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Finding Your Roots Curriculum Receives $659,000 in Grants; PBS Series Returns in Jan.
A new curriculum based on Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s popular PBS documentary series, Finding Your Roots, received two grants this week: one for $355,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to create Genetics and Genealogy Summer Camps for Middle School-Aged Youth; and one for $304,000 from the National Science Foundation to establish a college program,…
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Watch: Spring Valley Students Stage Walkout to Back Fired Resource Deputy
About 50 students at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, S.C., walked out of class Friday in a show of support for a fired school resource officer who was recorded attacking a 16-year-old student in a viral video, according to Fox 57. The walkout occurred about 10 a.m. to show support for school resource officer…
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Robert Cray: 40 Years of the Blues
Bluesman Robert Cray explains his eclectic 40-year career—and his band’s ability to effortlessly straddle traditional blues, rock and R&B—this way: “We get excited about music still. You never know what might pop up when someone is writing something new.” The five-time Grammy Award winner, and member of the Blues Hall of Fame, has reached a…
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Jerry Heller Is Suing Everyone Associated With Straight Outta Compton for $110,000,000
Jerry Heller—the lawyer who worked with Eazy-E to get Ruthless Records and N.W.A off the ground—warned people that he would watch Straight Outta Compton with his lawyers. He was insinuating that he would sue if the biopic portrayed him inaccurately. Well, he’s keeping his word. According to TMZ, Heller is suing nearly every person and…
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Serena Williams Has a Lot to Say About Technology and Black People’s Role in It
Serena Williams is all about breaking down barriers, particularly seeing black people inhabit and work in industries that have not traditionally coveted African Americans. In an as-told-to interview with Wired magazine, the tennis icon opened up about her interests in technology and the work she’s doing to get more black people to consider careers in…
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6 Theories on Why People Are in Their Feelings About Halle Berry’s Divorce
Earlier this week, Halle Berry and her husband, French boxer-turned-actor Olivier Martinez, announced that they were splitting after two years of marriage. “We move forward with love and respect for one another and the shared focus of what is best for our son,” the pair said in a joint statement. The breakup is Martinez’s first…
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Black Twitter Is Going In on Billboard Magazine, Says It Crossed the Line With This Sexualized Tweet of North West
People beat up on Kim Kardashian West a lot, mainly for the way she was introduced to the mainstream (her sex tape with Ray J) and the idea that she’s “famous for being famous”—meaning that she has no real talent or skill to warrant all of her success. I think that characterization is a bit…
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What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl Who Is Assaulted in the Classroom
In 1978, when I was 6 years old, a female teacher assaulted me in a classroom. I was a rambunctious, intellectually curious child who talked a lot in class. I loooooved my homeroom teacher, Ms. S., who was kind and treated me nicely, which was important for a black girl growing up in post-civil-rights-era Lynchburg,…
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Can You Outsmart a 4th-Grader in STEM Knowledge?
Imagine an industry in which there are jobs and nobody to fill them, while African Americans continue to face double-digit rates of unemployment. It’s clear that the job market belongs to those who can master science and math. Among the fastest-growing job sectors are those in STEM careers—science, technology, engineering and math. Not only are…
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Was My Nonwhite Ancestor Native American or Black?
I have always been told by my grandfather Ruben Lavelle Ingram Jr. that his grandmother, Zula Bell Harry, was Native American. However, no one has provided any Dawes Roll registration for her, or even a tribe. I suspect she may actually be African American, but I would like to learn more about her, including whether…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
