By Wiley Henry EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first installment of a two-part series about adults with special needs. MEMPHIS, TN – Former Memphian Brian Armour Jr. danced for more than 20 minutes at Studio Route 29 in Frenchtown, N.J. He whirled in a black cape, and his moves – smooth, fluid, robotic, theatrical, mimetic – drew applauses. The music was refreshing and original, courtesy of Hop Peternell, an artist and the studio’s co-director. Armour lip-synched the lyrics to three pre-recorded songs that he wrote with audio assistance from Peternell. Studio Route 29, a 501c3 non-profit organization, is a progressive…
Author: Wiley Henry
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — He wasn’t expected to live. But then Christen Dukes beat the odds –– a preemie weighing a mere 2 lbs. and 5 oz. But he couldn’t beat the agony of sickle cell disease and cerebral palsy. He questioned God: “Why me? Why was I born with sickle cell and cerebral palsy? Why do I have to deal with this?” Then it dawned on Dukes that there is more to his life than grappling with his twofold malady. An accomplished trombonist, he would rather make music and help others with debilitating diseases. On Sept. 15,…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — It’s official! The Memphis VA Medical Center (VAMC) has been renamed the Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr. VA Medical Center. The dedication ceremony was July 24. This is the first name change for the VAMC since it was established in 1922. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-09) introduced a bill in the 117 Congress on Feb. 28, 2022, to add Weathers’ name to the medical center. H.R. 6863 passed both chambers of Congress in 2022 – the House on Nov. 14 and the Senate on Dec. 6. President Biden signed Public Law 117-236 on Dec.…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — Before the wanning of Negro League Baseball, Black players with amazing athleticism excelled on the diamond with “speed, strength, quickness, and agility.” “[So] why is 75 percent of Blacks playing basketball, 65 percent-plus Blacks playing football, and only 8 percent of Blacks playing baseball?” Reginald R. Howard, an infielder for the Indianapolis Clowns in the 1950s, asked. The league folded at the end of 1950. Howard calls this period and after “Baseball’s Silent Genocide,” the title of his new book, which GrantHouse Publishers in Memphis released in June. The book’s subtitle – “How They…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — When Kimberly Horton met Jerome Fulton at the 2022 King Biscuit Festival in Helena, Ark., in October, she was bowled over by the depth and intensity of his artwork. She had to tell Andrew Ross, director of the Blues Hall of Fame Museum in Downtown Memphis, which “exposes, educates, and entertains visitors with all that is blues culture.” “I got the two of them together so he could curate an exhibit at our museum,” said Horton, president/CEO of The Blues Foundation, which has operated the museum since it opened in 2015. “When she came…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — A small town in Mississippi felt eerie to Stanley Campbell Sr. in March when he was scouting for a spot to film a character that he’d created to pay tribute to the “foot soldiers” of the civil rights movement. He described the area as wooded with trees hovering over him. He’d mistakenly turned down a beaten path and noticed that pieces of clothing were strewn where he’d ventured a quarter mile on foot. “I’d turned down the wrong road,” Campbell said. He was looking for an ideal location to shoot video of himself as…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — The $5.6 billion dollar Ford Motor Company’s BlueOval City project is being built on farmland in Haywood County, TN approximately 70 miles from Memphis. While the plant is a boon for Haywood County, Thomas Burrell believes it is an opportunity for Black farmers and landowners in the area to create generational wealth by incorporating and developing the land around BlueOval City. Burrell is a farmer from Covington, Tenn., and president of the Memphis-based 20,000-member Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA), a nonprofit organization. In 1991, Burrell protested the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN – Juneteenth is alive and well in Memphis all monthlong and culminates June 17-18 in the 30th annual Memphis Juneteenth Festival from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day at Health Sciences Park, 26 South Dunlap in the Medical District. “We have been at the forefront in Memphis for 30 years in terms of celebrating Juneteenth,” said Dr. Telisa Franklin, the festival’s president. “Now that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, we’re excited that everybody gets a chance to celebrate.” The celebration began June 1 with the Juneteenth Family Empowerment Fair at Ed Rice Community Center…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN – Black people don’t commit suicide. At least that was the consensus in the Black community, according to the Rev. Dianne M. Young, pastor of The Healing Center Full Gospel Baptist Church. Young and her late husband, Bishop William M. Young Sr., were confronted with this fallacy in 2002 when a distressed church member took her life on the grounds of the church. Her suicide devastated the Youngs. “We were already counseling and working with people,” she said, when the unthinkable happened. In 2003, they founded the “National Suicide and the Black Church Conference.” This…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — Dr. Raymond Winbush is quite candid and matter of fact when he talks about the plight of African Americans, the horrors of the slave trade in America, and the case for reparations. He’ll seize the opportunity to expound on those topics and others when he keynotes the 30th Anniversary Juneteenth Freedom Luncheon on June 15, 11:30 a.m., at the Holiday Inn University of Memphis, 3700 Central Ave. A reputed scholar, activist, research professor and director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University (MSU) in Baltimore, Md., Dr. Winbush’s visit is being…