NASHVILLE, TN — Mrs. Violet May Nicholas, 66-year resident of Nashville, celebrated her 105th birthday with family and friends at home on Wednesday, January 6, 2017. Family and friends of Mrs. Nicholas from all over the United States joined in the joyous celebration. When she was 13 years old, she contracted typhoid fever and was given only 3 weeks to live. After several months however, she recovered, but was left almost completely deaf by the illness. She did eventually regain most of her hearing. (Over the past 2 – 3 decades, however, her hearing has deteriorated to the point that…
Author: Tribune Staff
NASHVILLE, TN — The Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship, sponsors of Nashville’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day March and Convocation, has engaged Britanny Packnett, 31, as its keynote speaker at the convocation in the Tennessee State University Gentry Center following the annual MLK, Jr. Day March. In the fall of 2016, Brittany Packnett was featured prominently in The New York Times’ reporting about Hillary Clinton’s continued inability to solidify black millennial voters. Packnett, 31, first came to national attention during the protests in Ferguson, MO, following the police shooting death of Michael Brown. She is one of the founding members of…
NASHVILLE, TN — Dr. Phyllis Qualls is the consummate professional. She is actively involved in the community and forever sharing her gifts and abilities for a cause greater than she that benefits all of humankind. Since she arrived in Nashville in 1991, as public relations director at Tennessee State University, she has made a significant positive impact from that time until now. She is highly regarded for her communications skills, scholarly expertise in perceptions and knowledge on women and minority issues and education. She strives for successful positive results in all that she does on her life’s journey. Whether promoting…
MEMPHIS, TN — Social justice advocacy has been such a natural part of Native Memphian Jocelyn Dan Wurzburg as she was honored by the Tennessee Human Rights Commission (THRC) at its 50th anniversary celebration in Nashville for her longtime advocacy in civil rights and women’s rights in 2013. The Commission created a special award, called the “Jocelyn Dan Wurzburg Civil Rights Legacy Award.” Wurzburg an attorney, was originally appointed to the THRC in 1971 by Gov. Winfield Dunn and was re-appointed in 2007 by Gov. Phil Bredesen. She authored the1978 legislation that became the Tennessee Human Rights Act. The act…
NASHVILLE, TN — Nicholas S. Zeppos became Vanderbilt’s eighth chancellor in 2008, after being interim chancellor the year before. But this past August the school did something under his leadership that not only took courage, but also came at significant fiscal cost. This move is the reason the Tennessee Tribune is naming him one of our two Persons of the Year in 2016. Vanderbilt officially removed the Confederate name from Memorial Hall. Though they had stopped referring to it by the Confederate Memorial Hall identity since 2002, the United Daughters of the Confederacy sued to prevent them from officially removing…
Without any pun intended, it’s a true fact to say that the new 2017 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is “hell on wheels” and that’s in a good way. It’s the latest in the new line of highly sought after Dodge Muscle Cars. All 2017 Challenger and Charger models feature the newest UConnect infotainment system, with higher levels of smartphone connectivity, faster load times and improves graphics, along with the Hellcat head on the dash, seat backs and rear spoil- er. This system supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto features. There are plenty of additional features such as a GPS, internet…
WASHINGTON, DC – Tennessee’s congressman from Memphis wants presidents elected by a majority of American voters, so he’s calling for change in the Constitution to eliminate the Electoral College. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen is well-positioned to start the process since he’s the ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, the subcommittee with jurisdiction over all proposed amendments to the Constitution. “For the second time in recent memory, and for the fifth time in our history, the national popular vote winner — including Tennesseans Al Gore and Andrew Jackson — will not become President of…
NASHVILLE, TN — State Rep. Brenda Gilmore, chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, is calling on Gov. Bill Haslam to diversify his cabinet. Human Services Department Commissioner Raquel Hatter is leaving her post in February, leaving Haslam’s cabinet of more than 20 people with only one commissioner who’s not white. None are African American. “The leadership of the cabinet should be diverse and reflect the broad range of all that Tennessee has to offer,” Rep. Gilmore said Thursday Jan. 5. “This is not only about diversity. It is also about making sure that the very best and…
WASHINGTON – President-elect Trump should take immediate steps to eliminate his foreign financial conflicts of interest, according to a U.S. House resolution co-sponsored by Nashville’s congressman. “The Constitution requires all U.S. presidents to be free from foreign influence and control,” U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville said Thursday, Jan. 5. “No president is above the law.” Donald Trump has an unprecedented number of foreign conflicts of interest, given his business ventures around the world and his assertion that the Emoluments Clause does not apply to him. The Constitution states otherwise in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8: “no Person holding…
MEMPHIS, TN — Madeleine Taylor, retired after 26 years with the NAACP including six years as director. Taylor retired in December 2016. Taylor has been integral to the work of the civil rights organization that has been an essential part of the city’s history before, during and after the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. She had the opportunity to serve the community in a number of different venues whether voter empowerment, employment, criminal justice, health care, education or youth work. She said “This journey has been truly invaluable and I hope that I have been able to…