On March 7th, Tami Sawyer, announced her candidacy for Mayor of Memphis leading with the campaign slogan, “We Can’t Wait.” If she wins, she’ll make history as the first woman to officially lead the city. “You may ask why now, why not in 2023 or 2027? But we are standing here to say that we can’t wait. We are two years from an economic downturn that will disproportionately affect communities of color and women.” If she wins in October, Sawyer’s first order of business is to address the city’s budget so that it “re-prioritizes the way we distribute our dollars...

Photo Credit: Bill TiernanWilliam Goines, 82, was one of the original U.S. Navy SEALs, a military team that was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, reports NBC News.  It wasn’t until later in his career when Goines realized that he was the unit’s first African-American member. Now, more than 30 years after his 1987 retirement, the former master chief from the SEALs is on a mission to recruit more people of color to the unit.  According to data from the U.S. Navy, of the more than 3,000 active duty SEALs today, just 1.3 percent are African-American and 8.8 percent...

Photo: Philadelphia DA's Office  This week, Democrat Movita Johnson-Harrell made history by becoming the first Muslim woman to be elected as a state representative in Pennsylvania, reports Philly Mag. Serving as a former interim supervisor of Victim Services for Philadelphia’s District Attorney’s Office, Johnson-Harrell won 66 percent of the votes in a special election Tuesday night for the 190th District seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Her platform focused on several key issues including socioeconomic opportunity, education reform and gun violence prevention, which is an issue she was personally impacted by when she lost her son to gun violence...

 Photo: TV Source Magazine  Vinessa Antoine is the first Black Canadian woman to play a lead role in a primetime television drama in Canada. Prior to accepting the role in her home country of Canada, Antoine spent four years in the US playing Jordan Ashford on the long-standing soap opera, General Hospital. However, when the opportunity arose to helm the Canadian drama, Diggstown, Antoine saw an opportunity to help make representation matter.Last year, during her departure announcement from General Hospital, Antoine tweeted, “It’s time to make room for more women of color in prominent roles on television.”Mirroring the path that women...

Photo: Derek Blanks Before Missy Elliott makes history in June as the first woman rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, she'll become the first female hip-hop artist to receive an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music.  As a pioneering artist, songwriter, and producer, Elliott is also the only woman rapper to have all six studio albums be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Throughout her 20-plus-year career, she has earned five Grammy awards, plus written and produced countless songs for some of today's top artists.  Berklee stated on its website that "this year's honorary doctorate recipients are...