8 black composers who changed the course of classical music history
From Scott Joplin to Florence Price, the music of these brilliant composers has too long been neglected in Western classical…
African American Miniature Museum Founder and Artist Karen Collins Has”Greensboro Four” Piece Highlighted by Google to Kick off Black History Month
Sixty years ago, four African American college students sat down quietly at a whites-only Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North…
Trump allies are handing out cash to black voters
Organizers have begun holding events in black communities where they lavish praise on the president while handing out thousands of…
How To Spend A Day In Black-Owned Paris
If you are looking to spend a day exploring “Black-Owned” Paris here is a rundown of places to eat, visit,…
A look at the oldest black-owned business in the U.S. founded in 1881 and still going strong
The company, which started as a stop on the Underground Railroad, has now become a respected moving company in the…
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates review – time traveller on the Underground Railroad
Magical realism meets real life in the acclaimed journalist’s debut novel about American slaves escaping to the north A former…
Meet the child genius who became world’s youngest orchestra conductor at 11
At just 11 years old, Matthew Smith could play four instruments. He could play the guitar, drums, piano and viola.…
A goal to ‘dismantle bigotry and racism.’ Miami’s 5000 Role Models honors top students
In eighth grade, Alexander Sanchez’s life was in turmoil. His grandmother had passed away after battling dementia. A buddy from…
What Was the Black International?
The twentieth-century struggle for African independence began in Paris salons hosted by the daughters of elite blacks, then travelled by…
Former Calif. Mayor Johnson shares Black Capital initiative at the Met
TULSA, Okla. — The former Mayor of Sacramento, California, Kevin Johnson, in partnership with SeedInvest, launched their Black Capital initiative,…
Louis Allen Murdered in Liberty, Mississippi
On January 31, 1964, the night before he was set to move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Louis Allen was ambushed outside…
Ghana: How Ghana Went Above and Beyond For Year of Return 2019
Cape Town — Ghana is to launch a multi-million dollar fund aimed at attracting investment from members of the African…
Did Dershowitz Say He Was ‘Not Happy Seeing Nixon’s Gang Being Tried by Blacks and Liberals’?
Searching the long quote trails of public figures often turns up interesting statements from days past. In mid-January 2020, U.S.…
Color of Hockey: Canada Post stamp celebrates Black History Month
Pays tribute to nearly forgotten early 20th-century players, league in Maritimes William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey…
The Hunting of Billie Holiday
How Lady Day was in the middle of a Federal Bureau of Narcotics fight for survival From his first day…
Jimmy Heath, 93, Jazz Saxophonist and Composer, Is Dead
Jimmy Heath, a tenor saxophonist whose sharp and lively compositions became part of the midcentury jazz canon — and who…
‘I believe in white supremacy’: John Wayne’s notorious 1971 Playboy interview goes viral on Twitter (2019)
John Wayne is never going to be confused for a progressive by anyone familiar with his life and career. The…
America’s Black Holocaust Museum Hopes To Reopen Its Doors This Year
Thanks To A Donation, The Museum Plans To Open In Summer 2020 America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) in Milwaukee is…
Michelle Obama Wins Grammy Award For Audio Recording Of ‘Becoming’ Memoir
Fans are hoping the former first lady will go on to become an EGOT. Michelle Obama is now a Grammy…
The Story of Josiah Henson, the Real Inspiration for ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’
Before there was the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a formerly enslaved African-American living in Canada wrote a memoir detailing…
Program Teaches Prisoners How to Code So They Can Get Tech Jobs Once Released
San Francisco, CA — The Last Mile, a prison rehabilitation program based in San Quentin, California, offers prisoners free training…
Heard but Not Seen | Slate
Black music in white spaces. . (function() { if ( ! window.mc4wp) { window.mc4wp = { listeners: , forms :…
African Fabrics Connect to Form Quilted Portraits of Black Figures by Bisa Butler
Brooklyn-based artist Bisa Butler (previously) uses brightly colored cotton, wool, and chiffon fabrics with bold patterns to piece together quilts…
Cicely Tyson Is Giving Advice We All Need In New ‘Cherish The Day’ Trailer
Cecily Tyson doesn’t let up. After popping up in Tyler Perry’s new Netflix film, A Fall From Grace, premiering Friday,…
Cobb County high school cellist heading to Carnegie Hall | Fox5 Atlanta
POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. – The first time 16-year-old Khalil Payne picked up a cello, he says he felt an instant…
Music Sermon: Hip-Hop Vs. The Grammys: 30 Years of Fighting The Power
Rap’s relationship with the Grammys started with a boycott when the Best Rap Song category was introduced 30 years ago,…
Danielle Johnson Will Launch the First Black Woman-owned Digital Radio Station in Boston
People of color in the media industry face many challenges when trying to get their foot in the door. There…
Ofentse Pitse, first black South African woman to own and conduct an all-black orchestra
With little formal training in music, Ofentse Pitse is the first female black South African to own and conduct the…
Meet the 15-Year-Old Who Went From an Ice Cream Cart to an Ice Cream Parlor
At only 8 years old, Victor “Beau” Tracy Shell surprised his parents by asking for an ice cream cart for…
Black Kids And Suicide: Why Are Rates So High, And So Ignored?
… Black youth at risk may even be more difficult to identify than non-Black youth. Teen suicide rates among black…
Hand-me-down: African women in their grandmothers’ clothes – in pictures
Joana Choumali’s portraits show modern African women swapping jeans for kente cloth – and diving into the dazzling cultural heritage…
Killers’ Confession | The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi
Killers of Emmett Till Confess in Look Magazine Editors Note: In the long history of man’s inhumanity to man, racial…
First African American-owned bourbon brand to debut in Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Sarah Shadburne) —Victor Yarbrough wanted to do something that would bring positive opportunities for economic growth to west…
“Blind Tom,” born a slave, at the age of 10 became the highest paid pianist of the 19th century
“Blind Tom” was a musical prodigy who was born in slavery in 1850, in the state of Georgia. He was…
Future of Historic African American School in Jeopardy
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) — It was expected to be the beginning of a joyous preservation effort: relocating the town’s…
‘Cane River’: A Forgotten Black Director’s Only Film Resurfaces After Being Lost for 40 years
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired the restored film for a theatrical run to begin in February. Debuting in 1982, “Cane River”…
Virginians push to remember historically black high schools
NORFOLK, Va. — Vivian Monroe-Hester’s high school textbooks harbored hatred in their margins. As a teenager at the all-black Booker…
$27 Million for Reparations Over Slave Ties Pledged by Seminary
The Princeton Theological Seminary said it was committed to “telling the truth” about its ties to slavery. Black students don’t…
The Troubling Fate of a 1973 Film About the First Black Man in the C.I.A. (2018)
Ivan Dixon’s “The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” from 1973, displays the bedrock of racist attitudes and assumptions that…
Ella Baker’s Legacy Runs Deep. Know Her Name.
Her fighting spirit lives on in today’s social movements. When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. accepted the Nobel…
How Kwame Nkrumah used metaphor as a political weapon against colonialism
Kwame Nkrumah (1912-1972), a pioneering pan-Africanist and Ghana’s independence leader (1957-1966), is regarded by many as one of Africa’s greatest…
Op-Ed: California’s forgotten slave history
Separated by just 60 miles along the I-10, Los Angeles and San Bernardino feel worlds apart. The former boasts some…
Remembering the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre When Police Shot Dead Three Unarmed Black Students
The 1968 Orangeburg massacre is one of the most violent and least remembered events of the civil rights movement. A…
The chilling details of Patrice Lumumba’s assassination and how he was dissolved in acid
Since January 17, 1961, no one has been held accountable for the brutal murder of Congo’s independence leader and first…
Why Aesha Ash is Wandering Around Inner City Rochester in a Tutu
Growing up in inner city Rochester, NY, Aesha Ash was just one of the neighborhood kids. She’d imagine people driving…
The Unequal Financial Burden for Black Caregivers
Carlo St. Juste Jr. is on his way to bring his mother to a hospital appointment when he takes OZY’s…
Jay-Z goes to bat for Mississippi prisoners and files federal lawsuit
The rap mogul had warned Mississippi officials he was “prepared to pursue all potential avenues.” Rap mogul Jay-Z sued the…
Exclusive: Rep. Ayanna Pressley Reveals Beautiful Bald Head and Discusses Alopecia for the First Time
“I think it’s important that I’m transparent about this new normal,…” Ayanna Pressley loves playing with her hair. Before she…
Exclusive: Atlanta-Based Entrepreneur Jewel Burks Solomon named Head of Google For Startups, U.S.
Atlanta tech entrepreneur Jewel Burks Solomon has been named head of Google for Startups for the U.S., Hypepotamus has confirmed.…
When Minneapolis Segregated | City Lab
In the early 1900s, racial housing covenants in the Minnesota city blocked home sales to minorities, establishing patterns of inequality…
How Ghana’s historic homecoming is changing Africa | CNN
(CNN) — It’s the last Saturday of the year in the heart of Accra, Ghana’s capital. The air is thick…
I am not ‘non-white’ | Daily Kos
I’m black. (function() { if ( ! window.mc4wp) { window.mc4wp = { listeners: , forms : { on: function (event,…
The Story of Senegalese Visionary Mama Casset
During West Africa’s prolific era of portrait photography in the 1900s, Mama Casset emerged as one of Senegal’s pioneering figures.…
Matthew Cherry’s ‘Hair Love’ Receives Well Deserved Oscar Nomination
Hair Love, the popular children’s book turned animated short by former NFL player, Matthew Cherry, gets nominated for an Oscar,…
Her Son Was Careful to Avoid Police Officers. Then He Was Killed by One.
He drove the speed limit. He kept his car in good repair. Instead of shorts or T-shirts, he wore Ralph…
Chicken, Waffles, and Smashing the Patriarchy | Mother Jones
How chef Tanya Holland turned her “little utopia” in West Oakland into a soul food empire. (function() { if (…
10 James Baldwin Books to Read in Your Lifetime
More from the literary legend behind If Beale Street Could Talk. James Baldwin is an iconic author for our time,…
School district faces $12M lawsuit over ‘racist’ photo of African American students
Parents plan to sue a New York school district for $12 million after one of its teachers allegedly wrote the…
Born Into Slavery, This Centenarian Learned to Read at 116, Becoming the Nation’s Oldest Student
Despite being born into slavery and enduring over a century of discrimination, Mary Hardway Walker managed to accomplish an extraordinary…
Don’t tell me I’m ‘too pretty to be Aboriginal’. It’s not a compliment; it’s racism
Aboriginal women are all too familiar with this phrase. In her new documentary, Sasha Sarago investigates the racism behind it.…