December 22 - 28, 2019
Vol. 24, Issue 48
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
“At the end of the day, we must go forward with hope and not backward by fear and division.”
“Donʼt sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”
- Rev. Jesse Jackson
LIVING LEGEND Tom Joyner
DALLAS -- After 25 years on the air, the “Fly Jock” Tom Joyner has decided to pass the mic to someone else, and enter the glory days of retirement. “Twenty-five years ago, there was no template for a syndicated Urban radio show and we worked hard to prove that we could successfully produce and market a national platform that would entertain, inform and empower African-American listeners,” the 70-year-old radio legend said in a statement. Joyner famously hosted the nationally-syndicated “The Tom Joyner Morning Show,” and is also founder of Reach Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com. Joyner was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, and graduated Tuskegee Institute with a degree in sociology. In college, he joined the fraternity Omega Psi Phi. At first, his goal was to be a musician, and he joined a band, the Commodores, that included his college friend Lionel Richie, but the band did not make any money and his family encouraged him to seek another way to make a living. After that, Joyner got into broadcasting, beginning his career in Montgomery, Alabama, and continued on to work at a number of radio stations across the country. In 1985, Joyner was simultaneously offered two positions: one for a morning show in Dallas and one for an afternoon show in Chicago. Instead of choosing between the two, Joyner chose to take both jobs, and for eight years, he commuted daily by plane between the two cities, earning the nicknames “The Fly Jock” and “The Hardest Working Man in Radio”. In 1994, Joyner was signed by ABC Radio Networks to host TJMS, which he retired from on December 13, 2019.
- Madam C.J. Walker
Famous Acres Home restaurant continues ‘feeding needs of community’ year-round
OUR STORY December 22
Arthur Wergs Mitchell, the first African American to be elected to congress as a Democrat, is born (1883)
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Madam C.J. Walker - hair care entrepreneur, tycoon and philanthropist- born (1867)
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Alphonso Michael “Mike” Espy becomes first African American appointed as Secretary of Agriculture (1992)
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‘Tis the season of giving - all year long - especially when there is a community in need, a family who cares and values of giving back instilled across generations. The historic Burns Original BBQ in Houston’s Acres Homes neighborhood was opened in 1973 by the legendary pitmaster, Roy Burns Jr. nearly 50 years ago. See Story on Page 3
TECHNOLOGY
ENTERTAINMENT
COMMUNITY
Rev Jesse Jackson organizes Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity (1971)
26
Kwanzaa first celebrated (1966)
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Dr. Charles Richard Drew, pioneer of blood plasma research, establishes a pioneer blood bank in New York City (1941)
28
New App Alert: Find the closest Black Santa for the holidays
Is TIME Entertainer of the Year Lizzo’s body confidence a cry for attention?
Third Ward community builds to eliminate food desert with H-E-B Market
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Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington born (1954)