By Dr. Y’Anad Burrell Special to The Post

In only their second year as a franchise, the Golden State Valkyries became the WBNA 2026 Champions, with Gabby Williams named WNBA Finals MVP. A Halloween night movie of magic and there was no surprise that the game was sold out, with more than 18,000 fans inside Chase Center while thousands more packed the open space at Thrive Center from hours preceding the game through the final buzzer.

In the decisive Game 7, Williams delivered a legendary performance, scoring 30 points to lead the Golden State Valkyries to a 68-63 championship victory over the Atlanta Dream. Remarkably, 28 of her 30 points came in the second half, setting a WNBA postseason record for points in a half and earning her Finals MVP honors.

The team celebrated its victory on Wednesday with a rally in Oakland followed by a ferry ride to San Francisco’s Embarcadero and then a two-mile parade that drew about 400,000 fans.

Williams has become a symbol of the Bay Area’s impact on the team. Although born in Nevada, Williams has deep family roots in Oakland and has often said the city’s culture, community, and basketball traditions shaped her identity and playing style.

After signing with the Valkyries, she began calling the city home and noting that “there’s no Golden State without Oakland.”

The Valkyries have several ballers who made an impact on winning this series, including Veronica Burton, Tiffany ‘Tip’ Hayes, Kayla Thornton, Kaila Charles, and Cecilia Zandalasini.

Veteran center Kiah Stokes brought championship experience and defensive leadership when she signed a multi-year free-agent contract with the franchise on April 13. A former first-round draft pick out of UConn and a three-time WNBA champion with the Las Vegas Aces before joining Golden State, Stokes was recruited by head coach Natalie Nakae, with whom she had previously worked in Las Vegas.

Known as one of the league’s premier rim protectors and rebounders, Stokes quickly became a defensive anchor for the expansion franchise and played a major role in leading the Valkyries to their historic championship run.

The Valkyries have accomplished something extraordinary, proving that a new franchise can make an immediate impact both on and off the court. In their first year, the Valkyries became the first WNBA expansion team to reach the playoffs in its inaugural season and set all-time league attendance records. The franchise sold out all home games, reporting 18,064 attendees per game in both seasons — the highest attendance figures in WNBA history. The Valkyries’ success has also translated into extraordinary franchise value. After entering the league by paying a $50 million expansion fee, the organization generated record revenues and rapidly became one of the most valuable franchises in women’s sports, valued at over $! billion.

The WNBA Finals’ deciding game averaged 3.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched WNBA playoff game in league history and the most-watched finals game since 1999.

The record audience reflects the league’s growing popularity and has major implications for its future, including higher media rights value, increased advertising revenue, stronger sponsorship opportunities, rising merchandise sales, and greater ticket demand.

The Finals also featured sold-out arenas and record postseason viewership, demonstrating that the WNBA is expanding its commercial reach, attracting new fans, and strengthening its position as a major professional sports league.

By Post Staff

Marcia Anna Gillespie, the first editor in chief of Essence magazine, has died. She was 82.

Born in Rockville Centre, New York, in 1944. The daughter of a church sexton/small business owner and domestic worker/caterer, Gillespie parlayed her degree in American studies from Illinois’s Lake Forest College into a research job at Time-Life Books, Inc. in New York.

There she advocated for fairness and inclusion of Black life in its publications. When the owners of the standard bearer of Black life, Ebony magazine, ventured into creating a special publication for young, Black women, Gillespie was hired as managing editor in 1970, and became editor-in-chief a year later at the young age of 26.

At the time, the venture by the Johnson family – the owners of Ebony magazine and Jet – into creating a publication for young Black women met the growing revolution of self-love in the Black community.

In other words, the battle cry of the late 1960s, “Black is Beautiful,” had a place to be seen and not just heard.

Thousands of young women who had already abandoned straightening combs and European aesthetics learned more ways to wear their natural hair from Afros to cornrows. Young Black designers got a place in the spotlight not just in clothing but jewelry that expressed neo-African ideals. But one of the most important impacts was the magazine’s unapologetic elevation of the beauty of the dark-skinned Black female to the status she deserved.

Under Gillepie’s tenure, Essence championed storytelling that celebrated Black women’s identities, experiences, and contributions at a time when their voices were often overlooked in mainstream media,” Essence wrote in a statement posted to Instagram

For 10 years she steered the fledgling publication before joining Ms. Magazine as a contributor in 1980 later becoming the first Black woman to edit a mainstream American magazine when she took charge in 1992.

In 1998, she helped secure the publication’s future through a women-led ownership group. She stayed at Ms. In various capacities until 2001, during which time the magazine had the most diverse readership in its history.

She also mentored future Essence editor Susan L. Taylor and taught young journalists at SUNY Old Westbury.

Emmy-winning actor Sheryl Lee Ralph took to social media to honor Gillespie’s life. 

“Rest in peace, dear Marcia Gillespie,” she wrote on Threads. “Your voice, your brilliance, and your commitment to lifting up Black women leaves a legacy that will continue to inspire me and so many others.”

A professor at SUNY Old Westbury and Bennett College, she also co-authored the authorized biography “Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration” in 2008.

According to Wikipedia, she also served on various boards as a director or advisor, including: “…the Arthur Ashe Institute of Urban Health, the Black & Jewish Women of New York, the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., Aspen Institute, …and the Studio Museum of Harlem. Gillespie is a member of the National Council of Negro Women and the American Association of Magazine Editors.”

She was the recipient of several awards, including: the Lake Forest College Outstanding Alumni Award (1973), the New York Women in Communications Matrix Award (1978); a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Association of Black Journalists for print journalism (1982); a ‘Top Ten Outstanding Women in Magazine Publishing’ recognition by the March of Dimes.

In later years she was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame (2002); the NAACP President’s Award (2006) and the Barbara Graves Legacy Award at the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit in 2017.

The conclusion for her online obituary reads: “She leaves behind a legacy written not just in the pages she edited, but in every editor, journalist, and reader who found themselves — finally — in the stories she chose to tell.”

Online sources for this report include “The History Makers,” The Washington Informer, Wikipedia, Essence magazine, Ms. Magazine and her obituary.

By TotallyRandie

Generational wealth isn’t created by accident—it is built with intention, protected through strategy, and passed forward with purpose. From November 6–8, 2026, Houston will serve as the backdrop for the 2nd Annual Black Wall St. Legacy Weekend, a three-day summit committed to advancing entrepreneurship, financial empowerment, and the enduring legacy of Black economic resilience.

Under this year’s core theme, “Protecting Your Legacy and Growing Your Wealth,” the weekend offers local families, founders, and community leaders direct access to the tools needed to secure long-term financial independence.

Across three days, attendees will gain insight into the core pillars of wealth creation and business sustainability. Educational sessions and interactive workshops will cover:

• Asset Protection & Finance: Estate planning, trust building, navigating insurance, and cultivating strategic banking relationships.

• Modern Business Growth: Leveraging artificial intelligence, digital marketing, and real estate development.

• Holistic Leadership: Balancing mental health, foundational financial literacy, and sustainable entrepreneurship.

The event features an esteemed roster of industry leaders, including Gene Boykin Jr., Dr. Velma Trayham, and Benaisha Pooe-Lewis. Alongside keynote presentations, the weekend includes targeted networking sessions, an interactive vendor marketplace highlighting local businesses, and an awards ceremony honoring community pioneers driving economic progress across Houston.

LEGACY WEEKEND AT A GLANCE

Friday, November 6, 2026
Legacy Weekend Kickoff Mixer
6:30–9:30 PM
Powered by Black Houston Creative Network
PLUME
110 W 23rd St., Houston, TX

Saturday, November 7, 2026
Legacy Weekend Conference
10:00 AM–5:00 PM
Red Oak Ballroom
816 Town and Country Blvd., Suite 210
Houston, TX 77024

Official After Party
8:00 PM–12:00 AM
The Quad
4608 Almeda Rd., Houston, TX

Tickets:bwslegacyweekend.com/ticket

Sunday, November 8, 2026
Black Wall St. Veteran & Family Field Day
11:00 AM–5:00 PM
Emancipation Park
Houston, TX

Beyond business strategy, Legacy Weekend creates space for community celebration, offering a family-friendly atmosphere designed to inspire the next generation of builders and innovators.

Tickets:bwslegacyweekend.com/field-day

“Legacy is more than what we leave behind. It is what we build, protect, and pass forward,” said Frank Perkins. “Legacy Weekend is designed to give our community access to the information, resources, and connections needed to create a stronger financial future for generations to come.”

Maxine Bryant, Ph.D., creator and founder GriotSpeaks, is sharing the history of the African diaspora through her new board game.

Bryant often quotes the African proverb: “Until the lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero.” She said for the hunter has been telling the story of the African diaspora for “far too long.”

The game is based in African culture. The spaces on the board feature the countries of the African diaspora and it uses gold bars and cowrie shells as currency while special game spaces showcase symbols such as the Sankofa bird, a pyramid and an Ankh.

Bryant, a culture keeper and educator, created the game to add a bit of fun to her ongoing mission of dispelling myths and sharing accurate history. She used the history lessons she taught over the years as the foundation for the game’s trivia questions. Bryant said she is even more motivated to correct the inaccurate narratives due to recent book bans and efforts to minimize or omit the contributions of Black people.

“We can’t tell our story if we don’t know our story,” Bryant said.

History buffs may start the game with a slight advantage, but even players with limited knowledge have a chance to win with some strategic play. During one game demonstration, she said, an 11-year-old beat her with the clever use of one of the game’s wild cards.

Bryant’s goal is for people to learn new information while having a good time with one another. She sat down with the Recorder to share her inspiration for the game and how she hopes it will influence the culture.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was the inspiration for creating a game?

Maxine Bryant: In all honesty, God gave me the vision for the game.

I put that board game together the way God showed me in in this vision, if you will, it was to be educational, informative, and entertaining. And so, I knew I wanted it to encompass all of the diaspora and with the educational part of it. Since I am a professor, it needed to encompass the critical areas of our history.

So, it’s geography; it’s the resistance, the protest — all of that. It’s … literature, music, the Gullah Geechee culture, storytelling, the whole gamut, and then Black people.

What are some of the things people are surprised to finally learn while playing the game?

Bryant: The genius of Black people.

Many people know Madam C.J. Walker, although I’m finding out that not everybody does. But one of the questions (asks about) who invented the hot comb? Everybody thinks Madam C.J. Walker, but no, that was not her thing. Her thing was hair care and strengthening hair. It was a man (Walter H. Sammons) who created the hot comb. So, people are amazed at what they’re learning.

How do you hope that this new knowledge helps people see the world?

Bryant: So, what I hope people learn is our true history, the history of our struggle, and our resistance, the history of our greatness, and information about our culture. That positions us then to be able to stand tall in knowledge of self.

One of the things I wholeheartedly believe in is that little Black boys and little Black girls who grow up with the message that you are nothing because you are Black … it’s easy for me to take you out. But if I look at you and I know that you’re great and I’m great, I may just have a different kind of level of respect for you.

I think that having a sense of self can impact how I look at myself and how I look at people who look like me.

Is there anything else you want to share?

Bryant: In my mind, this game is a must-have. It is so unique. Now, within the culture, we have trivia games and usually they’re trivia about sports or about entertainment and some about history, right? And usually, it pertains to people in the United States or events in the United States, culture in the United States.

This game contains movement around a physical board like Monopoly, but it also encompasses the entire African diaspora so it’s not just the United States. People who played this game tell me … they’ve never seen anything like it.

GriotSpeaks: The Game is best suited for players 17 and older. The game is available for purchase through Amazon or at the GriotSpeaks website.

Contact Editor-in-Chief Camike Jones at 317-762-7850.

The post Learn Black history and win your next game night appeared first on Indianapolis Recorder.

Based on reporting by Indianapolis Recorder.

The 21st annual Taste of Soul Family Festival brought hundreds of thousands to Crenshaw Boulevard in South Los Angeles on Oct. 17 for food, music and a celebration of Black culture. Visitors could shop with small businesses, enjoy live music performances, speak with health professionals and learn about job opportunities. 

Presented by Bakewell Media and the Los Angeles Sentinel, the free festival stretched along the corridor from Stocker Street to Obama Boulevard. The Sentinel estimated attendance at more than 300,000. The day also marked founder Danny J. Bakewell Sr.’s 80th birthday. 

“We call it a party with a purpose,” Pam Bakewell, the founder’s sister and a longtime festival organizer, told California Black Media (CBM). 

The enticing aromas of barbecue, fried chicken and catfish filled the air as food vendors served up a tempting array of Southern favorites, including cobbler and other desserts. Vendors also offered clothing, jewelry, books and beauty products. About 350 vendors and sponsors participated, including approximately 80 food vendors, Bakewell said. Businesses came from across Southern California and as far away as Chicago and Atlanta.

“In one day, an entrepreneur has the opportunity to showcase their business to hundreds of thousands of people,” Danny J. Bakewell Jr., president of the Sentinel. 

Chase offered vendors training in marketing and financial management, followed by a reception.

Experienced vendors also helped newcomers. Pam Bakewell cited Cobbler King, a longtime participant who shares lessons from his early festivals about preparing for crowds and building a business. 

“We want everybody to be successful,” she said. “We can’t guarantee that, but we give you the crowd.” 

Kaiser Permanente served as the festival’s main medical provider. St. John’s Community Health sponsored Children’s World, where children played games while families received preventive care and information about follow-up services. 

St. John’s provided flu shots, fluoride treatments for children and clinic sign-ups for physical examinations. It also reported distributing more than 10,400 bags of diapers.

CBM hosted a booth as part of its California Black Health Journalism Project, a yearlong, solutions-oriented reporting initiative to advance health equity for Black Californians. 

Dr. Deidra Beckles, who practices family and internal medicine, and Adriana Westby-Trent, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist, held “Ask the Doc” conversations. Both are with Divinely Restored Health & Wellness. The booth drew steady traffic as they answered attendees’ health questions. Visitors received a “Your Wellness Matters” T-shirt. 

The Sentinel promoted a developing jobs platform, inviting attendees to post resumes and connect with employers. Bakewell said about 350 people signed up along the boulevard. 

Three stages offered music for different generations. The Bakewell Media Sounds of the Soul Stage featured Thelma Houston, Switch and headliner Midnight Star. Tony Cornelius, son of “Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius, introduced Midnight Star and appeared with eight veteran dancers from the television show. 

 The Radio Free KJLH Music Stage featured Lucky Daye, Alex Isley, Allen Stone and Terisa Griffin. On the Brenda Marsh-Mitchell Gospel Stage, MAJOR. served as host and performer. The lineup included Deitrick Haddon, local choirs and a youth performing arts ensemble. 

During the festivities, ABC7 reported two stabbings and an hours long Los Angeles Police Department citywide tactical alert.  

Pam Bakewell said police told organizers the incidents occurred outside the festival boundaries. She said organizers are reviewing safety measures with security personnel and police. 

After more than 35 years as a pediatric surgeon, Deborah Burton retired but didn’t give up one of the most rewarding aspects of her career—connecting with young people.

Burton used writing and her imagination to create a young adult sci-fi fantasy mystery novel, Invisible Cages: The Alynthia Quest, under the pen name MD Burton. Her debut novel launched in early October, and Burton said she’s been delighted with the responses so far.

The novel follows Jade Babington who leads a team of resourceful friends as they join an elite organization to crack a spy network and embark on a high-tech adventure to find answers. Her quest is complicated by powers that surge through her body, and to be successful, she needs to understand her family roots, embrace her emerging talents, and step into her legacy, according to a press release.

Through the book, readers are introduced to a range of characters who work in STEM and healthcare careers which Burton hopes will inspire readers to consider pursuing careers in some of those areas.

Burton moved to Dunwoody in 1995 and ran a successful pediatric ear, nose, and throat practice in Marietta. She retired in 2021 but missed the educational moments she shared with her young patients.

“I talk to kids all the time,” said Burton, adding that she likes to share insight into the many career paths in healthcare. “I love to educate and empower.”

She said she worked on the book for five years, researching coding, microchips, and satellites.

“It was a learning journey,” she remarked.

The book explores themes of self-acceptance, girl empowerment through strong female characters, the importance of family, and STEM exposure, states the press release. Set on a fictional health complex, the novel introduces readers to healthcare careers, as well as engineering and computer science.

The author also had to delve into unique aspects of her main character.

“Jade has powers and sees auras,” she explained. “So I spent a good amount of time learning about auras, telepathy and magical realism.”

In addition, to providing insight to STEM and healthcare careers, Burton hopes the books help her teen female readers dealing with insecurities to better understand and appreciate what makes them unique and the power they possess. She also hopes it will build self-confidence.

“You have to accept who you are,” she said. “Whatever your differences are, everybody’s got them, embrace them.”

Burton said she originally planned the book to be a seven-part series but on the advice of her edit changed it to four parts.

“I know what my end goal is,” said Burton noting that she’s included Easter eggs in the first book to entice readers throughout the reading process and has a completed outline for the other books in the series. After completing an audiobook of Invisible Cages: The Alynthia Quest by the end of the year, Burton plans to start writing the next book in 2027.

On Nov. 15, a book signing is scheduled at the Politan Row food hall in Dunwoody.

The self-published book is available in eBook, paperback, and hardback formats, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online retailers.

3 total views

Based on reporting by The Champion Newspaper.