LONDON — Early next year, a portrait of Barack Obama will go up on the walls of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, produced by an artist who was chosen by Mr. Obama himself in the closing months of his presidency.
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‘Maynard’: Film Review | Hollywood Reporter
Samuel D. Pollard’s documentary recounts the life and career of Maynard Jackson, the first African-American mayor of Atlanta.
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The nation’s only African American piano maker counts ‘Empire’ and the Vatican as fans | The Washington Post
“Starting a piano company is not for the faint of heart,” he says. For the first 10 years, he struggled for funding, and he got help with his first patent only after several lawyers passed on it.
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Mississippi’s bold new Civil Rights Museum offers unflinching view of US history | The Guardian
Jackson’s new Civil Rights Museum and its neighbour, the Museum of Mississippi History, have a joint launch on 9 December, in advance of a year of events across the south marking 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination.
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The Thibodaux Massacre Left 60 African-Americans Dead and Spelled the End of Unionized Farm Labor in the South for Decades | Smithsonian
In 1887, African-American cane workers in Louisiana attempted to organize—and many paid with their lives.
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Remembering Dolores Kendrick, D.C.’s Poet Laureate, 1927–2017 | Washington City Paper
The “first lady of poetry” leaves behind a rich legacy of promoting poetry throughout the District.
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Baltimore Rising: HBO Documentary Chronicles A City Trying To Heal After Freddie Gray’s Death | Essence
When Freddie Gray died in police custody in April 2015, Baltimore was thrust into the glare of a harsh spotlight.
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Della Reese, Music Icon And ‘Touched By An Angel’ Star, Dead At 86 | Huffington Post
“I know heaven has a brand new angel this day,” costar Roma Downey said.
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Dread Scott Reenacts a Slave Revolt to Radically Reconsider Freedom | Hyperallergic
Scott’s project reenacts the 1811 German Coast Uprising, the largest slave revolt in North American history.
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Jesse Jackson says he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease | The Washington Post
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the civil rights leader and former presidential candidate, announced Friday that he has Parkinson’s disease.
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