Rep. Cori Bush memoir, The Forerunner: A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America

From one of America's most transformative politicians and activists, a powerful and inspiring memoir that sheds light on a harrowing personal journey and reveals how urgently we need our political leadership to prioritize meeting the needs of our most marginalized communities.

"Piercing and gripping... Bush’s words are beautifully devastating." —The Cut

Having worked as a nurse, a pastor, and a community organizer in St. Louis, Missouri, Cori Bush hadn’t initially intended to run for political office. But when protests in Ferguson erupted in 2014, Bush found herself on the frontlines, providing medical care and protesting violence against Black lives. Encouraged by community leaders to run for office, and compelled by an urgency to prevent her children and others from becoming social media hashtags, Bush campaigned persistently while navigating myriad personal challenges—and ultimately rose to unseat a twenty-year incumbent to become the first Black woman to represent her state in Congress.

The Forerunner is the raw and moving account of a politician and activist whose life experiences, though underrepresented in the halls of Congress, reflect some of the same realities and struggles that many Americans face in their everyday lives. Courageously laying bare her experience as a minimum-wage worker, a survivor of domestic and sexual violence, and an unhoused parent, Congresswoman Bush embodies a new chapter in progressive politics that prioritizes the lives and stories of those most politically vulnerable at the core of its agenda. A testament to the lasting legacy of the Ferguson Uprising and an unflinching examination of how the American political system is so deeply intertwined with systemic injustice, The Forerunner is profoundly relatable and inspiring at its heart. At once a stirring and emotionally wrought personal account and a fierce call to action, this is political memoir the likes of which we’ve never seen before.

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New book by April Ryan, Black Women Will Save the World: An Anthem

In this long-overdue celebration of Black women’s resilience and unheralded strength, the revered, trailblazing White House correspondent reflects on “The Year That Changed Everything”—2020—and African-American women’s unprecedented role in upholding democracy.

“I am keenly aware that everyone and everything has a story,” April D. Ryan acknowledges. “Also, I have always marveled at Black women and how we work to move mountains and are never really thanked or recognized.” In Black Women Will Save the World, she melds these two truths, creating an inspiring and heart-tugging portrait of one of the momentous years in America, 2020—when America elected its first Black woman Vice President—and celebrates the tenacity, power, and impact of Black women across America.

From the beginning of the nation to today, Black women have transformed their pain into progress and have been at the frontlines of the nation’s political, social, and economic struggles. These “Sheroes” as Ryan calls them, include current political leaders such as Maxine Waters, Valerie Jarrett, and Kamala Harris; Brittany Packnett Cunningham, LaTosha Brown, and other activists; and artists like Regina King. Combining profiles and in-depth interviews with these influential movers and shakers and many more, Ryan explores the challenges Black women endure, and how the lessons they’ve learned can help us shape our own stories. Ryan also chronicles her personal journey from working-class Baltimore to the elite echelons of journalism and speaks out about the hurdles she faced in becoming one of the most well-connected members of the Washington press corps—while raising two daughters as a single mother in the aftermath of a messy divorce.

It is time for everyone to acknowledge Black women’s unrivaled contributions to America. Yet our democracy remains in peril, and their work is far from done. Black Women Will Save the World presents a vital kaleidoscopic look at women of different ages and from diverse backgrounds who devote their lives to making the world a better place—even if that means stepping out of their “place.”

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HBCU Homecoming Experience Highlighted at National Museum of African American History and Culture Throughout October

This month the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is going back to the yard to celebrate the history, impact and legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Across NMAAHC’s media platforms, stories focusing on critical aspects of the development of the HBCU experience and their foundation and origins will be amplified. The museum will uplift the culture and the traditions passed down between generations of those who have and will attend HBCUs on its newly created HBCU webpage, including stories from scholars, community members and alums of HBCUs with unique experiences.  

 October programming also features celebrating LGBT History Month Throughout the month, the museum will highlight stories of LGBTQIA+ African Americans. The museum will host its annual Speakeasy Evening, featuring a panel discussion about Ballroom and Beyond with icons Tracey “Africa” Norman, Rayceen Pendarvis and Kevin Aviance. There will also be an evening dance party featuring award-winning DJ MIM with commentary and comedy by trailblazing entertainer Sampson McCormick. 

Highlights of October In-Person and Virtual Programs  

A Speakeasy Evening: Tell Your Story! (program is designed for participants ages 13–24)    
Friday, Oct. 14; 6 p.m.  
This live in-person program invites visitors to participate in a lively discussion with staff from Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders, an organization designed to empower LGBTQ+ youth, and special guest Twiggy Pucci Garçon chief program officer at True Colors United and choreographer for POSE. Museum staff from The Community Curation Program will be available to record visitors’ stories to include in the museum’s online community collection. This program is for participants ages 13 through 24. Admission is free; however, registration is required  

A Speakeasy Evening: Welcome Home!  
Friday, Oct. 14; 7:30 p.m. (in person in the museum’s Heritage Hall) 
The museum will host its annual Speakeasy Evening, which will be in person for the first time in three years. Inspired by the Speakeasy clubs of the Harlem Renaissance, which were welcoming and inclusive places for the African American LGBTQ+ community, the event invites all gender identities and orientations to attend an evening of camaraderie, comedy, dance, music and art making. Highlights of the evening include music by DJ MIM, an award-winning multi-genre DJ who spins an eclectic mix. Commentary and comedy will be provided by Sampson McCormick, an award-winning comedian, trailblazer, actor, writer and film producer. There will be a moderated panel discussion about Ballroom and Beyond with icons Tracey “Africa” Norman, Rayceen Pendarvis and Kevin Aviance. The program is intended for ages 17 and up. Admission is free; however, registration is required. 

Digital Treasures: Daufuskie Island and Beyond!  
Thursday, Oct. 20; 2 p.m.–5 p.m. (virtual) 
The public is invited to join the latest installment of Digital Treasures and explore the resiliency and preservation of Gullah Geechee heritage. The culturally rich program explores the beauty of Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, and surrounding Gullah communities. Attendees will be able to experience a Ring Shout performance, a quilting circle, historic tours, a virtual Expo Hall and a traditional Gullah meal all from the comfort of their homes. Registration is available beginning Oct. 6 through the museum website.    

Historically Speaking: Exploring Diversity in the Fields of Genomics and Biomedical Sciences
Thursday, Oct. 20; 7 p.m. (In person in the Oprah Winfrey Theater and streaming)  
In the latest installment of the Historically Speaking series, the museum in collaboration with the National Human Genome Research Institute, will explore the experiences of renowned African American biomedical researchers and physicians. Shaniqua McClendon of Crooked Media will moderate a panel with senior researchers affiliated with the National Institutes of Health. Neil Hanchard, April Adams and Shawneequa Callier will discuss why they chose a career in medicine, recount their experiences with mentors, discuss the barriers they overcame in their career and share how they promote more diversity in the field of medicine. Admission is free; however, registration is required 

MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE premieres October 4 on PBS

MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE premieres October 4, 2022 on PBS at AT 9/8C.

MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE is a four-part series from executive producer, host and writer Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., which will premiere October 4th on PBS stations nationwide. Professor Gates, with directors Stacey L. Holman and Shayla Harris, chronicle the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” The series recounts the establishment of the Prince Hall Masons in 1775 through the formation of all-Black towns and business districts, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, destinations for leisure and the social media phenomenon of Black Twitter. Professor Gates sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today. MAKING BLACK AMERICA takes viewers into an extraordinary world that showcased Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.

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NAACP requests civil rights probe into Jackson water crisis

The NAACP is requesting a civil rights probe into the Jackson water crisis saying the state has long discriminated against the majority black capital.

83% of the Jackson population is African American.

The civil rights organization submitted a complaint to the US Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday requesting an investigation into how federal dollars were spent when it comes to drinking water.

It comes as lawsuits, on behalf of at least 2,000 children, allege the city and state failed to adequately warn residents about lead in the drinking water and failed to repair the system.

[SOURCE: WCBI]

Andrea A. Hayes Dixon: The First Black Woman Dean of the Howard University College of Medicine

Andrea A. Hayes Dixon was appointed dean of the Howard University College of Medicine. When she takes office on October 3, she will be the first Black woman to lead the medical school in its 154-year history.

“I am truly honored and humbled to lead the outstanding Howard University College of Medicine,” said Dr. Hayes Dixon. “The responsibility of educating the nation’s next generation of leaders in medicine, is an enormous responsibility that I take very seriously.

Before joining the faculty at Howard University, Dr. Hayes Dixon was the surgeon-in-chief and division chief of pediatric surgery at the University of North Carolina Children’s Hospital. Earlier, she was chief of pediatric surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

In 2004, Dr. Hayes Dixon became the first African American woman in the nation to become a board-certified pediatric surgeon. In 2006, she became the first surgeon in the world to perform a high-risk life-saving procedure in teens with rare forms of abdominal cancer.

A native of Los Angeles Hayes Dixon earned a bachelor’s degree in religion from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. She then earned a medical doctorate from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.

Georgetown University’s Nadia E. Brown Wins Book Award

Nadia E. Brown, a professor of government and director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., is sharing the Ralph J. Bunche from the American Political Science Association. The award is presented annually to honor the best scholarly work in political science that explores the phenomenon of ethnic and cultural pluralism.

She is being honored for the book Sister Style: The Politics of Appearance for Black Women Political Elites (Oxford University Press, 2021). In the citation for the award, the committee stated that Sister Style examines the Black female experience in politics. It centers solely on their specific experience, and their reception by Black voters — a long overdue endeavor in the field of American politics. Black women currently represent the strongest and most reliable voter demographic of the Democratic Party, putting them at the center of the partisan battle in American politics. Yet, they are simultaneously severely underrepresented in the study of American politics – in the profession, as well as in the literature. The awards committee finds Sister Style to be a crucial and long overdue addition to the literature on American politics and American pluralism, and we feel strongly about highlighting the key contribution of this important book.”

Dr. Brown is sharing the prize with co-author Danielle Casarez Lemi, a Tower Center Fellow at the John G. Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Professor Brown joined the faculty at Georgetown University in 2021 after teaching at Purdue University. Her research includes intersectionality, Black women’s politics, Black politics, gender and politics, and gender and political science. Dr. Brown is a graduate of Howard University in Wahington, D.C., and holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month, how us brothas can do our part to help Black women.

It's October which means that it's also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Did you know that while Black women are less likely to get Breast Cancer, they are more likely to to die from it?

That's why us men should step in and constantly remind (nag) them about getting a mammogram as early detection saves lives!

Keke Palmer announces that she Is launching her own television network, Key TV

In a video Keke Palmer announced that she would be launching her own digital network called Key TV, aiming to spotlight “a new generation of creators.”

Key TV is described as “a Keke Palmer-led company” across all of its socials, and already has a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube. Though no further information has been released about the kind of content that will live on Key TV or when it will officially launch.

Introducing @KeyTVNetwork, a new digital network from me, for you. #keystotheculture #keytvnetwork pic.twitter.com/CtOtLwNg30

— Keke Palmer (@KekePalmer) September 30, 2022

Black women face a triple threat from breast cancer making early detection important. GET THOSE MAMMOGRAMS

For Black women in America, a breast cancer diagnosis brings with it a disturbing statistic. Black women are less likely to develop breast cancer but 40 percent more likely to die from it than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That alarming state makes early detection all the more critical for Black women. Yamiche Alcindor reports on the complicated story behind the statistics.

The video below is a year old but still relevant today. Get those mammograms ladies!

WATCH: Stacey Abrams speaks to The Divine Nine in Atlanta

In a series of direct conversations with Black Georgians, Democratic candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams answers questions from radio host and personality Ryan Cameron. Abrams discusses the differences between her and her opponent, incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp, and her platforms. Watch that conversation below.

Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom and Becoming Frederick Douglass premiering in October on PBS

Two original documentaries that shed new light on the lives of a pair of towering figures in the struggle to end slavery – Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass – premiere on PBS in October. Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom premieres Tuesday, October 4, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET, and Becoming Frederick Douglass premieres Tuesday, October 11, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS. Both films will stream on PBS.org and the PBS Video App.

Co-productions of Firelight Films and Maryland Public Television (MPT), the films are directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Attica, Freedom Riders, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution) and Nicole London.

Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor Alfre Woodard is the narrator of Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom and acclaimed actor Wendell Pierce is the voice of Frederick Douglass in both films.

Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom is a rich and nuanced portrait of the woman known as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, who repeatedly risked her own life and freedom to liberate others from slavery. Born in Dorchester County, Maryland – 2022 marks her bicentennial celebration – Tubman escaped north to Philadelphia in 1849, covering more than 100 miles alone. Once there, she became involved in the abolitionist movement and, through the Underground Railroad, guided an estimated 70 enslaved people to freedom. She would go on to serve as a Civil War scout, nurse, and spy, never wavering in her pursuit of equality. Featuring more than 20 historians and experts and grounded in the most recent scholarship, the film goes beyond the standard narrative to explore what motivated Tubman, including divine inspiration, to become one of the greatest freedom fighters in our nation's history.

"With this film, our aim was to go beyond what is covered in history books to create a real, three-dimensional portrait of who Harriet Tubman actually was," Nelson said. "We wanted to examine what motivated her to pursue a revolutionary and often dangerous journey, particularly through her fierce religiosity and metaphysical connection to the divine. This film also has such a distinct sonic layer thanks to powerful narration by the great Alfre Woodard."

Becoming Frederick Douglass is the inspiring story of how a man born into slavery became one of the most prominent statesmen and influential voices for democracy in American history. Born in 1818 on Maryland's Eastern Shore, he escaped from slavery in 1838 and went on to become the most well-known leader of the abolitionist movement. A gifted writer and powerful, charismatic orator, it is estimated that more Americans heard Douglass speak than any other 19th-century figure, Black or white. The documentary explores how Douglass controlled his own image and narrative, embracing photography as a tool for social justice, and the role he played in securing the right to freedom and complete equality for African Americans.

"Given that Frederick Douglass was one of the most prolific and powerful orators of his time, we were interested in exploring how he created and controlled his image, and ultimately how he used it to shift public opinion around abolition," said Nelson. "It was such a gift to have the inimitable Wendell Pierce provide the voice of Douglass to bring his words to life. Wendell's dynamic performance, coupled with the many stunning photographs taken throughout Douglass's lifetime, show how Douglass evolved to become one of the most influential and enduring social justice activists in American history."

Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom and Becoming Frederick Douglass will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video app, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.

Additional information and resources about the films are available at tubmandouglassfilms.com.

Executive producers for Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom and Becoming Frederick Douglass are Stanley Nelson and Lynne Robinson. The films are produced and directed by Stanley Nelson and Nicole London. Keith M. Brown and Michael English are the executives in charge of production. Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom was written by Paul Taylor, Nicole London, and Marcia Smith. Becoming Frederick Douglass was written by Anne Seidlitz.

Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom and Becoming Frederick Douglass are co-productions of Firelight Films and Maryland Public Television with an appropriation from the State of Maryland. These programs are also made possible by Bowie State University, DIRECTV, and Pfizer, Inc. Bowie State is the oldest Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Maryland and the first HBCU to become a premier sponsor of a national PBS film.

Andrew Jacked wins 2022 Arnold Classic UK

Bodybuilding sensation Andrew Jacked makes it two in a row!

A month after winning the Texas Pro in which he claimed to be at only 75%, Jacked won the Arnold Classic 2022 in convincing faction against a pretty good field.

Congratulations to Andrew Jacked! Now lets see if he can place in the top 5 at the Olympia.

Top Five 2022 Arnold Classic Men’s Open

1. Andrew Jacked

2. Patrick Johnson

3. James Hollingshead

4. Martin Fitzwater

5. Marc Hector

Watch an interview with Andrew Jacked after his victory below.

Coolio best known for '90s hit 'Gangsta's Paradise,' dies at 59

Los Angeles rapper Coolio, who rose to the national spotlight in the 1990s with his Grammy-winning hit "Gangsta's Paradise," died on Wednesday, his longtime manager Jarez Posey confirmed to ABC News. He was 59.

Coolio, whose legal name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr., was found unresponsive Wednesday afternoon while visiting a friend's house, and emergency personnel were called after he didn't come out of the bathroom, according to Posey. A cause of death has not yet been determined but an investigation is ongoing.

"We are saddened by the loss of our dear friend and client, Coolio, who passed away this afternoon," Coolio's representative, Sheila Finegan​, executive partner at Trinity Artists International, told ABC News in a statement Wednesday evening. "He touched the world with the gift of his talent and will be missed profoundly. Thank you to everyone worldwide who has listened to his music and to everyone who has been reaching out regarding his passing. Please have Coolio's loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.

[ABBC NEWS

NAASD HOSTS REPARATIONS SUMMIT IN ATLANTA

To commemorate the 1972 National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Indiana, the National Assembly of American Slavery Descendants (NAASD) will hold its inaugural Reparations Summit September 30-October 1, 2022 at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, GA. The theme of the inaugural summit will be “Where Do We Go From Here: Imagining Our Future.”

The opening address will be given by activist and author of the book “Redress: The Untold Story of Japanese Reparations” John Tateishi. During the two day summit discussions and insight into the modern day Reparations movement will take precedent. Each day will feature activities that will be focused towards:

-Leadership & Organizer Training
-Genealogy & Group Therapy
-Reparations Roundtables

Featured panelists will include:

-Kamilah Moore, Chair of the California Reparations Task Force
-Dr. William “Sandy” Darity. Samuel DuBois Cook Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and Economics at Duke University
-Dr. Shirley Weber, California Secretary of State and author of AB 3121
*Dr. Weber will also give the summit’s Keynote Address

The National Assembly of American Slavery Descendants (NAASD) is a grassroots association of community activists from across the United States that came together around May 2019 though the pursuit of political education and a desire to understand the plight of our people. NAASD became an official 501c3 organization in March 2022.

NAASD is committed to educating and training American Freedmen, who are Black American Descendants of US Chattel Slavery, on civic engagement nationwide. Our mission serves to empower the future generations of American Freedmen to preserve our unique lineage and culture for decades to come, while advancing principles that heal America and preserve democracy for all.

Khansa T. Jones-Muhammad
National Assembly of American Slavery Descendants
+1 202-503-4729
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Twitter

Congressman Mfume and Senator Cardin Introduce Bill to Establish National Council on African American History and Culture

Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) announced the introduction of the National Council on African American History and Culture Act of 2022 in the United States House of Representatives and Senate. This legislation would create a 12-person National Council on African American History and Culture to educate, preserve and celebrate Black history and culture. In short, the Council would advise the National Endowment for the Humanities on how they can best amplify the work of Black creators, strengthen teaching and learning in schools to ensure Black history and culture is recognized, and provide critical resources dedicated to preserving Black history. 

“African Americans have played an essential role in creating our country as it exists today. Yet, our contributions are not always fully recognized, celebrated, or preserved, including in the humanities,” said Congressman Kweisi Mfume. “Establishing the National Council on African American History and Culture will ensure African American history is fully integrated into the telling of American history. By giving Black professors, artists, and storytellers a seat at the table, America advances one step closer to a nation that recognizes the tremendous value of Black history and culture.”

“The lessons our children learn in school last a lifetime, and for too long those lessons have failed to fully acknowledge the role of Black Americans. And it happens in far more places than schools – so much of what we have learned for generations about history, music, culture and more has diminished the role of African American creators, writers, musicians and beyond,” said Senator Ben Cardin. “I am proud to lead the effort in the Senate to advance the companion legislation to Congressman Mfume’s bill to create a National Council on African American History and Culture. The time has come to ensure that every future generation has a factual and complete understanding of the role that all Americans have played in advancing our society, and this legislation moves us decisively in the right direction.”

Highlights of the National Council on African American History and Culture Act of 2022

1. The Council will be composed of 12 members appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate.
    
2. The Council will prepare an annual report for the Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which evaluates various programs and activities of the NEH to document the extent to which they are contributing to the preservation and celebration of Black history and culture.
    
3. The Council will also:
   1. Monitor the work of museums and organizations dedicated to the preservation of Black history and culture; 
   2. Gather information concerning historical developments and cultural trends in Black history and culture; 
   3. Propose national policy recommendations to foster and promote the understanding of African American history, the preservation of African American culture, and the celebration of African Americans as contributors to the country’s economic, cultural, and political success; and
   4. Make and furnish research and recommendations at the Chairperson of the NEH may request.

To view the full text of the National Council on African American History and Culture Act of 2022, click here.

The Hutchins Center for African & African American Research Announces its Tenth Class of W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute Fellows

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, has announced the 2022-2023 class of fellows.

“We are happy to welcome our next cohort of distinguished and dynamic W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute Fellows,” says Gates. “We look forward to an extraordinary range of artistic and scholarly work next academic year. A poetry collection, a musical, a transnational history of the Seminoles, belonging and justice in Caribbean visual and literary cultures, an album on Hiphop as an educational tool, a study of the slave market of colonial Guadalajara, artistic representations of Black grief, amateur ministrelsy, and the 1866 cholera epidemic and origin of public health as a field are among the innovative projects which the 2022-2023 Class of Fellows will be pursuing at the W. E. B Du Bois Research Institute, housed in the Hutchins Center.”

The twenty-three 2022-2023 W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute Fellows and their projects are as follows:

• Aabid Allibhai is a Doctoral Candidate in African & African American Studies at Harvard University. In residence as a Dorothy Porter & Charles Harris Wesley Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Allibhai will be at work on the dissertation Belinda Sutton’s World: Slavery, Legal Activism, and Abolition in Revolutionary New England.

• David Augustine is a Hiphop Artist in New Orleans, Louisiana. In residence as a Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Augustine will be at work on the album Hip Hop Saved My Life – Examining Hip Hop as a Teaching Tool Inside the Black Community.

• Rhae Lynn Barnes is Assistant Professor of American Cultural History at Princeton University. In residence as a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Barnes will be at work on the book Darkology: When the American Dream Wore Blackface, about amateur blackface in the U.S., and Fugitive Sounds, a digital database of the descriptions of voices and music of enslaved and self-emancipated Americans recorded for use by blackface performers.

• Celeste-Marie Bernier is Professor in American Cultural History and Atlantic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. In residence as a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow for the Spring 2023 semester, Bernier will be at work on the book “Why not we endure hardship that our race may be free? The Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass Family Papers and Douglass Family Lives: The Biography.

• David Bindman is the Emeritus Durning-LawrenceProfessor of the History of Art at University College London.  In residence as the Image of the Black Archive & Library Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Bindman will be at work on the volumes The Image of the Black in Latin America and Caribbean Art and The Image of the European in African Art.

• Kimberly Juanita Brown is Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. In residence as the Richard D. Cohen Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Brown will be at work on Black Elegies, a book-length study of artistic representations of Black grief within and beyond the genre of poetry.

• Panashe Chigumadzi is a Doctoral Candidate in African & African American Studies at Harvard University.  In residence as a Dorothy Porter & Charles Harris Wesley Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Chigumadzi will be at work on the dissertation The Israelites and the Ethiopians: Dylann Roof, the AME Church and the Transatlantic Apartheid.

• John J. Clegg is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Economic History at Lund University. In residence as a Hutchins Family Fellow for the Fall 2022 semester, Clegg will be at work on the book From Plantation to Prison, co-authored with Adaner Usmani, which situates American mass incarceration in comparative and historical contexts. 

• Jorge Delgadillo Núñez is a Chancellor’s Advance Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Irvine.  In residence as a SlaveVoyages Postdoctoral Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Delgadillo will contribute information on the slave market of colonial Guadalajara to the Slave Voyages Database and be at work on a study of the internal slave trade in the Spanish Empire.

• Jim Downs is the Gilder Lehrman-National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Civil War Era Studies and History at Gettysburg College. In residence as a Shelia Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Downs will be at work on a history of the field of public health and the 1866 cholera epidemic, Deadly Water: A New Origin of Story of Public Health.

• Reighan Gillam is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Southern California. In residence as a Mark Claster Mamolen Fellow for the Fall 2022 semester, Gillam will be at work on the book Diasporic Agency: Transnational Racial Leverage and Challenges to Exceptionalism which examines Afro-Brazilian engagement with African American culture, performance, and community.

• Mandy Izadi is a Broadbent Junior Research Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute & St. Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford. In residence as a Hutchins Family Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Izadi will be at work on the book Born of War: Seminoles and the Making of America, a transnational history of the Seminoles from the mid-18th century to the 21st century.

• Nancy Jacobs is Professor of History at Brown University. In residence as a Hutchins Family Fellow for the Spring 2023 semester, Jacobs will be at work on The Global Grey Parrot, a book-length study at the nexus of African, environmental, economic, and Animal-Human histories.  

• Rashauna R. Johnson is Associate Professor of History at the University of Chicago. In residence as a Hutchins Family Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Johnson will be at work on the book Strange Roots: Black Intimacies in the Global Plantation South, which weaves together family and regional stories to reveal a history of global assemblage in the rural plantation South.

• Stevie Johnson is a Hiphop artist and scholar. In residence as a Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow for the Spring 2023 semester, Johnson will be at work on Little Africa on Fire, Still, a scholarly and personal study which situates the album Fire in Little Africa as an intervention in post-Civil Rights Black identity and discourse around the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

• Tamary Kudita is a fine art photographer. In residence as a J. M. D. Manyika Fellow for Spring 2023, Kudita will be at work on the project Locating the Self Within the Black Photographic Archive Whilst Mapping the Postcolonial Terrain Across Different Geographies.

• Shirley Moody-Turner is Associate Professor of English and African American Studies, Penn State University. In residence as a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow for the Spring 2023 semester, Moody-Turner will be at work on the book “Courageous Revolt”: Anna Julia Cooper, An Interpretive Biography.

• Jeffrey Murray is Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages and Literatures at the University of Cape Town. In residence as a Mandela Fellow for the Fall 2022 semester, Murray will be at work on a history of classical scholarship and education in Natal, Classics in Natal, 1843-2000.

• Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a writer, editor, and Royal Literary Fund Fellow at University West London, Brentford. In residence as a Hutchins Family Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Parkes will be at work on a new approach to African and Diaspora studies called The Remainder Project. His primary output will be a collection of poems entitled s(ang'st)ill.

• Antonia Gabriela Pereira is a Coordinator at "Biblioteca e Centro Cultural Preto Casa Futuro," Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In residence as a Mark Claster Mamolen Fellow for the Spring 2023 semester, Pereira will be at work on the book Being Strong in Black Diaspora: Black Women's Bodies, Racial Violence, and Community Activism of Black Fighter Boxer Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Faith Smith is Associate Professor of African and African American Studies, and English, Brandeis University. In residence as a Hutchins Family Fellow for the Fall 2022 semester, Smith will be at work on DreadKin, a book-length study of literary and visual cultures that map belonging and justice in the context of the Caribbean’s complex experiences with sovereignty in the global present.

• K’Naan Warsame is a poet, writer, and musician. In residence as a Nasir Jones Hiphop  Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Warsame will be at work on the musical The Storyteller and the novel Frog Legs.

• Paul Tiyambe Zeleza is Associate Provost and North Star Distinguished Professor at Case Western Reserve University. In residence as a W. E. B. Du Bois Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year, Zeleza will be at work on the book The Long Transition to the 21st Century: A Global History of the Present and the memoir Navigating the Ivory Tower: A Transatlantic Memoir.

Senga Nengudi: First African American woman to win the Nasher Sculpture Prize

Sculptor and performance artist Senga Nengudi is the winner of the 2023 Nasher Prize.

With the international award, the 79-year-old Nengudi will receive $100,000 — along with a trophy designed by the center's architect, Renzo Piano.

The Chicago-born, California-raised Senga Nengudi is known for pushing the boundaries of sculpture into performance art, notably with "Ceremony for Freeway Frets" from 1978. Nengudi and a group of fellow artists, often donning items she designed, climbed under a Los Angeles freeway overpass. While they performed music and danced, she distributed artworks made from what has been a signature material, pantyhose.

Nengudi has often used pantyhose to evoke women, the boundaries that encase them, human flesh in general and the fragility of that flesh (the pieces can decay — and disappear.

Nengudi has knotted and stuffed pantyhose, suggesting sagging human bodies as well as discarded materials and discarded lives. The artist herself has performed with her sculptural pieces. Clearly influenced by the Civil Rights Movement as well as feminism, these works have had Nengudi tied down or restrained in webs of stretched pantyhose. Nengudi often records these ephemeral works with film, video, photography — and in her own journals.

The Nasher comes with the largest cash award of any international sculpture prize. Nengudi was chosen by an 8-member panel that included the previous winner, Nairy Baghramain, and longtime Nasher jurist, Sir Nicholas Serota, the chair of Arts Council England.

[SOURCE: KERANEWS]

America’s first African American Veterans Monument unveiled in Buffalo

The African American Veterans Monument was unveiled Saturday at Buffalo's Naval and Military Park.

The monument is the first of its kind across the nation.

This has been six years in the making.

The monument has 12 columns and will light up at night. There are also bricks that have the names of African Americans who have served our country.

Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes is the one who had the idea to bring this monument to Buffalo.

"There's not a war this country has ever been in that somebody who looked like me wasn't on the frontlines. Not ever. And they're going to understand that because school children are going to take visits to this monument not just from Buffalo and Western New York but around the world." said Stokes.

"This is the first African American monument in the country that honors veterans in all the wars. Many areas and many spots may have a statue that honors Blacks in Vietnam or something. But there's no other monument that honors all the wars with African Americans and that's why this is very unique," said Warren Galloway, president of the board of directors at the African American Veterans Monument.

There are 550 with names right now, and many families were excited to see the names of loved ones who deserve their names there.

All the bricks here that are unmarked, about 4,500, are for sale. So if you are a veteran and would like to buy one for yourself or a family member, it costs $250.

[ SOURCE: WGRZ]

Bowie State To Host Second Annual HBCU Entrepreneurship Conference

It began in 2021 and in one year the HBCU Entrepreneurship Conference has grown into one of Bowie State University’s (BSU) signature events attended by students, leaders from other HBCUs, foundation executives, entrepreneurs and others interested in furthering entrepreneurship and innovation.

Hosted by the BSU Entrepreneurship Innovation Center EIC), the hybrid conference is set for October 6, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Supported by lead sponsor Truist, registration is now open and free for all attendees. Conference participants will have the opportunity to connect with peers to share research and experience a new vision for experiential education in entrepreneurship beyond the classroom. Attendees will also help advance entrepreneurship education across HBCUs by sharing what institutions are doing in the entrepreneurship arena and discussing how to get more students to buy-in to the entrepreneurial mindset.

“Our conference takes entrepreneurship beyond the classroom and will help promote entrepreneurship education across all departments at HBCUs as fundamental to a students’ higher education experience,” said Johnetta Hardy, executive director of the EIC. “We want administrators from HBCUs to engage with successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, students, researchers and other conference participants to foster an entrepreneurial mindset that they will inject at their colleges and universities upon their return.”

Over 25 interactive virtual sessions led by HBCU faculty, administrators and business executives will be presented on experiential education in entrepreneurship; connecting communities to an entrepreneurial ecosystem; building strong university entrepreneurship ecosystems that remove silos and spawn closer working relationships; and measuring the success of entrepreneurship education based on competencies, skills, and other evaluative measures.

Keynote speakers include Philip Gaskin, vice president of entrepreneurship, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Al Reynolds, co-host of FOX Soul’s TEA G-I-F and business development executive; and Clifton L. Taulbert, Pulitzer nominee, entrepreneur, and CEO. Reynolds will appear in person at the conference while Gaskin and Taulbert will make virtual presentations.

“This conference has something for everyone,” said Hardy. “Students will develop new contacts, find mentors and learn about entrepreneurship from experienced business owners. HBCU administrators and business executives will have the opportunity to share their knowledge on entrepreneurship and develop new relationships that will be beneficial for everyone.”