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mothers with young children were in the work force following World War II, when many of their white counterparts had withdrawn from the labor force” (Thistle 2006).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

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:

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:  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

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.

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”:

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.

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