Aspire Physical Recovery Center at Hoover, LLC

Easter Goodies!

Our Therapy Team made this cute creation to win our staff Golden Egg contest (top & left)! Plus, Ms. Colley (lower middle) is our resident Golden Egg winner for her pink bunny!

Great job to you all!!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

1 Peter 1:3

We are getting ready for Easter here at Aspire Hoover.

We can't wait for you and your family to see the Easter Bunny with us! Hop on in for a stay!

...and we conclude our look at Black History Month with a historical piece that took place just this past week as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black Female nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Jackson was born in Washington DC, but grew up in Miami, Florida. She stood out as a high achiever at an early age. She was a speech and debate star who was elected “mayor” of Palmetto Junior High, then student body president of Miami Palmetto Senior High School. When Judge Jackson told her guidance counselor she wanted to attend Harvard, the counselor warned her that she should not set her sights so high.
Well... she then went on to graduate magna cm laude from Harvard University, then attended Harvard Law School, where she graduated cm laude and became editor of the Harvard Law Review. The lesson here? Go ahead & let people tell you 'you can't do it'... then prove them wrong!
Congratulations to Judge Jackson and we wish her 'Good Luck & Godspeed' as she moves forward to become one of the leaders of our Nation!🇺🇸

Today, as we begin to wrap up our look at Great Americans during Black History Month, we turn our attention to the highly educated and well spoken Mr. Cecil B Moore. Moore was a lawyer and civil rights activist who led the fight to and successfully integrate Girard College. He served as a marine in WWII and after his honorary discharge, moved to Philadelphia to study law at Temple University. He quickly earned a reputation as a no-nonsense lawyer who fought on behalf of his mostly poor, African-American clients. From 1963 to 1967, he served as president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP and on the Philadelphia City Council. Moore is cited as a pivotal figure in the fields of social justice and race relations. He has an entire neighborhood named after him in the North Philadelphia area!

Our celebration of Black History Month continues as we shine the spotlight on one of the best athletes to come out of the modern era. Serena Jameka Williams is considered one of the greatest tennis players to have ever played the game! Along with her sister, Venus, Serena emerged straight outta the streets of Compton to become the world's No. 1 player. She has won 23 major singles titles, the most by any man or woman in the Open Era. The Women's Tennis Association ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She has competed at three Olympics and won four gold medals!

As Black History Month rolls on, we take a brief look at another great American in Langston Hughes. Mr. Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. Born in Missouri, he moved to New York at an early age, becoming one of the earliest innovators of a new art form... jazz poetry. In the early 1920's, his first book of poetry was published and he wrote an in-depth weekly column for The Chicago Defender, highlighting the civil rights movement. His ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in the middle of the foyer in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, which is the entrance to an auditorium named for him!

Harriet Jacobs was born a slave in 1813. Her mother passed away when she was only 6 and she moved in with her late mother's slave owner who taught her how to sew and read. In 1842, she got a chance to escape to Philadelphia, aided by activists of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee. Once established, she began working as a nanny in New York. Her former owners hunted for her until her freedom was finally bought in 1852. She secretly began to write an autobiography which was published in the U.S. in 1860 and in England in 1861. She lived the rest of her life as an abolitionist, dedicated to helping escaped slaves and eventually freedmen. We honor Harriet's bravery, determination and selfless work as we celebrate Black History Month.

As we continue our look at Great Americans during our celebration of Black History Month, we spotlight the beloved Frances Ellen Watkins Harper! Born free in Baltimore, Harper was an abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer. She helped slaves make their way along the Underground Railroad to Canada. As a young woman in the 1850's, she taught domestic science at Union Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, she started writing anti-slavery literature & began her career as a public speaker & political activist. In 1894, she co-founded the National Associated of Colored Women, an organization dedicated to highlighting extraordinary efforts and progress made by Black women, for which she served as vice president.

Our celebration of Black History Month continues with the inspirational bravery of Mr. Medgar Evers. Evers was an American civil rights activist in Mississippi, the state's field secretary for the NAACP, and a World War II veteran serving in the U.S. Army. After graduating from college, he worked to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi after Brown v. Board ruled public school segregation was unconstitutional. Evers was assassinated by a white supremacist in 1963, yet his untimely death did inspire protests which sprouted countless works of art, music and film. Because of his veteran status, he was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

As our look into Black History Month continues, we look at the interesting career of author Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston became an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker but as a child she was unable to attend school after her father stopped paying her school fees. In 1917, she opted to attend a public school but had to lie about her age in order to qualify for a free education. As an anthropologist, she studied hoodoo, the American version of voodoo, as well as African-American & Caribbean folklore and how these contributed to the community's identity. Eventually, she found her way to Hollywood by working as a story consultant and one of her most notable works, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" was turned into a film in 2005.

We look to the entertainment world and a star of stage & screen for our next Black History Month spotlight... Mr. Robert Guillaume. Robert was raised by his grandmother in the segregated south, but moved to New York to escape racial injustice. There, he performed in theatre for 19 years, gaining momentum and a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. In 1976, he landed his infamous role as Benson on the TV show "Soap" which won him an Emmy, and the spin-off series, "Benson" for which he won another Emmy. He returned to the stage in 1990, playing the role of the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera at the infamous Ahmanson Theatre. He also voiced one of Disney's most beloved animated characters, Rafiki, from the 1994 hit "The Lion King"!

Today, we spotlight the great Arthur Ashe in our continued look at Black History Month! Ashe was an incredible tennis player and his resume includes three Grand Slam titles, the first Black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team, the only Black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. In July 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack while holding a tennis clinic in New York. In 1992, Ashe was diagnosed with HIV; he and his doctors believed he contracted the virus from blood transfusions he received during his second heart surgery. After Ashe went public with his illness, he founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, working to raise awareness about the disease and advocated teaching safe sex education. On June 20, 1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton!!

Today, we turn to the world of Science in our celebration of Black History Month and take a look back in the early part of the 20th century into the life of Rudolph Fisher. Fisher was an African-American physician, radiologist, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, musician, and orator. In addition to publishing scientific articles, he had a love of music. He played piano, wrote musical scores and toured with Paul Robeson, playing jazz. He wrote multiple short stories, two novels and contributed his articles to the NAACP all before his too early death at the young age of 37.

We have been spotlighting great African Americans during our celebration of Black History Month and today we recognize the accomplishments of Sojourner Truth. Truth was born into slavery but escaped to freedom with her infant daughter in 1826. She then sued and won the return of her 5-year-old son, who was illegally sold into slavery. In 1851, Truth began a lecture tour that included a women's rights conference where she delivered her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech, challenging prevailing notions of not only racial inferiority, but also gender inequality. She was very instrumental in collecting thousands of signatures petitioning to provide former slaves with land.

Today, we go back to before America had earned her independence as we continue to celebrate Black History Month with a look in on Poet & Writer Phillis Wheatley. Born in West Africa and sold into slavery, Phillis learned to read and write by the age of 9 and became the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry. After having to prove she had indeed written the poetry, no one in the colonies would publish her work. She was forced to travel to England, where her pieces were published in London in 1773. A few years later, she sent one of her poems to George Washington who requested and received a meeting with her at his headquarters in Cambridge in 1776.