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“Precious” and the Oscars

The Editors — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:08:45 +0000

By Stacey Patton First, I’d like to thank members of the Academy for not awarding a slew of Oscars to what New York Press film critic Armond White called “the biggest con job of the year” –Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire

We’re Not the Na’vis: The True Ecology of Avatar

The Editors — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:08:23 +0000

By Eisa Nefertari Ulen It is entirely fitting that the character that must risk the most in this film, and change completely, is a white dude. Cameron has explored geo-political realities facing our world that make the politics of color in this film work.

Father of African-American Cinema Receives Stamp of Greatness

The Editors — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:45:13 +0000

By Ralph Richardson Spike Lee and John Singleton are great—and significant—but neither blazed the trail or overcame the odds that the Father of African-American Cinema did. Indeed, they owe their careers to him, though few of the folk who go to see movies today even know who he is, or that he, a black man born less than 20 years after the Civil War, was an innovator and major influence in American cinema.

A Weusi Reunion at Harlem’s Dwyer Cultural Center

The Editors — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:13:35 +0000

By Grace Aneiza Ali “The last time we all got together like this was in 1975,” says Taiwo Duvall as he stands in one of the gallery spaces at the Dwyer Cultural Center. It’s a frigid Tuesday evening in Harlem. It’s been snowing and sleeting for most of the day. Despite the precarious weather, over 200 people have packed the Dwyer, in what looks and feels more like a family reunion than the Center’s opening for the exhibition, Weusi Revisited: 2010.

From Orange Mint and Honey to Sins of the Mother: The Power of Story Endures

The Editors — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:08:34 +0000

By Carleen Brice It is 2002, 2003, 2004 or 2005 and I am listening to Jill Scott’s song, Try, a lot. I’m writing my first novel while holding down a job, and editing an anthology about black women and midlife.

My Top 10 African-American TV Shows of All Time

The Editors — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:08:40 +0000

By Ralph Richardson Hey ya’ll, I’m back, this time with the Top Ten African-American TV Shows of All Time.

The Book of Eli: Journey from Action to Faith

The Editors — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:20:46 +0000

By Paula L. Woods While the collaboration of Academy award winner Denzel Washington with Allen and Albert Hughes may seem like a case of strange bedfellows, it’s not as unusual as one might think.

Harlem Going, Going Gone? Or Just Invisible?

The Editors — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:11:22 +0000

By Jill Nelson “No Longer Majority Black, Harlem Is in Transition,” the January 5, 2010 headline in the New York Times screamed, but not as loudly as I did at the sight of yet another article seeming to celebrate the demise of the Harlem community I know, love, and live in.

Allah at the Apollo: Islamic Cultural Renaissance Finds Roots at Harlem’s Apollo Theater

The Editors — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:10:27 +0000

By Grace Aneiza Ali On Saturday, January 23, an amazingly talented line-up of Muslim artists performed for a sold-out crowd at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem. Hosted by the Inner-city Muslim Action Network (IMAN), the event, one of the first of its kind, showcased the rich cultural legacy and growing artistic renaissance among Muslims in the United States and around the world.

Reflections of a Black Pioneer: Two Cases of Integrative Leadership

The Editors — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:53:17 +0000

By Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. The unprecedented election of President Barack Obama has provided a dramatic spotlight on the issues of race in America. One aspect of significance is that it represents an important step in the process of racial integration in our nation. His election was the result of the collective decisions by a multi racial and multi ethnic electorate. Both as a U.S. Senator from Illinois and as President, Obama has been what might be called an "Integrative Black Pioneer."

The Cornel West You Don’t Know

The Editors — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:15:26 +0000

By George E. Curry I thought I knew Cornel West, the most public of public intellectuals. But it was not until I read his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud that I realized how much I didn’t know about my friend.

Eunice Johnson’s Fashion Flair

The Editors — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:56:26 +0000

By The Editors Eunice Johnson, who created the Ebony Fashion Fair in the mid-1950s and built it into a powerful social and financial success, was clairvoyant.

Eunice Johnson’s Fashion Flair

The Editors — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:39:20 +0000

By The Editors Eunice Johnson, who created the Ebony Fashion Fair in the mid-1950s and built it into a powerful social and financial success, was clairvoyant.

In Defense of Ebenezer Scrooge

The Editors — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:10:24 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels ‘Tis the season for me to once again defend one of my fictional heroes—Ebenezer Scrooge, the central character of Charles Dickens’ classic morality tale, A Christmas Carol.

Top 25 African-American Films of All Time

The Editors — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:13:16 +0000

By Ralph Richardson I am an NYC-based filmmaker, so I come to this Top 25 list with a wonderful joy and love for film, and since my mother took me to the movies every week since I was 3, I also have a pretty good knowledge of this grand art form

The Talk of Her Life: ‘I Did Not Know That People Like Me Could Exist in Literature’

The Editors — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:30:25 +0000

By TaRessa Stovall Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a writer since age 7, was challenged to give the talk of her life in under 20 minutes. The result is nothing less than spellbinding.

Our Black Rock Roots and Wings

The Editors — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:52:44 +0000

By Eisa Nefertari Ulen Rock and Roll is falsely thought of as white music—and not just by white people. Black folk have tended to identify Rock and Roll with the other side of the color line, leaving Black Rock in a ridiculously marginal place.

Hip-Hop Planet

The Editors — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:52:05 +0000

By James McBride This is my nightmare: My daughter comes home with a guy and says, “Dad we’re getting married.” And he’s a rapper, with a mouthful of gold teeth, a do-rag on his head, muscles popping out his arms, and a thug attitude. And then the nightmare gets deeper.

I Got The Feelin’: A Dynamite Soundtrack With The Godfather of Soul

The Editors — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:51:27 +0000

By Mark Lassiter
One summer evening in 1991, I pulled into a gas station at the corner of Ponce De Leon and Piedmont Avenue, in Atlanta. A man, about 5'10”, in a midnight blue three-piece suit, with a pair of blue plastic wrap around sunglasses and a blue silk scarf was paying his bill with cash. What does one say to James Brown?

Good Hair: Scared Straight

The Editors — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:59:15 +0000

By Janet Singleton The very discussion of what black women do to make African hair match Eurocentric images, and placate racism, remains one of the few subjects in America that remains taboo.

Young, Gifted and Black Men: Writers Who Rock (In Brooklyn)

The Editors — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:25:21 +0000

By Chinyere Osuala There’s an exclusivity that Park Slope, Brooklyn boasts, that makes it different, makes it stand out. No, it’s not the strollers, or the young married couples, or the yuppie-ness, it is the amount of writers, famous writers at that, who call this affluent Brooklyn neighborhood home, including Jonathan Safran Foer, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Pete Hamill.

Presidential Medal of Freedom: Sidney Poitier

The Editors — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:25:31 +0000

By George Alexander Last month, President Obama awarded Poitier, the first African American to ever win an Academy award for best actor, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. I couldn’t have felt more proud.

Stormy Weather: The Rich, Rough Road of Lena Horne

The Editors — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:25:07 +0000

By Eisa Nefertari Ulen In many ways, James Gavin’s book tells the story of black America from the last lights of the Harlem Renaissance to the shining star that is the nation’s first black president. By focusing on Lena Horne, the trailblazer / activist / singer / actor/ dancer / icon, her rough road from the indignities of the segregated Cotton Club to an Upper East Side home is made clear.

The Man in Our Mirror: Black America’s Eulogies for Michael Jackson Let Us Resurrect His Best Self

The Editors — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:29:10 +0000

By Greg Tate
What black American culture—musical and otherwise—lacks for now isn’t talent or ambition, but the unmistakable presence of some kind of spiritual genius: the sense that something other than, or even more than human, is speaking through whatever fragile mortal vessel is burdened with repping for the divine, the magical, the supernatural, the ancestors.

Gil Speaks…and the Real Revolution in Our Hands

The Editors — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:28:59 +0000

By TaRessa Stovall I believe that the popularity of the story,"Genius Burning Brightly: The Unraveling of Gil Scott-Heron," and the response it generated are a thundering testimony to the fact that it is the people—not the professional pundits parading before us in the mainstream media—whose views, feelings and opinions reflect the gloriously diverse and evolving kaleidoscope of humanity that is us.