history

Five Richmond-area entrepreneurs complete Goldman Sachs’ latest Black in Business program

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

Local Black women business owners are not just participants in the business world —they are leaders, innovators, and changemakers!

Erin Stanley
Janique Washington
Keona Knight

RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 7, 2025 – Richmond is buzzing with entrepreneurial spirit, and leading the charge are dynamic Black women entrepreneurs who are reshaping the business landscape.

In a groundbreaking initiative, five phenomenal Richmond-area women have graduated from the largest cohort yet of Goldman Sachs’ program, “One Million Black Women: Black in Business.” Launched in February 2022, this program offers a free, tailored business education program in partnership with NYU Stern School of Business to empower sole proprietors to overcome challenges and thrive. In a recent survey of Black in Business graduates, 65% of alumni reported increasing revenues, 90% believe the program gave them tools to innovate, and 94% of Black in Business alumni are optimistic about future growth.

The legacy of trailblazers such as Maggie L. Walker and MBL continues to inspire new generations of entrepreneurs.

Meet the trailblazers who are December 2024 graduates of the “One Million Black Women: Black in the Business” program:

·      Joli Aslan, the visionary behind CapConx Management Solutions;

·      Shirley Crawford, the dynamic force at 2nd Chance Consulting;

·      Keonna Knight, the inspiring CEO and courage coach of Heal with Keonna;

·      Erin Stanley, the compassionate psychotherapist and founder of Honey Bee Therapy;

·      Janique Washington, the innovative cranial prosthetics specialist at The Chic Studio.

These women describe their experience with the “Black in Business” program as “phenomenal,” “transformative,” and “life-changing.” Keonna Knight likened it to a hands-on business school, emphasizing the practical, actionable insights she gained. Joli Aslan shared how the program fueled her confidence to dream bigger, while Shirley Crawford is already revamping her business with newfound passion and fire.

The program not only equipped the women with a one-year action plan, but also connected them to a vibrant network of like-minded entrepreneurs, a crucial support system for solo entrepreneurs. As Janique Washington noted, this sense of belonging is invaluable.

“I was honestly blown away,” Aslan said, noting she sees her developed confidence to dream bigger dreams as a payoff already.

But it wasn’t only good feelings that participants left with. They each also developed a one-year action plan over the 12-week course and already began the first steps in implementing it.

Crawford has begun changing her website and creating new programs.

“It [the program] has helped me to really think about my business from scratch and revamp my focus,” she said. “I’m feeling super passionate and so on fire.”

Stanley’s focus has been on time management – something she says the program taught her is paramount if she wants to expand her impact and her income. However, she gained something else – a wide network of women from different backgrounds and fields to connect with.

This was a bonus important to all five women because, as Washington added, being a solo entrepreneur can be lonely.

“Just having people available gives you a sense of belonging, and that’s something that I didn’t have before,” she said.

When asked what encouragement they have for other Black women with entrepreneurial dreams, the resounding answer of the group was, “Go for it!”

“There are lots of opportunities available and out there,” Stanley said. “So use your voices because they matter.”

Richmond Free Press Article, Feb. 13, 2025

Continuing legacy of the Obama presidency focus of VCU 2025 Black History Month Lecture

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

From VCU Libraries Website

A collage of Dr. Crystal M. Moten and the proposed model of the Obama Presidential Center

Recent history and future community-building will be the focus of VCU Libraries’ annual Black History Lecture Feb 4, 2025, “Building a Home for Change: The Obama Presidential Center.”

The Center’s Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Dr. Crystal M. Moten, will provide an  overview of the Obama Presidential Center focusing on the center’s museum exhibits. She will: explore the ways the exhibits are rooted in a larger, complex discussion about democracy; highlight the historical predecessors who made President and Mrs. Obama’s stories possible; and share the museum’s storytelling goals as they relate to the events, policies, challenges and accomplishments of the Obama Presidency. In harnessing the power of storytelling, the Center hopes to inspire all of its visitors to push for change within their own communities.

The Obama Presidential Center (OPC) will open in Chicago in spring 2026. Set in historic Jackson Park, in the heart of the city’s south side, the center spans 19 acres and will feature a fruit and vegetable garden; an athletic, programs, and events facility; a world-class museum; an auditorium; a branch of the Chicago Public Library; and more.

The Center, through its mission, museum and programs, will be a physical demonstration of how making change at home is the most meaningful way to participate in democracy and impact the world.

The speaker is a public historian, curator and writer who focuses on the intersection of race, class and gender to uncover the hidden histories of Black people in the Midwest. In 2022, Moten joined the Obama Foundation as the inaugural Curator of Collections and Exhibitions on the Presidential Center Museum team. She plays a key role in the collaborative effort to complete the design and implementation of the inaugural exhibits while also serving as the primary steward and subject matter expert of the Obama Foundation Museum Collection. Moten supervises and manages the curatorial team and its activities.

She has been researching African American life, history, culture, politics and work for nearly two decades and sees her work at the Obama Center as a  “culminating moment in terms of bringing together the personal, professional, and the intellectual.”

In an online interview, Moten put the project in perspective: 

         â€śFor the Obama Presidential Center, we really want people to understand that it was a collective set of actions that got President Obama to where he is today. We are telling the story and the history of President Obama becoming the nation’s first Black president. We are explaining the buildup that happened way before 2008, focusing on what led to President Obama’s historic victory, diving into the eight years of his administration, the pushback and the obstruction that happens at the end of his administration, and civic action that empowers everyone to engage in democracy.

         â€śWe want to show that together we can create the change we desire. All of our small actions added together is what moves the mountain. What history tells us is that change takes time. And I think that’s what the Presidential Center also shows. The way in which we agitate for change and the time that it takes, it’s not going to happen immediately. It didn’t happen over eight years. There’s still work to be done.”

Prior to joining the Obama Foundation, Moten served as Curator of African American History in the Division of Work and Industry at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. There, she stewarded collections as they related to the history of African Americans in business and labor; collaborated on several exhibitions; wrote for the Museum’s blog; and helped start, produce, and host “Collected,” a Smithsonian Podcast on African American History. She also reviewed and appeared on documentaries for the Smithsonian Channel including, She the People: Votes for Women.

The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Moten has taught at colleges and universities across the country including the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Dickinson College; Macalester College; and American University. Her research has appeared in books, journals, documentaries and other media. 

A lifetime member of the Association of Black Women Historians, she serves on the Board of Directors for the Midwestern History Association and the Labor and Working Class History Association; the Executive Committee of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History; as well as the Board of Editors for the American Historical Review. 

Her most recent, award-winning book is Continually Working: Black Women, Community Intellectualism and Economic Justice in Postwar Milwaukee (Vanderbilt University Press, 2023). 

She studied African American Studies and anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis and received a master’s degree in African-American Studies and a doctorate in history from the University of Wisconsin Madison.   

Registration is now open. The lecture is free and open to all. Seating is limited. The lecture will be held at James Branch Cabell Library at 7 p.m. Feb. 4, 2025. 

VCU Libraries’ Black History Month Lecture is supported by the Francis M. Foster Fund. [https://www.support.vcu.edu/give/fund?fund=4924]  Francis Merrill Foster Sr., DDS, was an assistant professor of general-practice dentistry at Virginia Commonwealth University and a retired Richmond dentist. The unofficial historian of Jackson Ward, Foster was known for his health-care advocacy and for his desire to improve the lives of those around him.

COMMUNITY MLK CELEBRATION

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

Michele Norris will deliver the 2025 Community MLK Celebration keynote address on January 30, 2025. An on-stage discussion with Melody Barnes, executive director of UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, will follow.

January 30, 2025 at 6:00 PM

The Paramount Theater

This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are available via the Paramount Theater website here.

Michele Norris, MSNBC Senior Contributing Editor, former Washington Post columnist, former NPR “All Things Considered” host, Peabody Award-winner
An award-winning journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and one of the most recognized voices in radio, Michele Norris engages audiences in candid discussion about current events, social issues, and bridging the divide in America.

From the radio airwaves of NPR to The Washington Post to her current role as MSNBC Senior Contributor, Michele Norris is one of the most trusted voices in American journalism.

For a decade, as host of National Public Radio’s longest-running program, “All Things Considered,” she captivated audiences nationwide while earning some of journalism’s highest honors. As a Washington Post Opinions Columnist, Norris sparked important dialogue on current events, social issues and the power to make change. At MSNBC she brings her compelling insights to cover current events as a Senior Contributing Editor.

Norris is also host of “Your Mama’s Kitchen,” an acclaimed podcast produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s media company. With an incredible range of guests including actors, authors, chefs, and musicians, she explores family histories, memories, and cultures through rich conversations flowing from the simple prompt: “Tell me about your mama’s kitchen.”

On stage, Norris inspires open and honest dialogue, with memorable stories and fascinating perspectives drawn from her personal journey, investigative research, and interviews with world leaders, Nobel Laureates and influential newsmakers. She makes complex and taboo issues remarkably accessible. Audiences walk away empowered to stimulate discussion around challenging topics within their communities.

Melody Barnes, Executive Director, UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy
As the founding executive director of the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, Melody Barnes guides the organization on an action-oriented path to realizing democracy in both principle and practice. 

Barnes is a dedicated public servant with more than 25 years of experience crafting public policy. She served in the administration of President Barack Obama as assistant to the president and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Earlier in her career, Barnes was executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress and chief counsel to the late Senator Ted Kennedy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Barnes started her career in New York as an associate at Shearman & Sterling. 

Barnes earned her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated with honors in history, and her JD from the University of Michigan. In addition to her role at the Karsh Institute, Barnes is the J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance at UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, a distinguished fellow at UVA’s School of Law, and co-founder of the domestic-policy strategy firm MB2 Solutions. She is an inaugural recipient of the 2024-25 Chautauqua Perry Fellowship in Democracy, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the boards of directors of several corporate, non-profit, and philanthropic organizations.

Presented by the Division for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in partnership with the School of Data Science and the Karsh Institute of Democracy.

The University of Virginia is committed to providing universal access to all of our events. Please contact Shai Sawyer at skb2gj@virginia.edu to request disability-related accommodations. Examples of accommodations may include real-time captioning, ASL-English interpreting services, accessible digital copies of programs, accessible seating, and accessible parking. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accommodations. Please contact us at least seven days prior to the start of this event.

https://mlk.virginia.edu/keynote-event-michele-norris

Walk A Mile In Their Shoes Heritage Walk-a-Thon

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

SAVE THE DATE: Nov. 2, 9:30 am to 3:30 pm., Cumberland, Va.

Tuskegee Rosenwald Pine Grove School. Photo Courtesy AMMD Pine Grove Project.
Dr. Booker T. Washington. Photo Courtesy AMMD Pine Grove Project.
Former students, Tuskegee Rosenwald Pine Grove School. Photo Courtesy AMMD Pine Grove Project.

The AMMD Pine Grove Project will celebrate the completion of the NPS African American Civil Rights grant-funded stabilization construction work at the historic Tuskegee Rosenwald Pine Grove School, 267 Pinegrove Rd, Cumberland, Va 23040 with a Walk A Mile In Their Shoes Heritage Walk-a-Thon and Schoolyard Jamboree. The celebration will take place at the historic site on Saturday, November 2, 2024, from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.

 Attendees will relive history by walking the same route as many of the students who attended Pine Grove, through storytelling by Pine Grove alumni, and reenactments of schoolyard games, and of a typical day at Pine Grove School. Over 100 years ago, philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and founding president of Tuskegee Institute, Dr. Booker T. Washington met to address the lack of schools to educate Black children in the segregated South.

From this collaboration, the Rosenwald Fund and the Rural Community Schools building program were formed, and over 5000 schools were built in Black communities from 1913-1934. Pine Grove School, built in 1917, afforded generations of Black students living in the Pine Grove community a quality education from 1917 to 1964.

The AMMD (Agee, Miller, Mayo, Dungy) Pine Grove Project is collaborating with community members and partners to preserve this significant historic resource in Cumberland County. The AMMD Pine Grove Project is a 501c3 tax exempt grassroots organization that continues to support the educational legacy of its founders and preserves the cultural heritage of the school and community. For information, contact: Sonja Branch-Wilson and Cheryl Belt-Jackson.

For more details, please visit: http://www.ammdpinegroveproject.com/