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2008, black marble, 23.50 x 11.50 x 8 inches. Photos courtesy of the June Kelly Gallery, New York. 2009, mahogany, 38.25 x 11.75 x 11.50 inches. 1997, terra-cotta, 15.75 x 8.25 x 11.50 inches. 2007, orange onyx, 17 x 10 x 9 inches. 2008, patinated bronze, 31.5 x 10.25 x 9.5 inches.

If you’re looking for frank relationship advice, this blog is a must-read. Here, Young and Jackson give their witty take on everything from online dating to “10 Reasons Why You’re Not Married.” The Root interviewed the duo to discuss their self-published book, Your Degrees Won’t Keep You Warm at Night: The Very Smart Brothas Guide…

As the writer, producer, director and star of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971), a film about a black man fleeing the law, Van Peebles is considered the godfather of the blaxploitation genre. At 78, Van Peebles is still hard at work. He’s been the subject of two films: his son Mario Van Peebles’ 2004 film…

No list of British soul singers would be complete without Amy Winehouse. Winehouse made her debut in 2003 with Frank and rose to fame with 2007’s retro-styled Back to Black. Over time she became more well known for her substance abuse and legal woes than for her musical output. Her fans waited with bated breath…

When Chris Brown stormed off the set of Good Morning America recently, smashing a window and screaming with rage after objecting to Robin Roberts’ questions about his legal issues, everyone knew an apology was coming. But could we have guessed how unapologetic he would sound when he delivered it? Brown appeared on BET’s 106 &…

Loleatta Holloway arguably possessed one of the most recognizable voices in disco and house music. Her 1980 collaboration with songwriter-producer Dan Hartman on “Love Sensation” set dance floors on fire. The song — and Holloway’s career — enjoyed a second wind a decade later when it was sampled by both Black Box for “Ride on…

President and CEOThe Aerospace Corp. Wherever there’s a federal eye in the sky, Austin knows about it. It’s her job as head of Aerospace, “a leading architect for the nation’s national security space programs” — that and managing 4,000 employees and garnering about $850 million in annual revenues. The native New Yorker has a B.S.…

The doyenne of African-American art, Catlett, who died April 2, 2012, devoted three-quarters of a century to teaching and making art “relevant to her people.” This is an approach she had taken since the 1920s and ‘30s, when she worked in the mural division of the Works Progress Administration. With advanced degrees in art history,…

As black lawmakers entered the House of Representatives in increasing numbers during the 1960s, they sought a formal organization. A predecessor of the caucus, the Democratic Select Committee, was founded in 1969 — and its chairman, Rep. Charles Diggs of Michigan, subsequently earned a spot on President Richard Nixon’s Enemies List. The group was renamed…

In 1948 high-flying Coachman, a Tuskegee Institute all-American, became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal and the first American woman to capture gold in track and field when she won the high-jump competition in the London Olympics. Her winning jump — 5 feet 6¼ inches — also set an Olympic record…