On A Positive Note celebrates Black History Month, paying homage to the pioneers that have spent their lives fighting for justice.

On a Positive Note

On A Positive Note: Celebrating Black History

Coming up on a positive note. I want to talk about the beauty of being of the black culture. We are celebrating Black History Month. We're paying homage to Black history. Then mom was like a pioneer when it came to music and when it came to creating new things, if it were not for them, I probably would not be standing here talking to you today. Now, there are no limits to what you can do. There are no limits to what you can be. We can work together, we can come together and stick together and grow through stories of triumph, creativity and activism. We explore the meaning and significance of Black History Month this month and every month today, good news does exist and you've come to the right place to find it. It's time for on a positive note. Hello. Hello and thanks for tuning in. I'm Jordan's and today we're gonna have some fun. I know we always have fun, but today is gonna be extra special fun because this episode is all about celebrating Black History Month. It's my pleasure to bring you stories that shine a spotlight on black business owners, artists, historians. Changemakers. The list goes on all who have or are continuing to impact the world in a big way. Well, let's get this celebration going. Shall we? We're kicking things off with the profound story of one little girl who fought for justice during the heart of the civil rights movement. We sat down with Willie Mae Brown, the Bronx, born and bred author of my Selma. Not only did may write the novel, but she lived it to take a look. And before you begin reading, there are a few things that I want you to know. I want you to know that I am hunde the character in this book and I still exist. Author Willie May Brown is taking readers on a journey of her life page by page in her latest book, My Selma True Stories of a Southern child at the height of the civil rights movement. What I wanted people to really know is that we had a life even though we were fighting our own war for voters of righteous registration and to be equal without quite brethren's. When Selma Alabama is mentioned, it takes many back to bloody Sunday when civil rights marchers were assaulted by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus bridge protesting for voters rights. But Brown says her focus in this book is that but so much more, especially showing how it shaped the woman she is today. I never gave up the human being that I am and was back then. I was a young girl. So I have the right to call her forward and to look back with me as an adult. What did I forget? As Brown calls her younger self forward. She recalls how she played a role in fighting for justice. Even as a small black child in the south. In the 19 sixties, my job was to man the phones and in, in our house, I was supposed to answer the phone and make sure that my brothers and sisters who were older than me were okay. And Brown says there was a time when her siblings and other black students got sent to jail by the busloads for their demonstrations. And that led her father to demand a meeting with Dr Martin Luther King Jr who was in town at a local church. And that encounter is something readers can take in when they pick up the book. My narrations open up the wounds and itch the scars that I and sell. Most people carry. Brown says, my Selma's for people of all ages to see where we are coming from to understand where we're going. When I started to write the book, people said, why do you want to do that? That's old that that's done. Everything is finished but nothing with this movement that we had is finished now. Right? Well, here on a positive note, we love to celebrate future history makers and pioneers. But in order to celebrate our future. It's important to recognize the past so that my friends brings us right into today's. Did you know, did you know that there are dozens of historical sites all around the country that help us remember and help us celebrate African American history and contributions. And four of those bad boys are right here in our area. Check it out in Auburn, the home of the legendary underground railroad leader, Harriet Tubman still stands loud and proud. You can see you've got Hinchliffe Stadium in Jersey and the Underground Railroad Heritage Trail in Rochester just steps away from us to Black. History is all around us. Here on a positive note, we hope we can help you find your way to it. You can head to our website for more historical sites near you and that Ladies and Gents was today's. Did you know? Okay, everyone knows the movie Dirty Dancing, right? Well, did you know that the brains behind the song used during one of the most famous scenes in the movie? Hails from right here in our area. Our crews sat down with the son of the musical duo to chat all about Jerseys. Ties to hip hop music. You may or may not recognize the song I'm singing, but it's called Love Is Strange. Surely you know it from the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing. Yes. Call your lover boy. Love is strange as the late fifties hit by R and B duo Mickey and Sylvia comprising Mickey Baker and Sylvia Robinson, who later became known as the mother of hip hop. I sat down with Leland Robinson, the second born son to Sylvia and Joe Robinson to talk hip hop's founding. It's Jersey Ties and his mother's legacy. Normal people play the guitar this way, right? She turned the guitar backwards. Mom was like a pioneer when it came to music and when it came to creating new things, you know, she had a vision and she went for it. And while Sylvia Robinson garnered success as a producer, solo artist and as part of the duo Vicki and Sylvia, she's widely known for single handedly commercializing hip hop in the late seventies when the genre was thought to be something that would be short lived at the time when she did it in 1979. And she went to put out rapper's delight. They told her it was gonna be a fat, it will never work. They told her that she was wasting her time. She said that, you know, she felt, you know, they were all wrong and she went against the Green Sugar Hill Records. The very first hip hop record label to commercially distribute rap music was founded right, right here in the Garden State at the Robinson's home in Englewood by Sylvia and her husband and in 2022 Sylvia Robinson was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. It was about time I think that she deserved it. She did a lot for the community. It was well deserved. And today her legacy continues, Sugar Hill Records continues to work with some of today's biggest artists, including her grandchildren. Our Black History Month special continues over in Westchester now where we've got your behind the scenes. Look at an award winning art exhibit aimed at teaching the community about Black history one step inside and you'll see these curators. Absolutely nailed the assignment. Welcome to madam C J. As soon as you walk into Bethany arts community, you're immersed in Westchester's Black history. Thank you so much for coming face to face with legends like madam C J Walker, the first self made female millionaire in the US. It's good for your hair. The exhibit takes you back in time starting in 1908. If you're from the North, you're going to be able to vote, you're gonna vote Republican. But if you're from the South, you're gonna take a literacy test and you're gonna take 30 seconds to answer 64 questions, which you will not be able to do. And that's what I'm doing to you is teaching you how voter suppression worked in the South. Visitors can see what a black child's bedroom looked like in the eighties filled with toys that didn't look like them. I had a lot of Barbie dolls and I never saw any dolls that represented the black community or any other ethnic background at all. This is amazing how it's evolved with. Now we have toys of all ethnic backgrounds that Children can relate to and aren't on display celebrates the now more widely accepted beauty of black people's natural hair. I've watched each generation have gone through changes. You know, my hair like it is now in an afro would not have been acceptable in my family's mindset. Our next story is an ode to black history in the making. As one group of cheerleaders out of Westchester have just made program history all while overcoming adversity. These cheerleaders are proving that they've got more than just spirit. They've got a whole lot of heart to take a look, the hard work over now, athletes and coaches can spend even more time just giggling together being here with the program. It was truly one for the book. It's good to see them having fun after such hard work and great. It was a very rough but Goodyear. They say the loss of their cheer sister, Kayla Green to a stabbing in April helped fuel them to get here for the first time ever, a dream. Now, years in the making like she's more than how it was. It's such a historic moment for Mount Vernon. This historic figure came from Atlanta to watch former head Chi Ramsey coached some of the current coaches and started a path. They now continue getting students cheer scholarships at historically Black colleges and universities by giving them this opportunity. It lets them know that with hard work, you're able to accomplish anything. It feels like the whole city and beyond is watching. I want them to see that we are a group of talented young athletes who is the representation of our community and we are beating the status quote of our, of our circumstances. This trip has given the team new experiences, some of them flying or visiting Disney for the first time. It was really nice going my teammates, I really love being with them. They bonded even more supported each other. We literally ran from Disney making sure that we were there to support. Our. Those are big sisters are big brothers. They may not have made it to finals, but they say they're proud of what they've been able to do. I'm honestly just in awe of our athletes and what they were out there able to do still, they say you'll see them back here next year. Well, from all of us here on a positive note, congratulations team. You'll get him next time.