Time To Go

 

Lightning strikes outside White House as Marine Sentry stands his post. pic.twitter.com/JYu3BkijU3

— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) August 26, 2021

Shucking Corn

 

@creativescraps

I saw it on Tiktok and had to try it, wonderful corn all winter, bundt pan $8.97 Walmart my husband filed the hole a bit bigger

♬ original sound - user card creator

FedEx + Nascar + HBCUs?

 

Proud to take this special #FedExCares Toyota to @DAYTONA, promoting the long-standing relationship between @FedEx and HBCUs. Driving change and helping raise awareness. Now let's go get this W! pic.twitter.com/z6k0oobBfa

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) August 25, 2021

She Made Spam Callers Pay Up. Check Out How.

From Bored Panda - 

Woman Reveals How She Makes Spam Callers Pay Her Money In This Viral Thread

By Rokas Laurinavičius and Mindaugas Balčiauskas 

Unwanted calls, including illegal and spoofed robocalls, are the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) top consumer complaint and its top consumer protection priority. So as you can imagine, Americans receive plenty of them. But a Twitter user who goes by the name Miss Odessa has just posted a thread, explaining how Americans can make money off of them.

The Californian mother walked everyone through the multi-step process but some people, even though they appreciated the detailed guide, said the task seems a bit too demanding for their comfortable butts. Everyone wants free money.

https://www.boredpanda.com/making-money-from-spam-calls-usa/

Casino Workers Spill the Tea

From Buzzfeed - 

Casino Workers Are Sharing Secrets Of Casinos And It's Super Fascinating

These secrets are the jackpot.

by Ryan Schocket

1. "What we don't want you to know is how many people die in our hotels. Gamblers are risk-takers by nature — people come to casinos to tear it up. We bus in seniors by the thousands. Drugs and alcohol, nonstop consumption of cigarettes, lights, noise, spectacle!"

—u/Meet_the_Meat

2. "Slot machines are created by teams of mathematicians in a way that will always favor the casino, but at the end of the day are still purely up to luck."

—u/Apprehensive-Sir1988

3. "At the majority of casinos, they will state that there's a house advantage either posted on the walls or on the slot machines themselves."

—u/Apprehensive-Sir1988

For more, check out the link below.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanschocket2/casino-worker-secrets-reddit

Body Hacks That Actually Work!

https://youtu.be/KvP5p-xAflc

How They Retired at 40 and Moved to Portugal

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/19/how-this-couple-retired-at-40-and-moved-their-family-to-portugal.html

Young Lady caught on CCTV dancing outside her new place of work after ge...

https://youtu.be/wtqIwsCFTbY

Reparations Owed to HBCUs? Yes, But Don't Hold Your Breath

An excerpt from Black Enterprise -  

A NEW BOOK MAKES THE ARGUMENT THAT HBCUS ARE OWED REPARATIONS

by Derek Major

Adam Harris' book The state must provide.
(Image: Goodreads)

While a student at Alabama A&M University, Adam Harris took a short drive to the University of Alabama-Huntsville and was shocked by the difference in the school and HBCUs.

Harris saw nothing but smooth roads, tree-lined streets, and new buildings. It looked nothing like the campus he called home.

“They had new and newly renovated buildings,” Harris told NBC News. “The library had longer operating hours and a more extensive collection. Potholes had been filled — if they’d ever been there. And very few of the students I saw that day were Black, which was interesting for a regional school because Huntsville is roughly 30% Black. But just 10% of UAH’s campus was Black.”

The visit made Harris wonder why the facilities at a white school founded in 1950 were better than an HBCU founded 75 years earlier?

Harris spent the next decade figuring out the answer to that question in his book  “The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal—and How to Set Them Right.”

Harris, a reporter for The Atlantic, examined the history of how racial discrimination against HBCUs led to decades of underfunding and undermining that supplemented many of their struggles. Due to decades of bias and neglect by the federal government, Harris concluded that HBCUs are owed reparations.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/a-new-book-makes-the-argument-that-hbcus-are-owed-reparations/

Hospitals and Insurers Are Hiding Something

From the NY Times - (Make sure you're calm when you read this because it will likely cause your blood pressure to rise. - Faye)

Hospitals and Insurers Didn’t Want You to See These Prices. Here’s Why.

By Sarah Kliff and Josh Katz Produced by Rumsey Taylor

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/22/upshot/hospital-prices.html?referringSource=articleShare

HBCU Young Entrepreneurs

An excerpt from Essence - 

These HBCU Students Are Taking The Business World By Storm

THESE 4 ENTREPRENEURS ARE NOT ONLY YOUNG, SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNERS, BUT THEY ARE USING THEIR PLATFORMS TO MAKE POSITIVE CHANGES WITHIN THEIR COMMUNITY.

Here are a few young entrepreneurs from HBCUs who are shattering glass ceilings, making an impact, and are well on their way to exceeding greatness. And you should definitely want to know about them.

COURTESY: BYKD

Tahir Murray, Howard University C/O ‘21

LegacyHistoryPride, also known as LHP, is a collegiate lifestyle brand that designs and develops apparel inspired by HBCUs and Black culture. The CEO of the company, Tahir Murray, is a 22-year-old graduate of Howard University’s School of Business. LHP offers a variety of apparel options from varsity jackets, crewnecks, t-shirts and more. With every sale, a portion of the proceeds specifically benefits the College or University through their Licensing Agreements. Beyond that, LegacyHistoryPride partners directly with the students and alumni of these institutions to develop collaborations toward the growth of scholarship opportunities. LHP has been featured on some celebrities such as Chance the Rapper and Chris Paul.

See more at the link below.

https://www.essence.com/festival/2021-essence-festival-of-culture/women-in-the-sports-business/

Black Creatives Leaving America

An excerpt from NY Times Style Magazine -

The Black Artists Leaving America

Building on the legacy of luminaries such as James Baldwin and Josephine Baker, many Black creatives are seeking out new possibilities abroad.

By Emily Lordi Photographs by Manuel Obadia-Wills

The poet and rapper Mike Ladd,
photographed at his studio in St. Denis, France,
on July 1, 2021.Credit...Manuel Obadia-Wills

“STEAL AWAY,” goes the traditional slave spiritual, a song that enshrouds a call to escape the plantation with an appeal to the afterlife; and Black Americans have responded to the original theft of the slave trade by stealing themselves back and away from the United States in myriad ways — to places beyond America, and to autonomous worlds within it that are defined by region and family rather than the nation-state. In the antebellum period, enslaved people who escaped joined Indigenous people to form secret maroon colonies in North and South America and the Caribbean, and white supremacist agencies found some free Blacks eager to join the cause to repatriate them to Africa. When Reconstruction policies aimed at social reform sparked violent backlashes and an increase in lynchings, thousands of Black Americans left for Liberia, a free nation with an elected Black government. Decades later, the Jamaican-born leader Marcus Garvey claimed to have inspired millions of adherents to his Universal Negro Improvement Association, a global benevolent association with its own dreams of African return. And throughout the 20th century, Black American artists and intellectuals including the sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois, the performers Paul Robeson and Nina Simone, the visual artists Augusta Savage and Romare Bearden and the writers Jessie Fauset, Richard Wright and James Baldwin traveled to Europe, the Caribbean and Africa seeking political alliances, creative opportunities and personal safety and sanity. Even when, in the 1960s, leaders like Malcolm X reconceived racial separatism in domestic rather than international terms — demanding that the U.S. government cede some states to Black citizens as reparations — activists like Amiri Baraka and Angela Davis sought refuge and revolutionary education in Fidel Castro’s Cuba, while writers like Julian Mayfield and Maya Angelou moved to newly independent Ghana. Many Black Americans have subsequently made new lives abroad for personal, creative and political reasons: the conceptual artist Adrian Piper in Berlin; the writer Andrea Lee in Torino, Italy; Tina Turner in Zurich; Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) in South Africa, among others. Earlier this year, Stevie Wonder announced his plans to move to Ghana, where the tourism ministry recently ramped up its decades-long outreach efforts to Black Americans by hosting a Year of Return in 2019.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/t-magazine/black-artists-expatriates.html?referringSource=articleShare

The GBs do the BeeGees #stayinalive #dance #shorts

https://youtu.be/la93zRHulBk

Dubai Is A Parody Of The 21st Century

https://youtu.be/SacQ2YdVOyk

MIND BLOWING MOMENTS CAUGHT ON CAMERA!

https://youtu.be/j5ST4y9c900

Rules Former Presidents Have To Follow

https://youtu.be/to_hR0QJl80

Blood Brothers | Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali Official Trailer | Netflix

https://youtu.be/gvOAuxFCGeU

61st Street Official Trailer | Coming Soon to AMC+ and AMC

https://youtu.be/QQpfF9trmi4

Who Needs a Hair Appointment?

From In the Know - 

LINWOOD DARKIS WANTS TO CHANGE WHAT’S TAUGHT IN COSMETOLOGY SCHOOL

By Katie Mather

@getglamfam

Reply to @user4221449952744 honestly, the beauty industry kinda benefits on that ignorance, in my opinion.

♬ original sound - LINWOOD

https://www.intheknow.com/post/linwood-darkis-hair/ 

Fuddruckers Owned by HBCU Alum

An excerpt from Essence -

The Fuddruckers Franchise Is Now Owned By A Black HBCU Alum

THE ACQUISITION MAKES NICHOLAS PERKINS THE LARGEST FRANCHISE OWNER AND THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO HAVE TOTAL OWNERSHIP OF A NATIONAL BURGER BUSINESS.

BY CHANEL STEWART

COURTESY: NICHOLAS PERKINS

If there’s anything that Black HBCU grads are going to do, it’s take over corporate America.

Nicholas Perkins acquired the Fuddruckers franchise for an estimated $18.5 million dollars, making him the largest franchise owner and the first African American to have total ownership of a national burger business. Perkins’ Black Titan Franchise Systems LLC reached a deal with Luby’s earlier this summer to take over ownership of the Fuddruckers brand from Luby’s, a Houston-based reported cafeteria chain that last year began liquidating its assets and dissolving the company.

“We’re excited to be purchasing Fuddruckers and look forward to working with Fuddruckers’ many dedicated, highly capable franchisees to further build this brand,” Perkins said. “As a Fuddruckers franchisee, I have a vested interest in ensuring that all Fuddruckers franchisees have the resources, infrastructure, and operational and marketing support they need to maximize their return on investment. This strategic alignment, when combined with the fact that we sell the ‘World’s Greatest Hamburgers’™, will ensure the long-term success of the brand and our franchisees.”

https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/fuddruckers-franchise-owned-by-black-hbcu-alum-nicholas-perkins/

Multilingual Siblings

An excerpt from Black Enterprise - 

MEET THE SIBLINGS WHO ARE TEACHING OTHER KIDS HOW TO SPEAK UP TO 8 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

by Black Enterprise

Cleveland, OH — Meet 4-year old Emilio, 6-year old Amora, 8-year old Rosie, 10-year old LaLa, 12-year old Anita, 16-year old Malachi, 18-year old Kimoni, 20-year old Mina, and baby Makalo. These young homeschoolers have created a YouTube channel called Multilingual Stars Academy that offers fun and exciting content to help children learn the basics of different languages.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjOqibvnQK2qUQCcSCcZ_PA

https://www.blackenterprise.com/meet-the-siblings-who-are-teaching-other-kids-how-to-speak-up-to-8-different-languages/

First Woman To Take Law School Test in Prison

 

https://cbsloc.al/3g8yqP6

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/08/16/maureen-onyelobi-inmate-takes-lsat/

He Gets My Support

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

An Alabama doctor watched patients reject the coronavirus vaccine. Now he’s refusing to treat them.

By Timothy Bella

Dr. Jason Valentine

In Alabama, where the nation’s lowest vaccination rate has helped push the state closer to a record number of hospitalizations, a physician has sent a clear message to his patients: Don’t come in for medical treatment if you are unvaccinated.

Jason Valentine, a physician at Diagnostic and Medical Clinic Infirmary Health in Mobile, Ala., posted a photo on Facebook this week of him pointing to a sign taped to a door informing patients of his new policy coming Oct. 1.

“Dr. Valentine will no longer see patients that are not vaccinated against covid-19,” the sign reads.

Valentine wrote in the post, which has since been made private but was captured in online images, that there were “no conspiracy theories, no excuses” stopping anyone from being vaccinated, AL.com reported. The doctor, who said at least three unvaccinated patients have asked him where they could get a vaccine since he posted the photo, has remained resolute to those who have questioned his decision in recent days.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/08/18/alabama-doctor-unvaccinated-patients-valentine/

Paralyzed football player walks across stage to get diploma

https://youtu.be/I0m1ARYHpqw

Positive Affirmations

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by TODAY (@todayshow)

Girl acts sad to see how her horse will react.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjAhiPHtLYI

Black-Owned Food & Drink Brands

An excerpt from HuffPost - 

17 Black-Owned Food And Drink Brands You Can Shop Online

August is National Black Business Month. Here are delicious ways to show your support.

By Shontel Horne

HuffPost

More than 124,000 businesses identify as Black-owned, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Every day is a good day to support Black-owned businesses, but with National Black Business Month taking place in August, now is an especially great time to get familiar with and continue to support Black-owned brands — particularly in food and drink.

The 17 food and beverage brands below are sure to become staples in your kitchen for years to come. Add them to your shopping list and stock up on everything from olive oil to vegan cheese.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-owned-food-drink-businesses_l_610bead9e4b041dfbaa65821

What Kind of Driver Are you?

An excerpt from Upworthy - 

Awesome chart shows you how far you can drive on empty

By Tricia Leigh Zeigenhorn

There are two types of people in this world – those who panic and fill up their cars with gas when the needle hits 25% or so, and people like me who wait until the gas light comes on, then check the odometer so you can drive the entire 30 miles to absolute empty before coasting into a gas station on fumes.

https://www.upworthy.com/awesome-chart-shows-you-how-far-you-can-drive-on-empty

Click on the link for a better view of the chart. - Faye

Snoop and Kevin react to Jade Carey's gold medal | Olympic Highlights wi...

https://youtu.be/wm7vg2Nknd4

Black Violin - Showoff

https://youtu.be/Tb5zO7OybPg

Young Black Aspiring Doctors

An excerpt from Black Enterprise - 

YOUNG BLACK ASPIRING DOCTORS IN NYC GETTING GUIDANCE THROUGH MENTORSHIP PROGRAM #BLACKBUSINESSMONTH

by Jeroslyn Johnson

     These 45 Black youths got an inside view of medicine
through a new, week long medical internship.
(Erskine Isaac ivisionphoto.com)

Medical Internship Week kicked off in NYC last week and included a group of young Black aspiring doctors looking to break the lack of diversity in the medical field.

There was 45 Black youth included in the program for aspiring doctors, nurses, and surgeons, NY Daily News reports. The group of aspiring medical professionals with ages from eight to 18 enjoyed five days of shadowing surgeons and watching medical procedures to get firsthand experience ahead of pursuing careers in the field.

“I LIKE TO SEE BLACK DOCTORS,” SAID SIXTH-GRADER KAYNE MCKNIGHT. “WHEN I GO TO THE DENTIST AND THE DOCTORS, I DON’T REALLY SEE BLACK DOCTORS. IT’S MOSTLY WHITE DOCTORS.”

Dr. Anthony Watkins, a transplant surgeon at NYU Langone, is one of the creators of the program and expressed his hope to break the racial disparities he has seen get worse over the decades. Watkins noted how there were more Black men in medical school in the 1970s than there are in recent years. Through Medical Internship Week, Watkins aims to break the barriers.

“Knowing that ‘Oh, someone who looks like me can do it’ can instill that confidence,” Watkins said. “That’s really a critical component. The ultimate goal is … to spark that interest, and hopefully tackle this problem, and address diversity.”

https://www.blackenterprise.com/young-black-aspiring-doctors-in-nyc-getting-guidance-through-mentorship-program-blackbusinessmonth/

The Whitewashing of Black Music

An excerpt from Far Out Magazine - 

The whitewashing of Black music: Five singles made popular by white artists

By Mick McStarkey 

Big Mama Thornton was a pioneering musician. (Credit: Alamy)

This week marks the anniversary of the date that Big Mama Thornton first recorded the iconic single ‘Hound Dog’ in 1952. The song is widely regarded as one of the most iconic tracks in rock and roll history. Since Thornton’s original was put to wax, the song has been covered well over 250 times. In this sense, the blues staple can be considered to be in the same category as what ‘Greensleeves’ is to folk: a key standard, setting out its defining features.

The chances are that many of you will not have even heard of Big Mama Thornton, or the fact that she was the first artist to perform the now-iconic track. Written by the duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for Thornton, it is quite telling that Elvis Presley was the one who popularised the song in 1956. His version is often thought of as being the original, which is not the case. 

In 1999, Rick Kennedy and Randy MacNutt perfectly captured the impact Thornton’s original had on music. They argued that it helped to “spur the evolution of Black R&B into rock music”. The transformative effect of this cross-pollination cannot be underestimated.

The irony of the song is that when Thornton initially sang it, she did so in the form of a ballad. However, Leiber and Stoller believed that the song should be more up-tempo, as they had forged it specifically “to suit her personality—brusque and badass”. Thus, Leiber sang it, accompanied by Stoller on the piano, conveying to Thornton how they thought it should be performed. 

Luckily Thornton agreed, and the song the trio recorded the number became one of the most important hits ever captured. The track is so influential that Maureen Mahon, a professor of music at New York University, claimed that the original is “an important (part of the) beginning of rock and roll, especially in its use of the guitar as the key instrument”. The song would reach number one on the R&B chart and be popularised in the appropriate musical community. However, the song remained relatively unknown in the mainstream until Elvis Presley put his own spin on it.

What made Elvis’ version so popular and Thornton’s not? After all, one would wager that Thornton’s is the best version out of all of them, a swaggering, sexualised number that was just as groundbreaking lyrically as it was musically. So why then does the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ still take all the plaudits? 

Unfortunately, the reasons are all too familiar. Firstly, we need to cast our mind’s back to the era, 1950s America. Thornton, being the larger-than-life Black woman that she was, was clearly up against it in her fight for success, the measure of which was relevant to the time. Thornton’s original preceded the desegregation of schools by a year, and Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X wouldn’t truly make their voices of civil rights protest heard until the ’60s.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-whitewashing-of-black-music-five-singles-made-popular-by-white-artists/

Trustworthy kids show banknotes to security camera while shopkeeper is away

https://youtu.be/euTvYiIBYBU

1st Black Ph.D in Chemistry at UTA

 

Letterman's Most Intriguing Guest

An excerpt from Today - 

David Letterman reveals his most intriguing guest and we think you'll be surprised

"I found her spirit to be huge," the TV legend said.

By Drew Weisholtz

Letterman's interview with the Grammy winner
was a powerful experience for him. Courtesy of Netfix

Letterman, 74, was asked on SiriusXM’s "Comedy Gold Minds with Kevin Hart" podcast which guest he found the most intriguing.

“Based on your elaboration of ‘intrigue,’ it was a young woman who lives in Los Angeles who's in the music world, very successful, by the name of Lizzo,” Letterman said. “My prior expectation of this experience was, at its best, neutral.”

The 'Truth Hurts" singer had been a musical guest on “The Late Show” in 2014 before she became a household name but Letterman said he did more research on her for about six weeks to prepare for his interview with her on his current talk show.

He said their conversation made quite an impression on him.

“But almost everything you said about my reaction to her after the fact, happened,” he said. “Delighted. Comfortable. Didn't want to leave. Wanted to stay in her house. Wanted to help her. I wanted to go around and find out who was handling her, and I wanted to screen them.

“I wanted to make sure she was being taken care of because I found her spirit, Kevin, to be — and maybe I'm hyperbolic here on this — but I found her spirit to be huge, not like anything I had experienced. I know there are people like that. And I know there are people like that in show business, but this particular episode, I was delighted by — still am.”

https://www.today.com/popculture/david-letterman-his-most-intriguing-guest-his-netflix-show-t228235