President Obama condemned Rosen’s remarks, saying, “there’s no tougher job than being a mom” and “when I think about what Michelle’s had to do, when I think about my own mom, a single mother raising me and my sister, that’s work. Anybody who would argue otherwise I think, probably needs to rethink their statement.”

While women across the country reacted to Rosen’s comments, some black women were mute on the topic. Unlike women of other ethnicities, black women have traditionally not had the choice to become stay-at-home mothers.

According to “Historical Changes in Stay-at-Home Mothers: 1969 to 2009″ by Rose M. Kreider and Diana B. Elliot the number of stay-at-home mothers has decreased from 9.8 million in 1969 to 5.7 million in 2009.

“Black women were about half as likely as White women to be a stay-at-home mother, while the odds for women of other races did not differ from those of White women,” Kreider and Elliot write.

Historically, black women have always worked.

“There is evidence that married black women have always been employed outside of the house in large numbers,” (Landry 2000) Kreider and Elliot note. “Even black mothers with young children were in the work force following World War II, when many of their white counterparts had withdrawn from the labor force” (Thistle 2006).

Now, the economy is perhaps the biggest reason why the idea of being a stay-at-mother for black women hasn’t been a reality. The recession took a toll on the economic status of many Americans and the black community was hit particularly hard.

The 8.2 percent unemployment rate is nearly double that for African-Americans at 14 percent.

“Women usually have better success getting jobs than black men do,” said Dr. Camille Charles, a Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “So if you’re talking about a two parent household, she’s more likely to end up being the one to pick up the slack because historically the women have been more employable and more desirable employees because of the gender stereotypes we have as African-Americans.”

Black women have an unemployment rate of about 12.3 percent, slightly lower than the 13.8 percent unemployment rate for black men. Black men and women have long worked to close the wealth gap between themselves and other ethnicities.

“The woman’s not going to be the one to stop working and stay home,” said Charles. “She might be the bigger earner. And as long as marriage and divorce rates are the way that they are now, and other contentious things in the black community, I don’t think women are going to feel secure in giving up their careers.”

During the late eighties and early nineties, fictional character Clair Huxtable in The Cosby Show embodied being a supermom. She had her own career; she was a dedicated mother and a loving wife. She was a symbol for many black women that they too could have and do it all.

Michelle Obama represents a similar ideal for many women today. She had a successful career as a lawyer before she became the first lady of the United States. She is now technically a stay-at-home mom, but her unique position makes her more of an outlier than the norm.

“I don’t think [being a stay at home mother] has ever been a realistic option for the vast majority of black women,” Charles added. “And even if we think about the black women who are married to the very few men who have the status where they can stay home – you’re talking about a very small percentage of women who can do that comfortably.”

Another reason why black women may have not have the option to stay home is because of the number of single mothers in the black community.

In 2008, 72 percent of African-American babies were born to unwed mothers, according to a Pew Research report. Blacks were less likely than whites to be married, and black children were nearly three times as likely as white children to live with one parent.

Kuae Mattox is president of Mocha Moms, Inc., a support group for mothers who have decided not to work full-time outside of the home. Mattox is a stay-at-home mother who never imagined not working. She received her master’s from Columbia University and went on to climb the ladder at national news organizations before deciding that staying home was the best choice for her family.

“There are many in the black community and in society who don’t understand the value of what we’re doing,” said Mattox. “We understand very well, particularly in our organization, that a stay at home mom in January could be a working mom in September.”

Maria Smith is another black stay-at-home mother and a journalist who describes her family as middle class.

“We’re not the Romney’s,” said Smith, “We have sacrificed so that I can stay home. Not all families who have parents staying home are upper class. We don’t live in mansions and all have maids and help for our kids and all that stuff that some one-percent type moms do.”

Being a part of the upper echelon is just one label that black stay at home moms are given.

“When I was growing up, it never entered my mind that I would become a stay at home mother,” said Mattox. “This was unheard of years and years ago — our parents grew up and fought in the civil rights movement and their dream was to grow up and go to a good college and work their way up the corporate ladder.”

Professional women who give up their careers to raise their families are sometimes seen as throwing away their hard earned success and erasing that progress which past generations worked to achieve through hard fought battles.

“Being a stay at home mother is a shift in who you are,” said Smith, “It is about identity. I was never associated, myself, with just being a television producer; that was just what I did. But those lines get blurred a lot.”

The societal implication that staying at home means you are living a life of luxury versus solely fulfilling domestic duties is not necessarily representative of what mothers at home are doing. Their reality is more complex.

“The whole notion of stay at home mom it’s a huge misnomer, and it implies passivity,” said Mattox, “The moms I’ve met — they don’t stay at home. They are home based parents, but they are moms who are grassroots organizers, PTA organizers, and they are out participating in their communities.”

Balancing career and family life is a natural expectation for African-American women.

“We don’t see the mommy wars as our wars – we have friends, mothers and aunts who all worked,” said Mattox. “It would be hypocritical of us to disparage people who worked and to tell people what to do – you have to decide what’s best for you and your family.”

Ashani O’Mard is a grant development manager who manages a part-time schedule and raising her two children. She has sacrificed having a higher income for time with her family.

“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, but I knew I wanted to be a Clair Huxtable when I grew up,” said O’Mard, “My career is very important to me and I wanted to continue to cultivate my professional development, but I did make a choice that it was second to my family. It’s a complex issue. You have to sacrifice something and figure out what’s the most important thing for you.”

According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, there is still a racial gap that exists in education, but the college graduation rate for black students has improved over the past three years.

“We would not be given the choice to stay home if it weren’t for the economic opportunities awarded to our husbands,” said Mattox.

Source: msnbc.cn

The Black Panther Party was a force to be reckoned with during an era in American history where African-Americans fought to prevent their own subjugation.

During the 1960s and 1970s the Black Panther Party functioned as an organized front, ready and willing to militantly combat violence against black people. Their contributions to the development of a more liberated environment for African-Americans within a racist American society is immeasurable. Their importance to the process of building the societal structure that we now know is undeniable. As we celebrate another Black History Month, Hello Beautiful honors the influence that the Black Panther party has had in the Civil Rights historical canon.

How To Recreate Coretta Scott King’s Classic Look

As we remember their historical importance, and look back upon the Panther experience, we especially honor the strong, bold, powerful image of the Panther woman. The women of the organization were in many ways the coal that kept the engine running. They served an imperative purpose, and helped to propel the Panther message, but they always did so with style. The Panther women’s distinctive style holds its own place in our memories.

In honor of the characteristic urban military look that the Blck Panthers are not famous for, we’re giving you a look back at some vintage panther photos.

If you are interested in recreating the Panther look, we’ve got you covered! Take a look at some of our Panther inspired looks with a modern twist. Check out the originators of “All Black Everything” in our gallery, and dont forget to equip your self with a good pair of these:

2010’s Woman To Watch: Janelle Monae

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VIA:  SmokeyRobinson.Com

The dictionary defines the popular term “comfort food” as “food prepared in a traditional style having a usually nostalgic or sentimental appeal.” It has been known to have a buffering effect as it soothes the soul and spurs memories of more “comforting” times. If that concept holds up in the kitchen, then it makes perfect sense that it should hold true in the living room with its aural equivalent. While it’s already a known fact that popular songs often connect with listeners in a highly personal way, often recalled alongside life’s more personal moments, only a few distinctive voices in popular music can achieve that same effect with instantaneous familiarity. With his eternally smooth and instantly recognizable falsetto alone – without the strings, bass, guitar or drums – legendary singer/songwriter/producer SMOKEY ROBINSON’s honey-coated voice absolutely is the audio equivalent of comfort food…comfort food for the soul…with soul. In following with the aforementioned definition, the Motown legend’s forthcoming ROBSO Records CD, Time Flies When You’re Having Fun has certainly been “prepared in a traditional style,” while that oh-so-familiar, highly identifiable crooning has an indisputable “nostalgic or sentimental appeal.”

Indeed, the “traditional” element of Time Flies When You’re Having Fun had already been determined while Robinson was recording his last CD, 2006’s pop/jazz standards collection Timeless Love. Just as that particular project had been recorded live in the studio with musicians – the first time he had recorded a full LP that way in years – Smokey knew he wanted to record his newly-written contemporary R&B songs in the very same fashion. In fact, he was so inspired by recording the “old school way” that the recording schedule for both projects actually overlapped. “I was having such a ball making that project (Timeless Love),” he explains. “I hadn’t intended on doing them simultaneously because I knew that Timeless Love was the one I was going to come out with. But things were going so well with that project that I said, ‘I’m gonna start putting in some of the original material I’d written for my new CD (Time Flies When You’re Having Fun) and record it this way too.’ I knew I was going to do these particular songs, but I didn’t realize I was going to wind up recording them live like I did with Timeless Love. So I did and we had a ball.” Though he’s the first to acknowledge and appreciate the technologically advanced way that recording for most releases are done today, like the cleaner sound and creative lee-way afforded by ProTools, Robinson was steadfast in his penchant for live instrumentation for this CD. “I think that you still don’t get that feeling that you used to get in the old days when everybody was in the studio together,” says Robinson, whose early Motown classics were recorded in this fashion. “That way was like doing a concert, because everybody was feeding off of each other. It’s just that live vibe.”

Click here to read more on Smokey Robinson…

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Check out “Ebony Eyes” by Smokey Robinson and Rick James:

Serena described her tour of Wee as fabulous, saying the whole project was about changing the lives of hundreds of students for the better. She outlined her plans for the future following her announcement that tennis was less important to her compared to helping other people to realise their dreams.

“The computer technology provided by Hewlett Packard (HP) will give students an opportunity to read and realise their dreams in life” she said. The star player said she intends to open more schools in partnership with HP with the aim of empowering children.

“Education is supreme because it is the way out of poverty all over the world,” she told a gathering that included area Member of Parliament Peter Kiilu.

Wee Secondary is the second educational project Serena has established in Kenya after the Serena Secondary School established in Matooni last November. The school has a special class for the deaf, which is the first of its kind in the region.

On January 18, 1958, hockey player Willie O’Ree of the Boston Bruins takes to the ice for a game against the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the first black to play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Born in 1935 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, O’Ree was the son of a civil engineer, in one of Fredericton’s only two black families. He began skating at the age of three, and joined a nearby hockey league when he was only five. During five years playing with his older brother on teams in Fredericton, O’Ree became known as one of the best players in New Brunswick. After one season with the Quebec Frontenacs of the Quebec Junior Hockey League, he joined the Kitchener Canucks of the Ontario Hockey Association Junior “A” Hockey League, setting a career-high mark of 30 goals during the 1955-56 season. That year, a puck struck O’Ree in the right eye during a game, robbing him of 95 percent of the vision in that eye.

O’Ree managed to conceal the injury and continue his hockey career, joining the Quebec Aces of the prestigious Quebec Hockey League in 1956. During his second season with Quebec, the Boston Bruins of the NHL called up the 22-year-old O’Ree to replace an injured player. On January 18, 1958, the Bruins were playing the two-time Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens at Quebec’s Montreal Forum. O’Ree took to the ice as a forward with the Bruins’ third line, as the Bruins pulled off an upset 3-0 victory. He didn’t score, or record a penalty, and the historic event took place amid little fanfare.

Click here to read more…

The NAACP elected a health care executive as its youngest board chairman Saturday, continuing a youth movement for the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.  Roslyn M. Brock, 44, was chosen to succeed Julian Bond. She had been vice chairman since 2001 and a member of the NAACP for 25 years.

Brock works for Bon Secours Health Systems in Maryland as vice president for advocacy and government relations, and spent 10 years working on health issues for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She joins Benjamin Todd Jealous, the 37-year-old CEO of the NAACP, as leader of the 500,000-member organization.

Brock said she plans to focus on pushing for policy changes to eliminate inequality, strengthening the relationship between the national and local NAACP branches and holding people accountable.

“It’s not always what someone is doing to us, but what we are doing for ourselves,” Brock said in an interview.

The departure of Bond, 70, after 10 years as board chairman marks a turning point for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Pepole.

Bond came of age in the segregated South, helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and was on the front lines of the protests that led to the nation’s landmark civil rights laws. He is a symbol and icon of “the movement,” which was a defining experience for older generations.

Click here to read more…

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VIA:  AltheaGibson.Com

Born August 25, 1927 in Silver, SC, A right-hander, grew up in Harlem. Her family was poor, but she was fortunate in coming to the attention of Dr. Walter Johnson,
a Lynchburg VA physician who was active in the black tennis community. He became her patron as he would later for Arthur Ashe, the black champion at Forest Hills (1968) and Wimbledon (1975). Through Dr. Johnson, Gibson received better instruction and competition, and contacts were set up with the USTA to inject her into the recognized tennis scene.

A trailblazing athlete who become the first African American to win championships at Grand Slam tournaments such as Wimbledon, the French Open, the Australian Doubles and the United States Open in the late 1950s. Gibson had a scintillating amateur career in spite of segregated offerings earlier in the decade.

She won 56 singles and doubles titles during her amateur career in the 1950s before gaining international and national acclaim for her athletic prowess on the professional level in tennis.

Gibson won 11 major titles in the late 1950s, including singles titles at the French Open (1956), Wimbledon (1957, 1958) and the U. S. Open (1957, 1958), as well as three straight doubles crowns at the French Open (1956, 1957, 1958).

Check out this tribute to Althea Gibson:

Watch Althea win @ Forest Hills 1957:

Washington, D.C., native Taraji P. Henson didn’t always know that her smoldering charisma and beautiful face would make her a professional actress.

On the contrary, she originally studied electrical engineering when she enrolled at North Carolina Agric & Tech. She later transferred to Howard University, where she attended classes while working as a secretary at the Pentagon, and as a singer and dancer aboard a cruise ship. She eventually changed her academic focus to theater and graduated in 1995.

Henson’s career began with appearances on Homicide: Life on the Street and ER, but it really took off when she was cast in a major supporting role in 2001′s Baby_Boyand 2004′s Hustle_&_Flow, in which she also showcased her vocal talents, singing on the track “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” for the movie’s soundtrack, which took home the Best Song Oscar that year. Henson later moved on to take major roles in Smokin’_Aces and Talk to Me. Henson made the most of her work as the mother of the backward-aging man in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and her performance garnered Best Supporting Actress nominations from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.

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VIA:  YAHOO MOVIES.COM:

Denzel Washington burst onto the big screen with an Oscar and Golden Globe-winning role in the Civil War epic “Glory” (1989). But over the following decade, the matinee-idol handsome actor became the first of his generation’s African-American movie stars to land squarely on Hollywood’s A-list – as likely to be tapped to play a heroic lead as any white actor would have been a shoe-in for only a decade prior.

Likened to Sidney Poitier for his ability to appeal to a multiracial audience, Washington’s grounding force was a critical and audience favorite in historical dramas like “Cry Freedom” (1987), “Malcolm X” (1992) and “American Gangster” (2007), as well in more action-driven dramas such as “The Pelican Brief” (1993), “Remember the Titans” (2000) and “Training Day” (2001). Rising above the “black actor” moniker, Washington not only held a firm position as one of Hollywood’s top dramatic leads well into the new millennium, he also earned industry respect for his filmmaking efforts – directing and producing both “Antwone Fisher” (2002) and “The Great Debaters” (2007).

Washington has been awarded three Golden Globe awards and two Academy Awards for his work. He is notable as the second African Americanman (afterSidney Poitier) to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, which he received for his role in the 2001 film Training Day.

Are you a true Denzel fan?  Take the Denzel Washington trivia quiz below and test how you rate.

1) On with 1980′s television drama was Denzel Washington a regular?

a) E.R.
b) St. Elsewhere
c) Chicago Hope

2) One of Denzel Washington’s early movies was the comedy Carbon Copy but he’s only made three comedies in his long career. The second was The Preacher’s Wife, what was the third?

a) Heart Condition
b) The Mighty Quinn
c) Mo’ Better Blues

3) Denzel Washington’s character was paralyzed in which movie?

a) Virtuosity
b) The Bone Collector
c) Ricochet

4) Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for which movie?

a) The Hurricane
b) Malcolm X
c) Training Day

5) American Gangster wasn’t the only movie Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe appeared in together – what was the first?

a) Virtuosity
b) Fallen
c) Devil in a Blue Dress

6) What was Denzel Washington’s first feature film?

a) A Soldier’s Story
b) Carbon Copy
c) Cry Freedom

7) Denzel was in a movie version of which William Shakespeare play?

a) Hamlet
b) Much Ado About Nothing
c) Othello

Answers:  1) b;  2) b;  3) b; 4) c; 5) a; 6) a; 7) b

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Denzel Washington responds to the debate over why some of his roles haven’t been honored by the Academy. Check local listings for airdates of Tavis Smiley on PBS.

VIA: SpeakOutNow.Org

Through her activism and her scholarship over the last decades, Angela Davis has been deeply involved in our nation’s quest for social justice. Her work as an educator – both at the university level and in the larger public sphere – has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender equality.

Professor Davis’ teaching career has taken her to San Francisco State University, Mills College, and UC Berkeley. She has also taught at UCLA, Vassar, the Claremont Colleges, and Stanford University. She has spent the last fifteen years at the University of California Santa Cruz where she is Professor of History of Consciousness, an interdisciplinary Ph.D program, and Professor of Feminist Studies.

Angela Davis is the author of eight books and has lectured throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. In recent years a persistent theme of her work has been the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. She draws upon her own experiences in the early seventies as a person who spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.” She has also conducted extensive research on numerous issues related to race, gender and imprisonment. Her most recent books are Abolition Democracy and Are Prisons Obsolete? She is now completing a book on Prisons and American History.

Click here to read more on Angela Davis…

Check out this video of Anglea speaking at UCLA:

Check out this video of Angela’s 1984 appearance on Buchanan/Braden debating Racism:

VIA:  ShaniDavis.Com

Shani Davis was born on Friday, August 13, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois. Raised by his mother on the city’s south side, he started roller-skating at local rinks at age two. By age three Shani was darting around the roller rink so fast that skate guards would chase him just to ask him to slow down. Seeming to become bored with roller-skating, at age six a coach suggested that Shani switch to ice skating. Shortly thereafter, his mother started working for an attorney, Fred Benjamin, whose son happened to be involved in speed skating at an elite level. It was at that time that Benjamin suggested that Shani give speed skating a try.

Shani joined the Evanston Speedskating Club at age six and within two months started competing locally. Though immediately taking to ice, at competitions Shani was generally more interested in running around with his competitors and playing video games than he was with competing. Nevertheless, by age 8 he was winning regional age-group competitions and began to hear about the Olympic ideal from his Northbrook competitors and friends. Shani’s mother encouraged him to participate and, in an effort to build his endurance, woke him most mornings to run a mile on a track close to their home. As there were — and still are — no speed skating clubs in inner city Chicago, at age 10 Shani and his mother moved to the far north side of the city to be closer to the Evanston rink.

Click here to read more on Shani Davis…

Watch Shani’s video blog dated 2/13/10:

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2006 World Cup Interview:

VIA:  ICDC.Com

THE FBI’S COVERT ACTION PROGRAM TO DESTROY THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY

INTRODUCTION

In August 1967, the FBI initiated a covert action program — COINTELPRO — to disrupt and “neutralize” organizations which the Bureau characterized as “Black Nationalist Hate Groups.” 1 The FBI memorandum expanding the program described its goals as:

1. Prevent a coalition of militant black nationalist groups….

2. Prevent the rise of a messiah who could unify and electrify the militant nationalist movement … Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and Elijah Muhammad all aspire to this position….

3. Prevent violence on the part of black nationalist groups….

4. Prevent militant black nationalist groups and leaders from gaining respectability by discrediting them….

5. . . . prevent the long-range growth of militant black nationalist organizations, especially among youth. 2

The targets of this nationwide program to disrupt “militant black nationalist organizations” included groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), and the Nation of Islam (NOI). It was expressly directed against such leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokley Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Maxwell Stanford, and Elijah Muhammad.

The Black Panther Party (BPP) was not among the original “Black Nationalist” targets. In September 1968, however, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover described the Panthers as:

“the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.

“Schooled in the Marxist-Leninist ideology and the teaching of Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung, its members have perpetrated numerous assaults on police officers and have engaged in violent confrontations with police throughout the country. Leaders and representatives of the Black Panther Party travel extensively all over the, United States preaching their gospel of hate and violence not only to ghetto residents, but to students in colleges, universities and high schools is well.” 3

By July 1969, the Black Panthers had become the primary focus of the program, and was ultimately the target of 233 of the total authorized “Black Nationalist” COINTELPRO actions. 4

Although the claimed purpose of the Bureau’s COINTELPRO tactics was to prevent violence, some of the FBI’s tactics against the BPP were clearly intended to foster violence, and many others could reasonably have been expected to cause violence. For example, the FBI’s efforts to “intensify the degree of animosity” between the BPP and the Blackstone Rangers, a Chicago street gang, included sending an anonymous letter to the gang’s leader falsely informing him that the the Chicago Panthers had “a hit out” on him. 5 The stated intent of the letter was to induce the Ranger leader to “take reprisals against” the Panther leadership. 6

To read more click here…

Check out this video of the 1968 Senate hearing on the Black Panther Party:

VIA: TYLERPERRY.COM

Tyler Perry is by all means, a Renaissance man.  He’s an actor, director, screenwriter, producer and author.  He is a true American success story.

Tyler Perry’s inspirational journey from the hard streets of New Orleans to the heights of Hollywood’s A-list is the stuff of American legend.  Born into poverty and raised in a household scarred by abuse, Tyler fought from a young age to find the strength, faith and perseverance that would later form the foundations of his much-acclaimed plays, films, books and shows.It was a simple piece of advice from Oprah Winfrey that set Tyler’s career in motion.

Encouraged to keep a diary of his daily thoughts and experiences, Tyler began writing a series of soul-searching letters to himself-letters full of pain, forgiveness, and, in time, a healing catharsis.  The letters inspired a musical, I KNOW I’VE BEEN CHANGED, and in 1992 Tyler gathered his life’s savings and set off for Atlanta in hopes of staging it for sold out crowds.  He spent all the money but the people never came, and Tyler once again came face to face with the poverty that had plagued his youth.  He spent months sleeping in seedy motels and his car but his faith-in God and, in turn, himself-only got stronger.  He forged a powerful relationship with the church, and he kept writing.

In 1998 his perseverance paid off and a promoter booked I KNOW I’VE BEEN CHANGED for a limited run at a local church-turned-theatre.  This time the community came out in droves, and soon the musical moved to Atlanta’s prestigious Fox Theatre.  Tyler Perry never looked back.I KNOW I’VE BEEN CHANGED was a poignant story of failure and redemption, and it resounded with urban audiences who identified with its themes and exalted in its spirit.  In Tyler they’d found a voice for their longings, and an outlet for their entertainment, and so began an incredible run of eight plays in as many years, including WOMAN THOU ART LOOSED!, a celebrated collaboration with the prominent Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes.

But if audiences were buoyed by Tyler’s faith, they were bowled over by his humor.  No way around it: the man was plain funny.  Nowhere was this more in evidence than in 2000′s I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF, which marked the first appearance of the now-legendary Madea.  A God-fearing, gun-toting, pot-smoking, loud-mouthed grandmother, Madea was played by Perry himself.  Madea was such a resounding success, she soon spawned a series of plays-MADEA’S FAMILY REUNION (2002), MADEA’S CLASS REUNION (2003) and MADEA GOES TO JAIL (2005)- and set the stage for Tyler’s jump to the big screen.

In early 2005, Tyler’s first feature film, DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN, debuted at #1 nationwide.  By the end of its first weekend in theatres, two things had happened: the film had earned $22 million, and Tyler Perry-writer, actor, and producer-had become a superstar.  Tyler’s ensuing films, MADEA’S FAMILY REUNION, DADDY LITTLE GIRLS, WHY DID I GET MARRIED?, MEET THE BROWNS, and THE FAMILY THAT PREYS have all met with massive critical and commercial success, delighting audiences across America and around the world.  His most recent film, MADEA GOES TO JAIL, spent two weeks at the top of the box office and ultimately went on to gross more than $90 million.2006 saw the publication of Tyler’s first book, DON’T MAKE A BLACK WOMAN TAKE OFF HER EARRINGS: MADEA’S UNINHIBITED COMMENTARIES ON LIFE AND LOVE, which shot to the top of the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and remained there for eight weeks.  It went on to claim Quill Book Awards for both “Humor” and “Book of the Year” (an unheard-of feat for a first-time author), and spread Tyler Perry’s unique brand of inspirational entertainment to a devoted new audience.   It is a brand that is quickly becoming an empire.

Read Tyler’s entire bio and more at TylerPerry.com.

Enjoy this interview with Tyler as he speaks with CBN about his rise to fame, relationships and marriage.

VIA:  JudgeMathisTV.Com

The real-life story of Judge Mathis is heartwarming and inspirational.  Greg Mathis was a gang member who dropped out of school, was in and out of jail and then overcame these adversities to become the youngest judge in the history of the state of Michigan.

The inspiration for his own TV court show, the Judge’s personal story is also the subject of a book, “Inner City Miracle,” released by Ballantine/One World Books in October 2002.

When he is not on the bench, Mathis makes it a point to give back to the community and to those in need of guidance.  In May 2002, Mathis hosted his first Self-Empowerment Expo in Detroit, designed to encourage individuals to develop and achieve worthy goals, and prepare themselves for a more prosperous future.  The Expo has since become an annual event in Detroit and has now branched out to other cities.  The fifth annual Detroit Youth & Education Expo will take place August 19, 2006.  The Expo offers speakers, workshops and other resources that offer today’s youth a chance to better themselves.

Click here to read more on Judge Greg Mathis…

Check out this video of an episode of his syndicated TV Court show:

Judge Mathis speaks on his book “Street Judge”:

Street Judge: Judge Greg Mathis – The most amazing home videos are here

VIA:  JackieRobinson.Com

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 to a family of sharecroppers. His mother, Mallie Robinson, single-handedly raised Jackie and her four other children. They were the only black family on their block, and the prejudice they encountered only strengthened their bond. From this humble beginning would grow the first baseball player to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier that segregated the sport for more than 50 years.

Growing up in a large, single-parent family, Jackie excelled early at all sports and learned to make his own way in life. At UCLA, Jackie became the first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football and track. In 1941, he was named to the All-American football team. Due to financial difficulties, he was forced to leave college, and eventually decided to enlist in the U.S. Army. After two years in the army, he had progressed to second lieutenant. Jackie’s army career was cut short when he was court-martialed in relation to his objections with incidents of racial discrimination. In the end, Jackie left the Army with an honorable discharge.

In 1945, Jackie played one season in the Negro Baseball League, traveling all over the Midwest with the Kansas City Monarchs. But greater challenges and achievements were in store for him. In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey approached Jackie about joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Major Leagues had not had an African-American player since 1889, when baseball became segregated. When Jackie first donned a Brooklyn Dodger uniform, he pioneered the integration of professional athletics in America. By breaking the color barrier in baseball, the nation’s preeminent sport, he courageously challenged the deeply rooted custom of racial segregation in both the North and the South.

Click here to read more on Jackie Robinson…

Check out these highlights from Jackie Robinson’s Career:

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VIA:  TheGrio.Com

The Hysterectomy is one of the most invasive procedures in the medical practice, and Tony Hansberry  has invented  a device that will do the post surgery stitching with minimal chances of complications or harm.  Sounds like something a seasoned physician developed, but it’s actually something a 15-year-old high school student named Tony Hansberry invented. People in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida are calling him the “next Charles Drew.”

Hansberry is a student at Darnell Cookman School of Medical Arts, referred to as the first medical magnet school in the country with an integrated medical curriculum. He came under the tutelage of Bruce Nappi, the director of the University of Florida’s Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research (CSESaR) in the summer of 2008. From his experience there, he developed a project that showed how to reduce surgical time for hysterectomies. It only won him second prize in his school’s science fair, but it caught the attention of University of Florida physicians who invited him to present his project alongside theirs during a medical education event.

Click here to read more on this extraordinary student…

Huey Percy Newton was born on February 17, 1942 in Monroe, Louisiana. He was co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, an African-American organization established to promote Black Power, civil rights and self-defense.

While at Merritt College, Newton had become actively involved in politics in the Bay Area. He joined the Afro-American Association, became a prominent member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Beta Tau chapter, and played a role in getting the first black history course adopted as part of the college’s curriculum. It was during his time at Merritt College that Newton, along with Bobby Seale, organized the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in October 1966.

In 1967 Newton was accused of murdering Oakland police officer John Frey. Though he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 2-15 years in prison the case was dropped after two subsequent mistrials. 

Newton and the Black Panthers influenced a generation of artists and musicians and his name was referenced in many songs, poems and tv shows. In 1996, A Huey P. Newton Story was performed on stage by veteran actor Roger Guenveur Smith. The one-man play was later made into an award-winning 2001 film directed by Spike Lee.

Newton was fatally shot on August of 1989 by a drug dealer in Oakland. He was only 47 years old.

Huey P. Newton Interview From Jail

Public Enemy, “Welcome To The Terrordome”

“Every brother ain’t a brother/Cause a Black hand
Squeezed on Malcom X the man/The shootin’ of Huey Newton
From a hand of a N*gger who pulled the trigger”

Nas, “Queens Get The Money”
“I’m Huey P. And Louie V./At the eulogy
throwing Molotov’s for Emmitt…”

dead prez, “Police State”
I’ll take a slug for the cause like Huey P.
While all you fake n*ggas try to copy Master P

Notorious B.I.G, Coolio, Redman, Busta Rhymes, Bone Thugs & More.. – “Points” (Uncut) from the Panther Movie Soundtrack

Huey Freeman of The Boondocks

Roger Guenveur Smith as Huey P. Newton

]]> http://kissdetroit.com/75981/happy-birthday-huey-p-newton/feed/ 0 Happy Birthday Huey P. Newton! (thumbnail) ronemamiller http://kissdetroit.com/75511/black-history-month-thelma-from-good-times-talks-black-tv-history/ http://kissdetroit.com/75511/black-history-month-thelma-from-good-times-talks-black-tv-history/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:55:47 +0000 kissdetroit Staff http://kissdetroit.com/?p=75511 ]]> Bern Nadette Stanis first wowed the world as “Thelma” on ‘Good Times.’ As part of the Evans family, she helped pave the way for the sensitive portrayal of African American families in popular entertainment, in addition to specifically becoming a positive role model for many young black women from similar backgrounds.

‘Good Times’ definitely made television history as one of the most-watched shows of all time, and remains much-loved today as a milestone in black cultural history. Bern Nadette celebrated the legacy of ‘Good Times’ and other great black shows this year with TV One during its ‘Way Back When’ series in honor of Black History Month.

Ms. Stanis took some time out of her busy schedule to share her thoughts on Black History Month with the Black Voices audience, bringing some insights into ‘Good Times’ and our political past that you may not know.

The first question I think the entire Black Voices audience would like to know is what have you been up to since ‘Good Times’ went off the air in 1979? How do you remain connected to your fans?

Wow, that’s an interesting question. Right now I am doing a book tour for my new book, ‘Situations 101: Relationships – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.’ I do a lot of keynote speaking. I talk about self-esteem for women and men. I am also a motivational speaker. For teens, I speak about abstinence, and sticking with goals they have for the future.

These days it’s so much easier than it used to be to stay connected. Before it was just the fan letters. But now I speak to people through my MySpace, my Facebook, email — I get loads of that everyday. I have people who are looking out for me.

Do you keep in touch with any of your former ‘Good Times’ cast mates?

Yes, I absolutely do. I give them a call ever so often, and they call me back. You know, Jimmie and I are close. “Michael” – Ralph and I are close, John Amos. I speak with Ja’net occasionally and Johnny Brown. We all stay connected. And of course you know Ester passed on in 1998, and she I were extremely close. In fact, she considered me like her daughter. And of course, Janet Jackson stays connected, she connects with us every once in a while. So I have very wonderful communication with my cast mates.

It was awesome to be a part of that. And being a young actress, the ingénue and the rookie on the show — because everyone on there was already a professional, and I was the only one who wasn’t – I learned so much. And also, Norman [Lear] was incredible. He was an incredible producer. I admired him a lot for taking the chances that he took at that time. He dealt with a black family in a very real way. He let it become very real, the way Eric Monte and Michael Evans wrote it.

We didn’t even know at that time what the impact of ‘Good Times’ would be 30 years later. To tour the way I tour, I have met so many young fans. I have fans that are like 8, 9, and 10. It’s really amazing. So I just thank God for that: That I was a part of it, and that show made history the way it did.

Looking back over the decades, would you say that the black family has been strengthened or weakened since ‘Good Times’ was on the air?

The black family has definitely been weakened. I don’t understand it really. It could be because of the way drugs infiltrated our communities the way it did over the years. The way it separated the parents from their children. Because it’s very much not the same as it used to be. We’re trying to build it back. I see that we are trying right now, but it’s a ways off.

I think that’s why ‘Good Times’ is still a top-watched show. It’s still very, very popular because it brings in the family values. It talks about the issues people are facing, because we are still having the very same issues today.

But yes, our family units need to be strengthened.

Aside from ‘Good Times,’ what is your favorite black sit com of all time? If you had to choose between ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,’ ‘Sanford and Son,’ ‘The Cosby Show,’ or some of the newer shows like ‘Family Matters’?

I really love ‘Sanford and Son.’ I do. Because he was so honest, and so cute. He was always trying to con his son, and it was just really funny to me.

Do you think a show like ‘Good Times’ helped paved the way for the acceptance of President Barack Obama?

I do believe that. On our show the character Michael Evans was so pro-black. He was bringing in so much information to us. He talked about the first black judge on the Supreme Court, and was basically bringing information [about black achievements] to people, right into their homes.

I remember him talking about the first black president. His character said, “You know, some day maybe we’ll have a black president.” On another occasion, he said “Yeah, mama – when Harlem turns white!” So he was really [forward-thinking].

We also showed that black families are just like white families in so many ways. We had the same emotions. The blood that we had was just like the blood everyone else has. We were like a little window into what black America is. So I think it did open up a lot of doors.

What do you think of the first black president and first lady? Did you vote for them? Do you approve of their policies and how the president is handling things?

I definitely voted for him (and his wife!). I am so proud of them. I wrote a beautiful poem about them. I do hope they get it one day – I did send it to him! And it was about that. About the struggle, and how they made it. And how America made it. I feel at this time that he is the best president for us. He’s as human, brilliant and intelligent.

I do hope and pray that all of America embraces him, and allows him to do the things that he must do. Give him the fair shot to do it.

Jimmie Walker, Bernnadette Stanis, Darryl Bell (Photo: Gerard Burkhart)

Your character “Thelma” helped redefine the image of the young black girl from the ghetto in a positive light. Can you describe how your character helped change peoples’ minds?

You know, I never realized it then. It was not until I got older, and people would tell me what Thelma did for them. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I was raised in Brownsville, in the projects. That character was so much a part of how I was raised and what my values were. I was raised to be determined, to be optimistic. To know that if you have a dream in your mind, if you want to do something, you can do that. It doesn’t matter what your life is like around you, as long as it’s not in you. What’s in you is what it takes for you to become what you want to become. That’s what I tried to convey. I really brought a lot of that to my character to show certain things about us as a people.

And Thelma was a good girl. Basically, that’s how I was raised. I had to be married before I could have sex. I was an old-fashioned good girl like that.

I have had so many people say to me “I really wanted to be like Thelma.” “I liked the clothes Thelma wore.” “I like the way she spoke about things.” “She stood up for things.” “She had her mind set.” I think it showed another aspect of the black female in the ghetto.

Ester Rolle opened the door for that. She went to the producers and said “My sons have a lot of lines. I want you to give my daughter a voice also.”

It’s true that people don’t see that strength and that beauty often enough in our young black women. Compared to a character like Thelma, what do you think of black reality stars today like the women who appear on shows like ‘For the Love of Ray J’? Are there some young ladies out there carrying the torch of ‘Thelma’?

We do have a few who are showing a lot of dignity, and I am very proud to see that. But then there are some that are not.

A lot of the reality shows are a little bit embarrassing for our culture. They want them to be a little over-the-top to make them entertaining, they want them to be risqué and a little off-the-hook to me. That I say is not a good thing, or a healthy thing. I would like to see them bring back a really structured, polished television show. Most of the black people you see today are on reality shows, and not a structured show. It’s not a very good thing for us.

And they should ask me, because I have great ideas.

What do you think of Black History Month? Do you think it’s still relevant now that Obama has been elected president?

I think Black History Month should be extended for about three or four months. We need a lot more of this. We need to bring back the cultural awareness, learning about inventors. This needs to be a recurring thing. It needs to be incorporated into our society just as well as other types of history are.

I am shocked that for a long time in my life, I did not know there was a black president called John Hanson. I found that out, because someone who is a historian brought that to my attention, and I looked it up. I felt silly, because I had never heard of this before. And when I tell other people, they look at me like I am crazy. But if you go online, and Google first presidents, you will find him. He was a president under the articles of the Confederation. But it’s amazing, because he was a black man. So when they say Washington was the first president, well Washington was one of his best friends. Washington became the president of the United States under the Constitution, but they never bring John Hanson up ever.

These are the kinds of things that need to be out there, for our black children and all children. That there are geniuses, brilliant men, of all colors in our history.

You’ve written two books, ‘Situations 101: Relationships — The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,’ and ‘For Men Only,’ a book of poetry. Please tell us about these books and what inspired you to write them.

‘Situations 101′ is a book about relationships. I wrote about 101 different relationship scenarios, because I have always loved psychology. I love the way the mind works. As a young woman, given the fact that I had to be married before I had sex, my first marriage did not work out – I was like a little child in a marriage. I could not get it together. It changed me in that I was very interested in relationships after that in terms of how they worked, what made a man love a woman and a woman love a man, why did people stay together, why do they break up, why are some people cruel to other people. And it bothered me until I kept reading and learning, and talking to people. And over the years I because a “good best friend,” where people would talk to me for advice, and it worked.

I met a lot of people all over the country who were running into the same situations in relationships, not just one person. So many people had the same issues. It was bothering me. I wondered “What do you do? Relationships are breaking down everywhere.” I thought “Maybe if I can just put down some of the things I’ve heard, and I’ve learned, and some of the things people don’t talk about in relationships everyday it will help.” This books brings that out.

‘For Men Only,’ I wrote because I realized that I have male fans just like I have female fans. It just struck my heart. They love me, and I love them, and I wanted to do something just for them. There’s a little love letter in the book, and I wrote poetry just to them. There are some pictures, and just some cute little things. Men love that book!

And actually, men love my ‘Situations’ book, and women love my poetry book. It’s interesting, but both books belong to everyone.

Please share some of your favorite words of wisdom with the BlackVoices.com audience.

Sometimes we may look at our circumstances, and it may not look the way we want it to. But we can always change things. If you have another day, you have another possibility to do the things you really want to do.

Sources: Blackvoices.com

Vonetta Flowers was born October 29, 1973 in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1992, Vonetta graduated from P.D. Jackson Olin High School. She was the first person in her family to go to college. She graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is married to Johnny Mack Flowers, who is also her coach.On February 19, 2002, Flowers won the Gold Medal for Bobsled and on August 30 that same year, delivered twin boys, Jorden Maddox (born hearing impaired) and Jaden Michael.

Vonetta Flowers Best Known For:
Vonetta Flowers was the first black athlete (male or female)–from any country–to ever win an Olympic Winter Games gold medal. In the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Vonetta and Jill Bakken drove USA to an Olympic gold medal, ending the United States’ 46-year medal drought in bobsled. The 2-woman bobsled team’s time was 1 minute 48 seconds.

HOUSTON, Feb 09, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Dr. Bernard A. Harris, Jr., the first African American to walk in space, and ExxonMobil announced today that more than 1,500 middle school students will participate in free science camps this summer.

The ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps will be hosted in 30 universities across the country. The announcement came on the 15th anniversary of Dr. Harris’ historic space walk on Feb. 9, 1995 while aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

“Much in my life has changed since that historic day, but one constant is my passion to make a difference with today’s students, especially kids who have similar backgrounds to mine,” Harris said. “This year’s summer science camps will give students a chance to learn about mathematics and science, more about themselves and about life on a college campus. Most importantly, campers learn that they have the power to achieve their dreams whatever they may be.”

Click here to read more…

Click here for more information on the Science Summer Camps…

Check out this video of the shuttle launch that Dr. Bernard Harris Jr. was on:

VIA:  TheKennedyCenter.Org

(singer; born February 27, 1897, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Most Americans best remember Marian Anderson for her conscience-grabbing concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939 after she was denied the use of Constitution Hall, an arena that, from 1935 to 1952, opened its doors to white artists only. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, appalled at the Hall’s racist action, opened the Lincoln Memorial for Anderson’s concert. As Abraham Lincoln’s statue watched over her from behind, Anderson gave an extraordinary performance that will go down in history as one of the most dramatic civil-rights spectacles ever.

Growing up in Philadelphia’s “Negro quarter” in a single rented room with her parents and two sisters, Anderson overcame racial and economical boundaries to become a highly acclaimed contralto. At the age of six, Anderson sang in the choir of the Union Baptist Church, where she became known as “baby contralto.” Despite her sporadic musical education, the unique sound and extraordinary range of her voice continued to impress listeners by the time she turned sixteen. In fact, her neighbors were so impressed that they raised enough money for her to study under Guisepe Boghetti, a well-known voice teacher.

While studying under Boghetti, Anderson won the opportunity to sing at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York by entering a contest held by the New York Philharmonic Society. She also received a Julius Rosenwald scholarship allowing her to train abroad in England, France, Belgium, Holland, the former Soviet Union, and Scandinavia. In 1935 her performance at the Salzburg festival earned her worldwide recognition and a compliment from Italian conductor, Arturo Toscanini, who told her, “a voice like yours is heard only once in a hundred years.”

Click here to read more on Marian Anderson…

Footage from Marian Anderson’s performance on the Lincoln Memorial Steps:

Basketball legend Magic Johnson may soon take over a legend in the publishing world — Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Co.

Johnson Publishing owns the influential Ebony and Jet magazines, which have been at the forefront of African-American journalism for more than 50 years.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the president of Magic Johnson Enterprises said “there have been discussions,” but “no definitive agreement” about purchasing the publishing company.

But sources told Bloomberg that Johnson’s Chicago headquarters would be included in the sale, pending the resolution of liens placed on it by a creditor.

Like most publications, both Ebony and Jet have seen their ad revenues plummet in recent years, putting them in a financial tight spot. If Magic’s company does purchase Johnson Publishing, it would be added to his massive Magic Johnson Enterprises, which focuses on servicing ethnically diverse, urban communities, according to its mission statement.

Founded in 1942, Johnson Publishing is one of Chicago’s premier minority-owned businesses. Its founder, John H. Johnson, died in 2005. His daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, now runs the publishing house.  The company said Johnson Rice has not talked to Magic Johson about his interest to buy the publisher.

The President and the First Lady host a night of music that inspired and reflected the Civil Rights Movement. Performers include Yolanda Adams, Joan Baez, Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, Seal, the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Howard University Choir, and The Freedom Singers.

VIA:  RedHotJazz.Com

Mamie Smith was the first to record blues songs in 1920 with her versions of Perry Bradford’s “Crazy Blues”, and “It’ s Right Here for You” on Okeh Records. The record was a wild success, selling over a million copies in less than a year, and finally ending up selling over two million copies.

After this it dawned on record companies that there was a lot of money to be made selling what was then called “race records” to various minority groups in big cities. The success of “Crazy Blues” prompted other record companies to also try to find other female blues singers that could match the sales of “Crazy Blues”.

Crazy Blues was a very important record, because it opened the doors of the recording industry to African-Americans, whether they were Blues, Jazz or popular singers or musicians.

Smith herself really wasn’t that much of a Blues singer. She was more of a vaudeville performer, although she included Blues and Jazz numbers as part of her act. She got her start as a dancer at age ten in the vaudeville act the Four Dancing Mitchells and later toured with them as part of the Salem Tutt Whitney and Homer Tutt’s show, “The Smart Set”.

Mamie moved to New York in 1913 with “The Smart Set” and decided that she wanted to stay and quit the show. She strated performing as a singer in Harlem at venues such as Baron Wilkin’s Little Savoy Club, Leroy’s, Edmunds, Percy Brown’s and Banks’ Place. Her first recordings were made in early 1920. They were a couple of pop songs “That Thing Called Love” and “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down”.

Click here to read more on Mamie Smith…

VIA:  TheHuffingtonPost.Com

26 year old Joshua Dubois has definitely made a name for himself.  Dubois has recently been appointed to the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships by President Obama.  See this video from the Prayer Breakfast where President Obama made is announcement:

VIA:  Diahann Carroll Official Website

Diahann Carroll is the consummate entertainer.  So varied and dynamic are her gifts that she continually astounds fans and critics alike with her versatility and magnetism.  She is one of America’s major performing talents appearing in nightclubs, the Broadway stage, a Las Vegas headliner, in motion pictures and television.  Diahann Carroll is a Tony Award winner, an Emmy and Grammy nominee, a Golden Globe winner and a Best Actress Oscar nominee.

In April 2006, she debuted her new cabaret show at Feinstein’s, New York’s prime venue, to sell-out audiences receiving overwhelming reviews.  Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, “Diahann Carroll is historic.  Experience it while you can.  Her opening number, “Come Rain or Come Shine” erupts out of her like an emotional volcano.  From here on, the lava never stops flowing.  The forceful dramatic immediacy of her performance of “As if We Never Said Goodbye”, is second to none.  Throughout the show Ms. Carroll demonstrates her A-to-Z range as a singing actress.  A rip-roaring version of the Sophie Tucker showstopper “Some of These Days” is matched in commitment by its quiet opposite, the break-up song “Where Do I Start?”.  The New York Post said “Looking impossibly beautiful for her 70 years, and dressed and coiffed in a manner that would make Norma Desmond (whom she played “Sunset Boulevard”) proud, she delivers in a strong voice remarkably unaffected by age, a well-chosen mixture of standards, pop ballads and songs associated with her stage career”.

Her television nominations go back to 1963, and in 1968 Diahann Carroll become the first black actress in television history to star in her own series, “Julia” for NBC, which soared to the top of the Nielsen ratings and received an Emmy nomination in its first year on the air.

In 1989 she was nominated for an Emmy Award for the successful NBC-TV series, “A Different World”, as outstanding actress in a comedy series.  In 1984 Diahann Carroll become the first black actress to star in the award-winning night-time series “Dynasty”, which is still in syndication around the world.

Click here to read more on Diahann Carroll…

Check out this episode of her famous ground breaking television show “Dynasty”:

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Diahann Carroll on her role in “Claudine”:

Mandela served 27 years behind bars of a life sentence  for his activism against apartheid, the movement that enforced segregation in the country.

His homeland is commemorating his plight in several ways. In particular through the singing of a song dedicated to him with the words,“Nelson Mandela, there is none like you” and by reenacting the historic walk he made from prison signaling the end of apartheid.

Mandela who is 91-years-old now, did not attend the reenactment  but did make a rare appearance at parliament to attend a commemorative speech by South African President Jacob Zuma.

He was also paid tribute to in the summer release of the movie “Invictus” where the country’s first Black President was played by Morgan Freeman.

On February 12, 1900, 500 school children gathered at a segregated Stanton School, the principal at the time-James Weldon Johnson wrote a poem to welcome the guest speaker Booker T. Washington.

It was called “Lift every voice and sing.” What started as a poem ended as a song when Johnson’s brother John Rosamond Johnson set it to music soon after. “Lift Every Voice And Sing” was labeled “The Black National Anthem” in 1919 by the NAACP and served as a liberty cry for abused African Americans everywhere!

The  lyrics are as follows:

Ray Charles sang an interesting rendition on the Dick Cavett Show on September 18, 1972.

]]> http://kissdetroit.com/63071/the-story-of-lift-every-voice-and-sing/feed/ 0 The Story Of “Lift Every Voice And Sing” (thumbnail) ronemamiller http://kissdetroit.com/59141/law-student-strives-for-new-heights/ http://kissdetroit.com/59141/law-student-strives-for-new-heights/#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:30:24 +0000 kissdetroit Staff http://kissdetroit.com/blackhistorymonth/tomjoyner/law-student-strives-for-new-heights/ ]]>

VIA:  NBLSA.Org

Melinda Hightower is a native of Detroit, Michigan, and attended Cornell University, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations in 2000. At Cornell, she was a Mening Family Cornell National Scholar and a member of the Cornell Debate Team. In 2000, she was selected to be member of the Cross-Examination Debate Association’s National Debate Team and represented the United States at competitions throughout Europe.

Upon graduation, Ms. Hightower worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, in New York, New York. She was an associate in the human resources consulting group and undertook graduate coursework in Statistics at Columbia University. In 2001, Ms. Hightower became a compensation and benefits professional at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), a sports entertainment company based in Stamford, Connecticut. While at WWE, she volunteered with the New York Urban Debate League, a nonprofit organization that uses debate training and curricula to mentor and develop informed, concerned citizens.

Click here to read more on Melinda Hightower…

Beautiful Black Sisters

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VIA:  NAACP.Org

The NAACP was formed partly in response to the continuing horrific practice of lynching and the 1908 race riot in Springfield, the capital of Illinois and resting place of President Abraham Lincoln. Appalled at the violence that was committed against blacks, a group of white liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard, both the descendants of abolitionists, William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moscowitz issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. Some 60 people, seven of whom were African American (including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell), signed the call, which was released on the centennial of Lincoln’s birth.

Click here to read more on the founding of the NAACP…

VIA:  WilliamsSisters.org

Professional tennis players. Serena Williams Born September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan. With her older sister, Venus, Williams born June 17, 1980 in Lynwood California took the tennis world by storm beginning in the late 1990s. The sisters harnessed their powerful groundstrokes and booming serves to rise in the rankings in both women’s singles and women’s doubles competitions. Coached by their outspoken father, Richard Williams, Venus and Serena Williams have been credited with raising public awareness of their sport and with bringing the women’s tennis game to a whole new level of power and athleticism. Growing up in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton, California, Venus and Serena were the two youngest of five daughters of Richard and Oracene (Brandi) Williams. Richard Williams dreamed of raising tennis stars, and Venus and Serena showed the most aptitude for the game—both began winning tournaments when they were 10 years old. In 1991, the family moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, where Venus and Serena trained with Rick Macci, who had worked with such teen stars as Jennifer Capriati, and for a short time with Nick Bolletieri, the famed former coach of Andre Agassi and Monica Seles. Soon, however, Richard Williams took over the coaching (and promotional) duties for both his prodigious daughters, choosing to withdraw them completely from the junior tennis circuit so that they could concentrate on their studies. This controversial decision earned him a mixture of praise and criticism among observers of tennis.

Click here for more on the Williams Sisters…..

Venus & Serena Williams – Succeeding Against The Odds – Click here for funny video clips

VIA:  U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission

Bessie Coleman, the daughter of a poor, southern, African American family, became one of the most famous women and African Americans in aviation history. “Brave Bessie” or “Queen Bess,” as she became known, faced the double difficulties of racial and gender discrimination in early 20th-century America but overcame such challenges to become the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license. Coleman not only thrilled audiences with her skills as a barnstormer, but she also became a role model for women and African Americans. Her very presence in the air threatened prevailing contemporary stereotypes. She also fought segregation when she could by using her influence as a celebrity to effect change, no matter how small.

Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas, to a large African American family (although some histories incorrectly report 1893 or 1896). She was one of 13 children. Her father was a Native American and her mother an African American. Very early in her childhood, Bessie and her family moved to Waxahachie, Texas, where she grew up picking cotton and doing laundry for customers with her mother.

The Coleman family, like most African Americans who lived in the Deep South during the early 20th century, faced many disadvantages and difficulties. Bessie’s family dealt with segregation, disenfranchisement, and racial violence. Because of such obstacles, Bessie’s father decided to move the family to “Indian Territory” in Oklahoma. He believed they could carve out a much better living for themselves there. Bessie’s mother, however, did not want to live on an Indian reservation and decided to remain in Waxahachie. Bessie, and several of her sisters, also stayed in Texas.

Bessie was a highly motivated individual. Despite working long hours, she still found time to educate herself by borrowing books from a traveling library. Although she could not attend school very often, Bessie learned enough on her own to graduate from high school. She then went on to study at the Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma. Nevertheless, because of limited finances, Bessie only attended one semester of college.

By 1915, Bessie had grown tired of the South and moved to Chicago. There, she began living with two of her brothers. She attended beauty school and then started working as a manicurist in a local barbershop.

Bessie first considered becoming a pilot after reading about aviation and watching newsreels about flight. But the real impetus behind her decision to become an aviator was her brother John’s incessant teasing. John had served overseas during World War I and returned home talking about, according to historian Doris Rich, “the superiority of French women over those of Chicago’s South Side.” He even told Bessie that French women flew airplanes and declared that flying was something Bessie would never be able to do. John’s jostling was the final push that Bessie needed to start pursuing her pilot’s license. She immediately began applying to flight schools throughout the country, but because she was both female and an African American, no U.S. flight school would take her.

Click here to read more…

VIA:  AOLtelevision.com

Haeley Vaughn shocked American Idol judges with her cute personality and Pop Country singing style.  She is the first black pop country mainstream singer that American Idol has ever seen, and she represents well.  Check out her American Idol audition below:

Simon Cowell was enamored with her right away. “Cute little thing, aren’t you,” he grinned. “What I like about you is you’re different. You’re not coming in and singing Mary J. Blige, therefore you stand out a little bit. You obviously love that kind of music and I think you’re infectious. You’ve got a great smile.”

VIA:  Biography.Com

Singer and song writer Darius Rucker formerly of the hit pop group Hootie and The BlowFish, is the first African American to reach the top of the country music chart since Charley Pride in 1988.  His hit single “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” from his album titled “Learn To Live” jumped to Top 20 in July 2008.

Rucker’s single eventually hit No. 1 on the country charts, and the album received platinum status in 2009. The album’s next two singles “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” and “Alright” also hit No. 1 on the charts, making Rucker the first country music singer to have his first three singles reach No. 1 since Wynona Judd in 1992. Rucker’s album also gained the attention of critics, and earned him two Country Music Association award nominations in 2009, including Male Vocalist of the Year.

See the video for his platinum single below:

Let Her Cry:

Some billboards in the “A-Town” have an unnerving message for African-Americans: “Black children are an endangered species (?)”

Here’s the deal: A national media corporation reported Friday that southern anti-abortion groups say black women “are having a disproportionate number of abortions,” in which are on the rise in the Peach State, based on federal data.

It indicates that 54 percent of the abortions in Georgia are performed on black women; even though black people constitute 30 percent of the general population.

54 percent! That’s staggering, yes. However, where are these women’s voices?

Organized parties opposing the advertising campaign and contradictory data have come out of the woodwork, but where are these lades’ written stories?

It must be disheartening for a woman of color who exercises her right to choose to see an advertisement depicting a lost African-American tyke, blaming her for the endangerment of his race when driving on a major highway.

What about those hundreds of thousands of children in foster care with limited care and resources, and when they are adopted, how many of them are in abusive homes?

Those statistics are also staggering.

Georgia Right to Life, a state anti-abortion group, partnered with Atlanta-based Radiance Foundation, a proponent of adoption, to launch this campaign that comes complete with a Web site called www.toomanyaborted.com. They say that abortion is a setback for a growing black America, not just for black women.

I am also assuming that eliminating a woman’s freedom to be a decision-maker is being progressive?

Debates on health care reform, with abortion an apparent sticking point, continue in unrest among non-bipartisan elected leaders to community activists at town halls.

I wonder after all is said and done, Will such billboards be allowed near every exit or toll station throughout our country?

Maybe the answer will be discovered in former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow’s pro-life ad expected to air in the Super Bowl.

I support a women’s right to choose. What’s your word?

On February 6th, VH1 will air the documentary Soul Train: The Hippest Trip In America February 6th at 9:30pm EST.

The 90 minute documentary celebrates the 40th anniversary of “Soul Train” which ran in syndication from 1970 to 2006.

Narrated by Terence Howard, the film features interviews from former Soul Train dancers like Jeffrey Daniels and Jody Watley, who went on to become part of the group Shalamar, which was put together by Soul Train creator and host, Don Cornelius.

Also featured in the documentary are commentary from the likes of Aretha Franklin, Snoop Dogg, Chaka Khan, Sly Stone, Smokey Robinson, and many more!

Below are some of our favorite moments in Soul Train history!

1) Al Green “Livin For You” (1974)

Forget KRS One and Jay-Z, Al Green laid down the blueprint for men in the 70s.  Watch as Al, even with a broken arm, makes the ladies swoon! Fellas, take notes.

2) The Jackson 5 “Dancing Machine” (1974)

This goes without explanation.  Michael on Soul Train doing the robot??  It gets no better than this!!!!!

3) Don Cornelius Interviews New Edition (1984)

The guys from New Edition were just kids here! Soul Train was often one of the first television shows black musicians appeared on, and this Soul Train appearance was one of the first times fans of New Edition got to hear the boys speak.

4) The Soul Train Line

Every episode of Soul Train featured the legendary Soul Train line which showcased the fashion and moves of individual dancers.  A lot of the dancers ended up becoming famous in their own right!  Remember the Asian lady with the long hair??

4) Kurtis Blow “The Breaks” (1980)

In the early days of hip-hop, it was still seen as a fad that wasn’t going to last.  Soul Train gave these performers a place to showcase a new and exciting genre of music while the rules were still being written.

5) Afro Sheen Commercials

Afro-Sheen was one of the major sponsors of Soul Train and their commercials were as much a part of the show as the dancers and musicians. From the early years which featured commercials like the one below, all the way up to the “Just For Me” ads in the 80s and 90s, no one who ever watched Soul Train could hate on the Afro-Sheen commercials.

BONUS:  ?uestlove Does The Robot While TV Personality Falls

While promoting the Soul Train documentary, ?uestlove of the Roots, who scored the documentary and is probably the biggest Soul Train fan on earth, appeared on a local New York City morning television program.  At the end of his segment, they formed a Soul Train line and…. well… watch the video.

RELATED: 5 Awkward Soul Train Awards Moments

RELATED: TWEETS IS WATCHIN’: Soul Train Awards Edition

]]> http://kissdetroit.com/54421/vh1-hops-aboard-the-soul-train-for-new-documentary/feed/ 0 VH1 Hops Aboard The Soooul Train For New Documentary! (thumbnail) ronemamiller soultrain-1 http://kissdetroit.com/54401/hot-topics-a-brief-history-of-fried-chicken/ http://kissdetroit.com/54401/hot-topics-a-brief-history-of-fried-chicken/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:17:11 +0000 Skip Murphy in the Afternoon http://kissdetroit.com/?p=54401 ]]> var impressionPostSlug = “a-brief-history-of-fried-chicken”; var impressionPostId = “551842″;

A lot of hoopla has been made over NBC’s decision to celebrate Black History Month with fried chicken and collard greens on their lunch menu. Do you know how black people became associated with the food?

Fried foods date back to ancient cultures in Europe, Asia, and even North America. In medieval times, fried chicken was already being eaten in western Europe.  Scottish immigrants to the United States are often credited with being the ones to introduce fried chicken to the country where as most other European immigrants to the country ate baked chicken.

Many of these Scottish immigrants settled in the southern United States where fried chicken became extremely popular.  When African slaves who worked as cooks were brought to the country, they put their own spin on the dish using seasonings and spices not found in most Scottish dishes.

Most slaves weren’t able to raise more expensive meats, and were allowed to have chickens, so frying chickens became a common occurrence on special occasions throughout black communities the south.

In the 19th an 20th century, foods like fried chicken, chitlins, and watermelon became considered stereotypes, no thanks in part to minstrel shows, and restaurants like Sambo’s and Coon Chicken Inn.

RELATED: VIDEO: Wanda Sykes Is Scared Of NBC’s Dessert Options

RELATED: UPDATE: Is NBC’s Cafeteria Lunch Menu Racist? (NBC Chef Speaks)

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Do you know who Nina Mae McKinney is and why she is an important figure in Black History?

Nina Mae McKinney was considered the first black movie star ever.  After appearing in 1929’s Hallelujah!, one of the first all-black films, her career took off.  She became known as the Black Garbo, a reference to white film actress Greta Garbo.

Check out some other notable firsts in black entertainment below!

RELATED: GALLERY: Happy Birthday Rosa Parks

RELATED: REEL DEAL: Black History Month Movie Rentals

]]> http://kissdetroit.com/54361/famous-firsts-in-black-entertainment/feed/ 0 Famous Firsts In Black Entertainment! (thumbnail) ronefconley ninamae http://kissdetroit.com/54031/gallery-historical-firsts-for-black-women/ http://kissdetroit.com/54031/gallery-historical-firsts-for-black-women/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:44:35 +0000 Skip Murphy in the Afternoon http://kissdetroit.com/?p=54031 ]]>

In honor of Black History Month, we’ve highlighted some of the first Black women who were honored for their achievements.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Rosa Parks

GALLERY: Top 10 Girl Groups In Black Music

]]> http://kissdetroit.com/54031/gallery-historical-firsts-for-black-women/feed/ 0 GALLERY: Historical Firsts For Black Women (thumbnail) ronemamiller michelle_obama_isabel_toledo4 http://kissdetroit.com/54011/hot-topic-is-nbcs-cafeteria-lunch-menu-racist/ http://kissdetroit.com/54011/hot-topic-is-nbcs-cafeteria-lunch-menu-racist/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:35:53 +0000 Skip Murphy in the Afternoon http://kissdetroit.com/?p=54011 ]]>

?uestlove of the Roots posted this picture of the menu at NBC’s cafeteria to his Twitter profile today while on his lunch break from  “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

He captioned the photo “Hmmm… HR?”

Do you think NBC’s lunch menu is racist, or just ill-advised?

And is it bad that we’re confused as to whether we should run over to 30 Rock and get in line, or run to Al Sharpton’s office?

Let us know what you think in the comments!

RELATED: REEL DEAL: Black History Month Movie Rentals

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VIA:  MSNBC

When she moved to the nation’s most prestigious address, Michelle Obama’s husband told her that rough times were ahead. The country was in recession, people were out of work, the political parties were in open warfare — and the man who was going to be blamed for it all was President Barack Obama.

But you won’t hear the first lady utter a peep of complaint.

“The truth is, there are a lot of folks who are hurting. And there’s no way I’m going to sit here and complain; I’m sitting in the White House,” Michelle Obama told TODAY’s Matt Lauer during an exclusive, far-ranging White House interview that aired Wednesday.

It’s just over a year since Michelle Obama set up housekeeping at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And while she’s been much in the spotlight during that time, she maintains that she’s still the same person she always was.

“I still see myself as Michelle Obama, the girl who grew up in the South Side of Chicago — Marian and Fraser’s daughter. I’ve got this husband who does these interesting things — and I’m Malia and Sasha’s mother,” she said.

Watch her interview below:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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VIA:  Biography.com

(born August 11, 1921, Ithaca, New York, U.S.—died February 10, 1992, Seattle, Washington) American writer whose works of historical fiction and reportage depicted the struggles of African Americans.

Although his parents were teachers, Haley was an indifferent student. He began writing to avoid boredom during voyages while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard (1939–59). His first major work, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), was an authoritative and widely read narrative based on Haley’s interviews with the Black Muslim spokesman. The work is recognized as a classic of African American literature.

Haley’s greatest success was Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976). This saga covers seven American generations, from the enslavement of Haley’s African ancestors to his own genealogical quest. The work forcefully shows relationships between generations and between races. Roots was adapted as a multi-episode television program, which, when first broadcast in January 1977, became one of the most popular shows in the history of American television and galvanized attention on African American issues and history. That same year Haley won a special Pulitzer Prize. A successful sequel was first broadcast in February 1979 as Roots: The Next Generations.

Roots spurred much interest in family history, and Haley created the Kinte Foundation (1972) to store records that aid in tracing black genealogy. Haley later admitted that his saga was partly fictional; the book was also the subject of a plagiarism suit, which Haley settled out of court.

View this 1983 interview with Alex Haley:

View this clip from the Roots Mini Series:

VIA:  TheGrio.Com

A revolution can occur in many ways. Some choose to protest with marches and picket signs. Bill T. Jones chose dance.

The acclaimed dancer and choreographer has informed audiences on race, politics and sexuality in modern dance productions around the world for over thirty years.

Born in Florida, Jones has said that growing up during the 60s and 70s, many of leading voices in the social movements of the time were artists who expressed their beliefs through their work. Jones started his dance career as a theatre major at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he trained under famed dance instructor Percival Borde.

Shortly thereafter, Jones would meet up with his dance and life partner Arnie Zane, creating provocative choreography that showed subjects like homosexuality and racism, which were revolutionary at the time. In 1982, the two dancers would take their innovative choreography to new heights with the founding of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Company. Although Zane died from AIDS in 1988, Jones not only carried on the company’s torch, by expanding his work into the field of opera, musical theater and television with the Alvin Ailey Company and PBS, but also became one of the world’s most respected choreographers. Many of his dance interpretations have stood out over for the years for testing the boundaries of modern dance.

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Terry Foster / The Detroit News

Earl Lloyd doesn’t like being called the Jackie Robinson of the NBA.

Sure, he was the first black player in the NBA, but the struggles he went through were nowhere as severe as Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947.

Lloyd faced some of the same prejudices — he couldn’t stay in the team hotel or eat in certain restaurants — but he didn’t face as much racism and hatred as Robinson did.

But he still has a great story.

“I take polite umbrage to (being compared to Robinson) because you know what I had to go through paled to what Jackie had to go through,” said Lloyd, in Detroit on Wednesday to promote his book, “Moonwalker, The story of Earl Lloyd.”

“To perform in that hostility and he made the Hall of Fame in the first blush. And to compete at that level and to go through that was unbelievable. My life was a cakewalk.”

There is, however, a dispute whether Lloyd, 81, actually was the first black in the NBA.

He wasn’t the first player drafted in 1950, (he was selected in the ninth round), but he made his debut with the Syracuse Nationals on Oct. 31, four days ahead of Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and a day ahead of Chuck Cooper, who played with the Boston Celtics Still, Lloyd had an impact.

• Lloyd and Jim Tucker were the first black players to win an NBA championship in 1955, when Syracuse beat the Fort Wayne Pistons.

• In 1965, he nearly became the first black coach, but Pistons general manager Don Wattrick hired Dave DeBusschere. Lloyd later coached in Detroit.

“Detroit was a coming out party for me,” said Lloyd, who lived in Detroit for four decades before moving to Tennessee. “You gotta figure coming from an all black high school, an all black college and people were into protecting me. In Syracuse, every black person lived in

the 15th ward.

“And then you come to Detroit. Detroit to me was like that big beautiful butterfly coming out of the cocoon. Black folks were doing things, and it was great to see.”

Still, through the years, he remains an old school man with an old school story.

“I always admired Lloyd,” Pistons broadcaster George Blaha said. “I knew at some level he was a pioneer and he carried himself well and was a gentleman … But meeting him at different appearances in Detroit, I was happy to find out what I thought of Lloyd from afar … he was for real.”

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist whom the U.S. Congress later called the “Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement.”

On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks, age 42, refused to obey bus driver James Blake‘s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Her action was not the first of its kind: Irene Morgan, in 1946, and Sarah Louise Keys, in 1955, had won rulings before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Interstate Commerce Commission respectively in the area of interstate bus travel. Nine months before Parks refused to give up her seat, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to move from her seat on the same bus system. But unlike these previous individual actions of civil disobedience, Parks’ action sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Parks’ act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.

At the time of her action, Parks was secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and had recently attended the Highlander Folk School, a Tennessee center for workers’ rights and racial equality. Nonetheless, she took her action as a private citizen “tired of giving in”. Although widely honored in later years for her action, she suffered for it, losing her job as a seamstress in a local department store. Eventually, she moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she found similar work. From 1965 to 1988 she served as secretary and receptionist to African-American U.S. Representative John Conyers. After retirement from this position, she wrote an autobiography and lived a largely private life in Detroit. In her final years she suffered from dementia and became embroiled in a lawsuit filed on her behalf against American hip-hop duo OutKast.

Parks eventually received many honors ranging from the 1979 Spingarn Medal to the Congressional Gold Medal, a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol’s National Statuary Hall. Her death in 2005 was a major story in the United States’ leading newspapers. She was granted the posthumous honor of lying in state at the Capitol Rotunda.

VIA:  EncyclopediaOfChicago.Org

Oscar DePriest was born in Florence, Alabama, to ex-slaves. He arrived in Chicago in 1889. DePriest worked as a painter and decorator, reportedly on occasion passing for white to get a job. He developed his own contracting business and began participating in community affairs. He began his political career as a precinct secretary, but by 1904 was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

In 1928 he became the first African American congressman elected to the House of Representatives from a northern state and a national symbol for racial pride. He fought for civil rights but took conservative positions on economic issues and lost his seat to a New Deal Democrat in 1934. He served one more term in the city council at the end of the following decade. De Priest devoted the rest of his years to his real-estate business.

Cities for African Americans

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When you take a much deserved break from making Black History in everything you do, put up your feet, grab the remote and take in some of these history-flavored flicks. Let us know some of your favorites and list them in the comments!

Malcolm X (1992)

This Spike Lee directed epic was one of Denzel Washington’s best acting performances.

Rosewood (1997)

John Singleton directs Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle and Elise Neal in this dramatization of a 1923 horrific racist lynch mob attack on an African American community in Florida.

Daughters of The Dust (1991)

Directed by Julie Dash, this film tells the story of three generations of Gullah women at the turn of the 20th century and focuses on the family’s migration from the Sea Islands to the American mainland.

Amistad (1997)

Morgan Freeman and Djimon Hounsou star in this Steven Spielberg directed film about a 1839 mutiny aboard a slave ship that is traveling towards the northeastern coast of America.

ROOTS (1977)

I strongly urge reading the book but this is must-see TV.

Glory (1989)

Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Andre Braugher star in this story of the US Civil War’s first all-black volunteer company.

A Soldier’s Story (1984)

A black army attorney is sent to an all-black army camp during World War II to investigate the murder of a sergeant and sees first hand the racial strife between the black soldiers and the white.

Miracle at St. Anna (2008)

Set in 1944 Italy, the story of four black American soldiers who get trapped in a Tuscan village during WWII.

RELATED: Spike Lee Interview With The Urban Daily

Ali (2001)

Will Smith stars as the boxing legend Muhammad Ali in this chronicle of his personal and professional life from 1964 to 1974.

Ray (2004)

Jamie Foxx kills it in this biopic of soul music pioneer Ray Charles. Chances are you’ve seen this already but it’s worth a revisit.

]]> http://kissdetroit.com/52621/reel-deal-black-history-month-movie-rentals-2/feed/ 0 REEL DEAL: Black History Month Movie Rentals! (thumbnail) ronemamiller http://kissdetroit.com/52731/8-year-old-boy-sends-his-allowance-to-haiti/ http://kissdetroit.com/52731/8-year-old-boy-sends-his-allowance-to-haiti/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:26:28 +0000 kissdetroit Staff http://kissdetroit.com/blackhistorymonth/tomjoyner/8-year-old-boy-sends-his-allowance-to-haiti/ ]]>

VIA: 9news.com

Third-grader Amirikis Smith thought being mentioned in Obama’s speech was ‘amazing.’

“It lives on,” the president said, “in the 8-year-old boy in Louisiana, who just sent me his allowance and asked if I would give it the people of Haiti.”

The president did not identify the young man by name, but on Thursday the White House said it was Amirikis Smith, a third-grader at Red River Elementary School in Coushatta, where he lives with his grandparents, Vera and the Rev. Louis Smith Jr., who ministers at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in nearby Shreveport.

Black Child Heroes

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VIA:  Answers.Com

Identical twin brothers Albert and Allen Hughes became celebrities when they completed their first feature-length movie, Menace II Society. Their age when the film was released in May of 1993–they had just turned 21–put them in the company of celebrated young black directors like John Singleton, who was 23 in 1991 when Boyz N the Hood was released, and Matty Rich, whose Straight out of Brooklyn was released when he was 19. Menace II Society received a great deal of critical attention, most of it favorable; and on the strength of early reviews it was given national distribution. Made for approximately $3.4 million, the film grossed an estimated $21 million in its first two months at theaters.

The Hughes twins gained a lot of film experience at an early age: they began using a video camera at the age of 12. Their mother, Aida–who reared her sons alone after her divorce–had encouraged them to experiment with the family’s camera in the hopes that it would relieve their boredom and help them avoid more dangerous temptations, such as selling drugs and joining gangs. As the brothers told the Los Angeles Times, “We have been in situations where we wanted to sell dope and we were that close to doing it…. As corny as it sounds, by throwing us that camera when we were bored and about to sell drugs, she deterred us. ‘Why don’t you go make a movie,’ she said.”

Born in Detroit, Michigan, the Hughes brothers moved with their mother to Pomona, California, a “tough, gang-ridden community” according to the Chicago Tribune, when they were nine years old. Though their publicity machine has played up their inner-city experience, the brothers were never actually involved in gangs. Their childhood was a relatively normal one: as the Chicago Tribune reported, “their mother made sure they played in Little League and took karate and music lessons.”

Article continued below gallery…

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By the time they were 14, both brothers had experience in film editing, sound editing, and scoring their own videos. They shot videos based on favorite television programs like “Star Trek,” “In Search Of …,” and “The Tonight Show.” They also recreated scenes from their favorite movies, including Brian De Palma’s Scarface and The Untouchables as well as Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas. As the Hughes brothers grew older, their mother moved the family to Claremont, a predominately white, middle-class suburb of Los Angeles, so they could attend a better high school. “I don’t want to say I live in Claremont,” Allen told the Chicago Tribune, reflecting both brothers’ dislike for the town. He felt that they didn’t get any respect there; he recalled being stopped on several occasions by police “for no apparent reason other than that [he is] black.”

While at high school, one of the brothers’ class assignments was to make a “how-to” video. While their classmates produced videos on how to make a chair or cook a dish, the Hughes brothers rebelled against such suburban topics with their video “How to Be a Burglar.” They later followed this with a documentary about selling crack cocaine. The brothers found a drug dealer near their high school who was willing to be photographed, and the video included actual footage of drug deals being made.

After both brothers graduated from high school, Albert spent a year a Los Angeles City College taking film classes. His studies inspired him and Allen to make the short film The Drive By. During the filming of a scene in which a sawed-off shotgun was used as a prop, the Pomona police arrived and shut down production. Even so, the short was completed and went on to become an underground hit. The film also got them an agent.

Their professional career started at Hollywood Records, where they directed a hip-hop music video for the group Digital Underground. They went on to direct some 30 music videos over a nine-month period for such groups as Tone-Loc, Tupac Shakur, KRS-One, Too $hort, and Yo-Yo. Some of their videos were notable for dealing with such issues as teen pregnancy and police violence.

The Hughes brothers had mastered music videos and were inundated with offers to do more, but they wanted to move on to the next level–feature films. While their work in music videos also attracted offers to direct feature-length movies for established studios, they decided to create their own project instead. They conceived the story of a black urban youth who becomes the victim of his environment. In late 1991, they asked 23-year-old Los Angeles screenwriter Tyger Williams to write the script.

At that point Williams had only written two unproduced scripts. He told the Los Angeles Times, “[Albert, Allen, and I] got tired of watching all the films about the kid that makes it out of the ghetto, and we wanted to do the story of all those who stay. If 20 percent make it out, then 80 percent don’t, and we wanted to tell their story.”

Williams finished the first draft within a month, and in subsequent drafts “the Hughes brothers helped flesh out the characters, drawing on their own experiences and on interviews with gang members and street hustlers,” reported the Los Angeles Times. Allen Hughes told the New York Times, “This movie has been in our heads since we were 15 [since 1987]: how kids become what they become, how the environment affects them…. Fifty percent of this is from-the-heart stories of people we know. The other is from interviews.”

Once the final screenplay was finished, they gave it to independent producer Darin Scott to shop around for a production studio. Artistic control of the project was important to the Hughes brothers, and they felt that offers from major studios attached too many strings. As the Hughes brothers told the New York Times, the major studios offered a lot of money, but their management styles seemed overpowering. The brothers objected to ending the movie with the 1992 Los Angeles riots– something several studios wanted them to do. The Hugheses signed a two-picture deal with New Line Cinema in the spring of 1992.

See the brothers latest interview on their new film “The Book Of Eli” starring Denzel Washington:

 By Mike Celizic

When she moved to the nation’s most prestigious address, Michelle Obama’s husband told her that rough times were ahead. The country was in recession, people were out of work, the political parties were in open warfare — and the man who was going to be blamed for it all was President Barack Obama.

But you won’t hear the first lady utter a peep of complaint.

“The truth is, there are a lot of folks who are hurting. And there’s no way I’m going to sit here and complain; I’m sitting in the White House,” Michelle Obama told TODAY’s Matt Lauer during an exclusive, far-ranging White House interview that aired Wednesday.

 
It’s just over a year since Michelle Obama set up housekeeping at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And while she’s been much in the spotlight during that time, she maintains that she’s still the same person she always was.

“I still see myself as Michelle Obama, the girl who grew up in the South Side of Chicago — Marian and Fraser’s daughter. I’ve got this husband who does these interesting things — and I’m Malia and Sasha’s mother,” she said.

“I approach this position like I approach my life,” the first lady went on. “I try to be as authentically me as I can be, because it’s easier to maintain it. So what people have seen over the course of the year is really Michelle. And I find a level of comfort in that role.”

Juggling challenges
Mrs. Obama has already taken on the cause of addressing the special problems and concerns of military families. Now, she’s launching an initiative that could define her term as first lady. She’s taking on childhood obesity.

“There are the shocking statistics that are there,” Mrs. Obama said. “One in three kids are obese in this nation. And the numbers go up when you’re talking about the African-American and Hispanic communities. The most shocking sort of reality that really hits you is that, because the young generation is on track for the first time in this nation’s history of being less healthy, having a shorter life span than their parents.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy