african-american culture
-
Douglas Turner Ward, Co-Founder of the Negro Ensemble Company, Dies at 90
Playwright. Tony-nominated actor. Director. Advocate. Those are just a few words to describe theater great Douglas Turner Ward, who died on Saturday, February 20 as confirmed to The New York Times by his wife. The Times reports that Ward passed away in his Manhattan home at 90 years old. The cause of his death has…
-
'No Revolutionary Act Is Without Risk': The Root Presents It's Lit! and Charles Blow Dance With The Devil You Know
Charles Blow hadn’t planned to write a manifesto on reverse migration. In fact, the New York Times columnist and author of the bestselling memoir Fire Shut Up in My Bones was just writing…thoughts. “I just remember one night thinking, ‘Oh, this is a good idea.’ And I just started writing thoughts,” Blow tells us during…
-
This Week’s Virtual Events Are Filled With Sips, Stanzas, and Snowfall
Wow. It seems like just yesterday I was raising my fists, picking out my fro’, and blasting CB4’s “And I’m Black Y’all” through my sound system. And now, we’re already nearing the close of Black History Month. They really did give us the shortest month of the year. But it ain’t over yet, and if…
-
Hip-Hop and Hoops Meet In Diddy's New Web Series The Crew League
Every basketball player wants to be a rapper, and every rapper aspires to be a professional basketball player. Don’t shoot the messenger; it’s in the bible somewhere. The lines have long been blurred when it comes to sports and entertainment, and now Diddy’s Revolt will be dropping an unscripted, first-of-its-kind basketball battle of hip-hop stars…
-
Black and Jubilant: Unpacking Black Joy From the Revolutionary to the Ordinary
“I would argue that a lot of oppressed populations turn to expressions of joy and make them more potent because they understand that life is not promised to you. The next day is not a promised.” — André L. Brock, Ph.D. text Black. Joy. We absolutely love to see it—in all of its forms. From…
-
Ruth E. Carter to Receive a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Feb. 25
Ruth E. Carter made history in 2019 as the first Black person (and Black woman) to win an Academy Award for Costume Design—a feat made even more special for the fact that the film that earned her the award was 2018’s Black Panther. This month, the legendary costume designer—whose extensive list of credits also includes…
-
28 Days of Album Cover Blackness With VSB, Day 8: Guy Warren of Ghana's Afro-Jazz (1969)
I’ll bet if that if I didn’t tell you that this album cover was for an album by a Ghanaian artist in 1969, I’d bet good money that you might assume this was a reference cover for a Kool Moe Dee album in 1989. Or for some gangsta rap artist out of Compton in the…
-
Lift Evr’y Voice and Chill: Start Your Black History Month Off Right With These Virtual Events
Happy Thursday, folks! As you may have already realized, Black History Month is now in full effect. To help commemorate this glorious albeit short occasion, several organizations, networks and nonprofits have rolled out a whole host of events, talks, musical programming and more. Keep reading to see what’s in store for this week. And in…
-
A History of Black Excellence: The Man Who Invented Laughter
We are the culture. We created jazz, blues, soul, R&B, hip-hop, swing dancing, the Lindy hop, the Charleston, the jitterbug, tap dancing, the moonwalk, the slide (both the cha-cha and the electric one) juking, the James Brown, the robot, breakdancing, pop-locking, graffiti, freestyling, dunking, running fast, jumping high, Cabbage-Patching during touchdowns, frying chicken and candying…