All About That Ambition

"Without struggle, there is no progress." Fredrick Douglass

His Airness

African-Americans have made many contributions in history with science, math, music, and sports and today is the birthday of His Airness aka Michael Jordan.




Michael  Jeffery Jordan  is known as the greatest basketball of all time.Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.



He is a 6x time NBA Champion, 14x NBA All Star, 5x MVP and his shoes remain popular today outside of basketball he played baseball, starred in Space Jam, owns many successful business.



Basketball is a game I loved and a game I played for most of my life and this man right here truly inspired me;  he is and always be my Number 1 NBA Player of All Time.

Other Facts about MJ: He briefly dated the late Whitney Houston and he is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. He was a member the national championship college team North Carolina Tar Heels.

Happy Birthday Champ

Straight Chaser.....Tell it Like It Is

Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad
I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert with a packet of goat's meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can't catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on
My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praisesI am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
like a bird in the sky...

Destined for a Greater Purpose

Bernard A. Harris, Jr. was the first African American to walk in space.




Elijah McCoy invented an automatic oiling device that allowed machines to be lubricated while they were still in use. Some say that this is where the expression "the real McCoy" originated.


Jan Ernst Matzeliger invented a machine to make shoes that lasted in 1883.



Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Congress.


Lewis H. Latimer was the only African American member of Thomas A. Edison's team of scientists. He helped pave the way in the development of the electric light bulb.



Phillis Wheatley is known as the first published African American poet.



Marian Anderson was the first African American soloist in 1955 at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC.

Luke James - I Want You

Happy Valentine's Day..... Luke James remember this name. Did you see him on the BET Honors his first live television performance he killed it.

The Voice

"The greatest love of all, is learning to love yourself." Whitney Houston

I plan on releasing more posts dedicated to the trailblazers that have contributed to history more specifically Black History. I am sad to say that Whitney Houston has passed away she was a trailblazer as well. I heard about her passing Saturday evening and the tears just began to roll down my face. I am sure you will see and hear many negative comments about Whitney Houston. Let me say yes it is no secret that she had issues with drugs and alcohol but she did try to find a road to redemption. As she said in her Oprah interview in 2009 its a day to day struggle. Whitney Houston was more than an entertainer; she was a mother, daughter, sister, friend and meant so much to many people. We are in mourning but one thing is clear she can finally exhale. As someone who has family and friends that have struggled with drug addiction and alcohol abuse and it is day to day struggle but I have seen many people defeat the illness while others have succumb to the demons. At the end of the day I will always love and respect this woman.

She was dubbed "The Voice" and she was timeless. Many people that knew her well said she was a kind woman and had a wonderful sense of humor.

Whitney Houston's voice is a gift from God, Allah, Buddha, whoever you answer to. Her mother Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick her cousin, and Godmother Aretha Franklin had a huge influence on her. She honed her skills in the church.

In 2009 the Guinness Book of World Records cited her as the  most awarded female-act of all time with 6 Grammys, 2 Emmy's, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards with a total with 415 awards in her lifetime.  She sang the National Anthem in 1991 so well it later became a Billboard single no other artist has sang the Star Bangled Banner like Whitney.

Whitney released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification. She sold  over 170 million records singles, videos, etc. worldwide.

Her last album Million Dollar Bill was released in 2009 and debuted 1 it continued to do well on the charts. In 2010 she was honored at the BET Honors she celebrated 30 years in the music business at that time and it had been 25 years since her debut album.

She was America's Sweetheart, The Black Barbie, The Voice, these were the names she was called by many adoring fans. I truly love and  will miss you. She was one of my heroes.

Rest In Peace
Sunrise August 9, 1963- Sunset February 11, 2012
Whitney Elizabeth Houston

Ahead of Her Time: Claudette Colvin

Most people have been taught that Rosa Parks was the first African-American to give up her seat in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Although there a teenage girl that preceded her in this revolutionary effort by nine months and her name is Claudette Colvin.

Claudette Colvin was a fifteen year old high school student riding the bus as usual because her family had a car although she relied on public transportation to get to and from school.

What Happened on that Fateful Day? On March 2, 1955; Claudette sat in the section where, if a white person was standing, the blacks would have to get up and move to the back. When a white woman got on the bus and was standing, the bus driver, Robert W. Cleere, ordered Colvin and two other black passengers to get up and change seats. When Colvin refused, she was removed from the bus and arrested by two police officers.

"The bus was getting crowded and I remember the bus driver looking through the rear view mirror asking her to get up out of her seat, which she didn't," said a classmate at the time, Annie Larkins Price. "She had been yelling it's my constitutional right. She decided on that day that she wasn't going to move."Colvin was handcuffed, arrested and forcibly removed from the bus. She shouted that her constitutional rights were being violated. "Price testified on Colvin's behalf in the juvenile court case, where Colvin was convicted of violating the segregation law and assault.""There was no assault," Price said.


Why Wasn't She Recognized for Her Efforts? Montgomery's black leaders did not publicize Colvin's pioneering effort for long because she was a teenager and became pregnant while unmarried. The NAACP leaders worried about using her to represent their movement, given the social norms of the time.




How Does She Feel About Rosa Parks? Colvin told the Montgomery Advertiser that she would not have changed her decision to remain seated. "I feel very, very proud of what I did, I do feel like what I did was a spark and it caught on"I'm not disappointed," Colvin said. "Let the people know Rosa Parks was the right person for the boycott. But also let them know that the attorneys took four other women to the Supreme Court to challenge the law that led to the end of segregation."

The Hippest Trip in America

Love, peace, and Soul
Black Is Beautiful
Phrases often recited by Entrepreneur, Former Disc Jockey, Executive Producer, and Television Producer Don Cornelius





On October2, 1971 Don Cornelius came to the scene with his musical variety television show "Soul Train" featuring dance routines, performances from many African-American artists but also introduced "Blue Eyed Soul" recording artist such as Teena Marie, David Bowie, Average White Band, just to name a few. Don's goals was show positive images of Black people he also included interviews with activist such as Rev. Jesse Jackson.


The very first program featured artists such as Jerry Butler, The Chi-Lites, and the Emotions. After immediate success the show would relocate to Los Angeles from Chicago. Johnson's Production Company also the same people that manufactured  the Afro-Sheen line of hair care products agreed to sponsor the program into national syndication.

By the end of its first season Soul Train was number one in seventeen markets.





Every Saturday the Soul Train audience (mostly African-Americans) enjoyed watching the show for the fashion, music, dancing, guest star appearances. My parents have told me fond memories of the show. Even though I was born in the early 90's I have my own memories of Soul Train.




The show would later have spin-offs such as The Soul Train Awards, Lady of Soul Train Awards, and Soul Train Star Fest. Re-runs of the show can be seen on BET Centric.




As a nod to Soul Train's longevity, the show's opening sequence (during later seasons) contained a claim that it was the "longest-running, first-run, nationally syndicated program in television history," with over 1,100 episodes produced from the show's debut through the 2005-06 season.


Don Cornelius made his last appearance as the host in 1993 and the show ended in 2006. We love you and miss you.  I am sad to hear that Don committed suicide. His last public appearance was in 2009 at the annual BET Awards as he presented The O'Jays with the Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Rest in Peace, My Brother
September 27, 1936-February 1, 2012

Celebrating Black History Month

If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.

Carter G Woodson
Father of Black History Month, formely Negro History Week