Black Excellence: Aya Nakamura
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aya_Nakamura
Aya Danioko (born 10 May 1995), known professionally as Aya Nakamura, is a French-Malian singer-songwriter.
Aya Nakamura Proves Why She’s France’s Biggest Star at the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony
Her standout performance comes after months of speculation and controversy over her Olympic appearance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJkg6z7eoRs
Black Excellence: The Wiz Tiny Desk Concert
https://www.npr.org/2024/07/11/g-s1-9486/the-wiz-tiny-desk-concert
One afternoon the Tiny Desk traveled to Emerald City. Or rather, we got to meet the cast of the newest Broadway revival of The Wiz. Debuting in Baltimore, Md., in 1974, the musical unapologetically centered Black culture in its reenvisioning of The Wizard Of Oz and helped usher in a new era of Black theatrical storytelling.
Black Excellence: Will Hammond Jr.
Don’t think heat pumps are sexy? This slow jam could change your mind
Black Excellence: Brooke Williams
https://www.brownstonecowboysmagazine.com/bsc-10/brooke-williams
Who: Brooke Williams
What: Activist/writer/founding member Resistance Revival Chorus and also Editor at Large for Brownstone Cowboy (!!)
Where: @thisisauthentic
We thought you’d also like to know that Brooke lives is Brooklyn, NY with her husband and daughter, was a National Organizer for the 2017 Women’s March, and co-wrote and sang with Beastie Boys on Hello Nasty. You can check out Brooke’s BSC Conversation with cultural organizer Sarah Sophie Flicker, and listen to them both singing with theResistance Revival Chorus on their album This Joy.
Black Excellence: Rita Crockett
https://www.volleyhall.org/rita-crockett.html
Considered as one of the best all-round volleyball players ever in the world, Rita Crockett has been a trailblazer in the sport of volleyball for parts of five decades and continues to be active in the sport today.
Black Excellence: Bernice Johnson Reagon
https://www.npr.org/2024/07/17/1213897036/bernice-johnson-reagon-sweet-honey-in-the-rock-obituary
Bernice Johnson Reagon, a civil rights activist who co-founded The Freedom Singers and later started the African American vocal ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, died Tuesday at the age of 81.
Black Excellence: Royal Ramey
https://www.npr.org/2024/07/18/nx-s1-5042174/wildfire-california-firefighters-prison-program
“I didn’t really know, like, you know, what a wildland firefighter was. But once I got there, as time went on, I actually embraced it and I fell in love with it. It’s definitely a dangerous job, right? But that kind of thing kind of, you know, thrilled me,” says Royal Ramey, the co-founder and CEO of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, a nonprofit based in California that helps formerly incarcerated firefighters find employment.
Black Excellence: Eric Ian Farmer
Born in State College, Pennsylvania and raised in North Carolina, Eric Ian Farmer has returned to his birthplace sharing his songs about relationships, social awareness, and finding one’s path in life while keeping alive classics by artists like Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, and Bob Marley. Eric learned how to become one with a song from Bonnie Carter and David Williams, singers in the church of his childhood just across the North Carolina state line in Danville, Virginia. Eric also draws inspiration as a singer from popular artists like Bobby McFerrin, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye. And his guitar playing is inspired by the percussive stylings of rock legend Bo Diddley.
Black Excellence: Peter Nyongesa
https://www.npr.org/2024/07/15/nx-s1-5039826/kenya-mangroves-hidden-beehives-combat-logging
To protect mangroves, some Kenyans combat logging with hidden beehives