Crystal Good
West Virginia's Crystal Good is the founder of Black Appalachia Council
BLAC West Virginia
West Virginia is one of the vulnerable states that Data Center buildouts are underway
MOTOWN
MOTOR CITY
Where the rubber meets the road, testing, adapting, and assembling the blocks, parts, and pieces to drive a culture, rooted heavily in automobiles, travel, and fortunately for Berry Gordy THE FOUNDATION for what became a world phenomenon. Car culture, the one that was made famous then infamous is ROOTED in music. Many Americans at the time knew what a "scoreboard" was, for it determined who was winning the game, showing two sides at "war" on the field, the radio became the field in which talented American artists could be HEARD and the listener could decide for themselves which artists were making GOOD, LONG LASTING music.
ROCK & ROLL
Many may attribute good music to the days of rock n roll, we'll come back to that, but many don't know that music has carried people going way back through all sorts of changing landscapes at various speeds and conditions.
The bottom line is that inside of human beings there are certain strings, that when plucked resonate, and when they resonate harmoniously this is when people become lovers of the music that vibrates within them.
It took a group of young lads from the United Kingdom to hear, listen, and love sounds they had never heard before. These sounds, rhythms and the people behind them came from the Southern United States, "blues" traditions, which had been perfected over time by musicians expressing their lives hopes and wants in wooden shacks and ramshackle bars wherever drinks could be served. The lads in the UK became world famous and they do and have earned the credit for making what we all know today as the term Rock n Roll. There are many lads but the ones who best represent this entry are the Rolling Stones. We recognize ALL the UK bands and the American bands that did the same thing by recognizing a certain type of music that was the rival to the mainstream music and artists that the society would rather these kids and people to hear. There were several women who were TOP level performers, many don't know about the guitar playing Rosetta Tharpe "The Godmother of Rock and Roll". This legend had it all, the looks, the style, and the talent to deliver on stage, and for this she deserves the awards and accolades.
DETROIT
Paulette Simpson, CBE
Paulette Simpson, deputy chief executive officer of JN Bank UK- Britain’s first Caribbean-owned bank- poses with her insignia, denoting her appointment to the Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She is seen here posing with her insignia at a dinner organised by the JN Group in her honour. Ms Simpson was officially presented with the instrument of her appointment at Windsor Castle by Prince Charles on December 8. Ms Simpson, who has been named for the fourth consecutive year among Britain’s Most Influential People of African and Caribbean Heritage, was born in Britain to Jamaican parents and raised in Walderston, Manchester, Jamaica by her grandmother, Violet Simpson. She is also executive director of Britain’s only national British Afro-Caribbean weekly newspaper, The Voice.
Keep It Moving
Life Is A Journey
In the modern age, the movement of people has been a step forward in both vehicles and destinations to explore. Traveling to and fro at speeds which allow for both comfort and the ability to see a moving canvas rolling at whatever speed your foot is regulating.
CAR CULTURE
America's car culture speaks for itself haven given rise to iconic movies with cars as stars mostly speeding from stoplight to stoplight. Bragging rights, women, and sex played compelling enough roles in America's car culture, it birthed a music and term called "Rock n Roll" attributed to backseat activities adults might have been getting up to. The Rocking and Rolling of the car is where we get the gumption to have inspired the motion of the ocean and any accompanying sounds of cars and people, a certain class of people began in earnest to "Try Out" this new craze, ROCK & ROLL MUSIC CAME LATER
DRIVING THE POINT
One of the reasons America's culture of cars and highways grew exponentially involved radio, namely music, better yet music with rhythm getting your blood pumping is good for the system, keeping a steady rhythm is enjoyed by many, although when not steady, rough roads can get bumpy.
MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE
MUSIC IS A DRIVER
Evelyn Magley
Evelyn Magley is the first woman to own a professional sports league.
She is the CEO of The Basketball League (TBL) and Basketball Super League (BSL), a five-year-old organization that is larger in footprint than the NBA G League, with a total of 44 professional teams in the United States and Canada. By design, TBL gives back to local communities through events and activities that empower youth.
Evelyn is an in-demand speaker due to her accomplishments, passion, and subject matter expertise. After a long career as a music teacher and fundraiser, she pivoted at 60 to do the impossible and start a men’s pro basketball league.
Margaret Busby CBE
Margaret Yvonne Busby, CBE, Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK.
She was Britain's youngest publisher as well as the first black female book publisher in the UK when she and Clive Allison (1944–2011) co-founded
the London-based publishing house Allison and Busby (A & B) in the 1960s. She edited the anthology Daughters of Africa (1992), and its 2019 follow-up
New Daughters of Africa. She is a recipient of the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature. In 2020, she was voted one of the "100 Great Black Britons".
In 2021, she was honoured with the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2023, Busby was named as president of English PEN.