Succumbs

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
May 26 2011

Barden made history in entertainment business

Business was Don H. Barden’s the life blood.

The Inkster, Mich., native (Inkster is suburb of Detroit) launched his first enterprise at age 9, when he built a wooden stand and sold the vegetables his family raised to motorists passing by.
From that point until his death last Thursday at age 67 from lung cancer, Barden pursued his goal of showing how well a person of humble origins like his could do.

Stanley O. Williford  |   OW Editor
Feb 24 2011

Traded to L.A. Rams for nine players

The best football player some say they ever saw—Ollie Matson—will be laid to rest some time in early March. Funeral arrangements for Matson are pending.

Matson’s nephew, Art Thompson III, a sports writer, said his 80-year-old uncle had been bedridden for years due to dementia, possibly caused at least in part to the pummeling he took as a running back over 14 seasons with mediocre teams. Matson died recently of respiratory failure.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Jan 20 2011

Passed bar on 48th try

An estimated 800 people paid their final respects to former Compton City Councilman and civic activist Maxcy Dean Filer during services at Love and Unity Fellowship Church in Compton.
The Marianna, Ark., native, who was 80, died following a lingering illness.

Filer, who arrived in Los Angeles after serving in the Army in Okinawa, developed a love of law that he would quietly go on to use to influence others to consider the field.

Oct 11 2010

Grammy winning soul singer

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Grammy-winning soul singer Solomon Burke, known for the 1964 hit "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love,'' apparently suffered a heart attack and died on a flight from Los Angeles to Amsterdam on Sunday. He was 70.

Burke, who was due to perform Tuesday in Amsterdam, was declared dead when the plane landed at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, according to published reports.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Sep 30 2010

Artist succumbs

What made the work of internationally known visual artist Varnette Patricia Honeywood so special was that she created images that connected African Americans with their roots.

So, if you saw the image of women in the kitchen hovering around the stove and pressing their hair, or two women whispering to one another sitting on a church pew, you immediately said “I remember that.”

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.