While a high IQ is often touted as a status symbol — a sign that the person who has it is amongst the most intelligent in the world — there’s actually a disparity, rooted in racism and white supremacy, in who earns a “genius-level” IQ ranking. In 1998, Brookings released a report that explained how Black people — especially Black Americans — consistently score lower than white Americans on standardized IQ tests. While the gap has narrowed since 1970, “the typical American black still scores below 75 percent of American whites on almost every standardized test. This statistic does not imply, of course, that all blacks score below all whites. There is a lot of overlap between the two groups. Nonetheless, the test score gap is large enough to have significant social and economic consequences.” So, when someone is certified as having a “high IQ,” it’s a good thing. But it’s even better if that “someone” is a Black man or woman, especially — according to Forbes — when a perceived low IQ...

Amber Goodwin will be graduating from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota on June 6, 2021. She will be 41 years old when she graduates. But don’t think that this is some standard “ non-traditional graduation story. ” In fact, there’s nothing “standard” about Amber Goodwin at all. Twenty years prior to her graduation day, Goodwin graduated from college but didn’t get accepted into any of her chosen law schools. But she didn’t let this rejection get her down. “My mentality was: I’m going to keep applying places and they have to tell me no,” Amber Goodwin said to Good Morning America (GMA). “I’m not going to call the question on myself. If people tell me no, then that’s on them, and I’ll just keep trying.” If someone had told me when I was rejected from many law schools 20 yrs ago that at 41 yrs old I would be in a magazine spread from a Bar Association while still in law school I would have said you were crazy. I only hope my ancestors are proud. tnx to...

Our nation’s approach to celebrating Black culture over the last year has been viewed as a performative trend that’s just catching up with us, but for founder Trell Thomas he’s also been ahead of the curve. Last year in April, Thomas — an entertainment entrepreneur and founder of the Black Excellence Brunch — was gearing up to launch his collection of Black Excellence Boxes as a means to honor the Black-owned businesses he’s long since admired. “I had been thinking about this [idea] for awhile, before supporting Black businesses became trendy,” he told AfroTech. “I remember being at ESSENCE Fest walking past all those booths and I was so inspired by all these Black entrepreneurs that I was seeing.” As an extension of his mainstay brand, Thomas came up with a plan at the start of the pandemic to send out curated-boxes filled with products from Black-owned brands similar to other subscription box companies like Birchbox. The purpose of the special-made boxes was to both celebrate...

Black people are continuing to raise the bar in education, and University of Florida graduate Jasmine Bowers is no exception as she’s the first Black person to obtain a doctorate in computer science from the university, Black News reports . Despite living through a global pandemic and social upheaval in America, Bowers powered through her final semester making history in the process. https://twitter.com/JasmineDBowers/status/1284714065785499648?s=20 According to Bowers, the motivation for her latest accomplishment started at a young age when her mother taught her how to use [Microsoft] Excel to create a “wish list.” “I grew up in a household where I was encouraged to embrace technology,” Bowers told Because of Them We Can . “I also had the freedom to utilize technologies that included computers and other equipment that my mother, a [self-taught] engineer, had.” “The Ph.D. was and is the pinnacle of the seed planted years ago, deposits from teachers, internship experiences, amazing...

Ashley Williams has mastered the art of practicing Black girl magic, and the proof is not only in her master’s but her law degree that she earned the exact same week. Before you ask — no, she wasn’t enrolled in a dual program, she actually attended two different universities located in two states at the same time. In 2019, Williams earned a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., just two days later received her JD from the University of Pennsylvania, according to Because of Them We Can. To add to the abundance of Black girl magic, Williams completed her master’s while she was working as a special advisor and director of special projects to the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. “I was really interested in beginning a program that would allow me to build upon my undergraduate degree, love for politics, and allow me to continue working. I knew I needed to grow. The Political Management degree at GW was perfect,“...