Category: Ascending/Rising UP
10 Times Black Artists Forced Innovation to Find Its Soul
The Architecture of Innovation
Black music has never merely adapted to the future—it has constructed it.
When we celebrate Black Music Month, it is [...]
Black Music Month, Bay Leaves, and the Pages That Hold Our Stories
Some traditions are loud.
A choir lifting a song.
A drum carrying memory across generations.
A family reunion filled with laughter.
Other trad [...]
Survivor Affirmation: For Opal Lee, Who Walked Until the Nation Had to Remember
Some people wait for permission.
Opal Lee did something older, wiser, and stronger. She walked.
She walked with history in her bones a [...]
Black Classics Reading List Created by Chelsea Yvonne
In the spirit of Juneteenth, free your mind!Â
These Black literary classics are worth a read or re-read.Â
Gratitude to Chelsea Yv [...]
A Juneteenth Reflection for SurvivorAffirmations: Not a Bill. A Bridge.
Some of us grew up hearing about sacrifice in ways that hurt.
“I did everything for you.”
“After all I gave up.”
“You owe me.”
Tho [...]
10 Facts About Lift Every Voice and SING!
So my childhood was spent learning this song. We sang this and other songs like it for assemblies. I get out into the world and learn not only have ot [...]
Before You Yell “Cocaine,” Learn What 1980s Black Joy Looked Like
I get it. You see the far less expensive gas, housing prices, and food prices, and from 2026, that must look like heaven on earth. I get it. In the ea [...]
The Empty Nest is a Healing Space
The empty nest is not the end of motherhood.
It may be the beginning of a woman’s re-encounter with herself.
Not just a quiet house.
Not just “the [...]
Different Go-Go, Same Refusal to Disappear into Misery
I just discovered something beautiful.
There are two kinds of “GoGo.”
One was born in Washington, DC.
One comes from Tanzania.
And somehow [...]
The Lie of “Not Enough Trained People”: What Martin, Motown, and Black Representation Already Proved
There is an old lie that keeps getting dressed up as wisdom.
It says Black communities do not get full representation because there are not enough “t [...]