Tag: Black Excellence

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

Robin Rue Simmons (born March 12, 1976) is an American former politician and national leader for local reparations for African Americans.

https://beatty.house.gov/about/about-rep-joyce-beatty

Congresswoman Joyce Beatty is a native Ohioan with a strong history of connecting people, policy, and politics to make a difference. Since 2013, Beatty has proudly represented Ohio’s Third Congressional District. In the 117th Congress, Beatty served as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

In the 119th Congress, Beatty serves on the exclusive House Committee on Financial Services as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions and as a member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions.  The Financial Services Committee oversees the entire financial services industry, including the nation’s banking, securities, insurance, and housing industries, as well as the work of the Federal Reserve, the United States Department of the Treasury, and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition to her subcommittee work, Beatty is the Co-Chair of the bipartisan Financial Literacy and Wealth Creation Caucus and Founding Co-Chair of the Congressional Civility and Respect Caucus.

https://www.npr.org/2026/09/13/nx-s1-5966885/birth-black-and-indigenous-maternal-health

Actor and singer Tatyana Ali has become an important voice in a growing movement to improve maternity health outcomes for Black and Indigenous mothers and babies by addressing systemic racism and inequity in maternity care. Ali has been calling for reproductive justice since experiencing what she calls “obstetric violence” during the delivery of her first-born son Aszi in 2016.

https://jbhe.com/2024/10/seven-black-scholars-receive-faculty-appointments-at-colleges-and-universities

Dwight Williams has been named to the Kurt D. Kaufman Endowed Chair in Chemistry and Biochemistry at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. He has been a faculty member with the college since 2015, and previously held a two-year appointment as the Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry. As a scholar, his research interests include synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and pharmacology.

Kalamazoo College has appointed six faculty members as endowed chairs, recognizing their achievements as professors. Endowed chairs are positions funded through the annual earnings from an endowed gift or gifts to the College. The honor reflects the value donors attribute to the excellent teaching and mentorship that occurs at K and how much donors want to see that excellence continue.

Espelencia Baptiste, Anthropology-Sociology

Baptiste is currently on sabbatical in Benin where she is working on a book project focused on different ways Africans and Haitians claim each other across time and space. Her research focus centers on the relationship between Africa and its diasporas. She has been active and engaged within the College since her arrival; most recently, she received the College’s Outstanding Advisor Award in 2023 and served as Posse mentor from 2019-2022.

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

Mars Storm Rucker (born January 9, 1997) is an American actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, writer, collaborative artist, musician, filmmaker and curator. They are best known for being the first out nonbinary and genderqueer person on Broadway.^[1] They made their Broadway debut in 2019 as Alline Bullock, Tina Turner‘s sister in the musical Tina, nominated for 12 Tony Awards.^[2] The role also made them the first out non-binary person to originate a role on Broadway.

https://www.jaamil.com/about

jaamil olawale kosoko is a multi-spirited Nigerian American author, performance artist, educator, and curator of Yoruba and Natchez descent, originally from Detroit, MI. Their conceptual and emergent practice fluidly moves across live performance, video, sculpture, and poetry integrating ritual, spiritual inquiry, and embodied poetics. Through Black critical studies and queer theories of the body, kosoko conjures radical strategies for freedom, healing, and care, offering an expansive vision of artistic and social transformation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Rain

Taja Cheek, known professionally as L’Rain, is an American experimentalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and curator known primarily as the lead vocalist and songwriter of her eponymous band.^[1][2] L’Rain has been recognized for experimental music that draws on a vast number of traditions and genres^[3][4] in a practice and aesthetic Cheek calls “approaching songness”.^[1]

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/20/nx-s1-5931854/lrain-fata-morgana-review

An art-rock illusionist rewrites pop in her own image

Taja Cheek’s psychedelic project L’Rain has always been tagged as experimental. On ‘fata morgana,’ she asks what separates music like hers from the mainstream

https://www.thespruceeats.com/tamara-melton-5199875

Tamara Melton, MS, RDN, LD is a registered dietitian and educator with over 15 year’s experience in nutrition communications and program development. Tamara owns TSM Nutrition Consultants, where she works with organizations to create evidence-based nutrition and health education content for consumers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Katch%C3%A9

Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusion style.