HU! You know! Five-star athlete Makur Maker makes history as the highest ranked college basketball prospect to commit to an HBCU after announcing his choice to attend Howard University, ESPN reports.  Maker is a 6-foot-11 basketball powerhouse ranked No. 16 in ESPN’s top 100 for 2020. The Kenyan native moved to California in 2015, making a name for himself as a versatile player, averaging 14.7 points and 7.9 rebounds with a 73% shooting range. Last fall, Maker visited Howard University along with other top recruits, re-igniting conversations about the importance of Black college athletes committing to Black schools.  Former ESPN...

LETS GO! Netflix named Bozoma “Boz” Saint John as their new Chief Marketing Officer, making her the company’s first Black C-Suite executive, Bloomberg reports. Saint John is one of the most sought after marketing executives in her industry, boasting a 20 year career spanning multiple sectors. The marketing guru is coming over to Netflix from sports and entertainment giant Endeavor. Before that, she was Head of Global Consumer Marketing at Apple Music and prior to that, she worked with Pepsi-Cola North America as head of the Music and Entertainment Marketing Group.  Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos spoke to Deadline...

For the second year in a row, Black women at West Point Military Academy have made history. This year’s graduating class included 38 Black women, making it the highest recorded number of Black female cadets in the school’s 218 year history, Vogue reports. This is an increase from last year's history making number of 34 Black women graduates. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has a rich history that includes producing army generals and presidents to include George Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The school’s mission to “educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets” through their leadership development programs is a staple...

This may be the most powerful anime transformation yet. Arthell Isom, along with his twin brother Darnell helped to create the first major Black-owned anime studio in Tokyo, Japan, Black Enterprise reports. The two teamed up with animator Henry Thurlow to create D’ART Shtajio, a 2-D animation studio based in Tokyo that focuses on producing Japanese anime that merges with Westernized culture. Darnell helps run the studio from California but Arthell has spent over a decade in Japan, starting his career studying art history in San Francisco, Italy, and then Osaka. His mentor was famed animator Hiromasa Ogura, who worked...

Congratulations are in order! Ferguson, Missouri residents elected their first Black mayor in the city’s 165 year history, The New York Times reports Ella Jones is making history, becoming the first woman and first African American mayor of Ferguson, Missouri. A resident of the city for 40 years, Jones ran her campaign tackling issues that she felt really mattered to the community, including a comprehensive plan for police reform that included a legally binding federal consent for changes.  The city of Ferguson erupted into protests after the murder of Mike Brown by law enforcement in 2014. A year later, Jones...