• Take a Look at Some Epic Super Bowl Failures

    The Super Bowl has contributed its fair share of defining moments to football history, but it also lends itself to some pretty epic failures. Here are some memorable examples from recent years.  1. Janet Jackson’s Wardrobe Malfunction Carolina Panthers vs. New England Patriots  Ten years ago an estimated 140 million people watched as Justin Timberlake…

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  • MLK: Rare Tape of Speech Discovered in Arizona 

    Just in time for Black History Month, archivists at Arizona State University announced that they have discovered what may possibly be the only known recording of speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made at the school and a Phoenix church in June 1964, the Associated Press said Friday. Mary Scanlon found the tapes last year…

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  • Manslaughter in Buttocks-Injections Trial

    Natasha Stewart, 40, told a jury she was only trying to help someone who felt insecure about her body. But prosecutors said her so-called help led to a woman’s death. Stewart, of suburban Memphis, Tenn., was found guilty of culpable negligence manslaughter Friday by a jury in Jackson, Miss., the Associated Press reports. The verdict…

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  • Obama Presidential Library: Foundation Launched to Pick Site

    A foundation to oversee the competitive process to select President Barack Obama’s library and museum was launched Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. A site could be selected as soon as 2015. Contenders are said to include land in Hawaii, the tropical paradise of the president’s boyhood, and Chicago, where he came of age politically. Obama’s…

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  • Kanye West Will Not Be Charged in Alleged Beverly Hills Beating

    Kanye West appears to be off the hook for now. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office rejected a battery case against the rapper because he had reached a civil settlement with the alleged 18-year-old victim and there were no significant injuries documented after the altercation, the Associated Press reports. The incident occurred on Jan.…

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  • President Obama Issues Black History Month Proclamation

    President Barack Obama released a proclamation Friday, declaring February Black History Month, saying, “Through centuries of struggle, and through the toil of generations, African Americans have claimed rights long denied.” The proclamation, released by the White House, urges all people of the U.S. to observe the month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. “During National…

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  • Quote of the Day: Nat Turner on Freedom

    You can read this Nat Turner quote, from the book The Confessions of Nat Turner (1831), 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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  • Exploring the Double Consciousness of African-American Males

    Aiming to break down stereotypes among and about African-American males, Question Bridge: Black Males—a traveling transmedia project—is now on view at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Its tour around the country has also included stops at the Brooklyn Museum and the Oakland Museum of California. The exhibition will be open at the…

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  • President Obama: Michelle Still Thinks I’m Cute With Gray Hair

    The White House hosted a Google Hangout Friday, and President Obama took burning questions live from citizens about issues, policy and his well-being. The White House and Google billed the event, which featured nine people from across the country, as the “first-ever presidential hangout road trip.” All of the questions—culled from the motley group of…

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  • Quote of the Day: Kara Walker on Her Work Ethic

    You can read this quote by Kara Walker, from a 1996 interview, in Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations. Read how the quote is referenced 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 Root. Follow him…

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