By Andrew Gilbert In the early 1980s, pianist Dee Spencer’s astonishing and unanticipated encounter with Melba Liston introduced her to a jazz wonderland. A first-call trombonist best known as the arranger of choice for jazz giants such as Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Weston and Quincy Jones, Liston (1926–1999) had been embraced by the women’s movement for her pioneering work crashing through the brass ceiling. Her newfound visibility and the rise of women’s music events in the 1970s provided opportunities for Liston to lead her own bands, which is how Spencer ended up expressing her admiration to the trombonist and receiving an…
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Nashville, Tenn. (TN Tribune)-An East Nashville Magnet Middle School student’s class project on rent control led to meetings with state legislators this spring and intensified his interest in a career in politics and public service. D’Arriyon Carey, an eighth grader at East Middle, went to the Tennessee State Capitol on March 16 and met with State Rep. Vincent Dixie, who represents District 54 north of the Cumberland River, to advocate for rent control for tenants. It’s a subject D’Arriyon and several classmates had studied for an International Baccalaureate Community Project that all eighth-grade students must complete. Student with Rep. Justin…
Nashville, Tenn. (TN Tribune)-The history of Black people in this country has been far from pretty. My ancestors came to this land from ships and survived miles of travel and years of toil. It took over two centuries before they were treated as human beings and not as property. I can only imagine the joy that my ancestors felt on that day in 1865 when they were given the news of their emancipation. Today, June 19th, 2023, marks that day’s 158th anniversary. However, in the past 158 years, though slavery was outlawed, racial discrimination still ran rampant. When I was growing up,…
TN Tribune–The Right Reverend Richard Franklin Norris was the 116th consecrated bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Norris was the sixth of eleven siblings in Atlanta, Georgia to the Rev. David Norris and Mrs. Mabel E. Brown Norris. In his early years, Bishop Norris’ family moved to Philadelphia, where he was educated in the Public-School System. After graduating from West Philadelphia High School, Bishop Norris attended Morris Brown College and transferred to Rutgers University, where he received his B.A. Degree. Having received the call to ministry at age 15, he attended the New Brunswick Theological Seminary and the…
Nashville, Tenn. (TN Tribune)–MNPS and A.Z. Kelley Elementary School would like to extend a big thank you to Robert Starnes for his financial contribution, which is bringing two book vending machines to the school. Starnes made the donation on behalf of his late wife, attorney Dorothy Elizabeth Leach Starnes, who died in 2020. Mrs. Starnes was a nursing graduate of Meharry Medical College before attending law school at the University of Memphis. The Starneses, the proud parents of Andrea Crews, a longtime MNPS educator who is a student learning coach at A.Z. Kelley, have always been committed to education. With…
By Sally H. Jacobs Originally published by Washington Post Hundreds of years ago, two men named John boarded ships to America to seek opportunity. One worked onboard as a barber; one was an indentured servant. But when they landed in East Coast port cities hundreds of miles apart, their lives abruptly diverged. When John Greene, believed to be an ancestor of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, got off a schooner from Trinidad in Charleston, S.C., he was immediately enslaved and dispatched to a plantation, according to family lore. When John Howland, the 10th-great-grandfather of Jackson’s husband, Patrick Jackson, disembarked the…
NASHVILLE, TN —The R.H. Boyd Company, will hold its second annual Legacy Ball, benefiting the R.H. Boyd Family Endowment Fund, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Nashville on Saturday, June 17, 2023. As a culmination of the 2023 Vision Conference, the Legacy Ball honors community advocates and heroes and recognizes the R.H. Boyd Family Endowment Fund scholarship and grant recipients. The event celebrates achievement in areas of faith, civic engagement, literary works, and the arts. The black-tie event includes entertainment, gourmet cuisine, Endowment Fund and award presentations. It also gives supporters opportunities to engage with community partners and friends. The…
MCMINNVILLE, TN— Ascend Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in Middle Tennessee, broke ground Friday, June 9th, for its future branch location in McMinnville. Located off Highway 70 South and Bridge Builders Road, the newest branch is expected to open in the second quarter of 2024. When completed, the 3,500 square foot facility will mark an office relocation for Ascend from the current Three Star Mall branch to the future site. The new location will offer a broad range of services, including checking, savings and youth accounts, as well as money market and certificate of deposit accounts. Other products…
The Metro Human Relations Commission is asking Nashville to purchase the historic Morris Memorial Building to honor and share important Black history. By Mulitple Authors NASHVILLE, TN — The signatories and partner organizations listed below are endeavoring to realize two long-awaited dreams: the creation of a museum dedicated to Nashville’s African American and civil rights histories and the preservation of the historic Morris Memorial Building. Often referenced and celebrated as fundamental to Nashville’s development into a welcoming, world-class community, the local civil rights movement and the brave individuals who risked everything have not been adequately memorialized. The city must do more to…
DETROIT, MI — Ten HBCU students from around the country will gather in Detroit to start a 10-week immersive internship in marketing and communications, learning content creation and familiarizing themselves with the technological advancements that power the automotive industry. Fellows will work alongside National Newspaper Publication Association (NNPA) journalists and Chevrolet marketing teams while experiencing the all-new 2024 Chevrolet Trax on a group road trip to grow their professional skills, collaborate on innovative and challenging assignments, and document their journey on social media. This is the seventh year Chevrolet and the NNPA have hosted the Discover the Unexpected (DTU) internship…