Tag: Black Excellence

This season, Florida gymnastics clinched its 13th SEC Championship, and its first since 2023. Undoubtedly, the Gators have been a team to be reckoned with, going 20-2 and 6-2 in the SEC. But they had a not-so-secret weapon.

Senior Selena Harris-Miranda, a UCLA transfer, came to Florida before her junior year. Though she was already a decorated gymnast, no one could have expected what awaited her as a Gator. 

Harris-Miranda is an 18-time All-American, scoring 10.0s on vault, bars and beam. She leads the Gators with 14 event titles. 

She earned the nation-leading all-around score with a 39.85 total against No. 2 Louisiana State March 8. With that, she also earned national gymnast of the week honors and her fifth SEC gymnast of the week honor in her career.

https://www.tedmed.com/person/wanda-irving

Wanda Irving is a dedicated advocate for health equity, driven by the tragic loss of her daughter, Dr. Shalon Irving. Her mission is to create a healthcare system that includes and supports everyone, regardless of their background. For nearly three decades, Wanda worked in various sectors, including federal and local government, as well as in nonprofit and faith-based organizations. In these roles, she focused on developing effective leadership and building community engagement to solve complex social problems.

https://www.charleslangfordmusic.com

Charles Langford has been writing music since his teenage years. This Springfield, Massachusetts jazz man does it all…tenor, alto, soprano sax, clarinet and flute. Mr. Langford came to the Northeast United States after attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the New School for Social Research in New York City. He studied composition and teaching with Billy Harper, Donald Byrd, and Barry Harris, among others. Prior to that, Mr. Langford studied with Archie Shepp and Yusef Latef. Since then, Charles Langford has become one of the Boston area’s top A-list players, with artists ranging from The Toni Lynn Washington Blues Band to The Temptations and Mighty Sam McClain. He’s paid his dues and put in years with Melvin Sparks, Norman Connors, Solomon Burke, and Steve Turre.

The Jo Sallins Experience

The Jo Sallins Experience: A Soul-Funk-Jazz Odyssey Igniting Legends and Originals

The Jo Sallins Experience will deliver a high-energy set featuring one original composition, followed by dynamic renditions from the songbooks of Nina Simone, Erykah Badu, Hubert Laws, Marcus Miller, and Bill Withers.

Leading the ensemble is multi-instrumentalist Jo Sallins, whose 50+ year career spans international touring with the Blues Brothers’ Matt “Guitar” Murphy, collaborations with artists like Stanley Jordan and Marvin “Smitty” Smith, and innovative music education programs through La’ Jaz Productions.

https://www.binnews.com/content/2026-04-22-black-high-school-teacher-named-2026-national-teacher-of-the-year

A Black high school history teacher in Pennsylvania was named the 2026 National Teacher of the Year.

Leon Smith, 46, who has taught Advanced Placement classes in U.S. history and African American Studies at Haverford High School for 25 years, was awarded the distinction by the Council of Chief State School Officers on Tuesday (April 21), according to The Associated Press. 

Smith described himself as a “warm demander” who sets high expectations for his students while also surrounding them with love and support in an interview shared by the AP on Monday (April 20). “An adult can tell you that they see something in you that maybe you didn’t see in yourself,” he said. “I love to do that for students. When I see ambition, when I see talent, I let them know that so that they can hopefully pursue that goal and achieve their dreams.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Louise_Lucas

Lillie Louise Lucas (née Boone; born January 22, 1944) is an American politician serving as a Virginia state senator, representing the 18th District in the southeast region of the state since 1992.^[1] Democrats won a majority of seats in the 2019 Virginia Senate election, so Lucas succeeded Republican Stephen Newman as the Virginia Senate’s president pro tempore. She is the first woman and first African American to hold that office.^[2][3] She also chairs the Committee on Finance and Appropriations, the first African American in that role.^[4]

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

Thebetsile “Thebe” Magugu^[1] (born 1 September 1993)^[2] is a South African fashion designer. Born in Kimberley and based in Johannesburg, he rose to prominence as the winner of the 2019 LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize, and a finalist in the 2021 International Woolmark Prize. Magugu has released eleven solo collections under his own namesake label since 2017, as well as several capsules in collaboration with international brands such as Dior, Adidas, and AZ Factory.

https://www.massambadiop.com/bio

Perhaps best known for his collaboration on Marvel’s groundbreaking Black Panther soundtrack, where his drumming served as the heartbeat of King Tchalla’s theme music, Massamba’s influence extends far beyond the silver screen. His rhythmic prowess has graced stages across the world, from joining Mumford and Sons on their 2016 tour to making appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Notably, Massamba’s involvement in Playing For Change’s album “Listen to the Music” further solidified his reputation as a musical force to be reckoned with.

But Massamba’s musical journey began long before his Hollywood acclaim. As the lead percussionist and founding member of Daande Lenol (The Voice of the People), the band of Senegalese superstar Baaba Maal, Massamba has been at the forefront of West African music for decades. Their collaborations have taken them to all corners of the globe, sharing stages with renowned musical figures and releasing numerous albums, including the Grammy-nominated “Firin’ in Fouta.”

https://petermutabazi.com/about

As a child, I ran away from an abusive home and was helped by the kindness of strangers. As an adult, I found myself in a position to be able to help foster children, so I began taking children into my home years ago to give back what was so freely given to me.

It’s my mission to give back as much as I can to the vulnerable among us. That’s what drives Now I Am Known: to bring a message of hope to the hopeless—the same message I needed so badly to hear as a child.

Peter Mutabazi is an author, single dad, and viral foster parent known online as @fosterdadflipper. He is the founder of Now I Am Known, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting vulnerable children. For more than twenty-five years, Peter has worked with global charities to improve the lives of children in need. As a foster parent, he has welcomed more than forty children into his home. He and his family live in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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

Terrace Jamahl Martin (born December 28, 1978) is an American musician, rapper, singer, and record producer. He is perhaps best known for producing records for several prominent artists in the music industry, including Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, the Game, Busta Rhymes, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Wilson, Raphael Saadiq and YG, among others. Martin is a multi-instrumentalist whose music production embodies funk, jazz, classical and soul. Martin released his sixth studio album, Velvet Portraits, on his label, Sounds of Crenshaw Records, through Ropeadope Records.^[1]

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/16/g-s1-117685/terrace-martin-love-is-louder-than-the-algorithm-interview

We’ve had the legend of Robert Johnson wrong this whole time. The deal he made at the crossroads wasn’t with some mythical devil at all. The truth is he sold his songs — i.e. his soul — to a predatory music industry. A devil that would outlive him by four score and eight years. A hellhound that would generate billions off the blues he suffered and sold for decimals on the dollar.

None of that had truly occurred to me until my Zoom call ended with producer and multi-instrumentalist Terrace Martin, the cat who hatched a 21st-century jazz revival, spearheaded by he and his West Coast Get Down superfriends, before injecting it pure-and-uncut into rap’s main artery. His co-conspirators cover every corner of Black music: Snoop, Lalah, Quik, Glasper, YG, SZA, Thundercat, Kendrick, Kamasi, Stevie (yes, Wonder), Herbie (yesss, Hancock). And those are just the household names.