Recent Stories
Former prosecutor files lawsuit over Central Park 5 series
Within one week, former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein has filed and lost a libel suit against Netflix and film director Ava DuVernay over her portrayal in the streaming service’s limited series about the Exonerated (formerly Central Park) Five case, which sent five African-American and Latino teenagers to prison for a crime they were later absolved of committing.
Selma Online offers free civil rights lessons amid virus
The first attempt of the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965 led to police violence against peaceful African-American demonstrators. The police beatings on what became known as “Bloody Sunday” generated anger across the nation 55 years ago this month and prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson to push the Voting Rights Act through Congress. It was one of the most significant moments in U.S. history but remains almost absent from public schools’ social studies lessons.
Jazz master pianist ‘McCoy’ Tyner dies at 81
“McCoy” Tyner, the ground- breaking and influential jazz pianist and the last surviving member of the John Coltrane Quartet, has died. He was 81.
Actress and film festival co-founder Ja’Net DuBois succumbs at 74
Ja’Net DuBois, who played the vivacious neighbor Willona Woods on the 1970s sitcom “Good Times,” composed and sang the theme song for television’s “The Jeffersons” and was one of the founders of the largest black film festival in the United States, has died.
Restaurateur, model B. Smith dies at 70 from early onset Alzheimer’s
Barbara “B.” Smith, one of the nation’s top African-American models who went on to open restaurants, launch a successful home products line and write cookbooks, has died at her Long Island home at age 70 after battling early onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Emmy-nominated actress Paula Kelly has died at 77
Actress, singer and dancer Paula Kelly, who earned an Emmy Award nomination on the sitcom “Night Court” and co-starred with Chita Rivera and Shirley MacLaine in the film “Sweet Charity,” has died. She was 77.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo founder Joseph Shabalala dies
The founder of the South African multi-Grammy Award-winning music group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Joseph Shabalala, has died at age 78, the group and the government have announced.
'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.
Investigation reopened into murder of Malcolm X
Who really killed Malcolm X? Nearly 55 years since his assassination on Feb. 21, 1965, in the Audubon Ballroom in New York, the human rights activist’s murder will be reinvestigated in the wake of new information uncovered in a Netflix documentary, prosecutors in New York said on Tuesday.
Trump expands immigration ban to 4 African nations, 2 others
The Trump administration announced last Friday that it is curbing legal immigration from six additional countries that officials said did not meet security standards, as part of an election-year push to further restrict immigration.
