Fans of American football (not soccer) around the world are aware of Rihanna, the R&B, pop, hip-hop superstar, presence in the 2023 Superbowl entertainment thereby indirectly bringing a touch of the Caribbean and Caribbean music – the reggae and soca genre – to millions worldwide.
Do you know that back in the day, 1979, long before Rihanna was born, the Caribbean Tourist Association (CTO) provided the half time entertainment “Super Bowl XIII Carnival” – calypso, steelband and carnival?
Just fitting for Sheryl Lee Ralph to render ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ at Superbowl. (Sheryl Lee Ralph parents were active in the NY-Jamaican community; they were original EVERYBODY’S Magazine subscribers and Sheryl Lee while attending HS in Queens read EVERYBODY’S).
Do you know that West Indian immigrants of the early 20th century joined other Blacks by adopting James Weldon Johnson ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ composed in 1900 as “The Negro National Anthem”? The British Jamaican Benevolent, Tobago Benevolent, Antigua Progressive, Grenada Mutual, Sons & Daughters of Barbados and other associations – all based in Harlem -opened their meetings by singing – “The Negro National Anthem,” ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’.
Back to Rihanna Fenty. Do you know that her late granduncle Vernon Fenty wrote for this magazine?
Do you know that Caribbean-born persons have played on Superbowl teams?
On Superbowl Sunday, WCBS-Radio in NY in its Black History Month segment saluted photographer Kwame Brathwaite. Do you Brathwaite was an EVERYBODY’S photographer for more than 29 years?
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