By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — The Fisk Jubilee Singers just wrapped up their first Bluebird Café performance Feb. 22 and will travel to Carnegie Hall March 19 to perform on the main stage for the first time, representatives announced in a press release. Though the 16-member Jubilee Singers have performed at Carnegie Hall, this will be their first time performing in the main auditorium, said Dr. Paul T. Kwami, Fisk’s music director. The Jubilee Singers will perform their setlist in a combined ensemble including choral students from Harpeth Hall and Montgomery Bell Academy on the Stern Auditorium Perelman Stage.…
Author: Ashley Benkarski
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN— Dr. Ruth Ross Edmonds, DDS, MDS, is a woman of many talents. She maintains a busy, yet structured, life; in addition to her work she is a beekeeper, creates fused glass pieces, travels, cooks, plans events, attends church and yet still manages to stay fit. A philanthropist and “a woman of distinction and influence paving the way for others in the community,” the Gary, Indiana native began her educational journey at Vanderbilt University and Meharry Medical College, School of Dentistry where she eventually served as an assistant professor. She completed her graduate training in Orthodontics…
By Charles Ford For only the second time in 175 years a house that was divided by death, property disputes, and slavery issues is being reunited. The Tennessee Supreme Court case of Ford vs. Ford was settled in 1846 and was the last driving factor in splintering the Ford Family. Members of the Ford family have moved to various parts of the country. Many have stayed in the Tri-Cities area. On June 18, 2022, all members of the Ford family are coming together for their second massive reunion. It’s a reunion of all the descendants of the Ford families that…
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — The First Horizon Foundation last week announced a $120,000 donation to the Martha O’Bryan Center to support education programs helping local high school students prepare for college and graduate, the organization said. $20,000 will support an inaugural program awarding scholarships to college students in the program pursuing finance, business or technology and $100,000 will support the First Horizon Foundation Success Generation program which combines an in-school support program, called Academic Student Unions, at Stratford and Maplewood high schools. ASUs help at-risk students prepare for and successfully apply to college with mentors helping them stay in…
By Ashley Benkarski Memphis councilman JB Smiley, Jr. is well-known to voters in his community, but his goal is to extend that energy to the rest of Tennessee. Tennesseans are concerned about the same issues most Americans are concerned with: affordable, quality education, housing and healthcare, the health and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and inflation. But Smiley doesn’t want to let macro worries overshadow local ones; instead, he remarked, it’s important to show up in communities around the state and hear residents tell him their concerns. He pointed out that while the political divide is more intense these…
I’Ashea Myles, an attorney with Bone McAllester Law, LLC, is running for Chancellor of Davidson County’s Third District Chancery Court.
By Ashley Benkarski NASHVILLE, TN — Dr. Steven Lewis, himself a lifelong musician, is the founding curator of the National Museum of African American Music. He studied jazz sax at Florida State University and comparative studies in music at the University of Virginia before spending two years at the Smithsonian African American Museum. “Nobody has ever built a museum like this before,” he said. “It’s the first in the world to provide a thorough and comprehensive history of African American music.” NMAAM allows visitors to gain a deeper understanding of the impact African Americans have on music and American culture…
Tami isn’t just another country music-centric artist. A native Oklahoman, she moved in 1991 to take advantage of the opportunities Music City had to offer. “The content we were recording was very country music at that time in the ‘90s,” she said of her early career. “I loved it but didn’t feel deeply, innately it was me.” “Velvet and Steel” recalls the era of soul music that her father exposed her to, noting inspirations Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole among others. “I felt that I would sing soulful music because that’s who I am,” she said. Coming…
Tennesseans said goodbye for a final time to the late Sen. Thelma Harper as she was laid to rest at Greenwood Cemetery Thursday, May 6 following a Celebration of Life service at her alma mater, Tennessee State University. An estimated 400 people attended the service, said TSU public information officer Emmanuel Freeman. The service, followed by a Legacy Motorcade Route and her internment, capped off a week of events in memory of the transformative legislator who broke racial and gender barriers and was known not just for her love of big hats but also the underserved communities she worked hard to…
Dr. Maria Christine Witherspoon’s passion for caregiving and service has led her to many paths, and she will now travel to a residency at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida in family medicine. “Growing up, my parents always instilled the values in me and my sister to give back to the community and volunteer whenever possible,” Witherspoon said. Her family took in sick relatives in the home, allowing her to gain practical experience in caregiving early on and inspiring her to enter the field of medicine. As a teenager she prepared herself for medical school and went on…