Category: Music

Because They Refused Jim Crow, We Walk Through Different Doors
October 7, 1955: Ella Fitzgerald Arrested After Performing Before an Integrated Audience in Houston
We live inside freedoms that somebody else had to [...]

10 Surprising Lessons for Survivors from Gloria Gaynorâs I Will Survive
When most of us hear Gloria Gaynor sing âI Will Survive,â we hear certainty.
We hear a woman who has figured something out. She sounds like she kno [...]

Tammi Terrell’s Story Reminds Us That Survival Is More Than Staying Alive
When people speak about Tammi Terrell, they often begin with how young she was when she died.
Twenty-four.
They talk about the brain tumor. The inte [...]

Angie Stone, Roberta Flack & Gwen McCrae: The Power of Their Musical Legacy
Angie Stoneâs Music Pulled Us ThroughâAnd Now, Sheâs Gone.
Angie Stone has passed, and somehow, it still doesnât feel real.
During one of my [...]

How Singing is Surprisingly Good for Your Health
There's a vocal teacher on Youtube that I love, and I wanted to share her with you. Kristel Cherelle's approach reminds me of our choir teachers back [...]

7 Survival Lessons From Eve: Your Life Is Allowed to Have More Than One Act
Some chapters prove you can survive. Others remind you that survival was never supposed to be the whole story.
I love Eve's music.
Let me get th [...]

Vanessa Williams Refused to Become the Worst Thing People Said About Her
Deal with yourself as a individual, worthy of respect, and make everyone else deal with you the same way. -Nikki Giovanni
It was 1984, and Vanessa [...]

Some People Don’t Wait for Affirmation. They Give It to Themselves.
They did not wait for the world to settle the question of their worth. They kept something sacred for themselves: the authority to know who they were. [...]

You Remember the Beat. But Do You Remember What Chubb Rock Was Saying?
I have been thinking about Chubb Rockâs âTreat âEm Rightâ.
Maybe it is because I keep hearing people talk about hip-hop as though an entire generat [...]

Florida A&M Marching 100: They Gave Dolly Parton Her Flowers Like Black HBCU Bands Do
A great Black marching band performance is not casual praise. It is labor as praise.
Somebody had to arrange â9 to 5â for that instrumentation. Music [...]