by | Jun 10, 2022 4:39 pm | Comments (16)
Symbol of a new NHFD era: Firefighters Shy Floyd and Shemica Foreman.
Maya McFadden Photo
Firefighters sport Juneteenth T-shirts.
Saving lives and celebrating Juneteenth are on the agenda this month for the New Haven Fire Department (NHFD).
by | May 18, 2022 9:27 am | Comments (7)
Maya McFadden Photos
Harp unveils mayoral portrait.
Photos with Harp were in high demand at Tuesday's portrait unveiling.
Virtuous. A leader. Unique. A powerhouse. Poised. A quiet storm. Empathetic. Committed.
Those were among the words that accompanied a joyous ceremonial unveiling and installation in City Hall of the official portrait of former Mayor Toni N. Harp.
by | Apr 29, 2022 10:10 am | Comments (10)
Ronald Thomas Rendition
Artist's rendering of Lucretia.
We don’t know where in Africa Lucretia was born. We don’t know where she’s buried. We do know where she lived in New Haven — and Ann Garrett Robinson and Steven Winter are working, four centuries later, to make sure her name lives on there.
Continue reading ‘Petition Drive Supports "Lucretia's Corner"’
by | Apr 11, 2022 9:53 am | Comments (3)
Addys Castillo beamed as she looked at the crowd assembled Saturday evening for the inaugural show of bomba group Proyecto Cimarrón. To her, it was fitting that the show be held where it was, at the Citywide Youth Coalition on Chapel Street, which Castillo referred to as the Black and Brown Power Center. “This space is a space for liberation,” she said. “A place for people to laugh, have joy, and plan revolution.”
by | Apr 4, 2022 9:15 am | Comments (5)
Maya McFadden Photos
Monty Alexander performs alongside T.K Blue.
Arriving at the show with my folks.
My dad leaned over from the left and pointed to the stage, where Jamaican Jazz pianist Monty Alexander was holding down his piano keys on particular notes and chords to emphasize them.
“Jazz is made up of accents,” my dad informed me.
To my right side my I heard my stepmother hum the words to a Bob Marley tune.
by | Mar 28, 2022 11:53 am | Comments (1)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
Nisaa Monk Williams performs at Stetson.
Old-school jazz brought audience members of all ages to their feet dancing at the new Stetson Library Branch, during “A Celebration of Jazz,” put on in collaboration by the Shubert Theatre, Monk Youth Jazz, the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation, and the New Haven Free Public Library.
The event, held Saturday, showcased performances by the band Chill, featuring members of Thelonius Monk’s family and Monk Youth Jazz students.
Continue reading ‘Thelonious Monk's Legacy Jazzes Up Stetson’
by | Mar 21, 2022 5:22 pm | Comments (9)
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Diane Brown at entrance to new Stetson Branch Library.
Diane Brown swung open the door Monday morning to a long-awaited new, enhanced neighborhood library and community anchor at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Foote Street, with lots more room, more books, and more to do.
by | Mar 7, 2022 9:27 am | Comments (0)
Young event attendees sing — and show off their outfits for the evening, which they described as "pajamas," dashikis and "normal church clothes."
Voices and spirits were lifted Saturday night during Hamden’s Mount Zion Seventh-Day Adventist Church’s annual Black history celebration.
by | Mar 3, 2022 4:47 pm | Comments (0)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
Retired Judge Angela Robinson Thursday at Mauro-Sheridan.
Retired state judge Angela Robinson visited students at Mauro-Sheridan Thursday for the 24th consecutive year — partly in honor of a late educator who first brought her to the school, partly in honor of another woman poised to make history on the bench.
Continue reading ‘Judge Robinson Invokes Judge Jackson On 24th Mauro-Sheridan Rendezvous’
by | Feb 23, 2022 1:52 pm | Comments (8)
ConnCORP image
Rendering of redeveloped Dixwell Plaza, with outdoor public space.
Imagine jazz festivals at a new 350-seat theater on Dixwell Avenue. And a mural celebrating the neighborhood’s rich history of Black art. And a landscaped public plaza replete with sculptures and furniture and dance, poetry, and hip hop.
A local redevelopment team heard those hopes, dreams, and visions during a community meeting focused on the cultural potential of a transformed Dixwell Plaza.
Continue reading ‘Plaza Redevelopers Dream Big For Dixwell Art’
by | Feb 22, 2022 6:31 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Local leaders at Tuesday's celebration.
The late New Haven born civil rights leader and federal judge Constance Baker Motley will get her due, if U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro succeeds in a mission in Washington.
Continue reading ‘Congressional Medal In Sight For Constance Baker Motley’
by | Feb 21, 2022 9:52 am | Comments (9)
Brian Slattery Photo
The crowd Sunday at Bloom Black History event.
Book lovers descended Sunday on Bloom to sample not only the assortment of flowers and soaps, but the works of James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, Colson Whitehead, and Jesmyn Ward — brought into the Edgewood Avenue lifestyle store and gathering place courtesy of Bamn Books, a New Haven-based mobile bookstore that focuses on the literature of the African diaspora.
by | Feb 14, 2022 10:10 am | Comments (16)
(Update Monday 1:39 PM: After this article appeared, Facebook changed its mind and allowed Promise to boost the Black History Month posts.)
Facebook didn’t want you to look at the above post. Facebook considers it too “sensitive.”
by | Feb 11, 2022 3:42 pm | Comments (20)
Price's rendering of repurposed Walt's Cleaners building.
Jason Price at Dixwell community meeting.
Walt’s Cleaners on Dixwell Avenue is long gone, but Black-owned business doesn’t have to be.
by | Feb 4, 2022 2:16 pm | Comments (0)
As Scot X Esdaile prepares to fly to L.A. to receive a lifetime achievement award on national TV, he hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to be the young turk crashing the gates inn New Haven.
Continue reading ‘National Award Honors Esdaile's Activist Path’
by | Jan 16, 2022 10:32 am | Comments (10)
Maya McFadden Photos
Pastor Kennedy D. Hampton Sr. on Saturday march, beside father's poster.
The 52nd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Love March trekked in 10-degree weather Saturday through the streets of Goatville and Upper State.
Continue reading ‘For 52nd Year, MLK Love Marchers Brave The Cold’
by | Jan 12, 2022 2:40 pm | Comments (7)
Samod Rankins and Gary Tinney: New Haven firefighters sounding the diversity alarm in Hamden FD.
Two “Firebirds” who pressed the fight for racial justice in New Haven’s fire department have set their sights across municipal lines — in hopes of using their lived experience to help Hamden’s department reflect the increasingly diverse town it serves.
by | Dec 18, 2021 6:21 pm | Comments (16)
ConnCORP rendering
Dixwell Plaza’s redevelopers won their final needed city approval to undertake an estimated $185 million overhaul of the fraying mid-century shopping strip — and turn it into a bustling mix of apartments, stores, and cultural venues in the heart of New Haven’s historic Black neighborhood.
by | Dec 14, 2021 9:34 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photos
This year's NCNW honorees.
The New Haven section of the National Council of Negro Women Inc. (NCNW) celebrated 45 years of “triumphing together” this past Saturday with the community.
Continue reading ‘National Council Of Negro Women Honor "She-roes" -- & 1 "He-ro"’
by | Nov 10, 2021 1:24 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
Frank E. Brady at WNHH FM.
Shout-out to Miss Henderson: You lit the spark that led to Frank E. Brady versifying for a worldwide audience to mark an historic moment.
by | Nov 6, 2021 8:35 pm | Comments (5)
Maya McFadden Photo
Henry Fernandez, Jacqueline Bracey, Jeanette Morrison, Toni Harp, and Malcolm Welfare help cut the Q ribbon Saturday.
Hundreds celebrated the reopening of Dixwell’s newly restored Community “Q” House Saturday with hope for the future and a nod to history.
by | Nov 5, 2021 8:49 am | Comments (11)
The newly rebuilt Q House, ready to reopen Saturday after 18 years.
Maya McFadden Photo
Jeanette Morrison and Henry Fernandez, leading a tour inside.
Seniors in the morning. Kids in the afternoon. Other adults at night.
That’s one way of looking at the planned rhythm of the newly rebuilt Dixwell Community “Q” House, which opens Saturday with a festive ribbon-cutting celebration of a decade of community working.
by | Nov 4, 2021 10:41 am | Comments (6)
When we argue about statues and historic monuments, what fundamental questions are we discussing —or not discussing?
by | Oct 20, 2021 10:23 am | Comments (5)
Brian Slattery Photos
Minto.
At Artspace on Monday, as part of the Open Source Festival, artist Allison Minto was on hand to continue her deep dive into New Haven’s Black community, helping people preserve their own familial past while marking a moment of time in the present.
by | Oct 13, 2021 11:35 am | Comments (9)
Among the top 100 (clockwise from top left): Michael Jefferson, Barbara Fair, Gary Winfield, Erik Clemons, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Marcella Nunez Smith.
Almost a quarter of the state’s most influential Black people wield that influence from right here in New Haven.
Continue reading ‘Dozens Of New Haveners Among State’s “100 Most Influential Blacks”’
