culture
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Juanita Moore, Star of Imitation of Life, Dies
Juanita Moore, the pioneering African-American actress who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Imitation of Life, died at the age of 99, the Associated Press reports. According to her grandson, actor Kirk Kelleykahn, Moore collapsed in her home in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Kelleykahn told the AP that his grandmother was 99,…
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Relationship Breaks: Won’t Fix the Issue, May Bring More Drama
“How do you feel about couples taking a break? My girl suggested it, but I don’t know how I feel about people being able to check in and out of a relationship when they feel like it. Does it say something about my self respect if I let her take a break?” —R.Y. Taking a…
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4-Year-Old Left in Car for 8 Hours While Mother Gambles
A Baltimore woman spent the first moments of 2014 in jail after she left her 4-year-old daughter unattended in a car for hours while she gambled inside a casino, New York’s Daily News reports. Alicia Denice Brown, 24, was arrested on New Year’s Eve at Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover, Md., after a routine patrol…
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Wife Shot by Husband in Freak Gun Accident
Police in Detroit are still investigating a bizarre shooting that took place earlier this week in the home of UAW Vice President General Holiefield, which left his wife in serious condition after a gun he was cleaning went off and shot her in the stomach, CBS Detroit reports. Holiefield’s wife, 50-year-old photographer Monica Morgan, is in…
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Dr. Kenneth C. Edelin, Champion of Rights for Poor Women of Color, Dies
Dr. Kenneth C. Edelin, a champion for both the civil rights movement and women’s rights, has died of cancer in Sarasota, Fla. where he lived in retirement, the Boston Globe reports. Dr. Edelin became a nationwide figure after he was convicted of manslaughter in Boston in 1975 after he performed an abortion. He would later…
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Uncle Phil Was a Fresh Take on Black Fatherhood
When James Avery died on New Year’s Eve, he had amassed an enviable career of television and stage appearances, including a performance as the legendary Howard University Law professor Charles Hamilton Houston in the 1993 PBS dramatization of Brown v. Board of Education. His lasting legacy, though, is as one on the most endearing black…
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Giving Young Killers a Chance at Redemption
My friend Yuko was trying to convince me to watch a Web video, a TED talk by some guy who said some inspiring stuff. I like watching videos, but I don’t get home to New York that much. I had a only few hours left in my visit, so I was anxious to hit the…
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Filmmaker Shola Lynch’s New Role in Bringing Our Stories to the Masses
Shola Lynch has emerged as one of the most exciting black female filmmakers in recent memory. Her groundbreaking documentaries—2004’s Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed, on the history-making presidential campaign of black congresswoman Shirley Chisholm; and 2013’s Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, the story of iconic black activist Angela Davis—have established her as both a…
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Rest in Peace, Uncle Phil—Fresh Prince Star James Avery Dies at 68
According to a report from TMZ, actor James Avery, best known for his six-season run on the hit NBC comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, died Tuesday evening, New Year’s Eve, at the age of 68 at a Los Angeles-area hospital. He appeared in numerous shows and movies during his career, including hits such as…
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Let’s Hope Hip-Hop Steps Up in 2014
Around the family dinner table over Christmas, the conversation turned to the recently announced Outkast performance at Coachella 2014—the event that pretty much all hip-hop heads are looking forward to—and the overall state of hip-hop going into 2014, which has decidedly more mixed reviews. Was 2013 a good year for the music we love, or…