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James Barnor’s archive was produced during a career spanning more than 60 years. It covers a remarkable period in history, bridging continents and photographic genres, as it creates a transatlantic narrative marked by the artist’s passionate interest in people and cultures. A major solo exhibition of Barnor’s photographs was presented by Autograph ABP at Rivington…

Michael Arceneaux hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncé’s name wherever he goes. Follow him on Twitter. As happy as we are to learn that Antoine Dodson and his family got out of the projects after someone allegedly attempted to rape his sister, a part of us loathes how he has spun this episode for…

What to get for the audiophile who’s already bought Aloe Blacc and Bruno Mars? Music from the African Diaspora. A generation of griots — or hereditary musicians from Mali, Gambia, Guinea and Senegal — are collaborating with American artists. Good picks include Reverse Thread, in which jazz violinist Regina Carter collaborates with Yacouba Sissoko, who…

Leading with the chilling statistic that more African Americans are under correctional control than were enslaved in 1850, legal scholar Michelle Alexander debunks the myth of a post-racial America, arguing that “we have not ended the racial caste system but merely redesigned it.” This is a must-read for every American with a conscience.  The…

As the president and his economic advisers try to pull the country out of its financial morass, this damning account (one of our Facebook fan favorites) of how things went south in the first place might help keep them from making the same mistakes again … or is it too late for that? Captions by…

During the late hours of Jan. 12, a magnitude-7.2 earthquake rocks the Caribbean island, followed by at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater. More than 200,000 people are killed, another 300,000 are injured, and more than a million are left homeless as dwellings and businesses are destroyed. Initial estimates after the quake place the…

New York-based multimedia artist Derrick Adams (former director of Rush Arts Gallery) taps into his local cityscape for inspiration. He fuses urban textures and iconography to create a series of hybrid works that channel the energy of the ’60s minimalist, paramilitary style of the Black Panthers and the iconic hip-hop fashion of Run-DMC. Adams’ past…

She was the pinup girl for thousands of black GIs in World War II and a fixture on the 1940s cabaret scene, and she dazzled on the big screen in Cabin in the Sky, Stormy Weather and, years later, The Wiz. But the apartheid of her era kept her from becoming a major movie star.…

Detail of a troop of Nubian archers from Asyut, tomb of Prince Mesehty, Dynasty XI or XII, circa 2000 B.C. Model in painted wood. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Four volumes of The Image of the Black in Western Art are available at Amazon.com:Vol. 1Vol. 2, Part 1Vol. 2, Part 2Vol. 3, Part 1Vol. 3, Part 2 (can…