Black Excellence Month: Day 13

Kerry Washington
Actress 
1977 - 

“I don’t have to be perfect. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect, and beautiful journey of my life. It’s a trip more wonderful than I could have imagined.”

-Kerry Washington

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Recommended Watching

• Our Song
• Boston Legal
• I Think I Love My Life
• Ray
• Night Catches Us
• Black Panther
• For Colored Girls
• Django Unchained
• Scandal
• The Last King of Scotland
• George Washington University Commencement 2013
• Don Cheadle and Kerry Washington Talk Life in Hollywood
• 2013 Conference for Women
• Kerry Washington on Girl Talk
• DP/30: Emmy Watch
• Breaking a Hollywood Race Barrier
• Kerry Washington 2013 Hollywood Portfolio
• Night Catches Us Interview
• Kerry Washington Reads Maria Stewart
• 2012 Democratic National Convention 

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Recommended Reading:

• Kerry Washington: Notes on a Scandal
• Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
• Catching Up With Kerry Washington

Well Suited Wednesday

Michael K. Williams
Actor
1966 -

 

"My only goal is to stay focused on my craft and make sure my life is as sharp as it can be to attack any character that is given to me." 

-Michael K. Williams

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Recommended Watching:

• The Wire
• 12 Years a Slave
• Boardwalk Empire
• Brooklyn's Finest
•  Michael K. Williams Talks About Playing Omar on The Wire
• The Philanthropist
• Walk This Way
• Snitch
• The Breakfast Club
• Michael K. Williams Gets a Surprise from President Obama
• Michael K. Williams on Queen Latifah Show
• Michael K. Williams Hits the Dance Floor
• On Being Discovered by Tupac
• The Road
• On iamlunic

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Recommended Reading:

•  The Redemption of Michael K. Williams
• Michael K. Williams' Disappearing Act

Black Excellence Month: Day 12

Queen Latifah
Actress  Recording Artist  Songwriter  Model  Producer  Talk Show Host
1970 -

“You have to stand for what you believe in and sometimes you have to stand alone.” 

-Queen Latifah

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Recommended Watching:

• Set it Off
• Living Single
• Brown Sugar
• Chicago
•  Beauty Shop
• Last Holiday
• Hairspray
• Just Wright
• The Queen Latifah Show
• The Queen Latifah Show Youtube Channel  

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Recommended Reading:

• Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman by Queen Latifah
• Put on Your Crown: Life-Changing Moments on the Path to Queendom by Queen Latifah
• Queen of the Scene by Queen Latifah
• Ladies First: Queen Latifah's Afrocentric Music Video
• Can't touch this! Representations of the African American female body in urban rap videos

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Recommended Listening:

• 1989 All Hail the Queen
• 1991: Nature of a Sista
• 1993: Black Reign
• 1998: Order in the Court
• 2004: The Dana Owens Album
• 2007: Trav'lin' Light
• 2009: Persona
  

 

Black Excellence Month: Day 11

Oprah Winfrey
Actress  Producer  Talk Show Host  Philanthropist
1954 -

"What I know is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come."

-Oprah

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Recommended Watching:

• The Color Purple
• Lee Daniels' The Butler
• Beloved
• Princess and the Frog
• Oprah: Where Are They Now?
• Oprah's Lifeclass
• Super Soul Sunday
• Oprah's Next Chapter
• Oprah on Believing in Yourself
• Oprah on Taking Responsibility for Your Own Life
• How To Know When You've Found Your Purpose in Life
• Inspiring Words from Oprah Winfrey
• Learning How to Trust Your Instincts 
• The Powerful Lesson Maya Angelou Taught Oprah
• Harvard Commencement Speech 2013
• Spelman Commencement Address 2012
• Oprah's Gratitude Journal
• A Conversation with Oprah
• Medal of Freedom

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Recommended Reading:

• Oprah: Make the Connection by Oprah Winfrey
• Oprah Winfrey and American Greatness
• O, The Oprah Magazine
• Oprah's Kids' Reading List
• Oprah's Book Club

“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.” 

-Oprah Winfrey

Black Men Monday

Bayard Rustin
Civil Rights Leader  Activist  Organizer for the 1963 March on Washington
1912 - 1987

“When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.” 

-Bayard Rustin

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Recommended Watching:

• Brother Outsider
• The Legacy of Bayard Rustin
• Bayard Rustin Remembered for Role Played in Civil Rights Movement
• The Bayard Rustin Papers
• Bayard Rustin Coalition LGBT Rights Rally
• Gay Man in the Civil Rights Movement
• Lost Histories: Bayard Rustin

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Recommended Reading:

• A Closer Look at Bayard Rustin by Walter Neagle 
• Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin
• I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters
• This Black, Gay, Badass Pacifist Mastermind of the March on Washington Is Finally Getting His Due

 

Black Excellence: Day 10

Debbie Allen
Dancer  Actress  Producer  Director  Choreographer
1950 - 

 "In places around the world where we do not even speak the same language, or even understand that we pray to the same God, we dance to the same beat that is 'The One'"

-Debbie Allen

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Recommended Watching:

• Fame (1982-1987)
• A Different World
• Grey's Anatomy
•  The Old Settler
• Milk + Honey
• Stompin at the Savoy
• I Was a Network Star
• Emerson College Commencement Address 2013
• Debbie Allen Delivers "Fame" Tagline on Queen Latifah Show
• Debbie Allen interview at TSU
• D The Broadcast Interview
• Fame Dance Off
• Fame TV Reunion 
• MPAC Interview
• Debbie Allen Teaches Break the Chain Dance
• Michael Jackson Tribute

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Recommended Reading:

• Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen
• Brothers of the Knight by Debbie Allen
•  After Six Years of Directing Fame, Debbie Allen Tries Directing
• Debbie Allen Has a Dream
• Debbie Allen's Leadership Lessons

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Black Excellence: Day 9

Melissa Harris-Perry
Professor  Writer  Political  Commentator
1973 -

 "Never become so enamored of your own smarts that you stop signing up for life’s hard classes. Keep your conclusions light and your curiosity ferocious. Keep groping in the darkness with ravenous desire to know more."

-Melissa Harris-Perry

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Recommended Watching:

• Melissa Harris-Perry and Michaela Angela Davis
• Shame Stereotypes and Black Women in America
• Black Female Voices: A public dialogue between bell hooks and Melissa Harris-Perry
• Rutgers University 4/30/2008
• How Black Women's Stories Complicate Race and Gender Politics
• Take Back America Keynote Address 2012
• Melissa Harris-Perry Show Panel on George Zimmerman Verdict
• Melissa Harris-Perry Show Panel on Being Transgender in America
• This Country is No Place for Young Black Men
• Wellesley College Commencement Speech 2012
• Open Letter about Stand Your Ground
• Birthday Card to Michelle Obama
• The Harlem Shake
• Open Letter to Richard Murdock on Rape
• Facing Race Keynote Presentation 2010
• Nerdland Loves Scandal
• Using Artists to Fight Unjust Systems
• To a Black Girl Whose Hair was Deemed Unacceptable
• Crash Course in Black Hair
• Margaret Cho on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show
• Open Letter to Steubenville Rape Survivor
• Marriage and Equality with Melissa Harris-Perry
• How Much Do You Really Know About Drugs
• How Black Hair Matters
• Becoming Aware of the Plight of Trans People

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Recommended Reading:

• The MHP Black Feminism Syllabus
• MHP Advice to Graduates: 2013
• Alec Baldwin Subtweets Melissa Harris-Perry
• Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry
• Shriver Report Confronts Wage Gap and, Poverty Rate
• Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought
•  Janet Mock: A Trans Activist's Journey
• Trayvon Martin: What It's Like to Be a Problem 

#StandWithMHP

♥

Black Excelence: Day 8

Wilma Rudolph 
Athlete Olympic Champion
1940 - 1994

“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” 

-Wilma Rudolph

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Recommended Watching:

• The Wilma Rudolph Story
• An Uphill Battle
• Wilma Unlimited
• 1960 Olympics 
• America's Treasures: Wilma Rudolph 
• The Woman Who Ran Around the World

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Recommended Reading:

•  Wilma Rudolph by Victoria Sherrow
• Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull
• Wilma Rudolph: A Biography by Maureen Margaret Smith

Black Excellence Month: Day 7

Patricia Hill Collins
Black Feminist Social Theorist Professor
1948 - 

“According to many African-American women writers, no matter how oppressed an individual woman may be, the power to save the self lies within the self. Other Black women may assist a Black woman in this journey toward personal empowerment, but the ultimate responsibility for self-definition and self-valuations lies within the individual woman herself.”

-Patricia Hill Collins

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Recommended Reading:

• Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins
•  Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins
• From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism by Patricia Hill Collins
• Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice by Patricia Hill Collins
• Another Kind of Public Education: Race, School, the Media, and Democratic Possibilities by Patricia Hill Collins
• On Intellectual Activism by Patricia Hill Collins
• Feminism 101: Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination
• 7 Black Female Leaders History Books Ignore

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Recommended Watching:

• Union Institute and University 2011 Keynote Address
• A Conversation with Dr. Patricia Hill Collins
• BookTV
• Arcadia University 2012 Commencement Speech
• ASA 2009 Presidential Address 
• An Analysis of America's First Black First Family 

Celebrating Me: February 6th

I took this picture before I left for my first day of work at my first post-graduation job. Today I felt excited. I feel happy to be in the skin I'm in today. I even bought myself a little gift. I spent my morning watching one of my favorite shows, Frasier, while I enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee. After coffee I had a very relaxing facial. I wanted to paint my nails today but I didn't have the time. I had a good first day at my job and I'm excited to see what tomorrow will bring. I enjoyed today and I'm thankful for it.

Quote of the Day:

"I am a true believer in the best about me." -Iyanla Vanzant