Our Stories Media and Publishing

28/04/2024

Wealth building

25/04/2024

https://blackamericaweb.com/2024/04/24/10-black-celebrity-brands-that-are-taking-over-the-industry/?omcamp=es-baw-nl

Our favorite stars enchant us on the big screen and the centerstage, but they’re extending their talent to shelves as well. These are some of the best celeb-owned skincare, hair care and makeup bra…

25/04/2024

Slang, hmmm.

20/04/2024

Stevie!

Lula Mae Hardaway, was a songwriter and mother of musical genius 'Stevie Wonder. She co-wrote many of Stevie's songs during the early years of his career. She was co-nominated for the 1970 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for co-writing 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

—Lula was born Jan 11th 1930 in Eufaula, Alabama but spent her early adult life in Saginaw, Michigan before moving to Los Angeles in 1975 where she remained until her passing on May 31st 2006.

She co-wrote several of her son's songs, including "I Was Made To Love Her", "Signed Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours", "You Met Your Match" and "I Don't Know Why I Love You". Two of these tracks also appeared on Stevie's 1968 album "For Once In My Life" and another two, ""I Wanna Make Her Love Me" and "Ain't No Lovin'", were also co-penned by Lula.

For co-writing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered", she was co-nominated for the 1970 Grammy Award For Best R&B Song.

14/04/2024

Health is the real wealth

28/03/2024

2024 Life Lesson and game changer: Not all storms come to destroy your life, sometimes they come to clear your path.

30/06/2023

Hustle Harder

07/06/2023

Tems, Ckay and Burna Boy. This Black Music Month, The Root examines top Afrobeats artists, and the genre that's got everyone dancing on social media.

12/05/2023

24/09/2021

Pioneering Surgeon

Dr. Bath, a groundbreaking ophthalmologist who invented what is considered one of the most important surgical tools in history is being honored.

14/07/2021

Ms. Biddy Mason

Biddy Bridget Mason (1815-1891) was born into slavery and given as a wedding gift to a Mormon couple in Mississippi named Robert and Rebecca Smith. In 1847 at age 32, Biddy Mason was forced to walk from Mississippi to Utah tending cattle behind her master’s 300-wagon caravan.

After four years in Salt Lake City, Smith took the group to a new Mormon settlement in San Bernardino, California in search of gold. Biddy Mason soon discovered that the California State Constitution made slavery illegal, and that her master planned to move them all to Texas to avoid freeing them. With the help of some free blacks she had befriended, she and the other slaves attempted to run away to Los Angeles, but they were intercepted by Smith and brought back. However, when he tried to leave the state with his family and slaves, a local posse prevented his flight. Biddy had Robert Smith brought into court on a writ of habeas corpus. She, her daughters, and the ten other slaves were held in jail for their own safety until the judge heard the case and granted their freedom.

Now free, Mason and her three daughters moved to Los Angeles where they worked and saved enough money to buy a house at 331 Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. Biddy was employed as a nurse, midwife, and domestic servant. She was one of the first black women to own land in the city of Los Angeles. She had the gumption to use part of her land as a temporary resting place for horses and carriages, and people visiting town paid money in exchange for the space. This can be considered the first "parking lot" in Los Angeles!

Knowing what it meant to be oppressed and friendless, Biddy Mason immediately began a philanthropic career by opening her home to the poor, hungry, and homeless. Through hard work, saving, and investing carefully, she was able to purchase large amounts of real estate including a commercial building, which provided her with enough income to help build schools, hospitals, and churches. Her financial fortunes continued to increase until she accumulated a fortune of almost $300,000. In today's money, that would be $6M. Her most noted accomplishment is the founding of the First AME Church in California.