This year, we continued to use our platform to highlight Black history, excellence, positive news and feel good stories. As we remain committed to this task going into the new year, we'd like to reflect on our top 8 Because of Them We Can moments of 2018. Check them out below.
1. We kicked off Black History Month with our CNN inspired video of kids reporting that Black excellence is at an all-time high. Definitely deserves a rewatch.
VIDEO
2. "Black Panther" (and Wakanda) was finally introduced to the world and continued to break record after record.
3. Shea Moisture founder Richelieu Dennis purchased Madam C.J. Walker's 34- room mansion and made plans to turn it into a training center for Black women entrepreneurs.
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After @RichelieuDennis, the founder of Sundial Brands (makers of brands such as Shea Moisture and Nubian Heritage) bought Essence Magazine to make it 100% Black-owned again, he announced a $100 million fund for women of color entrepreneurs because he believes "Black women need access, support, expertise and capital." ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Now, to take it one step further, the Essence Ventures CEO wants to help train Black women entrepreneurs - and what better place to do it than where a pioneering Black woman entrepreneur once lived? Turns out, Dennis purchased Madam C.J. Walker's 34-room mansion, Villa Lewaro, in Irvington, New York. The historic estate was designed by Black architect Vertner Woodson Tandy and often used as a meeting place for the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance. Dennis now wants it to be a meeting place for Black women entrepreneurs, more specifically a retreat and training center “designed to support Black women entrepreneurs in their efforts to turn their ideas into flourishing enterprises,” reports the Hudson Independent. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ According to the newspaper, "Irvington has only just passed a new zoning law that permits adaptive reuse of registered historical buildings for non-residential purposes, including schools, tours and certain kinds of events." Dennis took this as an opportunity to present Irvington’s board of trustees with his plans for Villa Lewaro on Monday during a public meeting. Click the link in our profile to read full story. #fortheculture #becauseofthemwecan
A post shared by Because of Them We Can® (@becauseofthem) on Dec 18, 2018 at 8:07am PST
4. Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald's official portraits of our Forever President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were released during Black History Month.
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Have you seen the Obama’s official portraits by the talented @KehindeWiley and @ASherald? Back in October, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery announced that Barack and Michelle Obama handpicked Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald to paint their official portraits, making them the first Black artists to be commissioned to paint a presidential couple for the National Portrait Gallery. On Monday morning, the Obamas unveiled Wiley and Sherald's work at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, and as expressed by Michelle Obama, they were "overwhelmed." "I'm thinking of all the girls of color who will come and see someone who looks like them hanging on the wall of this great American Institution," said Michelle Obama during the ceremony. “And I know the kind of impact that will have on their lives, because I was one of those girls." Wiley is a New York-based visual artist known for implementing western ideals of style in his hyperrealist portraits of urban Black and brown men against floral backgrounds, and Sherald, an up-and-coming Baltimore-based artist known for using gray skin tones for her subjects, as well as painting cultured portraits of Black women. #blackexcellence #alltimehigh #becauseofthemwecan
A post shared by Because of Them We Can® (@becauseofthem) on Feb 12, 2018 at 10:41am PST
5. Michelle Obama met Parker Curry (the little girl who was awestruck by her official portrait that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery).
6. LeBron James turned his dream of opening a school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio into a reality.
7. Pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson returned to her alma mater of West Virginia State University a day before her 100th birthday for the unveiling of her very own statue.
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Today, pioneering NASA mathematician, Katherine Johnson, returned to her alma mater of West Virginia State University for the unveiling of her very own statue. Tomorrow, she’ll celebrate her 100th birthday. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ "What makes Katherine so extraordinary is she not only prevailed while segregation failed, Doctor Johnson has continued to persevere and thrive with the gracious poise and clarity that defies mere words of explanation, let alone definition," said NASA astronaut Dr. Yvonne Cagle, who was the keynote speaker for the unveiling ceremony. "So what can you say after a century, about someone like Dr. Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson — our very own global, global genius? Let's see — you say nothing. You don't say anything. You listen." ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ A scholarship was also named in Johnson’s honor. It will be endowed by the university for $100,000 and will award students majoring in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) areas. Photo credit/via: F. Brian Ferguson/@wvstateu #katherinejohnson #hiddennomore #becauseofthemwecan
A post shared by Because of Them We Can® (@becauseofthem) on Aug 25, 2018 at 3:15pm PDT
8. And for our final top moment, we launched Because of Them We Can Box, a monthly subscription box of Black history and excellence for kids.
Cheers to celebrating even more Black excellence in the new year. Happy 2019!
