SHUDDER ANNOUNCES HORROR NOIRE: A HISTORY OF BLACK HORROR, PREMIERING FEBRUARY 7

NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 7, 2019 – Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller, and the supernatural, today announced the upcoming premiere of its first original documentary feature, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. Based on the acclaimed book of the same name by Dr. Robin R.  Means  Coleman,  Horror Noire takes  a critical look at a century of genre films that by turns utilized, caricatured, exploited, sidelined, and embraced both black filmmakers and black audiences.

The film features in-depth interviews with noted directors, writers, and actors, including Ernest Dickerson (Bones), Rusty Cundieff (Tales from the Hood), Jordan Peele (Us), Tina Mabry (Mississippi Damned), Tony Todd (Candyman), Paula Jai Parker (Tales from the Hood), Tananarive Due (My Soul to Keep), and Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman. Horror Noire will premiere exclusively on Shudder on Thursday, February 7, after special screening events in New York and Los Angeles earlier in the month.

“After I saw Oscar winner Jordan Peele’s Get Out, I created a UCLA class around Black Horror called The Sunken Place,” said executive producer Tananarive Due. “The text I recommended   was Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman’s Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to the Present. So I was so thrilled to help bring this story to life on the screen. Horror Noire is about the history of black horror films, but it’s also a testament to the power of representation and how horror is such a visceral way to fight racial trauma: our real pain and   fear, but from a safer distance – while we get stronger.”

“The horror genre is daring, unflinching pedagogy. It is like a syllabus of our social, political,        and racial world,” said executive producer Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman. “The horror film is fascinating if for no other reason than that it prides itself on snuggling up next to the taboo,     while confounding our sense of good and evil, the monstrous and divine, and the sacred and profane. It is one of the most intrepid of entertainment forms in its scrutiny of our humanity and our foibles. It is my sincere hope that Horror Noire will spark fierce debate and trigger even    more exacting, nuanced explorations into the power of horror.”

Beginning with the silent film era, Horror Noire explores the often overlooked and downplayed history of Black Americans in Hollywood: the emergence of black leading men in genre cinema       in the late ‘60s with Night of the Living Dead and into the ‘70s with Blacula and films of the blaxploitation era; Candyman and the growing popularity of urban horror in the 1990s; up to the genre’s recent resurgence with movies like the Oscar-winning, critical and commercial hit Get Out.

“There are messages of humanity and  survival  that  Black  storytellers  and  performers  have been expressing in horror since the genre’s beginning,” said Ashlee Blackwell, a producer and co-writer of Horror Noire as well as the founder and managing editor of Graveyard Shift Sisters, a website dedicated to the topic of Black women in horror. “It’s been an exciting journey to      work with a team to bring this once hidden history to life and out of the shadows.”

Horror Noire is adapted from Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman’s landmark influential 2011 book, Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present, a comprehensive chronological survey of the genre. Both book and film provide a unique social history of blacks in America as seen through their changing images in horror films.

Horror Noire features interviews with filmmakers and scholars, showcasing a who’s who of black horror cinema, from those who survived the genre’s past trends to those shaping its future.

The complete list of Horror Noire interviewees:

Ashlee Blackwell                          Creator, GraveyardShiftSisters.com

Ernest Dickerson                          Director, Bones, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight

Jordan Peele                                Writer/ Director, Get Out, Us

Keith David                                  Actor, The Thing

Kelly Jo Minter                             Actor, The People Under the Stairs

Ken Foree                                     Actor, Dawn of the Dead

Ken Sagoes                                   Actor, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Loretta Devine                             Actor, Urban Legend

Mark H. Harris                              Creator, BlackHorrorMovies.com

Meosha Bean                               Filmmaker

Miguel A. Nuñez                          Actor, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

Monica Suriyage                          Filmmaker

Paula Jai Parker                           Actor, Tales from the Hood

Rachel True                                  Actor, The Craft

Richard Lawson                           Actor, Scream Blacula Scream

Robin R. Means Coleman, PhD   Author/ Educator

Rusty Cundieff                             Co-Writer/ Director, Tales from the Hood

Tananarive Due                           Author/ Educator

Tina Mabry                                   Writer/ Director, Mississippi Damned

Tony Todd                                    Actor, Candyman

William Crain                               Director, Blacula

Horror Noire is directed by Xavier Burgin, executive produced by Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman, Tananarive Due, Fangoria Editor-in-Chief Phil Nobile Jr and Kelly Ryan of Stage 3 Productions, and is produced and co-written by Ashlee Blackwell and Danielle Burrows.

“Horror Noire is an important and timely documentary that explores an overlooked part of the horror genre that’s only just beginning to get the attention it deserves,” said Shudder’s general manager, Craig Engler. “We’re honored and thrilled to help bring this project to life and share it with the world.”

Ahead of its Shudder debut on February 7, Horror Noire will have its world premiere Friday, February 1, in collaboration with Beyond Fest and the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, CA, headlining two days of screenings with special guests in celebration of black horror. More information and tickets will be available soon at americancinemathequecalendar.com.

Then on Monday, February 4, Horror Noire will have its east coast premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, followed by a panel conversation featuring executive producer Tananarive Due, writer/producer Ashlee Blackwell, filmmaker R. Shanea Williams, and comics writer Greg Anderson Elysee. The film will screen on a double bill with Rusty Cundieff’s 1995 classic, Tales from the Hood. Tickets for this special event will be on sale Monday, January 7 at BAM.org.

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ABOUT SHUDDER

AMC Networks’ SHUDDER is a premium streaming video service, super-serving fans of all degrees with the best selection in genre entertainment, covering thrillers, suspense, and horror. SHUDDER’s expanding library of film, TV series, and originals is available in the US, Canada,  UK, Ireland, and Germany on most streaming devices for 4.99/month or 49.99/year. To experience SHUDDER commitment-free for 7 days, visit www.shudder.com.

Ferguson school district must change board election method

A Missouri school district that includes students from Ferguson must change its board member election method after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal.

The Supreme Court let stand a July ruling from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals panel sided with a federal judge who in 2017 ordered the Ferguson-Florissant School District to adopt cumulative voting, saying the district's at-large election method violated the federal Voting Rights Act.

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the NAACP and black parents and residents of the suburban St. Louis school district alleged that the at-large system, in which people vote only once for a candidate, was racially biased against black candidates.

Cumulative voting allows people to cast as many votes as there are candidates and to use all of their votes on one candidate if they choose.

ACLU attorneys said they are eager to work with the district to implement a new system for use in the April school board election.

"With a new electoral system in place, all residents' voices will be heard and their votes will be given equal weight," Julie Ebenstein, an attorney with the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, said in a statement.

A statement from the school district said that while it was disappointed, it has been working with the ACLU and county election officials "to implement the court-mandated election procedures" in time for the April 3 election.

The lawsuit against the school district was filed in 2014, when six of the seven board members were white, even though about four-fifths of the district's 11,000 students were black.

The current racial makeup of the board is four white and three black members. Two of the board members — one white and one black — have terms that expire in April.

[SOURCE: YAHOO]

Help All Women HBCU Bennett College must raise 5 million to maintain accreditation

Bennett College is in danger of losing it's accreditation. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges had voted to remove its accreditation due to failure to comply with the commission’s financial standards.  The all women's HBCU needs to raise $5 million by February , 2019 to maintain it's accreditation.

So far, the college has raised more than $1 million. They need your help!

Stand with Bennett

50 days. Friends, we have 50 days to raise funds to help Bennett College maintain its accreditation with SACSCOC. February 1, 2019, is our target date for accomplishing this goal.

Over the past two years, Bennett has made significant gains in addressing our financial stability. Some of the significant strides made to achieve sustainability include:

• Bennett generated a surplus of $461,038 and had no audit findings.
• Bennett was approved for a capital loan deferment over a six-year period with a financial benefit of nearly $9 million.
• Bennett has steadily increased its fundraising from $3.47 million to $4.25 million over a 3-year period.
• Bennett’s enrollment has been trending upward for 2 years from 409 in 2017 to 471 in 2018.
• Our retention rate is also significantly up from 44% in Fall 2017 to 53% in Fall 2018.
• The average GPA of new freshwomen increased from 2.8 in 2017 to 3.2 in 2018.
• Bennett continues to support mission activities, and academic and student programs.

Despite all of these accomplishments, SACSCOC felt that we fell short.  We are appealing their decision and working hard to demonstrate that we are fiscally stable. This requires us to raise additional money to reduce our debt and improve our cash position.

When you #StandWithBennett, you are preserving the legacy and excellence of black women in the U.S.  Since 1873, @BennettCollege has created a place for black women's voices and brilliance to be developed and cultivated.

We need your help. #StandWithBennett Give to Bennett. Or you may text the word Belles to 444999 and follow the instructions.

If you would like to donate, click here: http://www.bennett.edu/standwithbennett/

50TH NAACP IMAGE AWARDS TO AIR LIVE ON TV ONE MARCH 30, 2019

LOS ANGELES, CA (January 3, 2019) – The 50th NAACP Image Awards will air LIVE on TV One, a division of Urban One, Inc., on March 30, 2019. For the first time ever, the telecast will take place from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. The announcement was made today by NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Leon W. Russell, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, Urban One, Inc. & Chairman/CEO, TV One Alfred Liggins and TV One General Manager Michelle Rice.

The NAACP Image Awards celebrates the accomplishment of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature, and film and also honors individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors. The upcoming telecast, the 50th Anniversary of the NAACP Image Awards, will also spotlight the significant contributions of the NAACP and the impact the organization has had on our community and country.

In addition to the live telecast, TV One will also air special programming honoring this year’s nominees and spotlighting significant moments. The network will provide promotional support for both programs on TV One, Radio One and Reach Media, Interactive One, and via a multi-platform marketing campaign.

“The 50th Anniversary of the Image Awards represents a major milestone in bringing visibility to the outstanding achievements of African Americans in entertainment, literature, and arts, as well as the NAACP’s ongoing advocacy for equality of opportunity in our society without regard for race,” said the NAACP’s Derrick Johnson. “We are sincerely grateful for our continued partnership with TV One and look forward to working with them on the 50th anniversary show, added Johnson.

“We are honored to continue our partnership with the NAACP to remain the television home for the Image Awards,” said Liggins of TV One. “The NAACP 50th Anniversary Image Awards is an important milestone for the African American community and we couldn’t be more thrilled to offer this special programming once again to our viewers. As we prepare to celebrate the network’s 15th anniversary next year, we look forward to this very special night.”

“African Americans have had a tremendous impact on society and culture, a fact that we’re excited to celebrate with the telecast of the 50th NAACP Image Awards on TV One,” said Michelle Rice, General Manager. “As we honor this year’s biggest achievements and the incredible 50 year legacy of the NAACP Image Awards, we’re proud to continue the network’s mission to represent the richness of the Black experience.”

The multi-cultural show is one of the most respected events of its kind and is well attended by many of the top names in the entertainment industry. Airing on MLK day last year, the 49th NAACP Image Awards posted strong year-over-year growth across most demos: Households (+15%), P25-54 (+21%), P18-49 (+44%), W18-49 (+20%), and Total Viewers 2+ (+10%). And, for the night, the special was a Top 5 Cable Telecast among African Americans (Households, AA W25-54, and AA P2+). Additionally, the show has reached 2.4 Million Total Unique Viewers 2+ since airing in January 2018.

TV One also delivered a strong performance on its social platforms during last year’s awards telecast, with #ImageAwards trending #2 nationally beginning at 9 p.m. ET and continuing in the Top 5 until 3 a.m. ET. The network generated more than 305 million impressions on Twitter using #ImageAwards and #RepresentTheDream, while traffic to the network’s website tvone.tv increased by +59% in page views. The site saw an increase of +25% for all NAACP Image Awards related content and delivered 183,000 page views (from 10/1/2017 – 1/17/2018 vs. 10/1/2016 – 2/14/2017) over 2017.

Previous telecasts included stellar talent such as Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith, Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis, Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington, Anthony Anderson, Sterling K. Brown, Mandy Moore, Halle Berry, Common, Dwayne Johnson, Steve Harvey, Audra Day, John Legend, Tracee Ellis Ross, David Oyelowo, Laverne Cox, Octavia Spencer, Issa Rae, Chadwick Boseman, Terry Crews, Yara Shahidi, Danai Gurira, Isaiah Washington, Jacob Latimore, Jay Pharoah, Jemele Hill, Josh Gad, Loretta Devine, Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Jurnee Smollett, Meta Golding, Michael Smith, Tyler James Williams, Ava DuVernay, Chadwick Boseman, and many more.

The production team will be returning including Executive Producers Reginald Hudlin and Phil Gurin, Tony McCuin as Director, Byron Phillips as Co-Executive Producer, and Robin Reinhardt as Talent Producer.

For all information and latest news, please visit the official NAACP Image Awards website at www.naacpimageawards.net.

Nominations for the “50th NAACP Image Awards” will be announced February.

FB: /naacpimageaward | Twitter: @naacpimageaward (#ImageAwards)

Nahendra Faye Davis is missing!

A woman from Baker, Louisiana is missing after she was last seen dropping off her two children at her mother’s home, according to the Baker Police Department.

Nahendra Faye Davis, 35, of Baker, was last seen on Thursday, December 27, 2018 at about 4:45 p.m. Police say she dropped off her children at her mother’s home in the Glen Oaks area of Baton Rouge. Davis left the home in her white Dodge Challenger. Her family does not know where she was heading after she left.

Davis’ unoccupied vehicle was found around Scenic Hwy. and 72nd Ave.

The Baker woman is about 5 feet 3 to 5 feet 5 inches and weighs around 150 pounds.

The Baker Police Department urges anyone with information on Davis' whereabouts to call detectives at 225-775-6000 ext. 1.

[SOURCE: WAFB]