Category: Black Excellence

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

John Berry Meachum (1789–1854) was an American pastor, businessman, educator and founder of the First African Baptist Church in St. Louis, the oldest black church west of the Mississippi River. At a time when it was illegal in the city to teach people of color to read and write, Meachum operated a school in the church’s basement. Meachum also circumvented a Missouri state law banning education for black people by creating the Floating Freedom School on a steamboat on the Mississippi River.

As a young man, he guided 75 enslaved people from Kentucky to their freedom in Indiana, a free state. Once established in Missouri, he and his wife Mary Meachum were conductors on the Underground Railroad.

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

Allison Russell is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and activist.

Prior to her solo music career, Russell performed as a member of various music groups including Po’ Girl,^[1] Birds of Chicago,^[2] Our Native Daughters^[3] and Sisters of the Strawberry Moon.^[4]

https://www.raeghn.com/about-me

I am a writer, community organizer, and hospitality worker based in Chicago. I am the oldest of eight siblings born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up in a low-income household. My younger siblings are foundational to who I am and my values. Despite facing many challenges, I graduated college with a BA in Communications and Media from Northeastern Illinois University, paying my way.

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/21/1233022530/hydeia-broadbent-hiv-aids-activist-dies-age-39?ft=nprml&f=191676894

Hydeia Broadbent, known for raising awareness to lessen the stigma around HIV/AIDS from a young age, has died at 39 years old. She was one of the faces of children with AIDS in America, especially within the African American community.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daym%C3%A9_Arocena

Daymé Arocena (born January 1992) is an Afro-Cubanjazz singer from Havana,^[1][2][3] who has been described as Cuba‘s “finest young female singer.”^[4]

She will perform at Mass MoCA on March 9, 2024!

https://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2024/02/15/1231822525/black-futures-nailah-hunter-forges-her-own-dark-fantasy-on-lovegaze

Los Angeles-based harpist and composer,Nailah Hunter forges her own dark fantasy on ‘Lovegaze’

https://www.witf.org/2022/11/10/nprs-newscaster-korva-coleman-shares-her-story-and-the-inner-workings-of-npr/

Korva Coleman, award winning newscaster for NPR, from Phoenix, Arizona is known for writing, producing, and delivering daily national newscasts airing during NPR’s news magazines, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.

https://www.exemplars.health/stories/how-south-sudan-is-ending-guinea-worm-disease

National Director of South Sudan’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program

https://www.gatesnotes.com/Heroes-in-the-Field-Makoy-Samuel-Yibi

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

Nina Mae McKinney (June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967) was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood.