Tag: Black Excellence

A banjoist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and vocalist, Hannah shares original and traditional banjo compositions as well as harmonies through acoustic live vocal looping and reminds us of the power found in our relationship to the earth, music and community.

They co-founded and creatively direct the Black Banjo Reclamation Project which is currently creating musical, cultural and land-based opportunities for Black, Afro-Diasporic communities around the world to work with the banjo as a tool for reclaiming ancestral wisdom & creating Afro-futures. 

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/14/nx-s1-5464700/the-jailhouse-lawyer-calvin-duncan

Wrongly convicted, he became ‘The Jailhouse Lawyer’ — and helped free himself

Calvin Duncan was 19 in 1982 when the police arrested him for a murder-robbery in New Orleans. The eyewitness testimony at his trial was unreliable, but Duncan’s lawyer offered only a minimal defense, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

While in prison, Duncan studied law, hoping to appeal his case. In the process he became a jailhouse lawyer — officially as part of the Inmate Counsel Substitute Program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaela_Rose_(athlete)

Michaela Rose (born 13 June 2003) is an American track and field athlete.^[1] Rose set a US collegiate indoor track record in 2024 over 600 yards.

https://www.chocolateforbasil.com/aboutus

Jerrelle is an award-winning author and celebrated food photographer with a passion for cooking, baking and storytelling. She received her Bachelors from the Rhode Island School of Design and her Master’s in Gastronomy from Boston University. She merges her backgrounds to create work that explores the intersection of food, culture, and self-expression. Her debut cookbook, Black Girl Baking, a James Beard Award nominee, weaves heritage-inspired, alternative recipes with reflections on the therapeutic power of baking. Through her newsletter, The Dinner Ritual, and her upcoming second cookbook, she continues to challenge the notion that food is merely sustenance, inviting readers to view cooking as a deeply personal and restorative practice. Based in Dallas, Jerrelle collaborates on creative food projects while developing streamlined recipes for The New York Times. Her work emphasizes intuitive eating and cooking, creativity in the kitchen, and the role of cooking in self-care, healing, and confidence-building. 

https://cheesegrotto.com/blogs/journal/this-giving-tuesday-10-of-our-sales-go-to-cheese-culture-coalition?srsltid=AfmBOoptu95ZjC0SoED2mzpxbZtKltfEOydiC82mzNE3yOdjYKuuSeBv

Founder Whitney Roberts has spent years working in the cheese industry as a monger, maker, and educator. For years she’d seen the lack of diversity and wondered how she could make cheese more accessible to BIPOC individuals. In the summer of 2020, she founded the Cheese Culture Coalition with the goal of making careers in cheese, animal husbandry, and land stewardship more accessible to marginalized communities.

https://www.cheeseculturecoalition.org/our-team

https://www.ownyourfunk.com/about

Kyra (KEER-ah) James is a Professional Food Educator, Certified Cheese Professional (C.C.P.) and innovator in the American artisan food industry with 12+ years experience introducing consumers to the world of artisan cheese and specialty goods!

Her passion, or borderline obsession, for non stop food learnings began out of necessity when, in 2010 Kyra developed rare food sensitivities triggered by precious metal allergies! As she adapted to new dietary restrictions, and watched Food Network 24/7 , Kyra realized this was more than a lifestyle change! So she took savings from her consumer relations career, moved to her least favorite city, and received  a Master’s of Arts in Gastronomy. 

https://leapofdanceacademyng.com/#about

Daniel Ajala started dancing while in University where his passion for dance grew as he started to research and self train. After graduating university Ajala stayed in his home town to pursue teaching the local kids in his area regardless of cultural expectations to pursue a traditional career. “Dance is the thing that gives me the greatest joy, and it is my greatest pursuit in life, ballet is the core of my whole entire being”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Jefferson-Wooden

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (née Jefferson; born February 21, 2001) is an American track and field sprinter. She won the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 100 metres.^[2]

https://christianeuman.bandcamp.com/album/allemong

In the fall of 2014, Christian Euman left his hometown of Chicago and dove headfirst into an unknown future in Los Angeles. He was one of seven musicians selected to study at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, which involved a grueling combination of graduate courses and global performances. But in his spare time, Euman was eager to soak up whatever experiences this new city had to offer: making new friends, playing with new musicians, forming new Fantasy Football leagues, trying Korean BBQ, and even Korean Spas. He approached all these and more with a childlike sense of joy.

These Fathers Formed “Dads on Duty” to Prevent Violence at a Local High School

On Thursday, September 16, 2021, just weeks into the school year, two groups of boys brawled across the courtyard at Southwood High School in Shreveport, Louisiana. The following day, two groups of girls picked up where the boys had left off. In a mere two days, 23 students were in police custody. One student was charged with battery for allegedly hitting an assistant principal. Another was charged with threatening a resource officer and a staff member.

When a school administrator told her former classmate Craig Lee, a business owner and community activist, that gang tensions were rising, Lee wanted to do something. He contacted Michael La’Fitte, a fellow activist, who had an 11th-grade daughter at Southwood. That Sunday, the two held an emergency meeting with parents and the principal. By the end of the four-hour session, a group of the fathers in attendance had decided it was time to make their presence known on campus.

“We’re dads,” La’Fitte told CBS News. “The best people to take care of our kids are who? Us.”