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LGBT activists see had work ahead despite U.S. Supreme Court victory
LGBT rights activists are elated by a major U.S. Supreme Court victory on job discrimination, and hope the decision will spur action against other biases faced by their community despite Trump administration efforts to slow or reverse advances.
Sen. Kaine, GOP opponent spar during first campaign debate
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and Republican Corey Stewart, candidates in Virginia’s U.S. Senate race, had a quarrelsome first debate last Saturday, with President Trump serving as a frequent focal point of the sparring.
It’s a girl for Serena!
Serena Williams has given birth to a baby girl, the first child for the former world No. 1 tennis player and her fiancé, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
Atlanta March on Monday marked route of MLK funeral 50 years ago
Relatives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led more than 1,000 people on a march Monday in downtown Atlanta, where large crowds gathered 50 years earlier for the slain civil rights leader’s funeral procession as a mule-drawn wagon pulled his casket through the streets.
More information emerges on Fairfax’s second accuser
Information about Meredith Watson, who alleged Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax raped her in college almost 20 years ago, has surfaced in multiple reliable media reports.
Madam C.J. Walker’s New York estate sold
The New York estate built a century ago by Madam C.J. Walker, a daughter of slaves who made her fortune selling hair care products for black women, has been bought by the owner of Essence magazine and his family.
Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge breaks world marathon record
Kenya’s Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge pulverized the marathon world record with a blistering run last Sunday, slicing a staggering 78 seconds off the previous best to land the one major running crown that had eluded him.
Texas church opens new sanctuary more than a year after massacre
A South Texas church began its next chapter of worship last Sunday as it unveiled a new sanctuary a year and a half after a gunman opened fire and killed more than two dozen congregants in the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history.
'Hair Love' gives color to Oscar winners list
A touching story about an African-American father trying to do his daughter’s hair for the first time is an Oscar winner.
Local couple in Paris bears witness to Notre Dame fire
George K. Martin of Mechanicsville and his wife, Anita, arrived in Paris on Sunday night and made a sightseeing list that included some of the top tourist spots in the City of Lights, including Notre Dame Cathedral.
Magic moment
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California, daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, is first Black woman chosen as running mate by a major party’s presidential candidate
For the first time, a Black woman will be on a major party’s presidential ticket.
State executioner who turned against the death penalty dies at 67
For 17 years, Jerry Bronson Givens carried out death sentences as Virginia’s chief executioner. The Richmond native then spent the rest of his life crusading against the death penalty.
Unsung civil rights pioneer Gloria Richardson dies at 99
Gloria Richardson, an influential yet largely unsung civil rights pioneer whose determination not to back down while protesting racial inequality was captured in a photograph as she pushed away the bayonet of a National Guardsman, has died. She was 99.
Hip-hop classic Biz Markie succumbs at 57
Biz Markie, a hip-hop staple known for his beatboxing prowess, turntable mastery and the 1989 classic “Just a Friend,” died Friday, July 16, 2021, with his wife by his side.
Jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, 85, dies
Ornette Coleman, a self-taught alto saxophone player who polarized the jazz world with his unconventional “free jazz” before coming to be regarded as an avant garde genius, died Thursday, June 11, 2015, in New York, according to his publicist. He was 85.
Prosperity preachers to pray at Trump inaugural
Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, who hosted President-elect Donald Trump with his Detroit congregation in September, is among the religious leaders chosen to offer prayers at the new president’s swearing-in next week in Washington. The inaugural committee announced that prosperity gospel preachers Bishop Jackson, who leads Great Faith Ministries International, and Pastor Paula White, a friend of the president-elect, will join four others selected to participate in the inauguration on Friday, Jan. 20.
Emmy Awards filled with color, politics
Diversity ruled at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, where a record 21 nominees of color were up for the annual awards for television and cable shows in contrast to this year’s all-white Oscars acting lineup. Several took home Emmys, many for the first time.
Rosa Parks’ home displayed in Italy amid racial justice backdrop
The rundown, paint-chipped Detroit house where civil rights icon Rosa Parks took refuge after her historic bus boycott is going on display in Italy in a setting that couldn’t be more incongruous: The imposing central courtyard of the Royal Palace in Naples.
NASA names D.C. headquarters for engineer Mary W. Jackson of ‘Hidden Figures’ fame
The early African-American women at NASA will not be hidden anymore.
Golf club apologizes for calling cops on black women members
A golf club in Pennsylvania has apologized for calling police on a group of black women after the co-owner and his father said they were playing too slowly and refused requests to leave the course.
