Black Excellence
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11-Year-Old Ballerina Charlotte Nebres Makes History as First Black Lead in NYC Ballet's The Nutcracker
She’s just eleven years old and just made history. Charlotte Nebres is starring as Marie, the young heroine of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, which opened Friday at New York City Ballet. She’s the first black ballerina to be cast in the lead role for the prestigious company. The Madison, NJ native’s barrier-breaking achievement is a…
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5-Year-Old Drumming Prodigy Receives Scholarship Offer From HBCU Alcorn State University: 'It's Mind-Blowing Every Day'
Musical prodigies showcase their otherworldly abilities at a young age, but Jeremiah Travis is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. And the historically black Alcorn State University apparently feels the same way, as it has offered the 5-year-old wunderkind a full band scholarship well over a decade before he even graduates high school. USA Today…
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John Legend Is (Not So Ordinary) People’s Sexiest Man Alive 2019
All of People Magazine loves all of John Legend because they’ve just chosen the crooner and pianist as 2019’s Sexiest Man Alive. Legend, who I’ve started lovingly referring to as “Piano Arthur” (Hey! His wife Chrissy Teigen fully embraces the meme joke!), was certainly honored, but those prideful feelings were mixed with a little fear,…
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Youngest in Charge: 21-Year-Old Tay Anderson Talks Education, Representation After Winning Denver School Board Seat [Corrected]
On Nov. 5, after a hard-fought campaign, a reinvigorated Tay Anderson rose to his feet in triumph. The first election results from his bid for a seat on the Denver school board had just come in and as raw emotion coursed through his veins, all he could think about was calling the woman who inspired…
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Revenge of the Blerds: Howard Squares Up Against Harvard for the 'Great Debate' [Corrected]
Corrected: Thursday, Nov. 14 at 9:40 a.m. ET: A previous version of this story, citing information from a Howard press release, incorrectly stated that Howard won a debate against Harvard. The event is an exhibition, and there are no winners. Below is a corrected version of the story: The Howard Bison went head to head…
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More Than Music: Diddy’s Revolt Summit Touches Down in Los Angeles
After conquering the Billboard charts with Bad Boy Entertainment, the beverage industry with Ciroc, fashion with Sean John, and both film and television with Revolt Films and Revolt TV, the man who once warned us he “can’t stop, won’t stop” has introduced his latest contribution to the culture: the Revolt Summit. Priding itself as the…
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Playing Politics: Tyler Perry Studios to Host Next Democratic Debate
Tyler Perry is playing for keeps. Not only did the former chitlin circuit czar-turned-millionaire movie mogul make the good old white boy Hollywood system gag with the star-studded opening of his very own historic (and gargantuan) Atlanta-based studio, he’s about to make a splash within the political arena. Tyler Perry Studios will host the Nov.…
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Harvard to Honor Queen Latifah With W.E.B. Du Bois Medal for Her Contributions to the Culture
In 1895, W.E.B. Du Bois became the first black student to earn a doctorate from Harvard. Over a century later, Queen Latifah is being honored by the prestigious institution with an award bearing his name. On Oct. 22, the New Jersey-bred multihyphenate will receive the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal for her contributions to the culture.…
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The Water Dancer: Ta-Nehisi Coates Joined Oprah in Conversation at the Apollo—and We Were There
It was an amazingly candid conversation, punctuated with lots of laughter, black-ass intonations, and responses from the crowd. “I love a talking back audience,” Oprah said, as she and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates presented a salon of sorts at the venerable Apollo Theater last week. The packed audience (which included this writer) was privy to a…