Black Excellence: Jelani Cobb

https://journalism.columbia.edu/faculty/jelani-cobb

Jelani Cobb joined the Journalism School faculty in 2016 and became Dean in 2022. He has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2015. He received a Peabody Award for his 2020 PBS Frontline film Whose Vote Counts? and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary in 2018. He has also been a political analyst for MSNBC since 2019.

Black Excellence: Gus and Emma Thompson

https://kevinashley.substack.com/p/gus-and-emma-thompson-1886-1958

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/black-chinese-family-coronado-california-rcna140717

Black couple rented to a Chinese American family when nobody would. Now, they’re donating $5M to Black community. 

The Dongs are selling the home their family rented and eventually bought from Gus Thompson, a former slave, and his wife, Emma. The Dongs will donate the proceeds to Black students.

Black Excellence: Rissi Palmer

https://rissipalmermusic.com/bio

Rissi Palmer’s gift lies in reaching across all musical boundaries. While she made her mark in Country Music, she is equally at home in R&B music, bringing the entire spectrum of popular music to bear on music she calls “Southern Soul.”