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10 Books About Black Firsts
Being the first often secures a person’s place in history. Check out these books to find out more about black men and women who achieved breakthroughs and triumphs that ensure their historic legacies. 1. Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela Mandela’s 1995 autobiography details his life as an anti-apartheid activist, his 27-year imprisonment and…
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2013 Pretty Much Sucked for Black People
Oh, sure, 2013 started on an optimistic note. President Obama, having won re-election by a landslide, was sworn in at the beginning of the year, setting the stage for his second term with soaring, progressive rhetoric filled with big vision and big promises. (And a lip-synching Beyoncé.) But there were times along the way that…
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Y’All Know George Zimmerman Is Back on Twitter, Right?
Joy to the world. George Zimmerman is back on Twitter, thanking God for his freedom and promoting his original artwork. Mediaite reported Friday that Zimmerman joined Twitter as @TherealGeorgeZ, and his first tweet, dated Dec. 16, is a link to a painting he sold on eBay: It sold for more than $100,000. The rest of…
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The Holiday Lesson From a Sweet Toddler With Alopecia
Trent Shelton, former NFL player-turned-motivational speaker and founder of the Christian-based nonprofit organization RehabTime, posted a video to his Facebook page on Dec. 11 of a young fan watching one of his talks. The girl’s mother narrates the video—which has already garnered more than 200,000 likes and shares on Facebook—as her daughter explains the importance…
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Quote of the Day: Cornel West on Blues and Jazz
You can find this quote, and other quotes from Cornel West, 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 ofThe Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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Did a Black Man Discover the Fountain of Youth?
Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 61:…
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’Tis the Season for Black Nonprofits to Suffer
For Thembi Duncan, it seemed like the kind of opportunity best described as golden. A popular Washington, D.C., radio talk show wanted Duncan—the new producing artistic director of the African Continuum Theatre Company—for an interview on the air. As recently as 2011, the African Continuum, once billed as D.C.’s only professional black theater company, had…
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Michelle Obama’s Best Moments of 2013
While her husband has had a somewhat rocky year, first lady Michelle Obama has continued to bask in the glow of sky-high approval ratings. As popular as ever, this year she got to begin a new chapter as a political wife, a chapter in which she no longer has to worry about another election ever…
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Alabama Town Decries Cross-Dressing Holiday Dance Troupe
The holiday parade in Semmes, Ala., is usually a predictable affair, with marchers, floats and carolers, but not this year. Some members of the town erupted in furor Saturday when one of the acts turned out to be a group of black drag queens, the Raw Story reports. The troupe, known as the Prancing Elite,…
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Relaxed Obama Arrives in Hawaii
President Obama this weekend began his annual holiday vacation in Hawaii with his family, following a bruising year of criticism—chiefly because of the tumultuous rollout of his signature health care law. He was noticeably relaxed as he walked onto a Honolulu tarmac Friday shortly before midnight, the Washington Post reports. He was joined by first…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
