With Black History Month less than three months away, there is one name that will soon be on everyone’s lips: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King’s legacy and powerful words continue to inspire, challenge, and motivate.  To ensure the continuance of that legacy, Harry Johnson is spearheading the campaign for a national memorial in honor of Dr. King. 

As President of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc., a project of Alpha Phi Alpha, Johnson is in-charge of the fundraising, design, and construction of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial.

Johnson recently spoke with Sixshot.com about the one-hundred million dollar project, why it’s relevant, why arguments against the erection of the   more »

H2bid.com, an African-American company, is a finalist in the Forbes.com "Boost Your Business" contest.  H2bid is an online exchange that provides vendors with access to water utility contracts from around the world.  It is a leader in the water industry. 

H2bid was formed in January 2006, with the vision of providing the first universally accessible global marketplace for water utilities and contractors. By bringing together water-system planners and bidding contractors, H2bid offers increased visibility to municipal and regional water projects around the globe. This wider and more open competition should result in more competitive contracts and a lower overall cost of water system maintenance.

Out of almost 1,000 businesses, only 5 were selected as finalists.  H2bid is owned by Glenn Oliver, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.  Jaison Oliver, the Executive Vice President, is also an Alpha man.  H2bid is the only black-owned company in the final round.  The winning company will receive $100,000.  The winner will be determined, in part, by online votes.   more »

Fraternities and sororities have less than a month to measure up.

Greek organizations must complete a 49-page evaluation and turn it in to the student development office by Dec. 1 to prove they've met standards set by the university.

The Greek Standards, which evaluates the progress and achievements of Greek organizations, replaced the Greek Millennium Initiative this fall. The GMI had been in place since 2000.

Andy Morgan, coordinator of Greek Life and Student Development, said the standards needed to be made simpler and more specific.

"People always complained about it," Morgan said. "Everyone was like 'we need to change this.'"

Last spring, volunteers were asked to meet over the summer to change the GMI, Morgan said.

The newly implemented Greek Standards measure Greeks on eight criteria, ranging from academia to social standards.   more »

Here's the good news about Michael Ward: You don't have to hate him because he's handsome.

Don't begrudge him because he's buff. Those cheekbones are not his fault. You can even let it slide that he drives a Porsche.

To his credit, the 6-foot-tall Ward is low-key and modest. He knows what it's like to be, if not quite the ugly duckling, then the nerdy, overlooked one in high school.

But dreamy cover model? On a romance novel? That takes some explaining.

Ward, 49, a technology writer in the public affairs office at California State University, Sacramento, has mixed feelings about the whole thing. He's proud but a tad embarrassed.

Turns out, the modeling venture marks the final chapter of his transformation from   more »

On Nov. 2, 1983, President Reagan signed into law a bill designating the third Monday of January each year as a federal holiday to honor the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The ceremony in the White House Rose Garden was attended by Mrs. Coretta Scott King and family, members of Congress, Civil Rights Movement veterans, educators and business and religious leaders.

During the signing President Reagan said:

"All right-thinking people, all right-thinking Americans are joined in spirit with us this day as the highest recognition which this nation gives is bestowed upon Martin Luther King Jr., one who also was the recipient of the highest recognition which the world bestows, the Nobel Peace Prize.

"America is a more democratic nation, a more just nation, a more peaceful nation because Martin Luther King, Jr. became her preeminent   more »

First issue of Ebony magazine published on November 1, 1945.

John H. Johnson, who was born in poverty and who rose in one generation from the welfare rolls to the rolls of Forbes 400 richest Americans, was the most honored of all publishers. He was a member of the Publishing Hall of Fame, the National Business Hall of Fame, the Advertising Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame, and he received the Spingarn Medal, the highest award of the NAACP, and the Salute to Greatness Award, the highest honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, for his contribution to civil rights. In 1972, he was named Publisher of the Year by the Magazine Publishers Association. In 1974 he was named “The Most Outstanding Black Publisher in History” by the National Newspaper Publishers Association. In 2003, he was named “The Greatest Minority Entrepreneur in U.S. History” by Baylor University. In the same year, Howard University named its journalism school the John H. Johnson School of Communications.   more »