First Black Man to Head McDonald’s Corporation

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McDonald’s Corp. said Wednesday that CEO Jim Skinner will retire later this year and hand over the responsibility of running the world’s largest burger chain to the company’s president.

Skinner, who has been CEO since 2004, will step down on June 30 after 41 years with McDonald’s. Donald Thompson, a 22-year McDonald’s veteran who is responsible for global strategy and operations for the chain’s more than 33,000 restaurants in 119 countries, will take over the helm the next day, the company said.

Thompson, who has long been considered among the top candidates in line to succeed Skinner, will be the first African American to head McDonald’s since it was founded in 1955.

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The Pressure of Preserving Our Legacy

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The head curator for the national African-American museum tells The Root what goes into his job.

  • By: Cynthia Gordy| Posted: February 21, 2012 at 12:46 AMA powder horn carried into battle by the black soldier Prince Simbo during the American Revolution. Harriet Tubman’s silk shawl — a gift from Queen Victoria. A Stearman PT-13D plane used to train Tuskegee Airmen. A photographic portrait of Elizabeth Catlett, the renowned sculptor and printmaker. The black fedora from Michael Jackson’s Victory tour. These are but a few of the more than 10,000 artifacts in the National Museum of African American History and Culture‘s collection.

    On Feb. 22, nine years after the Smithsonian Institution museum was established by an act of Congress, a shovel will finally break ground on its five-acre construction site. President Obama is scheduled to deliver remarks, and actress Phylicia Rashad will emcee the ceremony for what will be the only national museum building dedicated exclusively to African-American life, art, history and culture. (UPDATE: See a video of the groundbreaking ceremony here.) Years of meticulous work have already gone into collecting the historic treasures that will be housed in the museum, which is scheduled to open in 2015, adjacent to the Washington Monument on the National Mall.

    At the helm of that work is Rex M. Ellis, associate director for curatorial affairs. Formerly the vice president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s historic area in Virginia, Ellis develops and manages all of the museum’s curatorial programs as his office collects, preserves and interprets historical objects from across the Diaspora.

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The Six Riches Black People in the World

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Forbes Magazine recently published a list of the richest people on the planet and this year, they, “counted [an] all-time high [of] 1,226 billionaires worth a record $4.6 trillion.”

In determining how one makes the billionaire list, Forbes said, “Our estimates are purposely conservative and should be considered “at least” figures. While we try to value everything from individuals’ stakes in publicly traded and privately held companies to real estate holdings and investments in art, yachts and planes, we do not pretend to have access to list members’ tax returns and bank accounts.”

Only six Blacks are included on Forbes’ 2012 list of “an all-time high [of] 1,226 billionaires.”

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Sonie Joi Ruffin Visual Artist

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Sonie is a contemporary fabric artist, fabric designer and writer based in Kansas City. Sonié grew up in a family of seamstresses and clothing designers. She started sewing at the age of four.

Her vibrant quilts draw from a centuries old wellspring that explores humanity through the crux of the black African American experience.

Sonié’s designs and stories are distinctive, her stories embrace and inspire, the mastery of her writing shares stories from her life’s experiences, the black African American culture, hardships, triumphs and the courage to celebrate life.

She designs from the heart, paints with fabric and embellishes with her needle revealing universal truths. She is a master at incorporating the boldness of African fabrics such as kente cloth, mud cloth and korhogo cloth with American print fabrics to create striking designs with an engagement of color dialogue.

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Exhibition about African American Art in the 20th Century opens April 27 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

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“African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond” presents a selection of works by 43 black artists who lived through the tremendous changes of the 20th Century. In paintings, sculpture, prints and photographs, the featured artists embrace themes both universal and specific to the African American experience, including the exploration of identity, the struggle for equality, the power of music and the beauties and hardships of life in rural and urban America.

“African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond” will be on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum from April 27 through Sept. 3. The exhibition is organized by Virginia Mecklenburg, senior curator of painting and sculpture at the museum. It will travel following its presentation in Washington, D.C.

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Julian Bond Professorship in Civil Rights and Social Justice at the University of Virginia

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On Wednesday, May 2, 2012, a powerful group of 400-500 leaders of industry, business, arts, politics, community and culture will gather at the Plaza Hotel Ballroom in New York to honor Julian Bond through music and spoken word for his long history as a civil rights leader. The gala will also serve as a fundraiser to create the Julian Bond Professorship in Civil Rights and Social Justice that will advance the teaching and interpreting of civil rights studies at the University of Virginia. The professorship will create a powerful synergy among the many faculty and students who are working to shed new light on the civil rights movement and the African American experience.

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100 Greatest Singers

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This is an excerpt from Jonathan Lethem’s introduction to the Greatest Singers of All Time feature in the November 27, 2008 issue of Rolling Stone, available in the digital archive. A panel of 179 experts ranked the vocalists.

There’s something a bout a voice that’s personal, not unlike the particular odor or shape of a given human body. Summoned through belly, hammered into form by the throat, given propulsion by bellows of lungs, teased into final form by tongue and lips, a vocal is a kind of audible kiss, a blurted confession, a soul-burp you really can’t keep from issuing as you make your way through the material world. How helplessly candid! How appalling!

 

 

 

 

SOLD – Keepin the Faith by Andrew Turner

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SOLD
Keepin the Faith by Andrew Turner
Original Acrylic on Canvas
Size 48″ x 58″Approx

Andrew Turner (1944-2001) was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. He was a graduate of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. Andrew’s work has been widely acclaimed, with many solo exhibitions and participation in group exhibitions. He has taught art in grades K-1 2 in the Chester, Pennsylvania Public Schools and in correctional centers. His appointments include Artist-in-Residence and Curator, Deshong Museum, Chester, PA; Lecturer, Widener University; Lecturer, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; and, he toured and lectured in The People’s Republic of China. Collections which hold Andrew’s paintings include Woody Allen, Dr. Maya Angelou, ARCO Chemical Company, Bell Telephone Company, Dr. Constance Clayton, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Cosby, Edie Huggins, Eric Lindros, Mr. and Mrs Louis Madonni, Moses Malone, Penn State University, the artist formerly known as Prince, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sorgenti, Swarthmore College, Mrs. Marilyn Wheaton, and Widener University Deshong Museum, just to name a few. He has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad. His Philadelphia commissions include: WDAS FM (1996); Marco Solo, (published by J. Schwinn and G. Harlow, illustrated by Andrew Turner) Reverse Angle Productions, Inc. (I 995); and Robin Hood Dell, Fairmount Park (1985).


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Romare Howard Bearden Visual Artist

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"Empress of the Blues" by Romare Bearden

 

Romare Howard Bearden was born on September 2, 1911, to (Richard) Howard and Bessye Bearden in Charlotte, North Carolina, and died in New York City on March 12, 1988, at the age of 76. His life and art are marked by exceptional talent, encompassing a broad range of intellectual and scholarly interests, including music, performing arts, history, literature and world art. Bearden was also a celebrated humanist, as demonstrated by his lifelong support of young, emerging artists.

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Romare Bearden’s Southern Sensibility

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Romare Howard Bearden was born on September 2, 1911, to (Richard) Howard and Bessye Bearden in Charlotte, North Carolina, and died in New York City on March 12, 1988, at the age of 76. His life and art are marked by exceptional talent, encompassing a broad range of intellectual and scholarly interests, including music, performing arts, history, literature and world art. Bearden was also a celebrated humanist, as demonstrated by his lifelong support of young, emerging artists.

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