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Black Valedictorians and Salutatorians: From Coretta Scott King to Richard Sherman
As W.E.B. Du Bois once said, “There is in this world no such force as the force of a person determined to rise. The human soul cannot be permanently chained.” Du Bois set himself apart from his peers with such self-determination, eventually becoming a class valedictorian and leader in his youth. Throughout history, African Americans…
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Report: Fox’s Empire Breaks 23-Year Ratings Record
Empire, the hip-hop drama that stars Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, has broken a ratings record that stood for more than 23 years, according to Entertainment Weekly. The show is averaging 14 million viewers and a strong 5.6 rating among adults 18-49 so far for the first two weeks of the season, with total DVR…
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Kids’ Candy Fight Sparks Fatal Shooting by Adult of Ex-Pro Baseball Player
A former Los Angeles Angels draft pick was shot and killed in suburban Atlanta last year following a dispute over candy that began with a group of children and escalated to include adults at an apartment complex, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Stacie Williams, 25, who was already in Fulton County, Ga., jail on unrelated…
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Nigeria Delays Elections Over Fears of Violence by Boko Haram Militants
Nigeria’s election commission announced plans Saturday to postpone the country’s presidential and legislative elections for six weeks because of security concerns over violence in the region, according to the Huffington Post, citing a report at the Associated Press. Election-commission Chairman Attahiru Jega said that the vote would be rescheduled from Feb. 14 to March 28…
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Cops Probe Bobbi Kristina Brown’s Boyfriend in Bathtub Incident
Police are investigating the possibility of foul play in the case of Bobbi Kristina Brown, who was found unresponsive in a bathtub last weekend, according to the New York Daily News, citing a report at TMZ. The daughter of the late Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown is on life support at Emory University in Atlanta.…
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Watch: Detroit Man With 21-Mile Commute on Foot Receives New Car, $320,000 in Donations
After making a 21-mile round-trip to work for nearly 10 years because his car broke down, James Robertson was rewarded for his dedication on Friday. A car dealership gave the 56-year-old factory worker a new Ford Taurus on Friday, the New York Daily News reports. As The Root reported earlier, Robertson’s story won the hearts of…
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Oh Boy! Fla. Mom Gives Birth to 14-Pound Baby
When Maxxzandra Ford of Tampa, Fla., gave birth to a baby boy on Jan. 29, she had known for only a matter of weeks that she was pregnant. When her child, Avery, came, he set the record for the heaviest baby delivered at St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital, and he was one of the largest babies…
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Michelle and Malia Obama Visit NYC Colleges
Will another Obama call New York City home? Possibly, according to the New York Daily News, which says that Malia Obama and her mother, first lady Michelle Obama, were spotted in the Big Apple on Friday touring New York University, Barnard College and neighboring Columbia University. Malia’s father—you know, the president—graduated from Columbia, on Manhattan’s…
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Selma, Black-Ish, Taraji P. Henson Win Big at NAACP Image Awards
Selma, the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic, scored four trophies to command the movie field at the 46th annual NAACP Image Awards on Friday, Deadline Hollywood reports. Selma, a best picture Oscar nominee, won for Outstanding Motion Picture, and David Oyelowo picked up a trophy for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture at the event…
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Watch: N.Y. Cop Draws Gun on Black Youths to Halt Snowball Fight
A New York community is up in arms after video footage surfaced of a New Rochelle, N.Y., police officer holding several teens at gunpoint after responding to a 911 call about a disturbance that turned out to be a snowball fight, according to Raw Story, citing a report at Talk of the Sound. In the…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
