Black Excellence
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Black Student Wins Harvard Debate Tournament After Atlanta Students Dominate Competition
Because most people are unaware of the long history of debate in the black community, when Harvard brought 400 high schoolers to the university to compete in its prestigious debate competition, the group of black teens from Atlanta was probably considered a long shot. After all, most of the Atlanta students were inexperienced debaters. This…
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What It Looks Like When the Whole Team's Winning
A few years back, one of my best friends had the opportunity to go back to his home church in D.C. and give a speech during a service. As a son of the church, he was speaking on his journey from his beginnings in southeast Washington, D.C., to, at that point in time, receiving his…
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Mareena Robinson Snowden Is The 1st Black Woman to Earn a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering From MIT
Mareena Robinson Snowden became the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when she crossed the stage at her graduation on June 8. Provocatively, a career in STEM wasn’t always something Snowden was interested in. “Engineering definitely was not something I had a passion for at…
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#PermitPatty Reported a 13-Year-Old Selling Hot Dogs. Instead of Shutting Him Down, the City Helped Him Get His Permit
Not today, Satan. Or in this case, not today #PermitPatty. An old sourpuss who was trying to kill a Minneapolis’ teen entrepreneurial spirit did not prosper after the city rallied together to get him the proper permit to continue is business. Jaequan Faulkner had been cooking hot dogs outside his home, selling them to raise…
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Determined College Student Walked 20 Miles to New Job, So His Boss Gave Him a Car
There are people (slowly raises hand) who gripe about having to get up before the sun is up to jumpstart their workday. Then there are people like Walter Carr, who start walking at midnight in order to arrive at their job — located 20 miles away — on time. I kid you not. Walter Carr…
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Meet the Youngest Black Woman to Own a McDonald's Franchise
Jade Colin, 28, is McDonald’s youngest black franchise owner in the country. Colin, a New Orlean’s native, was introduced to the McDonald’s franchise at an early age and not just by being a regular customer. Her parents purchased their first restaurant in 2010 and they now own six. After graduating in 2012 from the University…
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The 10 Best Things About Being a 'Confirmed Black Racist'
Over the weekend, I received a quite kind email from a man named “Jake” with a series of screenshots from articles I’ve written about white people attached to it. The subject of the email read “Your a Confirmed Black Racist.” I was immediately compelled to thank Jake for gathering so much of my work in…
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Misty at The Met: Misty Copeland Twirls and So Do Little Black Girls
On a hot, muggy summer day earlier this month, there were two lines stretching from the doors of New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House to its iconic fountain. The Met wasn’t giving out free ice cream and Cardi B had canceled all of her performances until September, so what could have caused such a mammoth…