But I hate the Patriots. HATE. Have ever since my time in Boston.

So, we can talk about other stuff about the Super Bowl.
Like that whole segment on HBCUs. Because WHAT?
I been watching plenty of Super Bowls since they moved it to make more money February and I don’t remember anything like this.
AND the cherry on top?
My sissie’s school (Tennessee State University) got mad love in that segment.
(For reals. I’m so glad she went to TSU)

But here’s the thing. I’ve already done some facts on some TSU Alumni.
Some non-famous ones, like this dude.
AND some famous ones like Orpah Winfrey. (NO, I didn’t misspell it, her mama did).
That one was long before I started being forced to blog them.
I been doing these for a surprisingly long time, you guys.
And every once in a while I learn something that I didn’t already know.
Okay, ALL the time. I do these facts randomly, so when I go looking I almost always find new information that I pass along to you.

EVENTUALLY.

FOR INSTANCE: Orpah is always billed as the first Black woman to have a talk show, which…NOPE*.
That person was Delloreese Early. Changed to Della Reese in the 1950’s.
(see? Finally got around to the fact)

Della Reese (born Delloreese Patricia Early – wow, that’s a mouthful. And probably what she said) is an American nightclub, jazz, gospel and pop singer, film and television actress, one-time talk-show hostess and ordained minister, whose career has spanned six decades.

Della was discovered by the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and her big break came when she won a contest, which gave her a week to sing at Detroit’s well-known Flame Show Bar. In 1953, she signed a recording contract with Jubilee Records, for which she recorded six albums. Later that year, she also joined the Hawkins Orchestra. In 1957, Reese released a single called “And That Reminds Me.” After years of performing, she gained chart success with this song. It became a Top Twenty Pop hit and a million-seller record. That year, Reese was voted by Billboard, Cashbox and various other magazines, as “The Most Promising Singer.” Motown singer Martha Reeves cites Reese as a major influence and says she named her group The Vandellas after Van Dyke Street in Detroit and Della Reese. (Another thing I did not know)

In 1969, she began a transition into acting work which would eventually lead to her greatest fame. Her first attempt at television stardom was a talk show series, Della, which was cancelled after 197 episodes (June 9, 1969 – March 13, 1970). Then in 1970, Reese became the first black woman to guest host The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She appeared in several TV movies and miniseries, was a regular on Chico and the Man and played the mother of B. A. Baracus in The A-Team (TV Show, not the movie), and in 1989 she starred alongside Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and Arsenio Hall in the movie Harlem Nights, in which she performed my favorite part of this entire movie.

After the death of one of her BFF’s (Redd Foxx), she went on to be a lead character in Touched by an Angel in 1994, the show was cancelled in 2003, but it continued re-running heavily in syndication and on The Hallmark Channel. In 2014, she retired from acting after filming for the TV Series Signed, Sealed, Delivered (Touched by an Angel spinoff) and unlike Frederick Douglass is very much alive and living her life.

And that’s how I’m starting week two of Black History Month, by being petty about a Patriots win.

But if you really need me to say something nice about the Patriots, here it is: Martellus Bennett is NOT going to celebrate his win at the White House.

(boop. Still petty)

*Orpah WAS the first Black Woman to have a nationally syndicated talk show, doe. SO. She’s still got that #1 slot. Along with first black woman to own a billion (BILLION) dollar company. Woo!