culture

Writes Haygood of the Caldwells of Washington D.C.: “One black American family: A mother and a father. Four daughters and a son. Forebears who reach back to slavery, and grandchildren who can now grow up with the knowledge that they could be president.  At times, blood and fire marred their city. On other days, the…

Globe staffer Joseph Williams writes: When Eddie Burns, an unemployed musician, describes what the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama means to him as an African-American, he answers in superlatives: historic, amazing, unbelievable. The future president, Burns proudly declares, “has encouraged people to dream.” But as a client of Shepherd’s Table, a suburban Washington charity that…

Miley Cyrus-fever has made its way into politics. Last night, the tween idol had a performance, along with other young stars at the Disney Kids’ Inaugural. MTV notes Cyrus as the kickoff act, but Jamie Foxx got the crowd hype with an Obama cheer, complete with beat box. Malia and Sasha Obama were in attendance.…

Larry King went live from the event and got a chance to get the back of a lot of random heads. The Daily Beast is right, though, Obama didn’t show up. But many other did — Spike Lee, Oprah Winfrey, Natalie Portman, Diane von Furstenburg and, oh yes, Damon Weaver — and it’s hard to…

Henry Louis Gates Jr. and John Stauffer in today’s NYT: “UNTIL a martyred John F. Kennedy replaced him, Abraham Lincoln was one of the two white men whose image most frequently graced even the most modest black home, second in popularity only to Jesus. Perhaps none of his heirs in the Oval Office has been…

The welcome was offered by President-elect Barack Obama on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Sunday afternoon. After laying a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden joined the celebration on the National Mall. It’s chilly, but it feels good in Washington, D.C. with 48 hours until…

While some listen for echoes of Lincoln in Obama’s inaugural speech, others will hear Malcolm and Martin. Read Michael Eric Dyson’s full article here.

Back when President-elect Barack Obama was still slugging it out for the Democratic nomination, I took to the kitchen to soothe my frazzled nerves. (Cooking relaxes me.) What I came up with was a Hawaiian and African inspired savory supper that I called Barack pie. On the eve of the most important inauguration of our…

The selection of Yale professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander to write and deliver a poem at the inauguration of Barack Obama marks not only the return of poetry to a place of prominence in presidential history (she is only the fourth to read at a presidential swearing-in), but represents a true mind-meld between the president-elect…

We’ve all seen it—close rivals like Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski giving each other a half shake/quarter back-slap as the winner of a hard fought game leans in and says something to the loser without breaking stride as fans rush the floor. They want you to think it’s something magnanimous like, “Good game, you’ll get…