Life

The late African-American Civil Rights icon John R Lewis's funeral was held on July 30, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia, US. The funeral and memorial service was attended by several high profile individuals, including Former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, the US Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, and the current Atlanta mayor Keisha Bottoms, among others. It was held at Ebenezer Baptist Church, formerly led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., at which John Lewis was a member.

Rep. John R. Lewis, the civil rights icon whose fight for racial justice began in the Jim Crow south and ended in the halls of Congress, died Friday night. John Lewis represented Georgia's 5th congressional district. He had been suffering from Stage IV pancreatic cancer since December. He was 80 old.

News from Bujumbura, Burundi, later confirmed in a statement from the Burundian Government, indicate that Pierre Nkurunziza, the President of Burundi, has died following a cardiac arrest on June 8, 2020 at the Karusi Fiftieth Anniversary Hospital. He was  55 years old.

Katherine Globe Johnson, known as the  "Black Woman Who Advanced Human Rights and Humanity With A Slide Rule and a Pencil" (see AfroAmerica Network),  died on Monday, February 24, 2020. She was 101.

She was depicted as one of the history-making and barrier-breaking NASA mathematicians  in "Hidden Figures,"  the  biographical drama film based on the non-fiction book of Margot Lee Shetterly.  She along with Octavia Spencer, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson were the black NASA employees who participated in calculating flight trajectories for Project Mercury in 1962. 

Kobe Bryant, one of The Greatest Basketball Players of All Time,  died  at the age of 41,  in a helicopter crash in California on Sunday along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people. Kobe Bryant, beyond being known as one of the most extraordinary players in the history of basketball, has inspired young people around the World and especially in his state of California, to play Baskeball and other sports.

Elijah Cummings, US House Congressman since 1996, has died after a long battle with health problems. He was 68 years old

Toni Morrison, an African-American legend, who has left an indelible mark on the World literary, has died. She left us on Monday night, August 5, 2019, in New York. She was 88 years old. 

John McCain, the US Senator from Arizona, passed away on Saturday, August 25, 2018, at 91. AfroAmerica Network remembers a man who did so much for the US, an American Hero and a political role model. A man with strong moral values and principles, despite human flaws. 

  Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul , passed away in Detroit,  Michigan,  on August 16, 2018. She is known as one of the greatest signer of soul, gospel and other music genres. Aretha Franklin once said:  "I always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music."  Her music inspired people from all over the World for over 6 decades and left them feel whole.

South African anti-apartheid hero, known as Mother of the Nation,  and former first lady Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has  passed away. She was aged 81. 

Reverend Billy Graham died Tuesday February 20, 2018. He was at age 99. He will be remembered as one of the greatest Christian pastors in America and around the World. But he was also renowned for his unequivocal advocacy for racial equality, both in the United States and around the World.

Her life is beyond remarkable. It is an epitome of pain, suffering, hope, survival, overcoming, and success. Most of all, it is a testimony to humanity winning over human evil, and transforming  human perseverance into a victory against all odds.