If you follow us, you may have been wondering why there hasn't been a Daily Drop for a few weeks, especially since this podcast's extended title is literally "The Daily Drop"! This short bonus offers a brief explanation, as well as what to expect going forward. Thank you in advance for listening and for your patience!
Memorial Day, an American national holiday dedicated to the memory of fallen US soldiers, is celebrated on the last Monday of May. Its beginnings however, started on the first day of May in 1865, when by a group of newly liberated Blacks in Charleston, South Carolina placed flowers on the unmarked graves of captured Union soldiers and held a parade to honor the dead. To learn more about what was originally known as "Decoration Day", check out the links to sources below: https://www.history.com/n...
Born in 1879, Mary Eliza Mahoney worked hard for nearly two decades to earn her nursing license, overcoming discrimination to become the first African American person to do so in the United States. To learn more about Boston-born and based Mahoney, read Mary Eliza Mahoney and the Legacy of African-American Nurses , watch a short bio on YouTube or check out the links to more sources below. Sources: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mary-mahoney https://www.essence.com/...
The first African American woman to earn a doctorate at M.I.T., Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson is responsible for the 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 caller ID. To learn more about the current president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological research university in the U.S., check out the links to sources below: Strong Force: The Story of Physicist Shirl...
Jockey Oliver Lewis won the inaugural Kentucky Derby atop the colt Aristides on May 17, 1875. Lewis was one of thirteen Black jockeys in the fifteen-strong field. But even though Blacks dominated horseracing in the late 1800s, by the early 1900s, they’d been pushed out of the sport, with James Winkfield being the last to win in 1902. After an almost 80 year drought, in 2000, Marlon St. Julien was the next Black jockey to compete. To learn more about Oliver Lewis and the long history of African A...
On Mother's Day 2022, we offer a quote from three-time Olympic gold medalist and international track star Wilma Rudolph on when you have a choice, always choose to believe your mother. To learn more about Wilma Rudolph, read her 1977 autobiography Wilma: The Story of Wilma Rudolph , Wilma Rudolph: A Biography from 2006, the children’s book Wilma Rudolph: Athlete and Educator by Alice K. Flanagan, or watch the 1977 movie Wilma starring Cicely Tyson, Shirley Jo Finney and Denzel Washington on Vudu...
Earlier this week, Karine Jean-Pierre was named the new White House Press Secretary from her current position as the Principal Deputy Press Secretary for the Biden Administration. Jean-Pierre will be the first Black woman and openly LGBTQ-plus person to serve in this position. To learn more about Jean-Pierre, read her 2019 book Moving Forward: A Story of Hope, Hard Work, and the Promise of America , watch her 2020 interview on the Today show and check out links to more sources below: https://www...
On National Nurses Day , we acknowledge Ernest Grant , internationally recognized burn care and safety expert and the first male president of the American Nurses Association . To learn more about Grant, history of nursing as well as African American nurses, check out the links provided below: Sources: https://www.nursingworld.org/ana/leadership-and-governance/board-of-directors/ana-president/ https://nurse.org/articles/black-history-month-nursing-leaders/ https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/ameri...
Bridget “Biddy” Mason was born into slavery in 1818 in Mississippi but was able to secure her freedom in a California court after her owner tried to move her back East to Texas. Mason used her earnings from midwifery to buy property, establish the first AME church in Los Angeles, and build community as the wealthiest Black woman in LA. To learn more about Mason and her legacy, check out biddymasoncollaborative.com , laconservancy.org to learn more about Biddy Mason Memorial Park in Los Angeles, ...
History was made 42 years ago in May 1980 when the burgeoning Star Wars franchise added the character of Lando Calrissian to its universe played by 1970s heartthrob Billy Dee Williams . He was the second Black character in popular science fiction film or television to have a significant and recurring role. (The first was Nichelle Nichols' Lieutenant Uhura on the original Star Trek series.) To learn more about Black Star Wars characters, check out the links below: https://nerdist.com/article/blac...
In GBN's "A Year of Good Black News" Page-A-Day Calendar" for 2022, we explore words and phrases in a category we call "Lemme Break It Down." Today's entry takes a look at "Afrofuturism" -- a term used to describe a movement within Black culture from the 1950s to present that uses science fiction and fantasy as frameworks to reimagine the African diaspora in music, art, literature, film, and fashion. To learn more, read Mark Dery ’s seminal 1994 " Black to the Future " essay, Afrofuturism: The W...
Today, on Eid Al Fitr, the celebration of the end of Ramadan, we offer a quote from El- Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Black Muslim leader and Civil Rights activist, more commonly known as Malcolm X. To learn more about El-Shabazz, watch the 1978 educational documentary El Hajj Malik El Shabazz by Gil Noble and McGraw Hill Films on YouTube, read the classic Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley, and The Diary of Malcolm X: El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , which contains the copious notes El-Shabazz...
Did you know a Black man helped build the most iconic black-labeled whiskey known the world over? In the 1850s, a young Jack Daniel apprenticed under Nathan “Nearest” Green , an enslaved distiller, who employed a special process to make whiskey smooth. By the 1860s, Green reportedly became the wealthiest African American person in Lynchburg, Tennessee, and seven generations of Green’s family have worked for the Jack Daniel Distillery. To learn more about Green and his legacy (his son George Gree...
Today, we close out #JazzAppreciationMonth with a short tribute to a primary architect of the sound, the legendary New Orleans son, Louis Armstrong . To learn more about Armstrong, check out the Louis Armstrong House Museum , his 1936 autobiography, Swing That Music , his 1954 autobiography Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans , 1999’s Louis Armstrong in His Own Words , and other books like Satchmo: The Genius of Louis Armstrong by Gary Giddins from 2001, Pops: The Life of Louis Armstrong from 2009 b...
Although we dropped in on Duke Ellington earlier this month on April 6th when we shared a quote from him and a snapshot of his career and contributions, today, on his birthday, this prolific composer and musician gets a much-deserved second look. One thing we didn't share last time about the Black, Brown and Beige maestro? He had synethesia, the neurological condition where sounds and colors blend. To learn even more about Ellington, check out our April 6th daily drop , and to learn more about s...
When Black Panther Party member Brad Lomax started using a wheelchair every day after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, he realized he had another "ism" to fight -- ableism. In 1977 Lomax helped lead the "504 Sit In" -- the longest sit in in U.S. History to fight for disability rights from the federal government. To learn more, read 2020 New York Times feature article on Lomax from its Overlooked No More series, read The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation by Doris F...
Today we quote of a joke from groundbreaking and innovative comedian Richard Pryor , taken from his self-directed 1983 concert film/documentary Here and Now : To learn more about Pryor, read his 1995 autobiography Pryor Convictions , the 2014 biographies Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him and Becoming Richard Pryor . Also, watch the 2013 documentary Richard Pyror: Omit the Logic , now on Hulu, the 2019 documentary I Am Richard Pryor , or the 2021 episode of ABC.com’s Superst...
In GBN's "A Year of Good Black News" Page-A-Day Calendar" for 2022, we explore words and phrases in a category we call "Lemme Break It Down." Today's entry takes a look at "bop" -- a term used today for a song with a good groove -- but was first used in the early 1940s to describe an exciting, new intricate form of jazz. Sources: https://www.etymonline.com/word/bop https://7esl.com/bop/ https://thewordcounter.com/meaning-of-bop/ https://amzn.to/3Kijdae (To Be or Not To Bop by Dizzy Gillespie) ht...
Born 105 years ago today, we offer a quote from one of the best vocalists ever, the “First Lady of Song” Ms. Ella Fitzgerald . To learn more about Ella, watch 2019's Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things documentary on Netflix, the 1999 American Masters biography Something To Live For on YouTube , read ELLA: A Biography of the Legendary Ella Fitzgerald from 2018, Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz from 1994, and watch great clips of her on YouTube with Duke Ellington , Fr...
Located in Harlem on Lenox Avenue, 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. To learn more about the Savoy, check out welcometothesavoy.com , a site that’s restoring the Savoy with a VR experience, watch 1992's Stompin’ At The Savoy directed by Debbie Allen on Amazon Prime Vid...
Born on this day in 1856 to free Black parents, Ohio native Granville T. Woods became one of the best and most innovative electrical engineers the U.S. had ever seen, who owned his own business and held over 60 patents. To learn more about Woods, read 2013’s Granville T. Woods: African American Communication and Transportation Pioneer by David L. Head, Granville Taylor Woods: The First Black American Who Was Granted Forty-Nine Patents by Jonathan Walker from 2011, and Black Inventors in the Age ...
On this #EarthDay, GBN celebrates Hazel M. Johnson , a working-class woman and mother of seven who became determined to combat environmental racism by exposing and dismantling the "Toxic Doughnut" of refineries, chemical companies and steel mills that encircled the Chicago housing project Altgeld Gardens . Because of Johnson’s grassroots activism, she is now known as the “ Mother of Environmental Justice .” To learn more about Johnson, visit the site of the organization Johnson founded, peoplefo...
In 2016, Dr. Carla D. Hayden became the first woman and first African American person to serve the nation as Librarian of Congress. Hayden also became the first professional librarian to hold the post in over 60 years. To learn more about Dr. Hayden, follow her on Twitter @LibnofCongress , watch her on C-SPAN , read The Black Librarian in America: Reflections, Resistance, and Reawakening or the children’s book Carla Hayden: Librarian of Congress from the Women Leading the Way series. Sources: ht...
Today features a joke from Emmy and Grammy Award winning comedian Dave Chappelle from his Inside the Actors Studio conversation with James Lipton from 2006. We also discuss highlights of his career as well as the issues that arose from his 2021 Netflix special The Closer. Sources: https://www.looper.com/266269/the-real-reason-dave-chappelle-quit-his-sketch-show/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--IS0XiNdpk (SNL 2016) https://youtu.be/3tR6mKcBbT4 ( 8:46) https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/25/entertainmen...
As we continue to celebrate #JazzAppreciationMonth , today we drop in on Billie Holiday , the singer and artist who not only influenced peers and progeny alike with her inventive interpretation and phrasing in songs, but also composed several of her signature songs which in turn became jazz and blues standards. To learn more about Billie Holiday, read If You Can’t Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday by Farah Jasmine Griffin , check out the 2019 documentary Billie on Hulu, watch cl...
Today we celebrate five-time NBA champion, two time Olympic Gold Medalist, philanthropist, Academy Award winner, author, husband, father and career Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant . To learn more, read 2018’s The Mamba Mentality: How I Play by Kobe Bryant, 2022’s The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality by Mike Sielski. Watch the 2015 documentary Kobe Bryant's Muse , now on Showtime, the 2019 All the Smoke video podcast episode featuring one of his final interviews, also on Showtime. W...
On Easter Sunday, we celebrate Thomas A. Dorsey , who not only once worked as Ma Rainey 's pianist and musical director, but was also the key architect in revolutionizing the sound of gospel music. To learn more about Dorsey watch the 1982 documentary Say Amen, Somebody , check out his collection of papers archived at Fisk University , read 1994’s The Rise of Gospel Blues: The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church which you can borrow from the Internet Archive , and 2015’s Anointed t...
In yesterday’s daily drop we celebrated sports legend Jackie Robinson . But did you know his older brother had his own claim to sports fame? Matthew Mackenzie “Mack” Robinson was an outstanding track and field athlete who won a silver medal in the 200-meter event at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, finishing just four tenths of a second behind Jesse Owens. To learn more about Mack Robinson, his sports accomplishments and his civic=minded local activism, check out the sources below: https://archive.kpcc...
Seventy five years ago today, Jackie Robinson made sports and national history when he took to the infield as a Brooklyn Dodger and integrated Major League Baseball. To learn more about Georgia born, California-raised US Army Veteran Robinson, read I Never Had it Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson , True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson , watch the 2016 documentary Jackie Robinson or consider donating to the Jackie Robinson Foundation at jackierobinson.org which offers financial aid t...
#OnThisDay five years ago, hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar released his fourth album DAMN. and solidified his rep as one of the best to ever flow and rhyme with introspection and vision. Lamar earned a Pulitzer Prize for music for DAMN. , the first work outside of the jazz or classical genres to ever do so.
