Do you like the official portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama?

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery unveiled the official portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama. Barack Obama's portrait was created by Kehinde Wiley, a black artist best known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings of African Americans. Michelle Obama's portrait was created by Amy Sherald, the winner of the Portrait Gallery's 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Some people like them while others hate them. What do you think?

Lafayette College names Sherryta Freeman athletic director

Sherryta Freeman, who has spent more than 15 years as a senior level administrator at Temple, Penn and Dartmouth, has been named the new Lafayette College director of athletics, it was announced on Friday afternoon. Freeman will be formally introduced at a press conference on Jan. 2.

Freeman is set to take over in February, replacing Bruce McCutcheon, who announced his retirement Sept. 21 after 16 years as AD.

Freeman is senior associate athletic director and senior woman administrator at the University of Pennsylvania, where she has served as chief of intercollegiate athletics since 2016.

“I am excited to begin my work with student-athletes, coaches, staff, alumni, campus leaders and the entire Lafayette community. Together we can achieve academic and athletic excellence while providing the best experience for our student-athletes,” Freeman said in a release from the school.

“Being part of a championship culture is part of Sherryta’s background and I am confident she has the skills and energy to create that culture at Lafayette,” said Lafayette Vice President for Campus Life Annette Diorio, who chaired the search committee.

“I am delighted with the appointment of Sherryta Freeman, who brings great experience from great institutions. As a former championship varsity athlete herself, she understands how academic success and athletic success go hand in hand at colleges like Lafayette,” said Lafayette President Alison Byerly. “I am confident that Sherryta has the vision, passion and leadership to take Lafayette’s athletics programs to a new level.”

Freeman worked in multiple roles at Temple University, which competes at the FBS level in football. She was the senior associate AD from 2011-15, associate AD for compliance and student services from 2007-11 and the assistant AD for compliance from 2005-07.

Prior to Temple, Freeman realized her first administrative opportunity at her alma mater, Dartmouth College, serving as the assistant AD for compliance from January 2004 to August 2005. Her appointment at Dartmouth came a month before she completed her master’s degree in sport management from the University of Massachusetts and followed a six-month stint at Dartmouth as a compliance and event management assistant.

Freeman’s first foray into the collegiate athletic administration came at the Ivy League office from 2001-02, when she worked as a public information assistant in Princeton, N.J.

The native of Hillside, N.J., earned her undergraduate degree in environmental studies with a minor in African and African American studies from Dartmouth in 2001. She was a four-year varsity letter-winner in basketball and a member of two Ivy League championship teams which secured NCAA Tournament appearances in 1999 and 2000.

Jack Johnson descendant seeking posthumous pardon for immorality conviction

In Jim Crow America, it's no wonder that Jack Johnson was the most despised African-American of his generation.

The first black boxing heavyweight champion of the world, Johnson humiliated white fighters and flaunted his affection for white women, even fleeing the country after an all-white jury convicted him of "immorality" for one of his relationships.

Now, more than 100 years later, Johnson's great-great niece wants President Donald Trump to clear the champion's name with a posthumous pardon. And she has the backing of Sen. John McCain, who has supported a Johnson pardon since 2004.

"Jack Johnson was a boxing legend and pioneer whose career and reputation were ruined by a racially charged conviction more than a century ago," McCain said in a statement to The Associated Press. "Johnson's imprisonment forced him into the shadows of bigotry and prejudice, and continues to stand as a stain on our national honor."

Johnson, the son of former slaves, defeated Tommy Burns for the heavyweight title in 1908 at a time when blacks and whites rarely entered the same ring. He then mowed down a series of "great white hopes," culminating in 1910 with the undefeated former champion, James J. Jeffries.

"He is one of the craftiest, cunningest boxers that ever stepped into the ring," said the legendary boxer John L. Sullivan, in the aftermath of what was called "the fight of the century."

In addition to his flashy boxing, Johnson refused to adhere to societal norms, living lavishly and brazenly and dating outside of his race in a time when whites often killed African-Americans without fear of legal repercussions. In 1913, he was convicted of violating the Mann Act (also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act), which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for "immoral" purposes. The criminal charges sprung from a relationship he started with his future wife Lucille Cameron, an employee at Cafe de Champion, a mixed race nightclub he opened on Chicago's South Side.

After seven years as a fugitive in Canada, Europe and other countries, Johnson eventually returned to the U.S. and turned himself in. He served about a year in federal prison and was released in 1921. Cameron and Johnson eventually divorced and Johnson died in 1946 in an auto crash in North Carolina, supposedly after racing angrily from a segregated diner that refused to serve him.

The stain on Johnson's reputation forced some family members to live in shame of his legacy — the exact opposite of how Johnson led his life.

Family "didn't talk about it because they were ashamed of him, that he went to prison," Linda E. Haywood, a 61-year-old Chicago resident, said of her great-great uncle. "They were led to believe that he did something wrong. They were so ashamed after being so proud of him. The white man came and told them that he did something wrong, he did something dirty and they painted him out to be something that he wasn't."

Haywood said she didn't find out she was related to Johnson until she was 12. She remembers learning about Johnson when she was in sixth grade during Black History Month, and only learned later that he was kin.

Haywood has pressed to have Johnson pardoned since President George W. Bush was in office, a decade ago. Posthumous pardons are rare, but not unprecedented. President Bill Clinton pardoned Henry O. Flipper, the first African-American officer to lead the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War; he was framed for embezzlement. Bush pardoned Charles Winters in 2008, an American volunteer in the Arab-Israeli War convicted of violating the U.S. Neutrality Acts in 1949.

Haywood wanted Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, to pardon Johnson, but Justice Department policy says "processing posthumous pardon petitions is grounded in the belief that the time of the officials involved in the clemency process is better spent on the pardon and commutation requests of living persons."

The Justice Department makes decisions on potential pardons through an application process and typically makes recommendations to the president. The general DOJ policy is to not accept applications for posthumous pardons for federal convictions, according to the department's website.

"In terms of Jack Johnson, I think the Department of Justice came back recommending — not recommending a pardon on that," press secretary Robert Gibbs said in 2009.

A spokeswoman for Obama declined further comment.

Haywood wants the history books rewritten.

"Knowing that he was treated unfairly and unfairly convicted and targeted because of his choice of companions, who happened to be Caucasian, that's wrong," she said. "It bothered my people to the point they didn't even want to talk about it. My mother didn't even want to talk about it. That's stupid ... It bothers me.

"The last thing you want to do is die and have your name tarnished. That's wrong. You don't want it to be tarnished if you're living."

[SOURCE: CHICAGO TRIBUNE]

Why The Black Panther Movie Is Important For Black Children

The Black Panther movie is coming soon and many black celebrities, churches, social groups, etc. are taking the Black Panther Challenge and making sure that black children are able to see the movie. There is a very good reason why, it's very important for black children to see themselves portrayed in a positive light so they they know that they too can be heroes. Watch more on this topic in the video below.

Postal Service Saluting Black History Month With Lena Horne Stamp

The USPS has issued the 41st stamp in the Black Heritage series honoring the achievements of legendary performer and civil rights activist Lena Horne (1917–2010). The stamp art features a photograph taken by Christian Steiner in the 1980s. Kristen Monthei colorized the black-and-white photograph. Remembered as one of America‘s great interpreters of popular songs, Horne was also a trailblazer in Hollywood for women of color. She used her personal elegance, charisma, and fame to become an important spokesperson for civil rights.

The stamp art features a photograph of Lena Horne taken by Christian Steiner in the 1980s. Kristen Monthei colorized the original black-and-white photo, adding a background reminiscent of Horne’s Stormy Weather album, with a few clouds to add texture and subtly make the album reference. “Lena Horne” is written along the bottom of the stamp, with “Black Heritage,” the stamp series title, at the top. “USA” and “Forever” appear on the lower right-hand side above Horne’s name. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp.

Order the stamp here: USPS: The Lena Horne Stamp