WRIIT - KOLUMN Magazine

Who was Olaudah Equiano – and why was his story of slavery so important? | History Extra

December 16, 2019December 16, 2019African American History, Black History

Kidnapped, torn from his family as a child, and sold as a slave, Olaudah Equiano’s story would become a bestseller of its time, and a catalyst for the abolition of slavery in Britain. Jonny Wilkes explores his story for BBC History Revealed [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Somewhere on the coast of what is now Nigeria, 11-year-old Olaudah […]

James ‘Radio’ Kennedy, football fixture who inspired a Hollywood movie, dies at 73 | CNN

December 16, 2019December 16, 2019KOLUMN Magazine

(CNN)James “Radio” Kennedy, the mentally disabled man whose importance to a South Carolina football team inspired the Hollywood movie “Radio,” died early Sunday at the age of 73, T.L. Hanna High School confirmed. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Eric Levenson,CNN Associated Press Sports Editors Full article @ CNN

Robert Smith, Slayer of Student Debt at Morehouse College | Bloomberg Businessweek

December 15, 2019December 15, 2019African American Philanthropy

In May, he pledged to pay off $34 million of loans for its graduating class. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] His commencement address in May offered the usual inspirational platitudes and advice to serve the common good. But then Smith—whose personal worth is about $6 billion, according to Bloomberg data, which makes him the wealthiest black American—followed up […]

Exclusive: Erika Alexander Talks Black Women In Hollywood & Paving Your Own Way | xoNecole

December 15, 2019December 15, 2019African American Entertainment

There are several iconic black leading ladies many of us grew to love and sought to emulate in the 90s. My favorite femme fatale during that time was a lawyer by trade, called a Brooklyn brownstone home, and had three homegirls standing to her left and her right who held her down through the ups […]

Danny Glover, national activists converge on Evanston as city funds reparations with cannabis tax | Chicago Sun Times

December 14, 2019December 14, 2019Reparations, Slavery

The north suburb, with its historic passage last month of legislation creating a $10 million reparations fund seeded by cannabis sales, drew activists and scholars to a “Reparations Town Hall” Wednesday night, keynoted by actor Danny Glover. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Actor Danny Glover told an Evanston town hall Wednesday night the Chicago suburb will go down […]

The Future Is Female: Meet the Dope Black Women Behind Brooklyn’s Local Creative Space | Refinery 29

December 14, 2019December 14, 2019Black Excellence, KOLUMN Magazine

For Symone Wong, Jarryn Mercer, and Melissa Sutherland, Brooklyn’s sk.ArtSpace is more than a gallery space — it’s a safe space for creatives of color to express themselves in an environment that understands and works to preserve the integrity of their craft. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] “As a creative, sharing yourself and your work is very challenging. […]

Lovely Pics of Billie Holiday With Her Dog Mister in 1949 | Vintage Everyday

December 13, 2019December 14, 2019African American Music

African American jazz singer Billie Holiday who had a career spanning nearly thirty years was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills. Her hit “What a Little Moonlight Can Do” became a jazz standard. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia and Decca. By the […]

24-Year-Old Black Woman Started Selling Fish Plates, Now Farms 500 Acres | We Buy Black

December 13, 2019January 19, 2020African Entrepreneur, KOLUMN Magazine ...

“White people owned the land and Black people only worked in their gardens or fields.” [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] That’s what Njabulo Mbokane once thought about agriculture but not anymore. Njabulo knew that her family couldn’t afford to send her to college so she had to find another way. She started out selling fish and chips on […]

Baby Found in Dumpster Grows up to Be Tech CEO Worth $62 Million | Light Workers

December 13, 2019December 14, 2019#BuyBlack, African American Entrepreneurs

“That could be me on the streets—I could have been homeless or dead if I hadn’t been found by the dumpster after I was born.” Abandoned by a dumpster, Freddie Figgers has defied the odds in more ways than one. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Only a few days old, Freddie Figgers was left next to a dumpster […]

Who were the Moors? | National Geographic

December 13, 2019December 14, 2019African History, KOLUMN Magazine ...

IF THE TERM “Moor” seems familiar but confusing, there’s a reason: Though the term can be found throughout literature, art, and history books, it does not actually describe a specific ethnicity or race. Instead, the concept of Moors has been used to describe alternatively the reign of Muslims in Spain, Europeans of African descent, and […]