Category: Black Excellence

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

RaMell Ross is an American filmmaker, photographer, academic, and writer best known for his 2018 documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening and the 2024 film adaptation of the novel The Nickel Boys (2019), the latter of which he directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Joslyn Barnes, for which he won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director.^[1][2][3]

https://www.npr.org/2024/12/11/nx-s1-5217676/nickel-boys-movie-review

‘Nickel Boys’ establishes a new way of seeing Black characters on screen

https://www.rhyuhn.com/about

Lauded by NPR as a “sartorially resplendent 18-year-old from Philadelphia [who] lives a double life as both an extraordinary pianist and a composer”, Rhyuhn Phallon Green (b.2006) began his musical studies at the age of 2. He is a student of Dean and Director David Ludwig at the Juilliard School where he is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship.

https://www.blackpast.org/author/broussardalbert

Albert S. Broussard is professor of History at Texas A&M University, where he has taught since 1985. Professor Broussard has published six books, Expectations of Equality: A History of Black Westerners (2012), Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954 (1993), African American Odyssey: The Stewarts, 1853-1963 (1998), American History: The Early Years to 1877, and The American Republic Since 1877, and The American Vision (co-authored with James McPherson, Alan Brinkley, Joyce Appleby, and Donald Ritchie).

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/15/g-s1-42698/nancy-leftenant-colon-military-army-tuskegee-obituary

Nancy Leftenant-Colon, the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps when it was desegregated after World War II and the sister of one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen pilots, died Jan. 8 in Amityville, N.Y. She was 104.

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

Machel Montano (born 24 November 1974)^[2] is a Trinidadian soca recording artist and record producer. Known for his high energy, fast-paced, and often unpredictable on-stage performances, he is one of the genre’s most popular artists.^[3][4]

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/13/g-s1-41268/machel-montano-tiny-desk-concert

The first law of soca music according to Machel Montano is: “it’s dancing time all the time.” And in his Tiny Desk Concert, the “King of Soca” provides irrefutable evidence to support that statement.

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

Jaye Davidson (born Alfred Amey; 21 March 1968) is an English model, fashion stylist, and retired actor. He made his acting debut as Dil in the thriller film The Crying Game (1992),^[1][3] for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Following his breakthrough, he portrayed the villainous Ra in the commercially successful science fiction film Stargate (1994). Davidson retired from acting afterwards, disliking the fame that the roles brought him.

https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/gordon-parks/biography

Gordon Parks, one of the greatest photographers of the twentieth century, was a humanitarian with a deep commitment to social justice. He left behind an exceptional body of work that documents American life and culture from the early 1940s into the 2000s, with a focus on race relations, poverty, civil rights, and urban life. Parks was also a distinguished composer, author, and filmmaker who interacted with many of the leading people of his era—from politicians and artists to athletes and celebrities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Jean-Baptiste

Marianne Raigipcien Jean-Baptiste (born 26 April 1967) is an English actress. She is known for her role in Mike Leigh‘s drama film Secrets & Lies (1996), for which she received acclaim and earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award in the same category.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_C._Jones

Laurence Clifton Jones (November 21, 1882 – July 13, 1975),^[1] was the founder and long-time president of Piney Woods Country Life School in Rankin County, Mississippi.^[2] A noted educational innovator, Jones spent his adult life supporting the educational advancement of rural African-American students in the segregated South.