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Ghana: How Ghana Went Above and Beyond For Year of Return 2019 | AllAfrica

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020African History, Ghana

Cape Town — Ghana is to launch a multi-million dollar fund aimed at attracting investment from members of the African diaspora in the United States and around the world – a follow-up to the “Year of Return 2019” in which the nation reached out to the diaspora on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of […]

Louis Allen Murdered in Liberty, Mississippi | EJI

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020African American History, Black History

On January 31, 1964, the night before he was set to move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Louis Allen was ambushed outside his property in Liberty, Mississippi and shot twice in the face with a shotgun. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] He died almost instantly. Mr. Allen was the victim of racially motivated violence in a system where he was […]

Former Calif. Mayor Johnson shares Black Capital initiative at the Met | The Black Wall Street Times

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020African American Economics

TULSA, Okla. — The former Mayor of Sacramento, California, Kevin Johnson, in partnership with SeedInvest, launched their Black Capital initiative, a collective mission to economically empower African Americans through access to the venture capital industry. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Their first visit, since the initial launch, was Tulsa, Oklahoma — once a black entrepreneurial hub in the […]

What Was the Black International? | JSTOR

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020African American Economics

The twentieth-century struggle for African independence began in Paris salons hosted by the daughters of elite blacks, then travelled by telegram and steamship. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Relationships were the essence of the early twentieth century “black international.” In Paris, the Martinician writer Jane Nardal took to her typewriter to make sense of a pattern she was […]

The Hunting of Billie Holiday | Politico

January 30, 2020April 5, 2020Jazz Music

How Lady Day was in the middle of a Federal Bureau of Narcotics fight for survival From his first day in office in 1930, Harry Anslinger had a problem, and everybody knew it. He had just been appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics—a tiny agency, buried in the gray bowels of the Treasury […]

Michelle Obama Wins Grammy Award For Audio Recording Of ‘Becoming’ Memoir | HuffPost

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020African American Literature

Fans are hoping the former first lady will go on to become an EGOT. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Michelle Obama is now a Grammy winner. The former first lady took home the trophy in the Spoken Word Album category for the audio recording of her bestselling 2018 memoir “Becoming.” The Grammys’ Best Spoken Word Album award honors […]

America’s Black Holocaust Museum Hopes To Reopen Its Doors This Year | Wisconsin Public Radio

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020African American History, Black Holocaust Museum

Thanks To A Donation, The Museum Plans To Open In Summer 2020 [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) in Milwaukee is a step closer to reopening its doors after being closed for over a decade, thanks to funding from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. The museum was founded by lynching survivor, James Cameron in 1988. […]

‘I believe in white supremacy’: John Wayne’s notorious 1971 Playboy interview goes viral on Twitter (2019) | The Washington Post

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020Racism

John Wayne is never going to be confused for a progressive by anyone familiar with his life and career. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] The actor was famous as one of Hollywood’s staunchest conservatives: a onetime member of the reactionary anti-Communist John Birch Society, a producer for and actor in a film about the ignominious House Un-American Activities […]

Jimmy Heath, 93, Jazz Saxophonist and Composer, Is Dead | The New York Times

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020African American Music, Jazz Music

Jimmy Heath, a tenor saxophonist whose sharp and lively compositions became part of the midcentury jazz canon — and who found new prominence in middle age as a co-leader of a popular band with his two brothers — died on Sunday at his home in Loganville, Ga. He was 93. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] His grandson Fa […]

African Fabrics Connect to Form Quilted Portraits of Black Figures by Bisa Butler | Colossal

January 28, 2020January 28, 2020African American Art

Brooklyn-based artist Bisa Butler (previously) uses brightly colored cotton, wool, and chiffon fabrics with bold patterns to piece together quilts featuring detailed portraits of Black people. The materials and themes connect American subjects with their African roots and tell visual stories of history and culture. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Butler is a New Jersey-born African American artist […]