The Best Things To Happen To Black People In 2025 (So Far)

By Word In Black

• Cover girls. WNBA star Angel Reese and Olym­pic track and field phenom Gabby Thomas graced the cover of VOGUE for the magazine’s “When Sports Met Fashion” release. Decked in Versace and Tory Burch, Reese and Thomas shared how fashion has played a crucial role in their lives, with Reese proclaim­ing, “It’s always been both: Basketball and fashion.”
• Bringing home the gold. Actress Zoe Saldaña won her first Golden Globe for Best Supporting Female Actor – Motion Picture for her role in the hit film “Emilia Pérez.”
• Looking for a new social media home? With Black folks fleeing from Elon Musk’s increasingly hos­tile X and threats of TikTok bans still looming, Detroit-based Rahmaude String­field created Rueblur — a platform free from the lim­itations of traditional algo­rithms — to help redefine what it means to connect in the digital age.
• Black history is American history. New York City Pub­lic Schools will launch the Education Equity Action Plan (EEAP), a groundbreak­ing pre-K-12 Black stud­ies curriculum, in the 2024- 25 school year. As the first of its kind in the nation’s largest public school sys­tem, the EEAP aims to fos­ter a comprehensive under­standing of race for over 1 million students and pro­vide resources for educa­tors nationwide.
• Building Black wealth. Greenwood — a Black-founded, Black-led mobile financial platform — is empowering the Black community with tools to build, sustain, and grow wealth for a brighter future. Inspired by the legacy of the early 1900s Greenwood District, the platform aims to address how the finan­cial system continues to fall short of supporting Black folks.
• The Super Bowl just got Blacker. New Orleans art­ist Tahj Williams used Black Masking Indian methods of beading to build the Super Bowl LIX logo by hand. The stunning creation marks the first time the NFL has collaborated with a local artist on the creation of a Super Bowl logo.
• That’s how you do it. Fisk University junior Morgan Price became the first gym­nast from an HBCU to score a perfect score — also known as a “perfect 10” — for her bar routine in a tri-meet at Temple University.
• Get ready to shop. Winchel and Felicia Elibert are the first Black couple to open a shopping center in Fayetteville, Georgia. Just three months after King­dom Corner’s grand open­ing, all of its commercial spaces are fully leased.
• Who said Black folks can’t swim? The Howard University swim team — the nation’s only Division I HBCU swim program — won the Men’s Northeast Conference Champion­ship for the second time in 3 years. The women’s team also secured a 2nd place finish.
• Making a difference. Comedian, actor, and writer Cedric The Entertainer part­nered with the nonprofit Brotherhood Crusade to provide new Fiat cars to vic­tims of the Altadena, Cali­fornia wildfires.
• Black women make his­tory, together. Congrat­ulations to actor and pro­ducer Issa Rae and music icon Tems on becoming the new San Diego Foot­ball Club owners. The move ushers in history as Tems becomes the first Afri­can-born woman to own a Major League Soccer team.
• Record-breaker. Denzel Washington’s “Othello” set four house records at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City, grossing $2.6 million in its first week and topping the Broadway box office.
• The sky’s the limit. Spel­man College student Kamora Freeland makes his­tory as the youngest Black woman pilot in the coun­try and one of the young­est licensed aviators in U.S. history. She is licensed to fly a single-engine plane with up to 12 passengers.
• Way to go, TSU. The Texas Southern University debate team won the 35th Annual International Forensics Association’s Speech and Debate Tournament in Incheon, South Korea. This marks the team’s 5th inter­national championship.
• Learning knows no age. At just 13 years old, Joshua Suddith was accepted into Morehouse College. This incredible achievement breaks Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s record for the youngest student enrolled, who attended the HBCU at age 15 in 1944.
• Cover boy. Vogue’s May edition showed it recog­nizes A$AP Rocky’s status as a global fashion icon. Styled by famed African American image architect Law Roach, Rocky made history as the first Black male rapper to grace the fashion mag’s cover.
• Going, going, gone. LeB­ron James became the first professional athlete to receive his own Ken doll, and his signature figurines quickly sold out in retail­ers nationwide following the April 14 release. Bar­bie explained the choice in an Instagram post, saying: “ LeBron emerged from hum­ble inner-city begin­nings to become a basket­ball legend and activ­ist, vow­ing to give back to the community that raised him.”
• The Atlanta legends of OutKast earned their rightful place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, cementing André 3000 and Big Boi’s pioneering, South­ern hip-hop sound in music history. Their induction rep­resents a crucial acknowl­edgment of Black cultural innovation beyond tra­ditional rock boundaries, showcasing hip-hop’s pro­found impact on music.
• Setting the stage. Known for her roles in “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Gypsy,” actress Audra McDon­ald has become the most Tony-nominated performer in Broadway history, with 11 nominations. McDonald is also the only performer to win top honors in leading and featured categories for both musicals and plays.
• Omaha’s first Black mayor. Defeating a three-term GOP incumbent in a key political battleground, Democrat John Ewing Jr. made history as the first Black mayor of Omaha.
• Getting her flowers. The American History Museum awarded filmmaker Ava DuVernay the Great Amer­icans Medal for exemplify­ing “the highest ideals of artistry, altruism, and advo­cacy,” the museum’s direc­tor said in a statement.
• Another win for Angel Reese. The Chicago Sky sophomore is now the fast­est player in WNBA history to reach 500+ points and 500+ rebounds — doing it in just 38 games. She broke the previous 44-game record held by Tina Charles.
• Rebuilding Black neigh­borhoods. As residents of Altadena work to restore thousands of homes lost in January’s devastating Eaton Fire, a coalition of Black architects, engineers, and other professionals has founded the Altadena Rebuild Coalition to help with the rebuilding effort.
• A historic moment in L.A. Los Angeles unveiled a new street sign at the intersec­tion of King Boulevard and Malcolm X Way, dedicating a 5-mile section of Cren­shaw Boulevard to honor the late civil rights icon.
• Viola Davis makes cin­ematic history. The award-winning actress’s films — including The Woman King and Fences — have grossed over $15 bil­lion worldwide, making her the highest-grossing Black film actress in Hollywood history.
• “Sinners” keeps reach­ing new heights. The hit movie, directed by Ryan Coogler, is scheduled to air on HBO Max on July 4, offering viewers the chance to watch in Black American Sign Language. It’s the first time a streaming service has interpreted a film into BASL, Warner Bros. says.
• Reebok unveils Angel Reese’s signature shoe. The Chicago Sky forward is the first WNBA player in nearly three decades to receive a signature sneaker from Reebok. “Just a kid from Baltimore, turning dreams into reality and hoping I can inspire young women and men every­where to do the same,” Reese wrote on X. “The most brilliant diamonds take pressure, polish, and time. Reebok is back — and the diamonds are shining brighter than ever.”
• Not all heroes wear capes. Fousseynou Cissé is being honored after risking his life to save several people from a fire in Paris. Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said he would be awarding Cissé a medal “in recognition of his courage and dedication.”
• Beauty and talent. Gram­my-winning musician Doe­chii graced the cover of Brit­ish Vogue. In an Instagram post, the magazine praised her as “a creative visionary, a commensurate rapper, a singer worth her salt.”
• A legend on and off the court. NBA legend Michael Jordan is providing medi­cal access to the uninsured and underserved with a free clinic in North Carolina. The facility, which is one of four health centers Jor­dan has opened in the city, is expected to help thou­sands of residents receive much-needed care.
• Making her mark. Ayo Edebiri, known for her role on “The Bear,” has carved her name into Emmy his­tory by becoming the youngest Black woman to secure three acting nom­inations. Edebiri’s also the first woman to be nomi­nated for acting and direct­ing in the comedy catego­ries in the same year for her directing work on the “Nap­kins” episode.
• Landmark status pre­serves Black history in Los Angeles. A barber shop, a historic LGBTQ+ disco club, and the home of Los Ange­les’ first Black mayor are among six buildings that have received Historic-Cul­tural Monument (HCM) sta­tus as part of a project led by Getty and the City of Los Angeles’ Office of Historic Resources to preserve the city’s Black heritage.
• 10-year-old farmer receives full ride to HBCU. While on a visit to South Carolina State, Kendall Rae Johnson impressed the uni­versity’s president with her knowledge of microorgan­isms and crop counts, earn­ing an $83,500 scholarship to attend the university.
• Black books matter. Bowie State University grad Araba Maze — also known as “The Radical Street Librar­ian” — is increasing liter­ary access in underserved communities and helping kids learn to love reading. At her bookfairs and in her book vending machines, Maze prioritizes selections featuring diverse characters and voices so that all young readers can see themselves reflected in stories.
• A haven for Black trav­elers. Once a refuge for Black families seeking a safe place to rest and stop while traveling across the coun­try during the Jim Crow era, Threatt Filling Station in Luther, Oklahoma, is now honored with a Route 66 monument.
• Making HERstory. Florida A&M senior Oluwamodupe “Dupe” Oloyede makes his­tory by becoming the first female head drum major for the HBCU’s beloved Marching 100. “I am the dream fulfilled,” she said.
• Climate justice is racial justice. Georgia State Uni­versity received a $500,000 grant to establish the Gul­lah Geechee Sacred Land Project, aimed at preserv­ing the ancestral lands and cultural heritage of the Gul­lah Geechee people across Georgia and South Caro­lina. The project will focus on maintaining genealog­ical records, spiritual prac­tices, and protecting sacred burial sites from gentrifica­tion and climate threats.
• Supporting HBCUs. In honor of Huston-Tillotson University’s 150th anniver­sary, Ross Moody, trustee and vice president of The Moody Foundation, gifted the liberal arts university a $150 million donation — the single-largest donation ever given to an HBCU. Hus­ton-Tillotson’s president and CEO, Melva K. Wallace, said the donation is “truly going to help students.”
• A win for HBCUs. Billion­aire philanthropist MacK­enzie Scott has donated $70 million to UNCF, the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships to minority students, as it works to raise $1 billion for HBCUs. The gift is one of Scott’s largest single dona­tions ever.