Adm. Michelle Janine Howard became the first female four-star officer in the history of the U.S. Navy, according to a press release. Howard, who was promoted at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, is expected to relieve Adm. Mark Ferguson II as the 38th vice chief of naval…

Clifford Hall is not a deadbeat dad. And District Court Judge Lisa Millard, who sentenced him to six months in prison even after he caught up and overpaid on his late child support due to a clerical error, is not a crooked judge. The problem, insists Hall’s lawyer Tyesha Elam, is the law—more specifically, a…

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) thus far appears to have maintained his grip on New York’s 13th Congressional District, leading his closest primary challenger by approximately 1,800 votes and earning about 47 percent of the vote with 100 percent of precincts reporting, according to New York Times election data. The veteran politician may indeed once again…

The Library of Congress is now the home of The HistoryMakers collection, which details the black experience in America, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced on Tuesday. “The HistoryMakers archive provides invaluable first-person accounts of both well-known and unsung African-Americans, detailing their hopes, dreams and accomplishments—often in the face of adversity,” Billington said in…

British actress Thandie Newton isn’t impressed with the lack of representation of products geared for dark skin in beauty stores, and is calling the industry out on it. According to the Daily Mail, the 41-year-old British and American film star accused chains, such as Boots, of only stocking dark shades of makeup when a line…

The battle over the Washington, D.C., football team’s name has been decided in one fell swoop, with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office canceling the federal trademark protection that the offensive name has enjoyed, calling it “disparaging to Native Americans,” the Washington Post reports. The particular groundbreaking case was filed on behalf of five Native…

Father’s Day in the Lewis-Anthony household will probably not be a grand event this year. There’s nothing special planned—their three kids are young enough to be let off the hook for not presenting any special surprise for their dads. But for now this doesn’t bother Kordale Lewis and Kaleb Anthony, who are raising their two…

When Jabre White’s teacher told the class to go downstairs to take their economics final, Jabre says he politely responded with a “Yes, sir.” That was when the Roosevelt High School senior from Des Moines, Iowa, was met with, “You meant to say, ‘Yes, sir, master,’ ” from the teacher, Shawn McCurtain, the Des Moines…