With Father’s Day quick approaching, the Defender household wished to take a second to rejoice Black males, fathers or not, who’re offering dynamic management for our communities.
Throughout Houston, Black males share their distinctive items and passions, showcasing excellence and dedication in training, healthcare, the humanities, enterprise and extra. With their mission-centered drive and dedication to social uplift, these brothers are proving “the satan is a lie,” crushing demeaning stereotypes whereas lifting others as they climb.
From setting the humanities world on hearth to offering a robust presence in healthcare, these changemakers show what our communities have recognized for generations—actual Black males stand on enterprise and on the shoulders of our ancestors.
Listed here are a few of Houston’s game-changing brothers deserving of celebration.
Robert Hodge
Award-winning multi-platform artist
Born in Houston and raised in Third Ward, Hodge knew he was destined to change into an artist since kindergarten. Hodge’s journey took him from the Excessive College for the Performing and Visible Arts to the illustrious Pratt Institute in New York, adopted by the Atlanta School of Artwork.
Hodge has allowed his H-City mild to shine globally by way of nationwide and worldwide exhibitions on the Museum of Nice Arts Houston and the Virginia Museum of Nice Arts, in addition to exhibitions in London, Paris, and Nairobi, Kenya, to call a couple of.
Regardless of quite a few awards, Hodge stays grounded.
“My artist assertion is about honoring ancestors, individuals, locations and issues that shifted America via Black tradition,” stated Hodge. “Black People not solely bodily constructed this nation, but additionally via innovation and inventive power, we constructed the entire system right here in America, from the blues music to coronary heart surgical procedure. I honor our tradition via artwork.
Dallas S. Jones
Entrepreneur, politico, activist
To say Dallas S. Jones is a mission-driven entrepreneur and forward-thinking political activist is an understatement. As president and CEO of ELITE Change, Inc. and Saint Pope Media, and Managing Principal of Jones Group Worldwide, LLC, Jones has garnered recognition for his influence as a change agent.
Jones’s strategic work on a groundbreaking marketing campaign that includes 19 Black ladies working for judicial seats performed a pivotal position in serving to shift Harris County from purple/purple to blue for the primary time in over 30 years.
The NAACP named Jones one of many 40 energy leaders beneath 40. Jones’s work has been featured within the New York Instances and Ebony and Essence magazines.
When requested about recommendation he’d share with younger brothers, Jones stated: “Ensure you do one thing with what you’ve been given. All of us have skills. All of us have items. Work out what yours is, nurture it and watch it develop. Then watch others profit from the fruit of your tree.”
Joe Carmouche
Musician extraordinaire and educator
Fifth Ward and Trinity Gardens product Joe Carmouche grew from listening to jazz information performed at house by his father to changing into a globally revered jazz guitarist himself, similar to considered one of his father’s favourite artists – Wes Montgomery.
Carmouche is likely one of the key figures answerable for placing Houston’s reside music scene on the map. However Carmouche not solely wows individuals together with his musical brilliance on stage and within the studio; he’s additionally a longtime educator. He served as a musical teacher at MacGregor Elementary for 12 years and is coming into his fifth yr at St. John’s School Prep.
However out of all of the accolades Carmouche has acquired as an artist and educator, his most cherished one is manner nearer to house.
“The proudest second of my life was the delivery of my daughter and seeing her develop right into a tremendous younger lady, a lady of God, educated, good, hardworking and devoted,” Carmouche stated.
Dr. Miles Simms
Doctor
Dr. Miles Simms, a graduate of the Morehouse College of Medication (MSM), is at present working to finish his residency in Psychiatry at MSM in Atlanta, GA. However he proudly carries his Houston roots with him on each affected person go to.
Apparently, medication wasn’t one thing Simms noticed for himself when he left Houston certain for Morehouse as a school freshman. He merely hadn’t seen a whole lot of Black docs.
However now, he’s on a mission to interrupt psychological well being stigmas and create areas for psychological wellness in Black communities, whereas displaying the facility of illustration.
“It was behind the power of different Black males and different Black folks that inspired me to decide I by no means noticed for myself,” stated Simms. “So, the legacy I wish to proceed is reaching again and inspiring extra younger college students, Black, Brown, white, no matter, to essentially push the boundaries of their desires and their targets, and never be bottlenecked by what society tells us you may be.”
Raul Orlando Edwards
Cultural Activist
Raúl Orlando Edwards has been featured by each native and nationwide media (NBC Nightly Information), for his work in Houston’s Afro-Latinx artwork scene. An immigrant of Panamanian-Jamaican heritage, since arriving within the U.S. in 1992, Edwards has developed right into a artistic visionary actively engaged in producing, consulting and presenting modern packages in a number of performing arts, group/social occasions and delicacies.
However Edwards may finest be recognized for his influence on this planet of dance. Founding father of the Basis for Latin American Arts, a non-profit that hosts an annual music competition and occasions, Edwards additionally based Strictly Avenue Salsa, Houston’s first salsa studio.
Edwards gleefully embraces his position as cultural ambassador.
“The problem I’ve positioned on myself is to change into a bridge between the U.S. Black and Afro-Latinx communities,” shared Edwards. “My new imaginative and prescient is to create packages the place these communities can come collectively in understanding that we now have extra in frequent than that which separates us.”
Devin Adams
Academic chief
Although Devin Adams is an award-winning principal of Houston’s Fleming Center College, he and his household are headed to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Adams, winner of the Campus Instructor of the Yr, 1st yr Principal of the Yr and Prairie View A&M College High 40 beneath 40 honor, is considered one of solely 20 individuals nationally accepted into Harvard College’s extremely aggressive Physician of Training Management program.
However this down-to-earth brother, who took Fleming from an F to a B score, just isn’t about to get the massive head. He’s too busy setting and dealing in direction of huge targets, together with calling his shot to finally change into the U.S. Secretary of Training.
Till then, Adams pushes his Fifth Ward college students, who could not see a future for themselves exterior of their instant environment, to dream large, as nicely.
“I inform my children on a regular basis that there’s extra; there’s an entire world on the market. There’s extra for you on the market,” Adams stated. “That’s to not say that the place you’re at present, it’s a must to go away. However it’s best to have the chance to exit into the world.
If you already know a Black man making an influence in Houston, nominate him for subsequent month’s highlight at aswad@DefenderNetwork.com.
