Black Excellence: Donna Dear and Paulette Greene
https://www.theaunties.farm/the-aunties-film
Black Excellence: Black Women in Comedy Laff Fest
https://www.bwiclafffest.com/2025-laff-fest
The 6th Annual Black Women in Comedy Laff Fest takes place over a herlarious (5) five-days featuring 25+ #FunnyBlackWomen during the historic Black History and Women History months. Our #comedic voices matter. From Moms Mabley, LaWanda Page, Whoopi Goldberg, black women have always found the funny!
Black Excellence: Jakayla Armstrong
‘I made history’: Meet the First African-American female Eagle Scout in Alabama
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — In tonight’s What’s Working, a huge honor for a Murphy High School senior. Jakayla Armstrong of Troop 283 at Liberty Missionary Baptist Church has become the first African American female in the Mobile Area Council to achieve the Eagle Scout rank. This is the highest rank you can earn in the Boy Scouts of America. She is also the first African American female in the state of Alabama to achieve this honor.
Girls were allowed into the Boy Scouts back in 2019. Armstrong said she chuckled when Scoutmaster, and fellow choir member, Fred Young, suggested she join.
Black Excellence: Gale Livingstone, John Boyd Jr.
Black farmers among those left in limbo amid federal funding freeze
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. – On a recent snowy afternoon, Gale Livingstone, a first generation farmer, is working in the propagation greenhouse at Deep Roots Farm, which she owns and operates. Four volunteers are putting collard greens, bok choy, kale and scallion seeds in seed starting trays — just a few of the vegetables Livingstone is growing this spring.
“It’s a pretty tedious, lengthy process,” she says.
Trained as an accountant, Livingstone turned to farming about 15 years ago to grow her own food. She started with five-gallon buckets, pierced holes at the bottom and filled them with soil and seeds.
Black Excellence: Ray Billingsley
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/27/1082938670/cartoonist-ray-billingsley-profile
For decades, cartoonist Ray Billingsley has depicted Black family life in ‘Curtis’
Ray Billingsley’s story is one of great tenacity and passion. A veteran cartoonist and comic artist, Billingsley is best known as the creator of the strip Curtis.
Debuting in 1988, Curtis was one of the first nationally syndicated comic strips to feature a mostly Black cast. Today, the strip is widely read in print and digital platforms. However, as a young Black cartoonist, Billingsley struggled to get the chance to portray his people through his work.
Black Excellence: Danielle Green
From the Streets of Chicago to the Notre Dame Basketball Court to a Battleground in Iraq, Danielle Green’s Story is One of Determination and Inspiration
LeBron James was there. Peyton Manning was, too. So were Derek Jeter, Stephen Curry, and the reigning World Cup champion U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. But the real hero at the 2015 ESPYs was Army veteran and wounded warrior Danielle Green.
Black Excellence: Charles Burnett
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Burnett_(director)
Charles Burnett (/bɜːrˈnɛt/; born April 13, 1944) is an American film director, film producer, writer, editor, actor, photographer, and cinematographer. His most popular films include Killer of Sheep (1978), My Brother’s Wedding (1983), To Sleep with Anger (1990), The Glass Shield (1994), and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation (2007). He has been involved in other types of motion pictures including shorts, documentaries, and a TV series.
Black Excellence: Ernestine Shepherd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernestine_Shepherd
Ernestine Shepherd (born June 16, 1936) is an American bodybuilder who is best known for being, at one point, the oldest competitive female bodybuilder in the world, as declared by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2010 and 2011;[1] as of 2023, she is 88 years old and still an active, albeit no longer competitive, bodybuilder.[2]
Black Excellence: Bartees Strange
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartees_Strange
Bartees Strange, is an English-born American musician. Strange was born in Ipswich, England,[1] raised in Mustang, Oklahoma, and is now based in Washington D.C.[3]
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/18/g-s1-45838/bartees-strange-tiny-desk-concert
Density is built into the music of Bartees Strange — he packs his tracks with lyrical insight and sonic gestures that, upon closer listen, reveal interwoven layers of story and sound. But the dude’s also an incredibly thoughtful and powerful live performer. At the Tiny Desk, he’s got the range, with crunching rock riffs, spitting bars and bringing us to the brink of tears.