National Freedom Day Should Be Renamed Major Richard Wright Sr. Day
Every year, on the first of February, National Freedom Day kicks off the celebration of Black History Month—honoring the signing of a joint House and Senate resolution that later became the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawing slavery and involuntary servitude in 1865.
The man who lobbied for this day to be recognized as a day of freedom for all Americans has been largely forgotten: Major Richard Robert Wright Sr. was born into slavery on May 16, 1855, six miles from Dalton, Georgia.
On the first of February 1941, he founded the National Freedom Day Association, bringing together local and national leaders in Philadelphia, to formulate plans to set aside the first of the month to memorialize the signing of the 13th Amendment (which freed all U.S. slaves) by President Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 1, 1865.
After the Civil War ended, Wright moved with his mother from Dalton to Cuthbert, Georgia, to attend the Storrs School along with other freed slaves’ children.
While visiting the school, retired Union General Oliver Otis Howard asked what message he should take to the North. Wright reportedly told him, “Sir, tell them we are rising.” The exchange inspired the famous poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.
Wright served as a major in the Spanish-American War, becoming the first African American to serve as an Army Paymaster. Wright had already had a long career in education and politics. At the age of 67, he enrolled at the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania to prepare for his new venture—the opening of a bank. When he opened the Citizens and Southern Bank and Trust Company at 1849 South Street in 1921, it was the only black bank in the North at the time. When it was sold in 1957, Citizens and Southern had assets worth $5.5 million.
A year after Wright’s death in 1947, a bill to make Feb. 1 National Freedom Day was passed and the holiday proclamation was signed into law on June 30, 1948, by President Harry Truman. National Freedom Day became the forerunner to Black History Day and was later recognized as Black History Month in 1976.
In subsequent years, 40 governors and all mayors of Philadelphia have issued proclamations, designating Feb. 1 as National Freedom Day in their respective states and cities. The purpose of the annual observance is to promote goodwill, harmony, and equal opportunity among all citizens, and to rededicate the nation to the ideal of freedom.
Super Bowl LII Ads Cater to Growing Black Buying Power
Tiffany Haddish won’t be the only African American starring in Super Bowl commercials airing on Sunday when the Philadelphia Eagles take on the New England Patriots.
PepsiCo, revered for its viral and entertaining Super Bowl commercials, is stepping up its game this year by bringing together Hollywood veteran Morgan Freeman and hip-hop legends Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes to feature in a joint ad campaign for Mountain Dew and Doritos. And, former American Idol star Todrick Hall will appear in an ad for M&M’s alongside actor Danny DeVito.
In a 30-second teaser uploaded on YouTube by Doritos on Jan. 17, Freeman can be seen facing off against Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage in a rap battle. Another video uploaded a week later shows Elliott and Busta Rhymes coaching Freeman and Dinklage as they prepare for their cameos.
This won’t be Elliott’s first time in the Super Bowl spotlight. In 2015, she thrilled fans with her surprise half-time performance alongside Katy Perry at Super Bowl XLIX.
“First of all, when you got [Peter Dinklage] and [Morgan Freeman] with [Busta Rhymes] who is turning that down?,” Elliot, 46, told Billboard. “I wanted to be a part of this history right here. That was an epic moment, hearing those names together.”
Other companies, including M&M’s, have released their commercials on social media ahead of the Super Bowl LII game to connect with new generations of fans. M&M’s decision to tap Hall for a Super Bowl ad was based on his huge social media following.
Hall gained global attention competing on American Idol in 2010, reaching the semi-finals. He has since gone on to become a YouTube personality and has appeared as a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“We often collaborate with social influencers to create and share branded M&M’s content in their own colorful and fun way,” M&M’s spokesperson Allison Miazga-Bedrick said in a statement. “This time, we flipped our approach and surprised Todrick Hall’s fans with an unexpected appearance in our Super Bowl LII commercial.”
For the first time in seven years, Groupon will be airing its own Super Bowl commercial after tapping Haddish to be their spokesperson. She came about the gig after she shared her personal Groupon story on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
While it was a major win for Haddish, it’s also a major move for the discount e-commerce marketplace. A 2015 study released by Nielsen reported that African American households earning $75,000 or more are growing rapidly. The report also said black America might be represented by 75 million people in the United States, about 20% of the U.S. population.
Super Bowl LII will take place at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday, Feb. 4. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.
Woman of Power Alicia Boler Davis Named Black Engineer of the Year
Along with 40 other honorees, General Motor’s Alicia Boler Davis, will be celebrated as the Black Engineer of the Year next weekend by US Black Engineer (USBE) magazine at its annual BEYA STEM Conference in Washington, DC.
The award will make Boler-Davis the sixth woman recipient of the award in the scientific and technical magazine’s 32-year history.
Her historic rise through the ranks at GM has been well chronicled and celebrated since she joined the company in 1994—serving in various engineering and manufacturing leadership positions.
She had been with the company for a couple years when she became fascinated by assembly plants’ complexity and challenges, Davis told The Detroit Free Press.
“No one said ‘We don’t have women running our manufacturing plants,’ even though at the time, we didn’t,” she said. “I said, ‘You know what? I think I want to run this place. At the time, it wasn’t like I saw women doing it. I just felt like it could happen.”
She said she mentioned it to her manager at the time, he made some phone calls and the rest was history.
History was what she made when she became the first African American female plant manager in 2007. She went on to serve as GM’s vehicle line director and vehicle chief engineer for small cars, and plant manager for Lansing’s Consolidated Operations and Arlington Assembly. Her efforts helped the automotive giant earn top spot among major automakers with the best quality, according to J.D. Power and Associates 2013 Initial Quality Study, which measures quality problems reported during the first 90 days of ownership.
“I was the first African American woman to run a GM assembly plant, and it was no big deal. It didn’t feel like something odd,” Boler-Davis told The Detroit Free Press. “I’d had the (right) assignments and experiences. I had demonstrated my ability to get things done, work with a team, and work with the union.”
She received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and a master’s in engineering science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
“Throughout my career, I was pushed to try new things—things that I hadn’t done before, and things that I couldn’t have imagined doing,” Davis said when she was honored with the 2016 Corporate Executive of the Year at the 2016 Trumpet Awards. “I truly believe that each of us can put our talents to use to change the world if we are willing to be bold, to take risks, and to write the books that need to be written.”
Davis is also a member of the Northwestern University McCormick Advisory Council, a board trustee of the Care House of Oakland County, a member of the OnStar/Shanghai Board of Directors, and Executive Liaison for the GM WOMEN leadership board.
The 2018 BEYA nominees are:
Black Engineer of the Year
Mrs. Alicia Boler Davis
Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing
General Motors
Dave Barclay Affirmative Action
Mr. Darryl Farrow
Director, Global Diversity & Inclusion
The Boeing Company
Dave Barclay Affirmative Action
Mr. Drew Valentine
Vice President, People & Culture
IBM
Career Achievement – Government
Mr. Timothy Bridges
Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection
U.S. Air Force
Career Achievement – Industry
Dr. Charles Johnson-Bey
Cyber Solutions Engineering and Technology Director
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Community Service – Industry
Mr. Steven Brown
President of Dreams, Imagination & Gift Development Program (DIG)
Gas Turbine Controls Engineer
General Electric
The Dean’s Award
Mr. Derek McGowan
Diversity Outreach Program Manager
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Education Leadership – K-12 Promotion of Education
Ms. Tokiwa Smith
Executive Director
Science, Education, Mathematics Link Inc.
Education Leadership – K-12 Promotion of Education
Mr. Gregory Chappelle
Michigan DoD STEM Coordinator and HBCU/MI Liaison Officer
U.S. Army TARDEC
Educational Leadership – College-Level Promotion of Education
Dr. Terri Norton
Associate Professor
University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Most Promising Engineer – Government
Captain Jason Fischbach
Lead Engineer – Power, Space, and Cooling
U.S. Air Force
Most Promising Engineer – Government
Ms. LaAndrea McDonald
BMDS Test Data Manager
Missile Defense Agency
Most Promising Engineer – Industry
Mr. Hamza Syed
Lead Multi-Discipline Systems Engineer
The MITRE Corporation
Most Promising Engineer – Industry
Ms. Chandria Poole
Deputy Program Manager
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Outstanding Technical Contribution – Government
Mr. Reginald Williams
THAAD Post-Production and Sustainment Lead
Missile Defense Agency
Outstanding Technical Contribution – Industry
Mr. Kent Etienne
Technical Lead Engineer, Senior Mechanical Design Engineer
The Boeing Company
Outstanding Technical Contribution – Industry
Mrs. Arissa Hodges
Group Leader/Lead Communications Engineer
The MITRE Corporation
Professional Achievement – Government
Mr. Byron Williams
Programs and Project management Branch Chief
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Professional Achievement – Industry
Mrs. Kathryn Hamilton
Engineering Program Manager
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Professional Achievement – Industry
Mr. Eric Biribuze
Product Line Lead
Corning Incorporated
Research Leadership
Mr. Andrew Adams
Acting Assistant Section Supervisor
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Senior Technology Fellow
Dr. Jon Goldsby
Materials Research Engineer
NASA Glenn Research Center
Senior Technology Fellow
Mr. Nathan Brooks
Associate Technical Fellow, Technical Lead Engineer
The Boeing Company
Student Leadership – Undergraduate Level
Mr. David Hill
Worldwide Sales Engineer Intern
Cisco Systems
Student Leadership – Undergraduate Level
Mr. Bright Tsagli
College Assistant
Bronx Community College
Technical Sales and Marketing
Mr. Karoom Brown
Senior Vice President, Business Development & Strategy
Leidos
The 2018 BEYA Gala will be held at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Amazon, Warren Buffet, and JPMorgan Chase Teaming Up to Provide Affordable Healthcare
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase are teaming up to take on healthcare. In a move that could shake-up the healthcare industry, the three massive companies announced Tuesday that they’ll be launching a new and independent healthcare company to improve employee satisfaction and to lower costs for US-based employees.
“The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy. Our group does not come to this problem with answers but we also do not accept it as inevitable,” said Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett in a released statement. “Rather, we share the belief that putting our collective resources behind the country’s best talent can, in time, check the rise in health costs while concurrently enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes.”
The three companies—which employ 1.1 million workers combined—will pursue launching an independent company that will be free from profit-making incentives and constraints. The group also hopes to draw on its combined capabilities and resources to take a fresh approach to these critical matters, the group said in a statement.
“The healthcare system is complex, and we enter into this challenge open-eyed about the degree of difficulty,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “Hard as it might be, reducing healthcare’s burden on the economy while improving outcomes for employees and their families would be worth the effort. Success is going to require talented experts, a beginner’s mind, and a long-term orientation.”
The initial focus of the new company will be on technology solutions that will provide employees and their families with simplified, high-quality, and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost, the group said in a statement.
“Our people want transparency, knowledge, and control when it comes to managing their healthcare,” Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase said. “The three of our companies have extraordinary resources, and our goal is to create solutions that benefit our U.S. employees, their families and, potentially, all Americans,” he added.
The idea—still in its early stages—will be jointly spearheaded by investment officers at Berkshire Hathaway; Marvelle Sullivan Berchtold, a managing director of JPMorgan Chase; and Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at Amazon. The longer-term management team, headquarters and key operational details are yet to be determined.
