Category: Popular Posts

The Nicholas Brothers in 1941. They are among the African-Americans whose work and lives were chronicled by cultural historian Delilah Jackson. Delilah Jackson spent her life doing something wonderful: holding open the door to the past. Jackson, a Harlem native and confirmed New Yorker who died last month at the age of 85, was a …

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Lou Myers was best known for his role as restaurant owner Mr. Gaines on the television series “A Different World.”  Actor Lou Myers, best known for his role as ornery restaurant owner Mr. Gaines on the television series “A Different World,” has died. Tonia McDonald of Myers’ nonprofit, Global Business Incubation Inc., said Myers died …

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We’ve always known Michael Jackson could dance, but who knew the King of Pop could moonwalk his way through a sea of Legos? The playful video below, courtesy of Berlin-based animator Annette Jung, features a two-dimensional, toy brick version of the “Billie Jean” singer bustin’ his signature dance moves. Lego Jackson (as we like to …

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By Douglas Feiden / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Three color-splashed community murals that show the transformative power of art to better the lives of underprivileged kids have been unveiled in Harlem over the past month. The eye-catching works were created as part of a summer jobs program in which youngsters — mostly from troubled backgrounds …

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By Staff Writer: Sarah Rewers Last Wednesday, USF welcomed an unique presentation from the Three Point Nine Collective — an art group that strives to provide a community for all the African American artists living in the San Francisco Bay Area. The group was recently started in response to the recent decline of the African …

Continue reading “Art For Change: African American SF Artists Seek to Stay Distinguished”

By Todd Spangler WASHINGTON – Details of a long-awaited tribute to Rosa Parks finally started to come out Thursday with a statue memorializing the civil rights leader set to be unveiled in the U.S. Capitol next week. The monument in her honor will be 9 feet tall, with a bronze sculpture standing on a black …

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Last week I served as the DJ at my daughter’s grade school dance. The playlist she and I made together heavily favored Now compilation-style hits alongside the novelty dances the kids learned in Zumba class and the parents did at their own charity functions or office parties. As The Wobble spun on repeat, I fielded …

Continue reading “Long Before The Harlem Shake, We Did The Shimmy”

The Walters Art Museum recently discovered a previously unknown photograph of Mary Edmonia Lewis (1844–1907), the first 19th-century African American sculptor to receive international recognition. Prior to this discovery, there existed only seven known photographs of Lewis, all taken at the same sitting in Chicago around 1868 by photographer Henry Rocher. This previously unknown image …

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By David Brent Johnson The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s inspired several black artists to explore their African heritage and the black experience in America, from enslavement to life after emancipation and migration to cities in the north. In the musical world, pianist James P. Johnson composed Yamekraw: A Negro Rhapsody, a 12-minute portrait of …

Continue reading “History As Symphony: The African-American Experience In Jazz Suites”

  By Lindsey Washington Black History month isn’t solely about museums – or history. Across the District and the region, libraries, department stores and, yes, historical sites are presenting new facets of African-American life in places that you might find yourself on any February day. And it’s not to late to participate. Here are five …

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By CAROL VOGEL   The Museum of Modern Art has recently acquired a disparate group of artworks, adding muscle to its already world-class permanent collection. Some were gifts promised years ago and only now finalized; others are newer additions that suggest the areas that curators feel need to be strengthened. Of all the donors the …

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By MARGARET FOSMOE – Like Margaret on FacebookSouth Bend Tribune5:41 p.m. EST, February 21, 2013 SOUTH BEND — For decades the red brick building on West Washington Street dispensed health care services and free milk to poor families. When its halls went silent a decade ago, the building fell into disrepair. Some people wondered if …

Continue reading “Notre Dame’s Center for Arts & Culture readies for opening”

In reality, African-American prisoners of war were killed en masse. Black troops in action endured lower wages and poorer medical care and living conditions than their white counterparts. But soldiers of both races did have surprisingly easy access to the luxury of photography. Photographers ran government-sanctioned booths near encampments, selling souvenir portraits. The images of …

Continue reading “Photographic Artifacts of Black Civil War Troops”