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City businesses ready to reopen, welcome customers next week
Renada Harris, owner of Silk Hair Studio on Broad Street near Virginia Commonwealth University spent last Thursday calling clients to cancel appointments made for Friday, May 15, the date businesses were to partially reopen under Gov. Ralph S. Northam’s executive order.
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COVID-19 and inequities in health care system, by Kristen Clarke
In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.”
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Boston church stamping Harriet Tubman on its $20 bills
Three years ago, the Treasury Department announced that it would put Harriet Tubman’s face on the front of the $20 bill by 2020. A portrait of the abolitionist, championed by activists, would replace that of President Andrew Jackson, who would be moved to the back of the bill.
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Black media icons scaling back, possibly closing
It has been a rough few days for the black media. First, Ebony magazine and its sister publication, JET magazine, may be closing their doors for good. And then the publisher of the storied Chicago Defender newspaper announced last week that it will no longer publish a print version.
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Justice denied
Ferguson, N.Y. cases expose injustices, spark change
A national movement is underway to address police brutality against African-American men and the criminalization of communities of color.
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Legendary basketball coach John Thompson succumbs at 78
Coach John Thompson, the imposing Hall of Famer who turned Georgetown University into a “Hoya Paranoia” powerhouse and became the first Black coach to lead a team to the NCAA men’s basketball championship, has died. He was 78.
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Still funding Confederacy
Years of taxpayer money has kept Confederate cemeteries in pristine condition. Can there be true equity for historic African-American burial grounds?
On most Saturdays since 2013, volunteers have met at East End Cemetery in Henrico County to hack away at the vines and weeds that have choked gravesites there for decades.
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Personality: Tani Washington
After four years of researching, writing and making oral presentations in high school forensics and debate competitions, Tani Washington has made history.
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Personality: Rahmah T. Johnson
Spotlight on Richmond Public Schools Teacher of the Year
A holistic approach to counseling is the key to success for Richmond Public Schools Teacher of the Year Rahmah T. Johnson.
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Personality: Sharon Parham Blount
Spotlight on Shalom Farms board chair
Sharon Parham Blount is bringing a new kind of peace to Richmond’s hungriest residents.
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General Assembly likely to have record number of Black members
Now that primary results are in, the battle for control of the legislature begins in earnest ahead of the Nov. 7 general election.
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Area residents tell their brush with ‘The Greatest’
Jesse Vaughan, the Richmond native and creative genius behind Virginia State University’s recent “Building a Better World” campaign, has won 27 Emmy Awards during the course of his career.
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Personality: Natasha Freeman
Personality: Natasha Freeman
Natasha Freeman, president of Project Yoga Richmond’s board of directors, encourages the community to embrace yoga because the practice allows people “to be fully embodied while grounding and mending our body and spirit.”
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VCU’s season ends with 80-74 loss in NIT
A Virginia Commonwealth University basketball season featuring many highlights ended with a hurtful thud.
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Richmond, not Petersburg, should have new ONE Casino + Resort
My family has built a successful multimillion-dollar business empire over 70 years, starting in 1963 with Jet Bargain Stores (six locations), Hawk’s BBQ & Seafood (five locations), Indian Head Hair Grease 1965, Mascot Gas & Oil (six locations) and Crawley’s Nursing Home and Crawley’s Funeral Home. In my business and professional opinion, I was impressed after reading the proposal for ONE Casino + Resort.
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Hampton University announces new president
A former three-star Army general has been tapped to become the next president of Hampton University.
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2 City-supported shelters temporarily open for homeless
At 80, Gayle Freeland is struggling to keep a roof over her head.
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City’s Legendary Ingramettes earn NEA award
The Legendary Ingramettes, a gospel group that has performed more than 60 years, has received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. They are the first group from Richmond to earn the distinction, and one of 10 recipients in 2022 who will receive a $25,000 monetary award, according to the NEA. The NEA started the award in 1982 to recognize “recipients’artistic excellence and support their continuing contributions to our nation’s traditional arts heritage.” The world-famous group performed at the unveiling of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington and in 2019, trav- eled to Bulgaria and Serbia to perform. Maggie Ingram started the group to sup- port herself and her five children when her husband abandoned them — she played music and her children sang. She drove the family from Florida to Richmond in 1961, arriving on Christmas Eve. Once in Richmond, she started work- ing for civil rights icon Oliver Hill Sr. and later owned a child care business. Maggie Ingram and The Ingramettes debuted in Richmond at the Hood Temple AME Zion Church. Ms. Ingram died in 2015. Today, Rev. Almeta Ingram-Miller, Maggie Ingram’s daughter, is the only original member of the group, but the singers are related to one another. “Take A Look In The Book” is the group’s first album without the family matriarch and was recorded in Richmond over three days. Rev. Ingram-Miller now leads the group. Produced by Jon Lohman, the recordings are part of the Virginia Folklife Program at Virginia Humanities and include traditional spirituals and “new Appalachian sources like Ola Belle Reed and Bill Withers.” The group will perform a virtual concert Sept. 22. Information about the upcoming performance and the group can be found on their website: https://legendaryingramettes.com/.
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Renowned jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis dies at 87
Renowned jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis, whose music entertained fans over a more than 60-year career that began with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and made him one of the country’s most successful jazz musicians, has died. He was 87.
