On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to officially declare Juneteenth as a national holiday. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives, which will determine whether Juneteenth will become the 11th annual federal holiday. Observed on June 19th, Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, marks the end of slavery––honoring the date in 1865 where […]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry’s tireless work off the basketball court campaigning for social justice, supporting women’s causes and even interviewing Dr. Anthony Fauci about the coronavirus pandemic is drawing acclaim from civil rights leaders. The NAACP has given him its Jackie Robinson Sports Award. And, for the first time, […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eddie Murphy will be inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame this month. The NAACP announced Thursday that Murphy will be inducted during the March 27 ceremony, which will air on CBS. The actor-comedian will be presented the award by his longtime friend and “Coming 2 America” co-star Arsenio […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Tyler Perry and Bill and Hillary Clinton were among the attendees of a private memorial service for Cicely Tyson at Harlem’s famed Abyssinian Baptist Church. Gospel singer Bebe Winans sang “Stand” — a request from Tyson before her death — and a letter was read by rocker Lenny Kravitz, who was […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Cicely Tyson, the pioneering Black actor who gained an Oscar nomination for her role as the sharecropper’s wife in “Sounder,” won a Tony Award in 2013 at age 88 and touched TV viewers’ hearts in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” died Thursday at age 96. Tyson’s death was announced by […]
ATLANTA (AP) — Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record and gracefully left his mark as one of baseball’s greatest all-around players, died Friday. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves, Aaron’s longtime team, said he died peacefully in his sleep. No cause was given. […]
NEW YORK (AP) — The country has a new president and may well have a new literary star. In one of the inauguration’s most talked about moments, poet Amanda Gorman summoned images dire and triumphant Wednesday as she called out to the world “even as we grieved, we grew.” The 22-year-old Gorman referenced everything from […]
DETROIT (AP) — The resiliency, culture and heroism of Black Americans and the African diaspora will be the central theme of a virtual event that will celebrate the nation’s diversity on the eve of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is slated to speak at Tuesday’s event, “We Are One,” which will also […]
NEW YORK (AP) — At age 22, poet Amanda Gorman, chosen to read at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, already has a history of writing for official occasions. “I have kind of stumbled upon this genre. It’s been something I find a lot of emotional reward in, writing something I can make people feel […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Eric Jerome Dickey, the bestselling novelist who blended crime, romance and eroticism in “Sister, Sister,” “Waking With Enemies” and dozens of other stories about contemporary Black life, has died at age 59. Dickey’s publicist at Penguin Random House, Emily Canders, told The Associated Press that the author died of cancer Sunday […]