#we built this

[huffpost]

Happy Black History Month! 

HuffPost is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting important narratives with the theme Black History Built This.

We’re celebrating the black history makers of today -- like Danielle Brooks, above, who is using her voice to help pave the way for curvy, dark-skinned actresses. Check out her story here.

And Kid Fury, who discussed with us how comedy saved his life, that black people should have free therapy and his production with Lena Waithe. Read the interview here.

We also spoke with Raquel Willis, who talked about finding her activist roots in the church, urging the world to show up for black trans women and marrying her advocacy work with journalism. Read more here.

Check back in for more amazing Black History Built This interviews throughout the month of February.

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Blackish 4x01 - We Built It song

Yeeessss to Blackish. #OnRepeat 

[huffpost]

We Built This: Kent Johnson Wants Black Travelers To Know The World Is Their Oyster

Kent Johnson knew the power of seeing the world when he took his first international trip at age 7. Now, he’s disrupting the travel industry to create space for black people.

The Baltimore native co-founded Black & Abroad, a collective that makes travel more accessible for and catered to black people by offering exposure, experiences and resources. Johnson and Eric Martin launched the website in 2015 when they recognized the lack of black representation in travel marketing and of opportunities within the industry. They created a space where black people feel empowered to travel anywhere in the world while redefining the face of travel.

But Johnson doesn’t solely focus his mission abroad. He makes room for the diaspora in the states as well with his podcast “Ungentrified.” With an increasing number of black neighborhoods becoming less black and long-term residents being forced out of their communities, Johnson explores current cultural and political events with guests to ensure our voices are heard.

For “We Built This,” Johnson spoke to HuffPost about the power of black people disrupting the travel industry, the roadblocks that prevent many from access and drawing inspiration from Matthew Henson and Victor Hugo Green.

Read his interview with HuffPost here.

[huffpost]

We Built This: Nikole Hannah-Jones Has Raised The Bar For Investigative Journalism

She’s the self-proclaimed “Cardi B of journalism.” The Beyoncé of investigative reporting. Ida B. Wells’ wildest dream. And a MacArthur Genius Grant winner.

Nikole Hannah-Jones is a hero who opted for a red ’fro in lieu of a cape. With data and history as her sharpest weapons, the Iowa native uses her platform as an investigative reporter with the New York Times Magazine to cover racial injustice and segregation in the U.S. And she’s nothing to play with.

Along with being named a certified genius, she’s received a National Magazine Award for her groundbreaking story documenting segregation in New York City schools by sharing her own story finding a school for her daughter. She also co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, a mentorship and training program dedicated to elevating journalists of color, and is currently working on her first book, “The Problem We All Live With.”

For “We Built This,” Hannah-Jones spoke to HuffPost about finding justice through reporting, the importance of diversifying newsrooms and the hard realities of reporting on race while black.

Read her interview here.

[huffpost]

We Built This: Lindsey Day Is Showcasing The Expansiveness Of Black Women’s Beauty

Lindsey Day is giving black women the royal treatment they deserve with her magazine, CRWN.

Too often black women have been told our hair is “bad,” “unmanageable” or unprofessional just because it didn’t fit Eurocentric beauty standards. Mainstream media doesn’t help, as it has consistently failed at representing black women in an honest and non-stereotypical way. Day noticed this growing up. And even though the narrative is slowly starting to shift, the industry is still a ways away from genuinely celebrating black women’s beauty.

After spending years irritated with major magazines for not properly showing the diversity of black women (and often erasing us altogether), Day launched CRWN, a publication dedicated to showing the beauty and range of black women’s hair, in 2016. It’s more than just a hair magazine, though: Day created CRWN to celebrate the wholeness of black women by offering thoughtful dialogue, inspirational imagery and more as a means to take control of our own narrative.

HuffPost spoke with Day as part of our “We Built This” series for Black History Month. She discussed creating CRWN Magazine, diversity among black women and eliminating her “mental chains” to redefine what beauty is.  

Check out her interview here.

[huffpost]

We Built This: Michael Strahan Wants To Show Black Kids They’re Limitless

Michael Strahan wears many hats. He’s one half of ABC’s “Strahan and Sara,” a Super Bowl champion and a Pro Football Hall of Famer, an entrepreneur, a producer, a former Army brat and a dad, just to name a few.

It’s second nature for the world to unfairly put a label on black athletes. Strahan rejects that. Literally and metaphorically, you can’t put this 6-foot-5 Renaissance man in a box. His friends tried when they made fun of his weight as a kid. Then he got drafted into the NFL. Then, fellow businessmen and executives tried to tell him he was just a trophy pundit when he retired. Now he’s one of TV’s most infectious morning show hosts.  

“I stopped waiting for people to change their perception about me. I had to change it for them,” Strahan told HuffPost.

For “We Built This,” Strahan discusses his rise from athlete to host, activism in the NFL and being a representation of limitlessness for black kids.

Check out the interview here.