NEW YORK (AP) — Jessye Norman was remembered as a force of nature as thousands filled the Metropolitan Opera House on Sunday for a celebration of the soprano, who died Sept. 30 at age 74. Sopranos Renée Fleming, Latonia Moore, Lise Davidsen and Leah Hawkins sang tributes along with mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and bass-baritone Eric […]
NEW YORK (AP) — In offering tribute to Toni Morrison, speakers from Oprah Winfrey to Fran Lebowitz on Thursday each shared a very different, but equally special portrait of the late Nobel laureate, who died in August at 88. Angela Davis remembered a dear friend who as a Random House editor helped launch her writing […]
By CHEVEL JOHNSON and REBECCA SANTANA undefined NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Novelist Ernest J. Gaines, whose poor childhood on a small Louisiana plantation germinated stories of black struggles that grew into universal tales of grace and beauty, has died. He was 86. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which sponsors a literary award in Gaines’ honor, […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor-comedian John Witherspoon, who memorably played Ice Cube’s father in the “Friday” films, has died. He was 77. Witherspoon’s manager Alex Goodman confirmed late Tuesday that Witherspoon died in Los Angeles. No cause of death was released. The actor had a prolific career, co-starring in three “Friday” films, appearing on “The […]
BALTIMORE (AP) — Congressman and civil rights leader Elijah Cummings was remembered Friday as a “fierce champion of truth, justice and kindness” at a funeral that brought Washington politicians and ordinary people alike to the Baltimore church where he worshipped for nearly four decades. “It is no coincidence — is it? — that Elijah Cummings […]
LOS ANGELES — Deon Taylor doesn’t take no for an answer when it comes to filmmaking. And it’s a word he hears all the time. When no one wanted to make his first film, he made it himself and even persuaded Rutger Hauer to be in it. When the studio said they couldn’t afford Oscar-nominated […]
BALTIMORE (AP) — He stood up for the poor and the disadvantaged throughout urban America — but Elijah Cummings was principally the strong voice and political advocate for Baltimore, where he was revered as his hometown’s champion. The Democratic congressman lived at the doorstep of some of the city’s worst rioting, including violent 2015 protests […]
BALTIMORE (AP) — Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a sharecropper’s son who rose to become a civil rights champion and the chairman of one of the U.S. House committees leading an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, died Thursday of complications from longstanding health problems. He was 68. Cummings was a formidable orator who advocated […]
DALLAS (AP) — Atatiana Jefferson was devoted to her family and had moved into her mother’s Fort Worth home earlier this year to help as her mom’s health declined, relatives said. With her mother in the hospital, Jefferson and her 8-year-old nephew were the only two people home early Saturday when a police officer fired […]
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Music artist and actress Queen Latifah is among the honorees being recognized by Harvard University this year for their contributions to black history and culture. Harvard is set to award the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal to Queen Latifah and six other recipients on Oct. 22, according to the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school’s […]