NAACP statement on the Passing of Radio Icon and Activist Joe Madison

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson released the following statement on the passing of Joe Madison.

It is with a heavy heart that I reflect on the countless memories of my friend, Joe Madison, and the profound impact he made on this world. Joe devoted his life to the mission of civil rights advocacy, working tirelessly to uplift the stories of marginalized communities. He understood the power of advocacy and made it his life's mission to ensure that the rights of Black Americans were respected and protected.

Joe's life as a leader in the pursuit of social justice began to take shape after graduating from college. It was then that he began his journey as a community focused radio host to further support his career as a civil right activist for the NAACP. From Detroit to Philadelphia, to the streets of Washington, D.C., Joe spread his advocacy across the airwaves to the thousands of listeners who tuned into his show daily.

As his influence grew, he became affectionately known as "The Black Eagle" and would regularly challenge listeners to take action on the stories he'd uplift, asking the famous question; "What are you going to do about it?" There's no question that Joe stood firmly on the cause of action. Whether engaging fearlessly in volunteer work in neglected, predominantly Black communities, or leading fundraising initiatives for the preservation of Black History, Joe was no stranger to doing the work.

At age 24, Joe became the youngest Executive Director of the NAACP's Detroit branch before being appointed the organization's National Political Director from 1974 to 1978 and eventually being elected to the National Board of Directors where he served for 14 years from 1986 to 1999. In 1996, Joe was appointed chairman of the NAACP Image Awards where he promised to restore the prominence of the NAACP Image Awards. The next year, he was awarded the Chairman's Award at the 1997 NAACP Image Awards. The result of his work to preserve the legacy of the NAACP Image Awards has been seen and felt since.

Throughout his time at the NAACP, Joe led numerous voter mobilization efforts. One of the most notable included the "March for Dignity" where hundreds of volunteers partook in a cross-country activation from Los Angeles to Baltimore. These marches garnered substantial success, where thousands of signatures were collected in support of an anti-apartheid bill in Congress.

I had the distinguished honor of meeting with Joe during one of his most memorable advocacy moments. As many know, in 2021, he went on a 73-day hunger strike to encourage the passage of voting rights bills. Despite his fight with prostate cancer during his hunger strike, and knowing the health ramifications of the strike, Joe declared "I am willing to die." His dedication to the cause of voting rights and access to the ballot box for Black voters was unlike any other I've seen. I take this lesson and carry it with me, always.

Several months following his hunger strike, Madison's persistent advocacy on the airwaves played a crucial role in the passage of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act in the Senate. His impactful work garnered recognition from prominent figures and global leaders, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, President Barack Obama, and former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. As we continue to face attacks on our fundamental right to vote, it is our hope that elected leaders will carry on Joe's legacy, particularly his dedication to the preservation of the Voting Rights Act.

Joe will be missed dearly by all who loved him and were touched by his work. We thank him for his dedicated activism and forging a path to a better world for Black Americans. Our thoughts and prayers are with all in mourning during this time. May he rest in peace.

Joe Madison, The Black Eagle has passed away

Legendary D.C. radio host and civil rights activist Joe Madison has died. Madison passed away Thursday, surrounded by family, after a years-long battle with prostate cancer. He was 74.

Throughout his career on the airwaves, Madison broke ground and broke records. He has appeared on Talkers Magazine's 100 Most Important Talk Radio Hosts consistently for over a decade, often in the Top 10. In 2019, Madison was honored with an induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.

The family of Joe Madison took to social media to announce the passing of the radio and civil rights icon:

"Joe dedicated his life to fighting for all those who are undervalued, underestimated, and marginalized. On air he often posed the question, “What are you going to do about it?”. Although he is no longer with us, we hope you will join us in answering that call by continuing to be proactive in the fight against injustice. The outpouring of prayers and support over the last few months lifted Joe’s spirits and strengthened us as a family. We continue to ask for privacy as we gather together to support each other through this difficult time," according to a statement.

Radio Active: A Memoir of Advocacy in Action, on the Air and in the Streets by Joe "The Black Eagle" Madison

Radio legend, Joe "The Black Eagle" Madison has released a new memoir written by himself and Dave Canton titled Radio Active: A Memoir of Advocacy in Action, on the Air and in the Streets.

Radio Active tells the story of Joe Madison's decades of activism, from his childhood in a segregated neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio, to interviewing Barack Obama in the Oval Office. It’s a delightful tale, a call to action and an eye-opening commentary on the racial divide that persists in America today.

BUY THE BOOK

Joe Madison "The Black Eagle" inducted into The Radio Hall of Fame

Joe Madison, better known as "The Black Eagle" has been inducted into The Radio Hall of Fame & Museum. The Radio Hall of Fame recognizes and showcases contemporary talent from today’s diverse programming formats. 2019 inductees will be honored Nov. 8, in New York City’s landmark Gotham Hall.

Washington University Arts & Sciences alumnus Joe Madison is a groundbreaking radio personality and human and civil rights activist. He has built a legacy of using his voice for those without one.

His radio program, “The Joe Madison Show,” airs nationally weekday mornings on SiriusXM’s Urban View channel 126. During his four-hour program, Mr. Madison, also known as “The Black Eagle,” talks about political and social issues, brings attention to social injustices around the world, and challenges himself and his listeners daily to “do something about it.”

Named one of Talkers magazine’s 100 Most Important Talk Radio Hosts nine times, often in the top 10, Mr. Madison has interviewed world leaders, including President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, among other notable guests.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Madison was raised by his grandparents. In the mid-1960s, he attended Wisconsin State, where he was captain of his undefeated freshman football team. As a student leader, he became involved in the civil rights movement. His coach, resenting Mr. Madison’s campus activism, removed him from the team.

Eventually, Mr. Madison received a welcoming call from the athletic director at Washington University, who offered him a spot on the Bears football team. A sociology major, he was an all-conference running back on the football team, a baritone soloist in the university choir and a disc jockey at the campus radio station. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1971, the first in his family to do so.

After becoming active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Mr. Madison, at age 24, was named executive director — the youngest — of the NAACP’s 10,000-member Detroit chapter in 1974.

He was promoted in 1986 by the NAACP’s president, Benjamin Hooks, to serve as the organization’s national political director. Among the highlights of his eight-year tenure, he organized a successful boycott of Dearborn, Michigan, businesses over a racist city law, and he led hundreds of volunteers on a series of successful voter registration marches, including a cross-country “march for dignity” from Los Angeles to Baltimore that also garnered thousands of signatures for an anti-apartheid bill in Congress.

In 1986, he was elected to the NAACP s Board of Directors, a position he held for 14 years. In the midst of his civil rights work, he started another career in 1980 as a socially conscious radio talk show personality on Detroit’s WXYZ-AM. He went on to host talk shows in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The popularity of his WOL-AM show led to syndication on the Radio One Talk Network and eventually to SiriusXM.

A tenacious leader in the cause for social justice, he uses his show as a platform for inspiring action on critical issues. He brought international attention to human rights abuses in southern Sudan from his three trips to the country in the middle of its second civil war. Working with the Swiss-based Christian Solidarity International, he helped free 7,000 Sudanese being held as slaves.

In February 2015, he set a Guinness World Record at 52 hours for the longest on-air broadcast. During the record-breaking show, he raised more than $250,000 for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

In June 2015, Mr. Madison made history again by broadcasting live from Cuba, becoming the first American radio host to do so in more than 50 years.

He has not forgotten the opportunities he received as a Washington University student and continues to give back to his alma mater. A member of the William Greenleaf Eliot Society, he has generously supported scholarships, athletics and the university’s Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement. For the past two decades, he has interviewed potential students for the admissions office. In 2017, he received Arts & Sciences’ Distinguished Alumni Award.

A board member of the American Red Cross, his other awards include the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Journalism Award in 2000, the Washington Association of Black Journalists Community Service Award in 1997 and the NAACP Image Award in 1996.

Mr. Madison and his wife of 42 years, Sharon, live in Washington, D.C. They have four children and five grandchildren

Help this legendary black radio host get into the radio Hall of Fame

Joe "The Black Eagle" Madison does 52 straight hours of talk radio!

[SOURCE] SIRIUSXM’s JOE MADISON achieved the historic goal of a 52-hour marathon broadcast, which raised more than $150,000 for the construction of the SMITHSONIAN’s NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE, the final museum to be built on the NATIONAL MALL in WASHINGTON, D.C.

Airing as part of BLACK HISTORY MONTH, the historic broadcast -- currently under review as a new world record by the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD ORGANIZATION -- began on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25th at 6AM (EST) and continued, un-interrupted, until this morning at 10AM (EST).

“I am exhausted but, when you do something for the right reasons and have the support of others, you really can do anything,” said MADISON. “I hope our SIRIUSXM broadcast helps cast a spotlight on the need to raise funds for the much needed NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE."

The special broadcast included guests such as ARETHA FRANKLIN, GENERAL MOTORS VP Global Design EDWARD T. WELBURN, sports journalist STEPHEN A. SMITH, actor/comedian WAYNE BRADY and soul singer BETTYE LAVETTE. Additional guests included REVEREND AL SHARPTON, LOU GOSSETT, TAVIS SMILEY, LUDACRIS, DENISE NICHOLS, MARY WILSON, DICK GREGORY, Congressman CHARLES RANGEL, DARIUS RUCKER, SPENCER HAYWOOD, ROBERT GATEWOOD and AJA BYRD, among others.

NPR's "Tell me more" goes off the air August 1, 2014

In some very sad news NPR's African American focused talk show Tell Me More hosted Michel Martin by will air for the last time on August 1, 2014. The show has aired for seven years starting in 2007.

NPR says that the shows audience is just to small. NPR has stressed that point and let it be known that African Americans only make up 5% of their total audience.

[SOURCE] Michel Martin, the host of Tell Me More, will remain at the network, as will the program's executive producer, Carline Watson. They will be part of an initiative to incorporate the kind of coverage of issues of race, identity, faith, gender and family that appear on the show. Martin will appear on the network's primary newsmagazines, online and in public events.

"To be honest with you, I think we've been casualties of executive churn," Martin said. "Every CEO who has been at this network since I've been here — and how many are there now? Six? Seven? — all of them have supported this program, but none of them have stayed around long enough to institutionalize that support."

She said NPR's record with shows intended to appeal to African-American listeners speaks for itself.

But, Martin said, "clearly, it's not enough in this environment to fulfill an editorial mission. You've got to be supported across the board by every element of the organization. ... And I don't think that's always happened."

Martin admitted having "scar tissue" from her show's cancellation. But she also said she wants to hold NPR to its mission and its promises.

"We've done a lot to show what's possible here and I want to keep that going," Martin said. "I can't say you need to do better at serving these audiences and then walk away from it. I don't think that's fair."

Michael Eric Dyson to Cornel West: You ain't that important

Michael Eric Dyson had some choice words for Cornel West during a panel at the 2014 NAN convention. Part of me is happy that someone has finally called Cornel West on his BS but another wishes that the two could have this discussion in private.

During that panel on the state of black intellectualism Dyson made the following comments:

“The prophetic temptation is to believe your voice is the only voice,” said Dr. Dyson. “[You think that] your vision is the only vision. That’s what makes you a genius at a certain level. That’s the nature of genius — but you’re tripping, because you’re not the only one.”

“I don’t see [humility] in a lot of Negroes talking. They act like it’s ‘my way or the highway’ — you ain’t Frank Sinatra!” he continued. “Howard Thurman said, ‘You can go to the Atlantic Ocean, you can dip your glass into the Atlantic Ocean and it may be full of the Atlantic Ocean — but it ain’t all of the Atlantic Ocean. So stop thinking that your way is the only way. It may be a great way, it may be a powerful way that works for you, but one size don’t [sic] fit all. So be honest and humble in genuine terms — not the public performance of humility masquerading a huge ego. No amount of hair can cover that.”

“I’ve probably known him longer than anybody on this panel. Hung out with him,” Dyson said. “I’ve been a victim of his vicious assaults in public. I’ve held my powder. That ain’t my usual nature. [Dr. Farah Griffin] called me up and I listened to Farah. Because she loves us both [and was] trying to negotiate a cease of hostilities. But I’m not going to pretend that it doesn’t hurt for you to call me a sellout because I disagree with you. You can be ‘ride-or-die,’ but while you’re riding — see who your vehicle is rolling over.”

“With [former President] Bill Clinton, you’re rhapsodizing about access [to the White House] — if access is a problem, it was a problem then. Not because you didn’t get a ticket to go to the inauguration for Obama!” Dr. Dyson stated emphatically. “I’m not talking about just [West], he ain’t the only one. But since he’s been public about it, here’s my response to [his criticism]: I love you, but you can’t talk about love and act unlovingly. It’s the personal assault on Obama that I found problematic, not the principled critique. I’m not mad at principled critique, but you still could be wrong. But when you start indicting my soul like I’ve given my soul over to Obama or the devil — now you’re tripping. You ain’t that important. You’re not God to be able to leverage the divine assignment of privilege or punishment.”