By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — Marie V. Pizano is still feeling a little euphoric after learning that an amendment to a law mandating a parenting class for divorcing couples had recently passed in the Tennessee House of Representatives. “I started crying,” said Pizano, an author, film producer, businesswoman and community activist, after receiving the good news via text. Pizano had spent the better part of this year drumming up support for what resulted in a bipartisan effort to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 36, Chapter 6. HB 2588 passed 95-0. On the other side, SB 2032 passed 30-0. “It’s…
Author: Wiley Henry
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — On Sunday, June 7, a small crowd gathered at the corner of Curry Drive and Hyde Park Street in the Hyde Park community – not to protest man’s inhumanity to man, but to honor a man for his humanity. This was a special day for Mr. Joseph H. Ivy, his 90th birthday, one that was replete with fanfare and a fleet of limousines and funeral cars from more than 40 funeral homes in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. Funeral directors and morticians came together to pay tribute to one of their own, a man with…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN – After shutting the doors to visitors in mid-March due to COVID-19, the staff at Graceland Rehabilitation and Nursing Center exceeded their goal for residents to see their loved ones. More than 50 automobiles at one time stretched four city blocks in the Whitehaven community on May 30 between 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. The parade snaked in and out of Graceland’s parking lot in a show of love and appreciation. The staff positioned most residents under tents to shade them from the mid-day temperature as horns blared ceremoniously. Some residents waved approval as the…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — The coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, has spread rapidly throughout every nook and cranny around the world. It has disrupted life as we knew it and, in Memphis, the rite of passage for high school graduates. Eighteen-year-old Brienna Cooper finished her senior year at Southwind High School with a 3.8 GPA. But she was quite upset when the senior class was informed that all senior activities had ceased rather than risk the spread of COVID-19. “The only thing we got a chance to do was have our senior breakfast, and after that, it was nothing,”…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — Kalen Johnson is 12 years old and has the gumption to believe he will become a millionaire by the time he reaches the ripe age of 16. Could it be that this preteen prognosticator knows something that we don’t know? He’s already begun working to make real his audacious prediction. In September 2018, he grossed more than $1,200 in a single day selling exquisite wire and beaded jewelry at the Cooper-Young Festival in Midtown Memphis. “I believe in myself. And my mother, granny, brother and sister believe in me too,” said Kalen, who is…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN – In the fall of 1959, eight African-American students broke the color barrier and integrated the former Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis). Known as the “Memphis State Eight,” four of the eight are now deceased. John Arthur Simpson is the latest member to die, on Feb. 8. Two others also died, ironically, in February, Black History Month: Eleanor Gandy, 76, who died Feb. 6, 2017, in Charlotte, N. C.; and Rose Blakney-Love, 75, who died Feb. 12, 2017, in Memphis. Sammie Burnette Johnson, 71, died on Dr. Martin Luther King…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — One of the last writing projects that Emogene Watkins-Wilson was working on was a biography of her late husband, L. Alex Wilson, the venerable editor and general manager of the Tri-State Defender during the 1950s. L. Alex Wilson rose to national prominence after cameras caught a white mob savagely beating him while he was reporting on the Little Rock Nine’s integration of Little Rock Central High School on Sept. 23, 1957. Mrs. Wilson herself was a trailblazing journalist working on a career of her own during that turbulent period in the nation’s history and…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — If you listen to “Free From Me” on the EP “Black Diamond,” you’ll learn a lot about Mariah Michelle Stokes. She is a young, rising soloist striking a familiar chord that young women like her would understand. “I’m very emotional and vulnerable,” said Stokes, 22, who uses “Mariah Michelle” as her stage name. “I wrote that song when I was depressed during a very dark time in my life.” What resulted from that somber experience was Mariah Michelle’s heartfelt testimony that she set to music. “I went through some things in life and…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — The holiday season is not always jolly for families struggling to make ends meet. Many of them wouldn’t mind a helping hand. Abba’s Helping Hands, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit founded in Memphis in 2007, is doing just that – helping families and individuals in need. On Dec. 19, more than 40 kids from the inner city were recipients of Abba’s Helping Hands at its sponsored toy drive at Bickford Community Center, where a roomful of toys and other playthings awaited the kids for pickup. “We bless people with furniture, food, clothing, for…
By Wiley Henry MEMPHIS, TN — They were the “children” of Andrew Charles “Moohah” Williams Jr., the trailblazing announcer at WDIA 1070 who used his influence to shape the lives young people. A bevy of them, known as the Teen Town Singers, are now in their 70s and 80s and ambling along. There were hundreds of them altogether. On Dec. 7, at least 30 paid respect and celebrated the birthday of their founding father. He would have been 103 years old. Joan Patterson, Williams’ daughter, started the conversation by asking her fellow Teen Town Singers to give a testimony if…