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Was My Black Texan Ancestor Fathered by a White Judge?
My maternal grandmother was very secretive about her family past. Her name was Lucy Laverne Alexander Lee and she was born to Bessie Baker Alexander and Jeffrey Alexander on April 7, 1918, in Richmond, Texas. She was their last child and only daughter (her brothers were Jeffrey Jr., Nolan and Charles). My great-grandfather Jeffrey died…
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Artist Turns Racist Flirtations on Tinder Into Compelling Look at Race and Sex
Over the weekend I swung by the 156 Art Fair, an annual exhibition of African art at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, N.Y. Among the many strong presentations on display, Phoebe Boswell’s Stranger in the Village stood out. In April 2015 Boswell, a biracial Kenyan woman currently living in London, was temporarily situated in Gothenburg, Sweden,…
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I Don’t Care About Frank Ocean or His Sophomore Album That Will (Probably) Never Be Released
In 2012, at a time when many felt as if R&B had fallen off, Frank Ocean was our savior. Channel Orange felt like love on a warm, summer day. Not only was the music on point, but it was different and inclusive. Revealing his first love with a man and lyrics such as “You’re running…
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Did Jussie Smollett Announce His Exit From Empire?
If you’re still riding the Empire train, then you know that a huge bomb was dropped following Wednesday night’s episode. During the show, Freda Gathers (spoiler alert) shot fan favorite Jussie Smollett, aka Jamal Lyon, in an attempt to kill Lucious after she discovered that he’d killed her father. Unfortunately, the bullet never made its…
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He Proposed, but Now He Wants to Go to Counseling Before Planning the Wedding
My boyfriend of four years finally proposed six months ago. Now he refuses to discuss wedding plans or set a date. He wants to go to premarital counseling. I want to start planning the wedding. Should I force the issue or be patient and wait until he is ready to discuss the wedding? —Anonymous I’m…
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Will Party Loyalty Trump Fears About Donald Trump for Black Republicans?
In an era when “Black lives matter” has become a crucial rallying cry across the country and when African-American concern for racial inequality and discrimination hovers at extraordinary levels, it can be difficult to assess the political significance of a group as marginal as black Republicans. Only 11 percent of black people identify as or…
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Where Are More of the Wealthiest Africans Calling Home?
If you were a wealthy African, where would you live? According to the Africa 2016 Wealth Report, Johannesburg is no longer where it’s at. The report examined the performance of millionaires between 2007 and the end of 2015—defining “millionaires” or “high-net-worth individuals” as those people with net assets of $1 million U.S. Here are the…
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The Zulu Nation Cuts Ties to Afrika Bambaataa
The Zulu Nation moved to distance itself from its founder, Afrika Bambaataa, by announcing that it will change its leadership and focus on victims of abuse, according to the New York Daily News. Initially the group rushed to Bambaataa’s defense when accusations of child molestation surfaced in late March. He himself claimed that the allegations…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
