HBCU GO, an Allen Media Group company and leading media provider to the nation’s 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Procter & Gamble are joining forces to rejoice HBCU culture.

The partnership features a industrial campaign titled “THIS IS HOW WE HBCYOU” that may run through the 2024 football season. The partnership also includes the “2024 HBCU GO Sports Pre-Game Live Kick-Off Show,” the first-ever HBCU GO live on-campus show leading as much as the most important games of the season, including the Southern Heritage Classic on Saturday between Tennessee State and Arkansas Pine Bluff.

Eric Austin, Vice President of Global Marketing and Media Innovation at Procter & Gamble, said, “We strive to meet the unique needs of all consumers. Together with HBCU GO Allen Media Group, we are able to authentically connect and empower Black consumers—in their everyday lives, through great brand innovation at the right cultural moments.”

P&G’s #HowWeHBCYOU ad campaign, powered by AMG, highlights the importance of supporting HBCUs and their students to support their success and continued growth.

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The “2024 HBCU GO Sports Pre-Game Live Kick-Off Show,” hosted by Jasmine McKoy, former Carolina Panthers defensive end Tre Boston and HBCU Gameday’s Tolly Carr, will give fans of the 4 major HBCU football conferences live access to all of the interviews and game strategy, in addition to a taste of HBCU culture.

In addition to the Southern Classic on Saturday, the event schedule includes:

Oct. 12: Bethune Cookman vs. Alabama A&M, homecoming game;
Oct. 19: Arkansas Pine Bluff vs. Grambling State, return game;
Oct. 26: Jackson State vs. Bethune Cookman, homecoming game;
November 9: Mississippi Valley vs. Jackson State.

For more details about HBCU GO, visit HBCUGO.TV.

Tina McElroy Ansa, an acclaimed author, journalist, and pioneer whose vivid narrative captured the sweetness, complexity, and resilience of life within the black South, has joined her ancestors.

On September 10, 2024, the author died at the age of 74 in her home on the Georgia coast. After her unexpected death, McElroy Ansa’s good friend Wanda Lloyd, whom she met during her freshman 12 months at Spelman College, wrote Facebook post announcing the news.

“It is with immeasurable sadness and a broken heart that I share the news of the death of Tina McElroy Ansa, my sister-friend since we were paired as roommates our freshman year at Spelman College. I am sharing this on behalf of Tina’s family,” the post reads. “Tina was an award-winning novelist, journalist, writer-doula, advocate for a huge number of her “good little students,” founding father of Sea Island Writers Retreat, publisher of DownSouth Press, storyteller, public speaker, podcaster, editor, and avid gardener. She was an advocate for her adopted community of St. Simons Island, Georgia, and loved her hometown of Macon, Georgia.”

Born in Macon, Georgia, in 1949, McElroy Ansa was the youngest of 5 children of Walter J. and Nellie McElroy. In 1971, she and Lloyd graduated with a level in English from an all-women’s HBCU. She began her storytelling profession as an editor at The Atlanta Constitution, where she became the primary black woman to affix the editorial staff of the publication. After moving from editor to reporter to features editor, McElroy Ansa took a break from journalism to put in writing her first novel, “Baby of the Family.”

Inspired by the stories and experiences she heard on her porch growing up, McElroy Ansa’s writing wove generations of family, spirit, and tradition into narratives that spoke on to the essence of the Black Southern experience. Through her sharp prose and deep exploration of family, culture, and community, she helped shape a brand new narrative for Black women in fiction.

“She was one of the women writing African-American literature in the 1980s and 1990s,” Lloyd said. Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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After her debut novel won the New York Times Notable Book of the Year award in 1989, McElroy Ansa wrote Ugly Ways, The Hand I Fan With, You Know Better, and Taking After Mudear: A (*74*). In addition to her own writing, the veteran journalist-turned-author was captivated with supporting other black writers. In 2007, she founded DownSouth Press Publishing House to publish and promote “African American literature that will enrich, enlighten, and edify the world.”

Similarly, in 2004, McElroy Ansa organized the Sea Island Writers Retreat, an annual event designed to assist emerging and established writers improve their skills in writing fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and editing.

In addition to being a author, publisher and mentor, McElroy Ansa was also a wife. In 1979, she married cinematographer Jonée Ansa, with whom she lived until his death in 2020. Before her death, McElroy Ansa was reportedly working on her sixth novel, a nonfiction book titled “Secrets of a Bogart Queen” and an October film festival celebrating the a hundredth anniversary of the Harrington School, the primary school for African-American children in St. Simons, Georgia.

According to Lloyd McElroy, Ansa “was a leader in the writing community and a friend to more people than we can imagine.”

It was an ungainly day at the Shay Shay Club.

Yesterday, NFL player turned TV personality Shannon Sharpe went viral after 1000’s of his Instagram followers overheard him having sex on Instagram Live. After unknowingly broadcasting the intimate moment on social media, Sharpe addressed the situation in “emergency” episode of his show “Nightcap” with Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson. Starting the episode on a light-weight note, Sharpe followed his usual intro, “I’m your favorite uncle,” with “at least I used to be your favorite uncle,” jokingly acknowledging what happened on social media.

“Of course I’m ashamed,” Sharpe said, his tone more serious. “(I’m) someone who is extremely, extremely private, and the fact that one of your most intimate details, the sound of it being heard by the whole world, makes me ashamed for many reasons.”

Acknowledging his responsibility as a public figure related to major brands like ESPN and as a father, Sharpe explained how disillusioned he was with himself for what had happened.

“Even when I’m behind closed doors, I still try to maintain a level of professionalism (decorum), even though I’m in the privacy of my own home and I’m very disappointed in myself, not because of the act — there are millions and billions of age-conscious people who participate in the acts. But for your most intimate details to be heard on an audio recording … I’ve let a lot of people down,” he added.

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Despite speculation on social media about the ordeal, Sharpe insisted that “it wasn’t a set up.” According to the “Nightcap” co-host, he threw his phone on the bed before engaging in the revealing actions, not even realizing that his phone had gone live to tell the tale Instagram. It wasn’t until his phone began lighting up with calls from friends that Sharpe realized something had happened.

“I’ve never been on IG Live; I’ve never been on IG Live, so I don’t know how it works,” he claimed, explaining how his friend Jamie Fritz was the one who reached out to him and told him what was occurring. “He said, ‘Uh Shannon, you’re on IG Live.’ (…) Now I’m starting to get nervous because you’re calling me and saying I’m on IG Live when I know I didn’t click on IG Live myself, and he said they can hear me. I said, ‘They can hear what I’m doing,’ (and he said), he said, ‘it sounds like you guys are having sex,'” Sharpe recounted. “Man, my heart just sank… it sank.”

When his social media team responded by turning off the live stream and posting a now-deleted Instagram post saying the star’s account had been compromised, Sharpe ultimately decided honesty was the best policy.

“I called my agency, I called ESPN (and) I said, ‘I just have to tell them the truth. My phone wasn’t hacked. It wasn’t a joke; I was a healthy, active man,'” he said.

While his co-hosts joked that the situation should put an end to any speculation about Sharpe’s sexual orientation, he himself stated that the worst aspect of the situation is the proven fact that his family and friends could have to answer for his actions.

“After it happened, I remembered everything my grandfather and grandmother had said. They said, ‘Boy, you’ve made a mess, now clean it up,'” he concluded.