All right, Pam, I got to say it.
January was bonkers.
We had a new year, celebrated Martin Luther King Day.
We got a new slash old president.
The Nintendo Switch 2 was announced.
L.A. was riddled with wildfires.
January felt like the longest year of my life, though I am very happy to report that the LA wildfires are now 100 contained.
Yes!
That's the energy I need going into February.
Isn't February Black History Month?
Yes, it is.
Want to do 10 things about Black History Month?
Of course I do.
I'm Pamela Kirkland.
It's Thursday, February 6th.
I'm Ryan Willard, and I'm so excited that I want to do a backflip.
No, no, no, no, no, Ryan.
I don't think you need to do... My pancreas.
Just keep going, Pam.
I'll be okay.
This is 10 Things You Need to Know.
It's officially Black History Month, an annual celebration of the achievements and history of African Americans in the United States.
Why do we celebrate in February?
Well, It began in 1915, when historian Carter G Woodson co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in response to the lack of public information on the accomplishments of Black people.
And in 1926 the association declared the second week of February Negro History Week to honor African-American achievements.
This week was chosen because it includes two very important people who took a stand against slavery.
Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who fought to end slavery, and President Abraham Lincoln, who led the United States in the Civil War, which was primarily fought over enslavement.
It wasn't until 1976 that President Gerald Ford declared it a month-long celebration to quote honor the too-often-neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.
So in today's episode we are honoring the movers and shakers of the past and present that empower Black Americans.
First up, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, a Baptist minister and activist who led the civil rights movement from the 1950s to 1960s.
You might know Dr King by his famous I Have a Dream speech from 1964 at the March for Jobs and Freedom, better known as the March on Washington.
That brought together over 250000 people.
But his actions spoke even louder than his words.
Here are a few of Dr. King's notable moments in history.
In 1955, Dr King served as the spokesperson for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a campaign led by African Americans in Montgomery Alabama, to desegregate the city's bus lines.
After more than 300 days of boycotting, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in transportation unconstitutional.
In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
For his leadership of the civil rights movement and worked to end racial injustice through peaceful protests.
And in 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, allowing African Americans to vote.
This came as a result of the March for Voting Rights that went from Selma Alabama, to Montgomery Alabama, led by Dr King.
Up next, the United States' first African American president, Barack Obama.
Former President Obama faced several challenges at the start of his term, from a financial crisis to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But he found ways to get our country back on the right track.
Some of his incredible work included an economic stimulus.
This is a government plan to better the economy and create more jobs.
And a health care reform, formerly known as the Affordable Care Act, the ACA that made health care more affordable for Americans.
As if becoming the first black president wasn't already impressive enough, President Obama also became the fourth president to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
There sure are a lot of firsts being recognized in this episode, so we may as well keep them coming.
On October 2nd 1967, a man by the name of Thurgood Marshall became the very first Black justice to serve on the US.
Supreme Court.
Thurgood had a grandfather who was enslaved, and he grew up during a time when racism was still a big issue.
But these hardships didn't stop him.
When it came time for college, he was denied admission to the University of Maryland because of their segregation policy, and instead received his law degree from Howard University.
He went on to file a lawsuit against the University of Maryland to fight for black students who were denied acceptance.
The lawsuit was a success and you may have heard of this one Brown v Board of Education, ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional.
A big thank you to Thurgood Marshall, who stood up for what is right and gave every student, no matter their race, a fair chance at education.
Our next mover and shaker ended up on the court, like Thurgood Marshall, but her big accomplishment came 55 years later.
In 2022.
Ketanji Brown Jackson made her story when she became the first Black female to serve on the Supreme Court.
Justice Jackson is a graduate of Harvard University, where she clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer while attending law school.
And coincidentally, Justice Breyer's seat is the one that Katonji Brown-Jackson took the place of, thanks to her nomination for the position by former President Joe Biden.
One more fun and impressive fact Katonji Brown-Jackson is also the very first former public defender to serve on the Supreme Court.
And now, a quick break.
Hey Tenors, do you like Lego?
We're doing a deep dive on Lego and we want to hear from you.
What do you love about Lego?
And what's your favorite set that you've built?
Or what's the coolest thing that you've built that wasn't an original set?
Leave us a review or email us at hello at the 10 news dot com.
And we might feature you on the upcoming Lego episode.
Let's get back to it.
We're back with a young black female who is changing the game of tennis immediately.
Coco Gauff.
And at just 20 years old, Gauff has won nine Women's Tennis Association-level singles titles and nine doubles titles, which also include big wins in the 2023 US.
Open, 2024 WTA Finals, and the 2024 French Open.
These winnings put her at a career-high WTA ranking of world number one in doubles and world number two in singles.
She made her tennis debut at the age of 15, competing in the 2019 Miami Open.
Shortly after, she received a wild card for the qualifying draw at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, becoming the youngest player in the tournament's history to qualify for the main draw.
She reached the fourth round of the tournament and defeated female tennis legend and one half of the duo we are spotlighting next, Venus Williams.
The dynamic duo that is Serena and Venus Williams defied all odds against the sport of tennis from a very young age.
Growing up in Compton, California.
The pair trained on run-down tennis courts and were coached by their father, who used tennis manuals and videos to learn how to instruct his daughters.
And it certainly worked.
Serena and Venus have both been ranked number one by the Women's Tennis Association in both singles and doubles.
Here's a look at some of their notable feats.
In 2002, following the French Open, Venus and Serena were ranked world number one and two, marking the first time in history that sisters held the top two spots.
Between 2000 and 2016, they collectively won 12 Wimbledon singles titles, with Serena at seven and Venus at five.
Then, between the 2001 U.S.
Open and the 2017 Australian Open.
The duo competed in nine major finals, becoming the first two players among male and female to contest four consecutive major singles finals.
But could Coco, Venus, and Serena beat me at table tennis, a.k.a. bing bong?
Yes, they would all certainly beat me.
We could go on and on about these legends, but we have to share the spotlight.
It's time to talk about one of my absolute favorite baseball legends, Jackie Robinson.
On April 15th 1947, Robinson became the first African-American major league baseball player when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Prior to that, since the 1880s, African Americans had to play in the Negro Leagues, a US professional baseball league specifically for black Americans.
But when the Dodgers signed Robinson, it brought an end to racial segregation in professional baseball.
During his tenure MLB career, Robinson won Rookie of the Year in 1947, became the first black player to win the MVP award in 1949, played in six World Series, one of which his team won in 1955, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
Our next changemaker is... Out.
Of.
This.
Quite literally was when he became the first African-American to fly into space.
Guillaume Bluford was one of three African-Americans to graduate from the 1978 NASA astronaut class, along with Ron McNair, who unfortunately passed away while aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, and Fred Gregory, who became a NASA deputy administrator.
The three always knew that one of them would be the first black astronaut to go to space.
Bluford at one point had told NASA that he probably told people he would probably prefer not being in that role because he figured being the number two guy would probably be a lot more fun.
But that changed when Bluford's first flight on the STS-8 aboard Challenger soared into space in August of 1983.
Speaking of Challengers...
Let's go to Owen for some trivia.
What is going on here?
Trivia of the 10.
Thanks, Rye.
This last Sunday was the 2035 Grammy Awards.
Kendrick Lamar's song, Not Like Us, swept all five categories it was nominated.
And Beyonce Made History won her album.
Cowboy Carter won Best Album.
And she became the first black woman in history to win a Grammy for the best country album.
For today's trivia, who was the first black woman to win a Grammy award?
Was it A. Aretha Franklin, B. Alicia Keys, C. Ella Fitzgerald, or D. Rihanna?
The answer is C.
Ella Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald was the first black female to win a Grammy at the Recording Academy's award show on May 4th 1959.
Also known as the First Lady of Song or the Queen of Jazz.
Ella made her first stage appearance at the Apollo Theater in 1939, where she won the first place in an amateur singing competition.
Fast forward to one year, Fitzgerald released her first song, A Tisket.
A Tasket, which became a hit and launched her singing career.
Ella Fitzgerald went on to sell more than 40 million albums, win 13 Grammys and receive both the Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award in 1979 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.
And that was 10 things you need to know about Black History Month.
You're not doing backflips anymore to celebrate, right, Rye?
I was thinking about doing a front flip, actually.
Nope.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Hold off on that because we got to give 10 new snaps to one of our listeners.
Oh, yeah.
And before that, we have a quick note for the grownups.
It's time for 10 new snaps.
A tenor named Bennyboy123 said, 1.
I hate butterflies.
1.
Bit me.
2.
I really like the podcast.
3.
I completely agree with Ryan on butterflies.
4.
Please add to 10 new snaps.
And five, I felt like adding a number five.
Thank you for writing in, Bennyboy123.
That was hands down the most relatable review I've gotten in a long time.
Wait.
You can bite me?
That's a thing?
And two extra notes for the grown-ups.
You can now get ad-free versions of our episodes when you join the Tenors Club on our website.
And if you want to help support The 10 News, you can make a tax-deductible donation at the link in our show notes.
The whole team thanks you for your support.
The 10 News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.
The 10 News creative team is getting down to the Cowboy Carter album and includes Tracy, Notta Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino Bernard, Brian Not Ryan Douglas, and Carson Not-So-Harry Potter.
Big thanks to Owen not slowing down for anybody.
Our production director is Jeremiah on fire.
Tittle and our executive producers are Donald, not dim, but all bright.
And show creator Tracy takes the leads.
Kaplan.
I'm Pamela Kirkland.
And I'm Ryan Willard.
Thanks for listening to the 10 News.
