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Ruth Negga Lands Female Lead in AMC Pilot "Preacher"

By goodblacknews on March 23, 2015

Tulip Ruth NeggaAgents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Ruth Negga has been cast as the female lead in Preacher, AMC’s drama pilot based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s cult 1990s comic. The project, from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, is about Jesse Custer, a conflicted Preacher in a small Texas town who merges with a creature that has escaped from heaven and develops the ability to make anyone do anything he says. Along with his ex-girlfriend, Tulip (Negga) — Jesse’s former and only true love — and an Irish vampire named Cassidy, the three embark on a journey to literally find God. Tulip is described as a volatile, action-packed, sexified force of nature, a capable, unrepentant criminal with a love of fashion and ability to construct helicopter-downing bazookas out of coffee cans and corn shine who’s not afraid to steal, kill or corn cob-stab her way out of a bad situation.

Negga is the first actor cast in Preacher, from Sony TV and AMC Studios. Agent Carter’s Dominic Cooper has been rumored for the lead, Jesse. Rogen and Goldberg developed the project for television and will direct the pilot, written by Sam Catlin who serves as showrunner.
RELATED: Networks Casting More Actors of Color This Pilot Season
Negga has comic book credentials with her recurring role as Raina on ABC’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. In features, she shot the titular role of the Irish drama Iona, directed by Scott Graham. Negga was recently seen in the Jimi Hendrix biopic All Is By My Side and next plays Lady Taria in another high-profile genre project, Warcraft. 
This marks the second consecutive comic book-based drama project, in which Sony has cast a minority actress as the female lead, drawn as Caucasian in the comics.Preacher joins the studio’s Playstation series Powers co-starring Susan Heyward.
article by Nellie Andreeva via deadline.com

HISTORY: Mary Bowser Worked as Servant in Confederate White House to Spy on Jefferson Davis for Union Army

By goodblacknews on March 22, 2015
Union Army Spy and Hero Mary Bowser
Union Army Spy and Hero Mary Bowser

For Women’s History Month, The Root is spotlighting less famous figures from the African American National Biography, whose stories exemplify the extraordinary, and often unsung, accomplishments of African-American women from our past.
In modern wars, including the Civil War, women have taken on key assignments at the heart of the action as soldiers or nurses or performed supportive roles. Women contributed important work to the intelligence services of the Union as well as the Confederacy: Perhaps the most remarkable service rendered was that of Harriet Tubman, now recognized as having played a central role in gathering intelligence and planning the liberation of more than 700 slaves in the Union Army’s dramatic 1863 raid on the Confederate redoubt at the Combahee River in South Carolina.
Other black women are known to have served the Union cause as spies, but because of the very subterfuge involved, biographical detail about them is hard to pin down.
One exception is Mary Bowser. Born a slave on a plantation near Richmond, Va., she was owned by the family of John Van Lew, a wealthy businessman originally from the North. Along with other slaves of the Van Lews, Mary was emancipated sometime in the 1840s.
Yet she remained a household servant until a Van Lew daughter, Elizabeth, arranged for her to attend a Quaker school for blacks in Philadelphia. In April 1861, she married Wilson Bowser, a free black man. Records list them as “servants” of Elizabeth Van Lew and the couple settled outside Richmond.
Even if Mary Bowser believed herself to be free (although by law she may have still been a slave), some people today might wonder why she bothered to return to a slave state after living in the Quaker circles of Philadelphia.
It turns out, in fact, she did not return directly from the North to the Van Lew household in Virginia but rather spent five years in the African nation of Liberia. There she grew homesick and, perhaps through continued correspondence with Van Lew, arranged to return to Virginia in early 1860, well before Abraham Lincoln’s election as president or the attack on Fort Sumter that ignited the Civil War.
The full extent of the relationship between Mary Bowser and Elizabeth Van Lew is not entirely clear, but at some point early in the war, the two women agreed to collaborate with the Union spy network in the Confederate capital of Richmond. Well known as a staunch Unionist and abolitionist before the war, Van Lew came to adopt a distracted, muttering persona as “Crazy Bet” to deflect Confederate concern. This way she could visit the city’s prison for Union soldiers with care packages of food and medicine and also pass along messages and establish a network of contacts.
To infiltrate the Confederate White House, the home of President Jefferson Davis and First Lady Varina Davis, however, required a different type of talent: the ability to act as a dimwitted yet loyal and hardworking domestic servant even while observing the Confederacy’s first family up close.
Mary Bowser, it seems, took to the role like a natural. After working at several Davis functions, she was hired full time and cleaned and served meals in the Confederate White House from about 1862 until almost the war’s end. She was known as “Little Mary,” according to Thomas McNiven, the Scottish-American baker whose business deliveries throughout Richmond, including to the Confederate White House, served as a cover for his activities as a member of the city’s Union spy ring.
McNiven’s recollection, provided late in life to his daughter, Jeanette, was that Mary Bowser “had a photographic mind” so that “everything she saw on the Rebel president’s desk, she could repeat word for word.”

Kerry Washington Accepts Vanguard Award at the #glaadawards (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on March 22, 2015

Scandal star Kerry Washington accepted the Vanguard Award at Saturday’s 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles at the iconic Beverly Hilton. Ellen DeGeneres, who was previously honored with GLAAD’s Stephen F. Kolzak Award, presented the honor. The Vanguard Award is presented to media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equality. Previous Vanguard Award honorees include Jennifer Lopez, Kristin Chenoweth, Charlize Theron, Elizabeth Taylor, Antonio Banderas, Drew Barrymore, Janet Jackson, and Sharon Stone.

Check out the video of Washington below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruv8As-_CMg&w=560&h=315]

In an acceptance speech that had the audience on their feet, Washington said, “I don’t decide to play the characters I play as a political choice. Yet the characters I play often do become political statements. Because having your story told as a woman, as a person of color, as a lesbian, as a trans person, or as any member of any disenfranchised community, is sadly often still a radical idea. There is so much power in storytelling, and there is enormous power in inclusive storytelling, in inclusive representations. That is why the work of GLAAD is so important. We need more LGBT representation in the media. We need more LGBT characters and more LGBT storytelling. We need more diverse LGBT representation. And by that, I mean lots of different kinds of LGBT people living all different kinds of lives. And this is big—we need more employment of LGBT people in front of and behind the camera.”
Washington continued, “We can’t say that we believe in each other’s fundamental humanity, and then turn a blind eye to the reality of each other’s existence, and the truth of each others’ hearts. We must be allies and we must be allies in this business, because to be represented is to be humanized, and as long as anyone anywhere is being made to feel less human, our very definition of humanity is at stake, and we are all vulnerable. We must see each other, all of us. And we must see ourselves, all of us. And we have to continue to be bold and break new ground until that is just how it is, until we are no longer ‘firsts’ and ‘exceptions’ and ‘rare’ and ‘unique.’ In the real world, being an ‘other’ is the norm. In the real world, the only norm is uniqueness, and our media must reflect that. Thank you GLAAD, for fighting the good fight.”
Washington is best known for her role as Olivia Pope on the LGBT-inclusive hit show Scandal, executive produced by Shonda Rhimes. In addition to the ABC drama, Washington has appeared in other LGBT-inclusive projects like Peeples, She Hate Me, The Dead Girl, and Life Is Hot In Cracktown. The actress is a longtime supporter of equality for LGBT people. She has participated in GLAAD’s annual Spirit Day, a campaign to end anti-LGBT bullying, and has advocated for marriage equality both at-home and abroad.
Ellen DeGeneres presented the Vanguard Award to Kerry Washington. Channing Tatum presented the Stephen F. Kolzak Award to director Roland Emmerich. Comedian Tig Notaro hosted the event. Guests included: Zoe Saldana (Guardians of the Galaxy); Patricia Arquette (CSI: Cyber); TV producer Shonda Rhimes; Viola Davis, Jack Falahee, Matt McGorry, Aja Naomi King, Peter Nowalk (How to Get Away with Murder); Portia de Rossi(Scandal); Graham Moore (The Imitation Game); Pauley Perrette (NCIS); Jill Soloway, Amy Landecker, Jay Duplass, Alexandra Billings, Rhys Ernst, Kiersey Clemons, Michaela Watkins, Alison Sudol, Clementine Creevy, Brett Parasol (Transparent); Michael Harney, Samira Wiley, Nick Sandow, Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black); Andrew Rannells(Girls); Murray Bartlett, Daniel Franzese (Looking); Ron Perlman (Stonewall); Jordan Gavaris (Orphan Black); Against Me! lead singer Laura Jane Grace; Michael Mosley, Kevin Daniels, Kevin Bigley (Sirens); Peter Paige, Bradley Bredeweg, Gavin MacIntosh, Hayden Byerly (The Fosters); Yara Martinez (Jane the Virgin); Serayah McNeill (Empire); Alex Newell (Glee); Gregg Sulkin, Rita Volk, Michael J. Willett, Carter Covington (Faking It); Barrett Foa (NCIS: Los Angeles); Jessica St. Clair, Lennon Parham (Playing House); Wilson Cruz (Red Band Society); stylist Brad Goreski; Gary Janetti (Vicious); Guy Wilson, Freddie Smith, Christopher Sean (Days of Our Lives); musician Our Lady J; model Nats Getty; Hannah Hart (My Drunk Kitchen); DJs Sam Sparro, Kim Anh, Derek Monteiro;  GLAAD Board member Meghan McCain; GLAAD National Spokesperson Omar Sharif, Jr. and GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
Visit glaad.org/mediaawards/press for a complete list of award recipients announced on Saturday night.
article by Mariah Yamamoto via glaad.org

Mo'ne Davis Makes Deal for Disney Channel Biopic

By goodblacknews on March 21, 2015

mone_davis_si_coverShe is still at it.  Just 13-years-old, Mo’Ne Davis has not only made history as the first female to pitch a shutout in the Little League World Series and the first Little League player to make the cover of Sports Illustrated, she also has  a book deal and a new sneaker line.  Davis is now opening up about her journey to achieving it all in a biographical movie set to premiere on Disney Channel.
“Mo’Ne is not only a top-notch athlete in three different sports — baseball, basketball and soccer — but she is an exemplary student and someone who will remind our audiences that they can do anything with hard work, dedication and belief in themselves,” said Naketha Mattocks, Vice President, Original Movies, Disney Channel.
Emmy-nominated producer Debra Martin Chase will executive produce the project, while Sheldon Candis and Justin Wilson will serve as writers for the film. Both Davis and espnW will consult on the movie.
“There are so many great things happening to me right now and it’s a very exciting time in my life,” said Davis. “A year ago, I never would have thought that Disney Channel would make a movie about me. I can’t wait to get started and I hope it will encourage other viewers to believe that dreams really do come true.”
article by Courtney Connley via blackenterprise.com

Ohio Man Ricky Jackson Receives $1 Million After Spending 39 Years in Jail for a Murder He Didn’t Commit

By goodblacknews on March 20, 2015

screen_shot_20150320_at_4.34.43_pm
Ricky Jackson (YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT)

Ricky Jackson, 57, spent 39 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, and on Thursday an Ohio judge ordered the state to pay Jackson $1 million for his wrongful imprisonment, Reuters reports. Jackson was freed from prison last November.

Jackson was informed by a journalist about the $1 million check coming his way. “Wow, I didn’t know that,” Jackson told the Cleveland Plain Dealer after he found out. “Wow, wow, wow, that’s fantastic, man. I don’t even know what to say. This is going to mean so much.”
Jackson was convicted of murder in connection with the death of Cleveland salesman Harold Franks in 1975, alongside two other men, Kwame Ajamu and Wiley Bridgeman, who are brothers. Jackson was the longest-held U.S. prisoner to be eventually cleared of a crime. Ajamu and Bridgeman also were exonerated. Ajamu’s sentence was commuted and he was released from prison in 2003, and Bridgeman was freed shortly after Jackson in November.
A 12-year-old boy named Eddie Vernon testified during the original trial that he saw the attack. Vernon later recanted his testimony, telling authorities that he did not, in fact, witness the crime.
According to Reuters, there was no other evidence linking Jackson to Franks’ death. Other witnesses said that Jackson, who was a teenager at the time, was on a school bus at the time of the killing.
article by Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele via theroot.com

Snoop Dogg & Allen Hughes Team for 1980s Family Drama At HBO

By goodblacknews on March 20, 2015

Snoop Dogg Allen Hughes 2 HBO is developing a drama series from rapper-actor Snoop Dogg and director-producer Allen Hughes (Broken City, Gang Related). Written by Rodney Barnes (The Boondocks, Everybody Hates Chris) and directed by Hughes, the untitled drama is set in early 1980s Los Angeles and centers on a family whose seemingly idyllic life is turned upside down by the collision of their community and American politics. Snoop Dogg (real name Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr.) was born in Long Beach and grew up in the port city just south of Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s. He executive produces the potential series with his longtime manager, Ted Chung of Stampede Management, Hughes and Barnes. Snoop Dogg and Barnes previously worked together on the animated family comedy The Boondocks, which Barnes executive produced and on which Snoop Dogg voiced a recurring character.

article by Nellie Andreeva via deadline.com

"Empire" Caps 1st Season With More Than 17 Million Viewers

By goodblacknews on March 20, 2015
empire
Fox drama “Empire” capped its stunning first-year ratings performance Wednesday night with viewership gains for a tenth straight week and a demo delivery not seen by any broadcast series in nearly six years.
Nielsen estimates that the two-hour finale of “Empire” averaged a 6.4 rating/20 share in adults 18-49 and 16.5 million viewers overall — up about 10% in both categories from last week’s hourlong episode (5.8/17 and 14.92 million); these numbers are expected to rise in the nationals. It opened at 8 p.m. where it left off last week (5.8 demo rating) and did a 6.8/21 and 17.5 million in its regular 9 p.m. hour.
This means that “Empire” managed to grow its audience with each of the 11 hours following its Jan. 7 premiere, which averaged 9.90 million. Wednesday’s audience for the 9 o’clock hour was up a whopping 77% (or 7.6 million viewers) from the show’s debut.
The soap starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson also grew each week in its core women 18-34 demo, with Wednesday’s 7.6 rating/27 share more than double the show’s premiere-night average (3.7 rating/12).
The 6.8 rating for its second hour makes it far and away the top score for any regularly scheduled broadcast program this season, nearly 25% higher than the 5.5 rating achieved by the season premiere of CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory.” The only entertainment series to fare better since the start of the television season in September has been AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” which did a whopping 8.7 for its fifth-season premiere last October and has averaged at least a 7 rating with 10 of its 14 episodes so far this season.
“Empire” was a social-media dynamo as well Wednesday, garnering 2.4 million tweets during the broadcast, according to Nielsen Social Guide. And on Facebook, roughly 2 million people generated 15.8 million likes/comments/shares related to the finale.
article by Rick Kissell via Variety.com

Russell Simmons Bringing Hip-Hop Musical "The Scenario" to Broadway in 2016

By goodblacknews on March 20, 2015
Russell Simmons hip hop musical
Russell Simmons (LARRY BUSACCA/GETTY IMAGES)

Russell Simmons is developing a hip-hop musical that will draw songs from hip-hop’s “golden age” from between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, in the same way that “Rock of Ages” pulled tunes from the hard-rock classics of the ’80s.
Simmons has teamed with “Rock of Ages” producer Big Block/Scott Prisand for the show, which aims to conjure the same fun, concert-like vibe that helped sustain the nearly six-year run of “Rock of Ages” on Broadway. The original story of “The Scenario” will be written by Dan Charnas, who wrote the book “The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop.”
The attachment of Simmons, who’ll produce through Def Pictures, lends “The Scenario” some notable cred. As the founder of Def Jam Recordings in 1984, he’s credited with playing a major role in hip-hop’s rise to the mainstream. He also founded the Def Comedy franchise in 1989, and he produced and conceived 2002 Broadway outing “Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam.”
Simmons and Big Block hope to get “The Scenario” into New York in late 2016, although they aren’t necessarily targeting Broadway. “Rock of Ages,” for instance, played an Off Broadway run before it shifted to Broadway; the producers could also consider putting the production in a nontraditional space outside the typical Broadway box.
“The Scenario” is being developed by a team of producers that includes Simmons, Def Pictures/Jake Stein, Big Block/Prisand, Scott Benson, Tom Pellegrini and Jamie Bendell, Brian Sher and Stella Bulichnikov.
article by Gordon Cox via Variety.com

Little League Superstar Pitcher Mo’Ne Davis Launches Sneaker Line to Help Girls in Poverty

By goodblacknews on March 20, 2015
(Image: Facebook)
(Image: Facebook)
Mo’Ne Davis just gave us all one more reason to love her. The history-making teen athlete is pairing with M4D3, a social enterprise that collaborates with organizations and personalities to raise funds and help create social change. M4D3, which stands for Make A Difference Everyday, is currently joining forces with Because I Am A Girl, “a global initiative to end gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and lift millions of girls – and everyone around them – out of poverty.”
Through the new partnership, Davis is designing her own line of sneakers to aid girls who are victimized by poverty in developing countries. The limited edition kicks are running for $75 a pair, and 15% of all sales will go to Plan International USA’s Because I am a Girl initiative—a campaign to lift four million girls in the developing world out of poverty.
Mo’Ne Davis by M4D3, the designer’s collection, is quite stylish too. The sneakers are currently available for pre-order in three color options. They are lace-up suede and canvas, and feature symbolic baseball stitching. What’s super cool is each sneaker is marked with a fine “Mo’Ne” signature print on the sides.
“I never thought at the age of 13 I’d be a role model, but having young girls look up to me is pretty cool,” Davis said, according to Clutch. “If I can inspire them to reach their goals, that would be even cooler. Designing shoes with M4D3 is exciting and I wanted them to support Because I am a Girl to help girls and give them a chance at a better future.”
Well, there you have it. Mo’Ne Davis is officially one of our favorite humans on the planet. The sneakers are available in women and kid sizes.
article by Essence Gant via blackenterprise.com

Steve McQueen’s HBO Drama "Codes Of Conduct" Picked Up As Limited Series

By goodblacknews on March 20, 2015
12 Years A Slave Town Hall Portraits, September 25, 2014
HBO is moving forward with Steve McQueen‘s drama pilot Codes Of Conduct, giving the project a six-episode limited series order. The 12 Years A Slave helmer will direct all six episodes of Codes Of Conduct, on which he had teamed with World War Z co-writer Matthew Michael Carnahan; hip-hop mogul/producer Russell Simmons, who has a deal at HBO; Oscar-winning producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech); and HBO veteran Alan Poul (The Newsroom, Six Feet Under). All six will executive produce.
devonterrellCo-written by McQueen and Carnahan, Codes Of Conduct is carrying McQueen’s signature style of provocative filmmaking and is described as an exploration of a young African-American man’s experience entering New York high society, with a past that might not be what it seems. It centers on Beverly Snow (newcomer Devon Terrell), a young man from Queens as talented as he is ambiguous. His self-confidence will enable him to break into the social circles of Manhattan’s elite, testing the boundaries of access and social mobility. Paul Dano, Helena Bonham Carter and Rebecca Hall co-star.
CodHBO blue logoes Of Conduct follows the model employed by HBO’s buzzy drama True Detective, which also started as a limited series. The cable network also has upcoming miniseries True Justice. HBO’s 2015 drama series slate includes new entries Westworld, from JJ Abrams, Jonah Nolan and Jerry Weintraub; Untitled Rock ‘n’ Roll project, from Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter; and Ballers, from Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson.
article by Nellie Andreeva via deadline.com