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Scandal Recap: Cracks in Glass Houses
Messy. Messy. Messy. Thursday night’s episode, Mama Said Knock You Out, was just one big, hot, messy lasagna. Right out of the gate, we see Olivia stressed to the gills doing her normal run-walk through the White House, trying to get an important live interview going. Frankly, I don’t know how she runs around so…
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Quote of the Day: Oprah Winfrey on Potential
You can read this quote by Oprah Winfrey, part of a promotional campaign for her self-help arena tour, “Oprah’s The Life You Want Weekend,” in its full context here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He…
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If He Can’t Meet You on Time, It’s Time to Move On
Dear Demetria: My boyfriend is constantly forgetting we have plans. I will wait hours for him to show up, and he doesn’t. When I call, he says he totally forgot and got caught up in something else, usually hanging with his BFF. This happens every two to three weeks. Am I overreacting to be upset…
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Busting Myths About the Sex Trade in Brazil
Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal talks with Erica Lorraine Williams about her new book, Sex Tourism in Bahia: Ambiguous Entanglements. Williams is an assistant professor in the department of sociology and anthropology at Spelman College. For her book, Williams interviewed sex workers about their aspirations, whether they felt exploited and the discrimination that Afro-Brazilian…
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Hey, Chris Brown: When You Get Out, Let’s Do Dinner
The question was, “If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be?” My answer: Chris Brown. During a magazine interview last year, I was asked a series of get-to-know-you questions. What books are you reading? Where do you like to vacation? What’s your passion? But my answer to the dinner question prompted a…
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Does My Ancestor’s Name Change Hide a Paternity Issue?
I’d like to get to the bottom of a puzzling name change in my family’s past. My great-grandfather Jeffrey Bedard (born circa 1856) started life as Jeffrey Nesmith, according to the 1870 census of Turkey, Williamsburg County, S.C., where he lived with Prince and Peggy Nesmith, listed as his parents, and several siblings. Then, in…
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What Kobe Bryant Doesn’t Get About Trayvon—or Colorblindness
Come on, Kobe Bryant. If you’re going to play the colorblind card, then at least try to think through what you’re actually saying. And if you don’t want to be pigeonholed for your outlook on race in America, then maybe you shouldn’t pigeonhole your NBA colleagues when they express their views. No professional athlete—black, or…
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Quote of the Day: Max Roach on Artists
You can read this quote by Max Roach, from Notes and Tones: Musician-to-Musician Interviews (1993), in Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations. Read the quote in its full context here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The…
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The Real-Life Women of Scandal
During the 1920s, the banana-skirt-wearing dancer-singer became a sensation in Europe for her unapologetic display of sensuality. Despite being a major star in integrated Paris, she still found racism rampant back home, and her sophistication and theatrical prowess were rejected when she tried to return to the American stage in the late 1930s. The singer-actress…
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In the Wake of 12 Years, More Slave Narratives Deserve Attention
In 1825 my maternal grandfather three times removed, William Grimes, wrote and published the first fugitive slave narrative in America—Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave. Published in New York at a time when black autobiography was rare, this life story was written by Grimes after his master from Savannah, Ga., issued him an ultimatum: Either…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
