Gospelfest
July 6th, 2010 by Black Gospel Choir
Posted in Featured Choir, Gospel Music |
Tribute to The Blind Boys of Alabama
July 6th, 2010 by Black Gospel Choir
Since 1939, The Blind Boys of Alabama have sung a fervent blend of traditional and contemporary Gospel music. Much has changed during these seven prolific decades. Stylistic phases have waxed and waned; personnel has come and gone. 78 r.p.m. records have given way to LPs, followed by eight-track tapes, cassettes, and CDs. The Blind Boys’ audience – once rigidly segregated and confined to traditional Gospel venues – now reflects the group’s eclectic, global following, while their repertoire has expanded to embrace secular songs with a strongly spiritual message. Such wide acceptance is also evidenced by four Grammy Awards, an honor that didn’t exist when the Blind Boys started out. Even so, the Blind Boys’ lengthy saga remains a steadfast testament to constancy. Singer Jimmy Carter, who was there when the group was first formed, leads the band today with the firm conviction, joyous commitment, and gravitas that befit an elder statesman.
As of 2010, they continue to tour nationally and internationally, led by the soulful Jimmy Lee Carter singing lead vocals. In 2006, Clarence Fountain, the group’s former long-time lead vocalist and founding member limited his touring for health reasons. Another founding member, George Scott, died on March 9, 2005 at the age of 75.
The Blind Boys of Alabama were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2007 and the long list of accomplishments include their rendition of Tom Waits’ “Way Down in the Hole” was used as the theme song of the HBO series The Wire in its first season. Their cover of Ben Harper’s “I Shall Not Walk Alone” was featured in the first season of ABC’s Lost, in the episode “Confidence Man”.
Bio Credits
www.blindboys.com & wikipedia.org
Posted in Tribute |
Apologies, Regrets Now time to think
July 22nd, 2010 by Black Gospel Choir
President Obama spoke to Shirley Sherrod, the USDA official who was ousted after a race flap, and expressed his “regret”, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has expressed his apology and offered a new position. But now Shirley Sherrod has said that she just needs some time to think.
Sherrod accepted the apology from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the White House, but Sherrod still hasn’t decided whether she will accept a job offer.
Full Video at the Center of the Issue
Posted in News |
Celebrating Juneteenth
June 2nd, 2010 by Black Gospel Choir
June 19th, 2010
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.
source:www.juneteenth.com
Posted in News |
Click Here: www.npr.org
History – Robert Henry Lawrence & Jr.Guion Bluford
May 29th, 2010 by Black Gospel Choir
The First Black Astronaut
October 2, 1935 – December 8, 1967
He was senior USAF pilot, accumulating well over 2,500 flight hours—2,000 of which were in jets. Lawrence flew many tests in the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter to investigate the gliding flight of various unpowered spacecraft returning to Earth from orbit, such as the North American X-15 rocket-plane. NASA cited Lawrence for accomplishments and flight maneuver data that “contributed greatly to the development of the Space Shuttle.”
In June 1967, Lawrence successfully completed the Air Force Flight Test Pilot Training School at Edwards AFB, California. That same month he was selected by the USAF as an astronaut in the Air Force’s Manned Orbital Laboratory Program, thus becoming the first African-American astronaut candidate.
At the age of 16, he graduated in the top 10 percent from Englewood High School in Chicago. At the age of 20, he graduated from Bradley University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry.
After entering the U.S. Air Force, the 21 year old he was designated as a pilot after completing flight training at Malden Air Force Base.
He married Barbara Cress, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Henry Cress of Chicago and at 25, he had completed an Air Force assignment as an instructor pilot in the T-33 training aircraft for the German Air Force.
Lawrence was killed on December 8, 1967, in the crash of an F-104 Starfighter at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
The First Black Astronaut to go up in space
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 22, 1942. He was one of the four kids born to Guion Sr., a mechanical engineer and Lolita,a special education teacher. He graduated from Overbrook Senior High School in Philadelphia, in 1960, and obtained a Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1964. Later, the same year, he married Linda Tull. The couple has two sons; Guion III and James.
Bluford’s first mission was STS-8 aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. It was Challenger’s first mission with night launching and night landing. The shuttle was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on August 30, 1983. Challenger landed at the Edwards Air Base in California on September 5, 1983, after completing 98 orbits of the Earth in 145 hours. He participated as a mission specialist in four missions, commissioned by NASA between 1983 and 1993. By the end of his fourth mission, Guion had completed 688 hours in space.
Posted in Black History |
