Young, Black and Gifted - University of West Indies Students Travel to Kenya

28 students recently embarked on a life-changing trip discovering the diverse people, cultures and economies of Kenya. Read more about it at http://sta.uwi.edu/uwiToday/2007/October/uwi_kenya.asp.

Young, Black and Gifted - Meet Tanya LaReese Green

Tanya LaReese Green has achieved her dream by recording her first CD and she's encouraging other young people to believe in their own dreams.
Meet her.

Young, Black and Gifted - Kenyan Woman Crafts Career in Counseling

Betty Kaburu has had a gift for counseling since she was a teenager. Today, she's assisting local teens with problems simliar to what she faced and much more. Read more from AllAfrica.com.

Young, Black and Gifted - Bajan Youth Excels at Cricket

Meet Justin Greaves.

Young, Black and Gifted - To All People Who Say You Are Too Young To Lead ...

One of the reason that I started my blog youngblackandgifted.blogspot.com is because there seems to always be someone saying what young people can't do or shouldn't be doing.

Please do not discourage greatness or limit it because I was not (or my peers) were not born before 1960! Ambassador Andrew Young was quoted yesterday saying that Barack Obama should not be president in 2008 because he is too young. See Errin Haine's story here.

What if they said that about Martin Luther King Jr? He accomplished a whole lot before 35 years old!

Below, I'll list a few great leaders and what they accomplished while they were young.These people are from diverse backgrounds.

1) Phyllis Wheatley published her FIRST POEM at six years old.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p12.html

2) Aubyn Burnside founded Suitcases for Kids when she was 10 years old.
http://www.suitcasesforkids.org/history.htm

3) W.E.B. DuBois was one of the founders of the NAACP at 41 years old.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois

4. Dr. Ellen Ochoa became the first Hispanic American woman to fly in space at 35 years old.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/hispanic/ochoa.htm

5. Jerry Yang built the prototype for Yahoo at 28 years old.
http://goldsea.com/Profiles/100/yangjerry.html

6. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in 1955 in an act that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she was 42 years old.
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0bio-1

7. Barack Obama is 46 years old.
http://www.barackobama.com/about/

Young, Black and Gifted - Somali Children Speak Out About Violence

According to McClatchy's Washington Bureau, Somalia has become Africa's worst humanitarian catastrophe. Some 200,000 refugees, mostly women and children, have fled from a pro-government offensive to makeshift camps along a 10-mile stretch of sun-baked asphalt that leads from the seaside capital of Mogadishu toward the inland town of Afgoye. The crisis is brutal on young people. In September 2007, U.N. aid workers gave video cameras to 30 Somali children who had been uprooted by fighting in Mogadishu and asked them to capture their daily life in settlements for displaced people. Watch the video.

Young, Black and Gifted - Meet the 2007 Class of the Teen Promise Program

Arkansas-based Teen Promise Inc. Teen Promise, Incorporated is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 corporation whose mission is to provide programs that assist youth in leadership development. Meet some of the young ladies benefiting from the program's aims at http://missteenpromise.com/2007class.html

Young, Black and Gifted - Ugandan Brotha Art Inspired By Gospel Music

For a young artist in Uganda, Eria Sane Nsubuga is doing well. Recently, the 28-year-old held his fourth solo exhibition sponsored by Alliance Française and held at their premises in Kamwokya. Gospel music is also part of his inspiration as he reiterates his strong attachment to church work among the youth in Entebbe where he lives. Read more at http://africanpainters.blogspot.com/2007/02/eria-sane-nsubuga-uganda.html.