Cydney Gillon won the Figure division at the 2023 Olympia. It is her seventh consecutive Figure Olympia title and she won $50,000 in prize money for her winning effort.
2022 Figure Olympia Top 5 Results
Winner — Cydney Gillon $50,000
Second Place — Jessica Reyes Padilla $20,000
Third Place — Lola Montez $12,000
Fourth Place — Cherish Richardson $7,000
Fifth Place — Natalia Soltero $6,000
Check out this interview with the champ!
Reigning 3X Ms. Olympia campion, Andrea Shaw claimed her fourth consecutive title at the 2023 Ms. Olympia. Besides the tile of Ms. Olympia she also won $50,000/
Ms. Olympia Top 5
1. Andrea Shaw ($50,000)
2. Angela Yeo ($20,000)
3. Alcione Barreto ($12,000)
Sherry Priami ($7,000)
Natalia Kovaleva ($6,000)
Check out this interview with the champ!
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) has acquired the largest private collection of items to bring new context and perspective to the life and literary impact of poet Phillis Wheatley Peters (c.1753–1784), including one of the few manuscripts written in the poet’s hand. Born in West Africa and captured by slave traders as a child, Wheatley Peters became the first African American to publish a book of poetry with the 1773 release of her “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” in London. A rare and exciting highlight of this acquisition is a four-page manuscript of a poem, “Ocean,” written in ink by Wheatley Peters's own hand, the only copy that exists today and previously unpublished before 1998. The poem was likely composed on her return voyage to America from England in September 1773.
Of the 30 objects in this collection, six were published during her lifespan. Selected items from the collection can be viewed online through the Searchable Museum website. Plans to display these new acquisitions at a later date are in the works. The museum currently recognizes Wheatley Peters in the Paradox of Liberty display in the Slavery and Freedom exhibition with a statue and a copy of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.
“Phillis Wheatley Peters’s poetry brought her renown in abolitionist circles and presented as proof of the humanity of those of African descent and the inhumanity of slavery,” said Kevin Young, the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Scholars continue to parse through her work to determine when and where she posed resistance to slavery; her poem ‘On Being Brought from Africa to America’ is considered to be a chastisement of slavery to the millions of white Americans undergoing the religious revival movement known as ‘The Great Awakening.’ This must have pricked Thomas Jefferson’s conscience, for his 1785 publication of Notes on the State of Virginia dismissed Wheatley Peters’s talent as coming from religion and religious training rather than intellect.”
Some additional highlights of the collection include:
Autograph manuscript of 70-line dramatic poem, “Ocean,” by Wheatley, ca. September 1773, four pages.
An issue of The Arminian Magazine, August 1789, features the 20-line poem “On the Death of a Child, Five Years of Age” and attributes it to “Phillis Wheatly, a negro.”
A hardcover edition of the book Pearls From the American Female Poets by Caroline May, 1869. The entry for Wheatley Peters spans pages 39 to 41 and includes a biographical note and two poems: “On the Death of a Young Gentleman of Great Promise” and “Sleep.”
A hardcover edition of the book The Poems of Phillis Wheatley, 1909. The red cloth cover features Wheatley Peters in profile and holding a quill to paper in her right hand.
A hardcover edition of the book Phillis Wheatley (Phillis Peters): A Critical Attempt and a Bibliography of Her Writings by Charles Frederick Heartman, 1915. Translated into English from the original German.
Booklet published by the Phillis Wheatley Club of Waycross, Georgia, in 1930. Contains a biography of the poet and correspondence between Wheatley Peters and George Washington, including a poem she sent him, “His Excellency General Washington.”
The publication of her poems by the AME Church and a biography by the Phillis Wheatley Club in the early 20th century are the only works in the collection published by Black printers. The biography published by the Phillis Wheatley Club takes on a higher level of importance because it documents the educational work of Black clubwomen and the role Black women played as historians of Black life and culture.
“This collection, ranging from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, provides a glimpse of Phillis Wheatley Peters the poet and Wheatley Peters the icon, as well as Wheatley Peters the woman,” said Angela Tate, curator of women’s history at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “This part of Wheatley Peters life has been long removed from popular culture and remembrance. A 1783 poem in this collection is of extreme interest because it is published under her married name of Phillis Peters, and furthermore, it is important to note that she is not presented as Mrs. John Peters.”
About Phillis Wheatley Peters
Wheatley Peters spent most of her life enslaved and in service to John and Susanna Wheatley of Boston. She was named Phillis after the slave ship on which she was transported to the Americas. Her surname of Peters is that of the man she married in 1778, John Peters, a free man of color. Wheatley Peters’ owners taught her to read and write, and by age 14, she had begun to write poetry that would soon be published and circulated among the elites of late 18th-century America and Great Britain.
Her first and only volume of poetry, “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” (1772), was published in London with the assistance of wealthy abolitionists. The Wheatleys manumitted Wheatley Peters in 1773 under pressure from critics who saw the hypocrisy in praising her talent while keeping her enslaved. They died within a few years of that decision and Wheatley Peters soon met and married grocer John Peters. Her life afterwards was indicative of the troubled freedom of African Americans of that period, who were emancipated but not fully integrated into the promise of American citizenship. Wheatley Peters was also affected by the loss of all three of her children—the birth of the last of whom caused her premature death at age 31 in 1784.
Despite being feted at as a prodigy while enslaved, the emancipated Wheatley Peters struggled to find the support necessary for producing a second volume of poetry, and her husband’s financial struggles forced her to find work as a scullery maid—the lowest position of domestic help.
Posthumous publications of Wheatley Peters’s poetry in various anthologies and periodicals solidified her image as a child poet for the benefit of abolitionist activism and African American cultural pride in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 21st century, the accumulation of this collection is a restoration of Wheatley Peters the woman and the influence of her poetry and activism today.
The NAACP, in conjunction with Daymond John, Medium Rare, and The Shark Group, has launched applications for the fourth annual NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant in celebration of Black Entrepreneurs Day curated by Daymond John. The NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant aims to empower Black entrepreneurs and businesses through funding and resources and has, in previous years, contributed largely to the growth of Black businesses across the nation.
"As we embark on the fourth year of the NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant, we are thrilled to once again open the doors of opportunity for Black entrepreneurs across the nation. Through the NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant, we are providing the support and resources necessary to enable Black enterprises to not only thrive but also drive positive change in their respective sectors," said Yumeka Rushing, NAACP Chief Strategy Officer. "We invite aspiring and established Black entrepreneurs to seize this opportunity and join us in shaping a brighter future for all. The NAACP remains committed to fostering economic growth and sustainability for Black communities. This is what advocacy in action looks like."
Since its inception, Black Entrepreneurs Day has provided guidance and inspiration to the next generation of rising entrepreneurs as well as over $750,000 in business grants via the NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant. Black Entrepreneurs and small business owners across the country can apply now for a $25,000 NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant through October 11th, 2023 at 10:00 AM ET.
On October 5, the American Library Association (ALA) announced that Executive Director Tracie D. Hall will resign from her position effective October 6. Hall has been executive director since 2020, leading the Association through the COVID-19 pandemic. During her tenure, ALA received the largest unrestricted grants in its history and improved its financial health while advancing its work in several strategic areas. ALA’s full announcement reads as follows:
ALA announced today that Tracie D. Hall will resign from her role as executive director following nearly four transformative years at the Association. Her last day will be Friday, October 6.
During her tenure, Hall brought ALA greater public recognition, private funding, media visibility, and key partnerships. Upon her departure, she leaves behind a string of key accomplishments, including advancing the Association’s work in the areas of accessibility; adult and family literacy; arts access; broadband access; digital inclusion; library services for people who are incarcerated and reentering communities after incarceration; and intellectual freedom and the right to read.
“Tracie has been a strong guiding force for ALA and a tireless champion for libraries, library workers, and the communities they serve,” said ALA President Emily Drabinski. “A passionate steward of our profession, she has demonstrated unparalleled leadership and an unwavering commitment to ALA’s mission, especially at a time when there has been unprecedented attention around our work. As she now moves onward, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to Tracie for her outstanding service and indelible contributions to ALA and wish her continued success in her future endeavors.”
In addition to programmatic expansion, Hall, who assumed her leadership role two weeks before the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, worked to successfully grow ALA’s membership and rebuild its financial health. Under her leadership, ALA received the largest unrestricted grants in its history and allocated more than $10 million to school, public, and academic libraries, including a number of minority-serving institutions.
“To serve as executive director of ALA at any time would be a formidable task,” said Hall. “To take on that role at the outset of a pandemic and during an unprecedented escalation in censorship attempts has required intensive effort, which I have relished and learned from. And though there is still so much to do, I believe I am leaving the Association—stewarded by its dedicated board, membership, and committed staff—on course to achieve new levels of impact in the realization of its mission.”
For her work in service to libraries and the public, Hall received numerous accolades, bringing a heightened level of national attention, awareness, and support to ALA and its mission. In 2022, Hall became the second librarian to be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Foundation. This year, she was named a Beacon Award winner by Illinois Humanities for her contributions to the arts and humanities in the state. Hall was also named the 2023 recipient of the Literacy Leader Award by scaleLIT, a Chicago-based literacy advocacy organization, and shortly after, Time magazine named Hall to the TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The Roosevelt Institute selected Hall as the 2023 recipient of its Freedom of Speech and Expression award, an honor previously given to US Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and journalists Dan Rather and Nikole Hannah-Jones.
ALA will name an interim executive director in the coming weeks as it prepares to begin a robust, nationwide search for a successor who will continue to uphold the Association’s core values, advance its longstanding mission, and provide strong leadership.
