Category: Black Excellence

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/10/nx-s1-5796264/cape-verde-tiny-nation-massive-world-cup-dream

PRAIA—Cape Verde may be small, but its soccer World Cup dream is huge. With just over half a million people, it’s one of the tiniest countries ever to qualify for the tournament.

From the volcanic islands of the Atlantic, the team—known as the Blue Sharks—are chasing history. This summer, they’ll play in the World Cup for the first time ever—one of the smallest nations by population to make it.

The island nation off the coast of West Africa isn’t just showing up at this summer’s World Cup—it’s competing with ambition far bigger than its geography suggests.

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

Gregory Stephen Tate (October 14, 1957 – December 7, 2021) was an American writer, musician, and producer. A long-time critic for The Village Voice, Tate focused particularly on African-American music and culture, helping to establish hip-hop as a genre worthy of music criticism. Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America (1992) collected 40 of his works for the Voice and he published a sequel, Flyboy 2, in 2016. A musician himself, he was a founding member of the Black Rock Coalition and the leader of Burnt Sugar.^[1]

In 2024, Tate was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize, a Special Citation award.^[2]

https://nursingcecentral.com/louisiana-hbcu-black-male-nurses

The historically Black university and college that received a $339,000 grant from the American Nurses Foundation is making history. 

Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, recently announced its largest cohort of Black male nurses.

Nationwide — Last year, Southern University’s School of Nursing, an HBCU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, made history with its largest ever group of African American male nursing students. They have also secured a $339,000 grant to support diversity in healthcare research and education.

According to WBRZ, the historic class includes 33 Black male students—the biggest cohort the school has seen. Nursing student James Rodgers called it a “legendary” moment, stressing how important male diversity is in the healthcare field.

https://www.holcimfoundation.org/experts/mphethi-morojele

Mphethi Morojele founded MMA Design Studio as MMA Architects in 1995 soon after the end of Apartheid. Since then, the practice has completed several award-winning projects including South Africa’s embassies in Germany (2003) and Ethiopia (2009), and the Freedom Park project in Pretoria (2010).

Kunlé Adeyemi is an architect, designer and development researcher whose works are internationally recognised for originality and innovation. He is the founder and principal of NLÉ – an architecture, design and urbanism practice founded in 2010, for innovating cities and communities. Adeyemi’s notable works include ‘Makoko Floating School’, a groundbreaking, prototype floating structure once located in the lagoon heart of Lagos, Nigeria. Makoko Floating School has since evolved into ‘Makoko Floating System (MFSTM)’ – a simple, prefabricated, building solution for developments on water – now deployed in 5 countries across 3 continents. This acclaimed project is part of NLÉ’s extensive body of work – the ‘African Water Cities’ – which explores the intersections of rapid urbanisation and climate change. In 2016 NLÉ was awarded the Silver Lion Prize for its second iteration of Makoko Floating School (MFS II – Waterfront Atlas) at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Other NLÉ projects include A Prelude to The Shed in New York, USA, the Black Rhino Academy in Karatu, Tanzania and the Serpentine Summer House at the Royal Kensington Gardens in London, UK.

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

Betty Shabazz (born Betty Dean Sanders;^[2] May 28, 1935^[a] – June 23, 1997), also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate who was married to Malcolm X.

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/08/g-s1-118144/kestheband-tiny-desk-concert

The island has come to Tiny Desk. “Representing for soca music, happy music, love music,” leader Kees “Kes” Dieffenthaller tells us, KestheBand opens with “Hello,” a warm, Caribbean welcome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kes_(band)

Kes (commonly known as Kes the Band or KTB) is a Trinidadian soca group formed in 2005, known for their eclectic mix of R&B, Pop, Rock, Soca, EDM and reggae. The band originally comprised brothers Kees Dieffenthaller on lead vocals, drummer Hans Dieffenthaller, rhythm guitarist Jon Dieffenthaller along with friend Riad Boochoon on bass guitar.^[1][2] Hans was eventually replaced by Dean James with keyboardist Mario Callender and DJ Robbie Persaud appearing as supporting members. Since the band inception, they’ve been elevated to mainstream popularity locally and throughout the Caribbean diaspora.^[3][1]

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

Aariana Rose Philip (born March 15, 2001) is an Antiguan-American model and musician. In 2018, she became the first Black, transgender, and physically disabled model to ever be represented by a major modeling agency, and has since modeled in several major high fashion photo shoots and campaigns.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} In 2021, Philip debuted as an exclusive for Moschino‘s spring/summer 2022 fashion show – making her the first model using a wheelchair to walk for a major luxury fashion brand.^[7]

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

Asia Jackson (born May 25, 1994) is an American actress, YouTuber, and activist of African-American and Filipino descent.^[1] In 2016, she created the #MagandangMorenx (literally translated to “beautiful brown skin”) movement to combat colorism in Filipino communities worldwide.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/05/g-s1-119984/midwife-midwives-childbirth

Dawit Tamiru knew he wanted to be a midwife when he was just about 10 years old.

It started the day his mother gave birth to his younger sister. After the little girl arrived something wasn’t right: His mother had not delivered the placenta as typically happens after the birth. He recalls that the traditional birth attendant, who Tamiru says had minimal training, advised his mother that perhaps she was having twins and they should wait to see if another baby came.