Category: Black Excellence

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/charles-coe-obituary?id=60132291

It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that we announce that Charles Coe has died. He passed away from complications after his recent prostate cancer surgery.

Charles was a wonderful human being and a multi-talented man. He was a poet, prose writer, teacher, musician (vocals and didgeridoo), chef, activist, and cherished friend. He was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, and had lived in the Boston area since 1975.

https://www.charlescoe.org/about

I’m a poet, prose writer, teacher of writing and a musician (vocals and didgeridoo).

I was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana but have lived in the Boston area since 1975.

After eighteen years, I retired in the spring of 2015 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the state agency that funds arts and culture, and now spend my time writing, teaching writing, and making music.

https://sweetmommas.net

The Owner/Chef Jean Smith

Jean brings in 40 years of experience to the kitchen.

She is known in the area by her cooking and pastry skills.

She attended The Connecticut Culinary Institute School and received her pastry certificate.

https://pacnyc.org/bio/tendayi-kuumba-2

Chita Rivera Outstanding Female Dancer on Broadway 2022 as Lady in Brown in the Tony Nominated Broadway Revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. Tendayi is an international dancer, choreographer, singer, & songwriter, & Spelman College grad.

Additionally in recent years, Tendayi was an original cast member background vocalist/dancer of Special Tony Award-Winning David Byrne’s American Utopia on Broadway as well as its World Tour since 2018 and the HBO Film adaptation directed by Spike Lee.

https://debwillisphoto.com/home.html

Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas give a mother/son talk at the TED WOMEN 2017 talk in New Orleans

As an artist, author and curator Deb Willis’s art and pioneering research has focused on cultural histories envisioning the black body, women and gender. She is a celebrated photographer, acclaimed historian of photography, MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellow, and University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

https://www.studiomuseum.org/artists/deborah-willis

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Willis was first introduced to photography by her father. His photographs of her family and her mother’s salon prompted her to start an investigation into Black beauty and familial bonds.

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/20/nx-s1-5397972/reflections-in-black-deborah-willis

For decades, Deborah Willis has dedicated her career to unearthing, cataloging and showcasing Black photographers and photographs of Black people. The MacArthur “Genius Award” winner is the author of a spectacular collection of books including the seminal Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present.

https://www.obama.org/programs/leaders/usa/2024-2025/telitia-fountain

Telitia “Jenice” Fountain is the executive director of the Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion advocacy and reproductive rights organization serving Alabama and Mississippi. Jenice was chosen to lead the organization in 2022, against the backdrop of legal changes that impacted the organization’s ability to provide financial assistance, safe clinic transportation, and support for mothers facing legal barriers to care, while also conducting educational outreach for the community.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Allen

Danielle Susan Allen (born November 3, 1971) is an American classicist and political scientist. She is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University.^[1][2] She is also the former Director of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.

Prior to joining the faculty at Harvard in 2015, Allen was UPS Foundation Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.^[3][4] Allen is the daughter to the conservative political scientist William B. Allen.^[5]

Allen was a contributing columnist at The Washington Post until she announced in December 2020 that she was exploring a run for Governor of Massachusetts in 2022.^[6][7][8] She formally announced her campaign for the Democratic Party nomination in June 2021, but then dropped out of the race in February 2022.^[9][10]

https://canvasrebel.com/life-work-with-kely-pinheiro

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kely Pinheiro

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

I began to study music when I was about 5 years old in Niteroi, a small town in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The first instrument I learned to play was the recorder — all of them (Sopranino, Soprano, Contralto, Tenor, and Bass). This was possible because of a wonderful non-profit organization called Orquestra de Cordas da Grota. They bring music to financially challenged neighborhoods throughout the state, offering incredible opportunities for young musicians.

Thanks to Orquestra de Cordas da Grota, I took my first steps in music, and doors opened fairly quickly. I joined orchestras and pursued formal education in music at conservatories and music schools. The support and opportunities provided by community-based musical groups like Orquestra de Cordas da Grota were instrumental in my early development and growth as a musician. Their impact on my life has been profound, and I am deeply grateful for the foundation they provided.

https://30under30.temple.edu/2025-award-recipients/arts-culture-visionaries/jordan-dobson

From Broad Street to Broadway: Jordan Dobson 

School/College: School of Theater, Film and Media Arts 
Degree: BA, theater, 2018 
Hometown: Pennsauken, New Jersey 
Current Job Title: Professional actor 
Current Employer: Broadway/Hollywood 

While acting on the set of Oscar-nominated film Maestro, an elderly man began acting strangely around Jordan Dobson, TFM ’18. It was only when Jordan saw the man’s piercing blue eyes that he realized it was actor Bradley Cooper, playing a practical joke in prosthetics as Leonard Bernstein. Cooper had personally offered Jordan a supporting role in the film, solidifying his rising status as a multitalented performer. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanitoluwa_Adewumi

Tanitoluwa Emmanuel “Tani” Adewumi (born September 3, 2010) is a Nigerian-American chess player who currently holds the title of International Master (IM). A chess prodigy,^[2] he won the 2019 K-3 New York State chess championship at the age of 8 after having played the game for only a year while living with his refugee family in a homeless shelter in Manhattan.^[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualeasha_Wood

Qualeasha Wood (born 1996) is an American textile artist. Her work often deals with representation of African-American women in internet culture.^[1]

https://www.houldsworth.co.uk/artists/174-qualeasha-wood/overview

In her textile practice, Wood brings together traditional craft techniques and contemporary technology. Her own image acts as a point of departure for works that explore racial, sexual and gender identity as they relate to the Black femme body. As a digital native, Wood deftly navigates an internet environment that is at once a space of celebration and recognition for Black femme figures, as well as a politically loaded site for the ongoing marginalisation and exploitation of their selfhood and culture. Woods’ tapestries combine cybernetic and analogue processes; in her work, a pixel is equivalent to a stitch, each stitch an analogy for the past, present and future of Black femmehood, both on- and off-line, pre- and post-internet.