The FutureWork Institute

01/07/2025

01/01/2025

12/25/2024

Lena Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist. Her career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. She joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen.Here she is with her uncle at the age of eleven Easter Sunday, 1928.

12/18/2024

The Indiana Klan didn’t allow Black drivers at the Indy500, but Hoosier Charlie Wiggins had an unquenchable need for speed.

On August 7, 1926, he cruised to victory in the Gold and Glory Sweepstakes championship, a segregated auto race for African American drivers.

Revving his engine in front of a thrilled crowd of 12,000 gathered at the Indiana State Fair Grounds, Wiggins took the lead in the 72nd lap.

The crowd was amazed but few knew the full scope of Wiggins’ wild style genius. The ‘Negro Speed King’ was a master mechanic and self-taught fuel scientist. He could diagnose ailing engines just by listening to them, and his touch was magic.

His "Wiggins Special” was powered by his own premium blend of oil and airplane fuel.

The Gold & Glory race itself was established by the Colored Speedway Association, a racially integrated automotive brain trust of five:

African-American business leaders: Harry Dunnigton, William Rucker, George Lemon, Earnest Jay Buffet, Alvin D. Smith; and two white businessmen, Harry A. Earl and Oscar E. Schilling.
The seven had come together in 1924 to sanction a national racing series for black drivers.

Wiggins was to go on to claim a trilogy of Gold & Glory wins, in 1931, 1932, and 1933.

Recounts race historian Tod Gould, Indycar driver Harry MacQuinn had asked Wiggins to loan him a car for a race in Louisville, Kentucky in 1928.

"Charlie agreed, on the condition he drive the tuning runs at the speedway himself," Gould says. "When the white spectators in Louisville saw a black man driving, they mobbed the pits. Arrested for his own protection, Wiggins was charged with speeding.”
Indycar pilot Bill Cummings knew what Wiggins could do. In 1934, he hired him to tune his racing car for the 500.

By day, Wiggins swept floors and posed as a humble janitor.
At night, he overhauled Cummings’ car and made it purr like a kitten. He won and set a track record.

“During the 1936 Gold and Glory Sweepstakes, Wiggins was involved in a 13-car crash that nearly took his life. He lost his right leg and vision in one eye, ending his racing career.

After designing and building his own wooden leg, Wiggins remained a mechanic and advocate for African American racing. He would also train other black mechanics for the rest of his life. Charlie Wiggins died in March 1979, at 82.”

12/09/2024

The Story of Yasuke: The Black SamuraiYasuke was a man of African origin who arrived in Japan in the 16th century. He is said to have been brought by a Jesuit missionary, and his imposing presence and skills quickly caught the attention of Oda Nobunaga, one of the most powerful daimyo of the time. Nobunaga welcomed him into his court, where Yasuke became his bodyguard and a respected samurai.

Yasuke excelled in battle and was known for his loyalty. His story is a symbol of the plurality and cultural impact that existed in Japan, even in those times.

11/26/2024

Before the names Julia Child and Martha Stewart came about, there was Lena Richard. She was the first Black woman in America to host her own cooking television show. In the 1940''s, Blacks were still facing a lot of discrimination, including finding jobs and having careers. Lena was able to achieve much success.Not only was she on television, she also owned two restaurants, had a frozen food business, she wrote a cookbook that sold nationwide and she opened her own culinary school to teach cooking and home economics to aspiring Black chefs. Lena Richard was a forgotten pioneer. I think a documentary or biopic needs to be made on her just like Julia Child!!

11/26/2024

Join the Inclusion Allies Coalition (IAC) in countering the attacks on our profession and work by posting/reposting our weekly social media cards showing how and why Matters, Matters, and Matters. See more information about companies that out-innovate and out-perform others: https://bit.ly/WokeQuote To join IAC, click here: Join: https://inclusioncoalition.info/membership/

07/09/2024

Join the Inclusion Allies Coalition (IAC) in countering the attacks on our profession and our work by posting/reposting our weekly social media cards showing how and why Matters, Matters and Matters. See more information about the Global Growth of CDOs: https://bit.ly/CDOGrowth To join IAC, click here: https://inclusioncoalition.info/membership/

06/24/2024

Join the Inclusion Allies Coalition (IAC) in countering the attacks on our profession and work by posting/reposting our weekly social media cards showing how and why Diversity Matters, Equity Matters, and Inclusion Matters. . For more information about all-terrain wheelchairs: https://bit.ly/AllTerWheel To join IAC, click here: https://lnkd.in/e_ZCyVSe