article via shadowandact.com
According to DC Comics Universe lore, Black Lightning (real name Jefferson Pierce) – created by Tony Isabella and Trevor von Eeden, first appearing in “Black Lightning #1” (1977) – is a super-hero with the ability to generate and control lightning. Originally he was a high school principal and Olympic-level athlete who became a vigilante to take down organized crime in Metropolis’ Suicide Slum.
Eventually he would become a member of Batman’s team of Outsiders for many years, although he retired briefly to become secretary of education underneath president Lex Luthor. Returning to crime-fighting, he has also been a member of the Justice League. His two daughters operate as the super-heroes Thunder and Lightning.
And now a live-action series based on the superhero is set to come to your TV screens – The CW specifically – in a collaboration between Mara Brock and Salim Akil and Greg Berlanti, the man behind all of the CW’s DC universe series.
Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil will write and executive produce the series with Berlanti Prods.’ Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter, for Warner Bros. TV (recall the Akils inked a 3-year deal with Warner Bros. after exiting BET last year; “Black Lightning” will be their second project under the new deal; the first, announced a week ago, will be a comedy series titled “Documenting Love” which will center on a modern-day power couple navigating life, love and family.
To read full article, go to: Mara Brock & Salim Akil Team Up With Greg Berlanti for ‘Black Lightning’ Superhero Series – Shadow and Act
Posts published in “Entertainment”
article by Elizabeth Wagmeister via variety.com
ABC is developing a new drama with one of the networks most trusted stars, Kerry Washington. The “Scandal” star is on board to executive produce “Patrol,” a workplace drama about four female LAPD officers who attended the police academy together five years ago and are forced to reconnect after a high-stakes, traumatic secret returns to haunt them.
The project marks the first to fall under Washington’s new overall deal with ABC, which she inked this April to develop new projects for ABC Studios — the studio behind “Patrol.”
Washington is producing the potential series by way of her recently-launched production shingle Simpson Street. The actress has been expanding her behind-the-camera work lately. Simpson Street came fresh out of the gate with HBO’s “Confirmation,” in which Washington starred as Anita Hill, marking the company’s first project.
Chitra Elizabeth Sampath, who served as a writer/producer on the first season of ABC’s “Secrets and Lies,” wrote the “Patrol” script and will serve as a co-executive producer. Along with Washington, executive producers are Groundswell Productions’ Michael London and Janice Williams, plus Washington’s Simpson Street producing partner Sharla Sumpter Bridgett.
To read more, go to: http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/patrol-kerry-washington-series-abc-1201848288/
article by Kellee Terrell via blackamericaweb.com
Legendary actress Cicely Tyson is adding more awards to her repertoire.
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Incorporated (CBCF) recently announced that the 91-year-old actress will be a recipient of a lifetime achievement award in the arts. Tyson will also be joined by “Being Mary Jane” actor Richard Roundtree and music icon Dionne Warwick during the foundation’s 20th Annual Celebration of Leadership in the Fine Arts.
“With a lifetime of entertaining and educating us, this year’s honorees have also distinguished themselves as remarkable leaders and passionate advocates for the arts and arts education,” said CBCF president and CEO A. Shuanise Washington in a press release.
“Their outstanding contributions and continuing commitment to the arts make them ideal to help elevate the visibility of the CBC Spouses Visual and Performance Arts Scholarship Program. The awards are conferred on artists whose legacy includes not only extraordinary works but a commitment to cultivating future generations of artists.”
The awards ceremony, which will take place Sept. 14 in Washington, D.C., is organized in cooperation with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Spouses Visual and Performance Arts Scholarship program, Shadow and Act noted.
The House of Cards and How To Get Away With Murder guest star is no stranger to recognition.
During Tyson’s illustrious 65-year career, she has won an Emmy, a Tony, a SAG and a Drama Desk Award for her work in television, film and on and Off-Broadway. She has also been nominated for a Golden Globe, Academy Award and BAFTA to name a few. And just recently, it was announced that the American Theatre Wing will honor Tyson at its annual Gala September 26 at The Plaza Hotel.
To read more, go to: http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/08/30/congressional-black-caucus-to-honor-cicely-tyson/
“Recovering from setbacks, losses and injury, rising from obscurity and destroying obstacles to claim victory, they command the spotlight and inspire Nike to innovate to match their strength and their dreams,” Nike says of the women it highlights in the video. Women like Gabby Douglas, Serena Williams, Scout Bassett, Elena Delle Donne, Allyson Felix, and, of course, Simone Biles, who closes out the video with the kind of stupendous gymnastics move we’ve gotten used to seeing after witnessing her earn five Olympic medals in Rio.
Check it out below:
https://youtu.be/SmLpiHDuLSE
article by Charles Bolden via vanityfair.com
When I was growing up, in segregated South Carolina, African-American role models in national life were few and far between. Later, when my fellow flight students and I, in training at the Naval Air Station in Meridian, Mississippi, clustered around a small television watching the Apollo 11 moon landing, little did I know that one of the key figures responsible for its success was an unassuming black woman from West Virginia: Katherine Johnson.
Hidden Figures is both an upcoming book and an upcoming movie about her incredible life, and, as the title suggests, Katherine worked behind the scenes but with incredible impact. When Katherine began at NASA, she and her cohorts were known as “human computers,” and if you talk to her or read quotes from throughout her long career, you can see that precision, that humming mind, constantly at work. She is a human computer, indeed, but one with a quick wit, a quiet ambition, and a confidence in her talents that rose above her era and her surroundings.
“In math, you’re either right or you’re wrong,” she said. Her succinct words belie a deep curiosity about the world and dedication to her discipline, despite the prejudices of her time against both women and African-Americans. It was her duty to calculate orbital trajectories and flight times relative to the position of the moon—you know, simple things. In this day and age, when we increasingly rely on technology, it’s hard to believe that John Glenn himself tasked Katherine to double-check the results of the computer calculations before his historic orbital flight, the first by an American. The numbers of the human computer and the machine matched.
To read full article, go to: Katherine Johnson, the NASA Mathematician Who Advanced Human Rights with a Slide Rule and Pencil | Vanity Fair
article by Yohana Desta via vanityfair.com
In 1991, Julie Dash’s sumptuous film “Daughters of the Dust” broke ground as the first movie directed by a black woman to get a wide theatrical release. Since then, the gorgeous tone poem about a Gullah family in 1902 has continued to gather accolades. It was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2004, and recently served as a heavy inspiration for Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade.
Now, the film is being re-introduced to the mainstream in a splashy new way—the Cohen Media Group has created a rich 2K restoration that will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, then released in theaters again this November. (Watch the exclusive new trailer above to see the film restored in all its fresh, new glory, and scroll down to see the glossy new poster.)
Dash calls the new release “exciting.”“I never imagined it would be released again,” she says. For the record, Dash is also a huge fan of Lemonade—and says that the visual album actually helped Daughters on the road to restoration. Read on to see her thoughts about Beyoncé, Hollywood, and whether she’d ever make a sequel to her classic film.
Vanity Fair: Were you paying attention at all to Lemonade, to the Beyoncé film?
Julie Dash: Yes. My phone blew up the night Lemonade came on and my Web site shut down . . . someone called me and said Daughters of the Dust is trending on Twitter. And I said, “No, it must be something else,” and they said, “No, it’s trending!” And I looked and it was, and it was so funny. It just tickled me to death. So I finally got a chance to see Lemonade and I was just very pleased. Lemonade is just—it breaks new ground. It’s a masterpiece.It’s a tone poem, a visual tone poem with various stories going on—vignettes. It’s just all visual, and it’s like yes.
To read full interview and see the “Daughters of the Dust” trailer, go to: How Beyoncé’s Lemonade Helped Bring a Groundbreaking Film Back to Thea | Vanity Fair
article via eurweb.com
John Legend, an executive producer on WGN America’s successful series “Underground,” is behind yet another project for the network based on a true experience in African American history.
The singer is executive producing a new series based on Black Wall Street, the nickname given to the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the early part of the 20th century, the area was one of the wealthiest and most affluent black communities in the United States.
However, jealous white citizens destroyed much of the neighborhood and killed upwards of 300 black people in a race riot that broke out in 1921.
According to TheWrap, the as-yet-untitled series is in the early stages of development, with Legend producing through his Get Lifted production banner along with Mike Jackson, Ty Stiklorius and “Southside With You” star Tika Sumpter.
To see a history of Black Wall Street, click below:
John Legend Bringing True Story of Tulsa’s ‘Black Wall Street’ to WGN | EURweb
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)
The trailer for “Hidden Figures”, the Fox 2000 drama starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons, directed by Theodore Melfi, with original music from Pharrell Williams, debuted last night on NBC during the women’s gymnastics individual event finals at the Rio Olympics. In case you missed it – watch it here and mark your calendars – the movie will go into wide release on January 13, 2017.
The film, based on the upcoming book by Margot Lee Shetterly, is the true story of the black female mathematicians who worked at NASA in the 1960s and helped put John Glenn into orbit. To learn more about the movie and the history, click here.
Halle Berry Joins Forces with Saks Fifth Avenue and Christian Louboutin for Key to the Cure Campaign
article by Dominique Hobdy via essence.com
Halle Berry is using fashion to fight for a great cause.
The actress is teaming up with Saks Fifth Avenue, Stand Up to Cancer and the Entertainment Industry Foundation for the Key to the Cure campaign.
Signing on as the official ambassador for the cause, Berry will be rocking an exclusive limited-edition T-shirt designed by Christian Louboutin in the campaign images.
“I, like so many others, have been touched by cancer, which is why I’m proud to continue to lend my support to the Entertainment Industry Foundation and Stand Up to Cancer in serving as this year’s Key to the Cure ambassador,” Berry, 49, said in a statement. “I hope everyone will join me in supporting this critical cause by purchasing a Key to the Cure T-shirt.”
To read more, go to: http://www.essence.com/2016/08/04/halle-berry-teams-christian-louboutin-saks-t-shirt-line-cause
The actress is teaming up with Saks Fifth Avenue, Stand Up to Cancer and the Entertainment Industry Foundation for the Key to the Cure campaign.
Signing on as the official ambassador for the cause, Berry will be rocking an exclusive limited-edition T-shirt designed by Christian Louboutin in the campaign images.
“I, like so many others, have been touched by cancer, which is why I’m proud to continue to lend my support to the Entertainment Industry Foundation and Stand Up to Cancer in serving as this year’s Key to the Cure ambassador,” Berry, 49, said in a statement. “I hope everyone will join me in supporting this critical cause by purchasing a Key to the Cure T-shirt.”
To read more, go to: http://www.essence.com/2016/08/04/halle-berry-teams-christian-louboutin-saks-t-shirt-line-cause
After Hilarious Series of Die-Hard Team USA Tweets, Leslie Jones Officially Joins NBC Olympics Coverage Team
article by Daniel Holloway via Variety.com
“Ghostbusters” star Leslie Jones is headed to Rio de Janeiro to join NBC’s Summer Olympics coverage. Jones announced the news via a video posted on Twitter Monday, which featured her wearing an NBC Olympics hat, waving an American flag and singing “Guess who’s going to Rio!” NBC Sports confirmed to Variety that Jones will be joining its coverage team.
As a contributor to NBC’s Olympics team, Jones will attend live events such as swimming, track and field, gymnastics and beach volleyball and provide coverage on air and online. Olympics executive producer Jim Bell invited Jones via Twitter last week to join NBC’s coverage team after the comic went on an epic Twitter tear commenting on the games.
The “Saturday Night Live” cast member has been posting Olympics-related comments and videos — mostly of Jones talking over the games on TV — since shortly after the opening ceremonies Friday night.“We’re thrilled to have Leslie come to the Olympics,” said Bell. “She’s a member of the family, and her passion for the Olympics is remarkable.”
Source: Leslie Jones Joins NBC Olympics Coverage Team | Variety
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