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New Book Series Planned on the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection

mlk_briefcase1
Dr. King’s briefcase and other items from the Morehouse MLK Collection

The University of Georgia Press and Morehouse College have announced that they will develop a new book series based on the Martin Luther King Jr. collection held at Morehouse. The archive at Morehouse contains more than 10,000 items including handwritten letters, manuscripts, memorabilia, speeches and sermons, and 1,000 books from Dr. King’s personal library, many of which have handwritten notes on the pages.
The new book series will use the items in the archives to provide new analysis on Dr. King’s views on poverty, racial discrimination, nonviolence, capitalism, education, civil rights, and the Vietnam War.
crawford.Vicki L. Crawford, director of the Morehouse Martin Luther King Jr. Collection, said that “we are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with the University of Georgia Press to publish a series of books inspired by the unparalleled documents in the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection. As a gathering of teachable texts, this series is an important step in our mission to foster greater understanding of Dr. King and the movement for civil and human rights.”
Dr. Crawford is the co-editor of Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965  (Indiana University Press, 1993). She holds a Ph.D. in American studies from Emory University in Atlanta.
article via jbhe.com

Rihanna Becomes 1st Black Woman to Be Face of Dior

(Getty Images)

The 27-year-old superstar will star in Dior’s fourth installment of their “Secret Garden” campaign — a series featuring models posing in the palace of Versailles, clad in Dior creations — the fashion house confirmed on Friday. She will be shot by famed photographer Steven Klein, with the film and print versions of the campaign scheduled to run this spring.
But as if being an official Dior girl wasn’t amazing enough, Rihanna’s highly-anticipated campaign also marks the first time a black woman has been chosen to front the French fashion brand. Other celebrity Dior spokeswomen include Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman and Marion Cotillard.
The Dior partnership particularly makes a lot of sense given that Rihanna is often a staple at the high-fashion brand’s shows, always flawlessly dressed of course.
Though perhaps Dior should be considered the lucky ones to land Rihanna. Aside from already having fronted a Balmain campaign and often being chosen to be the first to sport a new collection, it’s no secret that the “Four Five Seconds” singer is considered a huge deal in fashion. She was named last year’s Fashion Icon at the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards — where she donned an unforgettable completely sheer Adam Selman dress — and in November, designer Tom Ford gushed about the Barbadian superstar in his very own blog post.
“I was at the CFDA awards as I was receiving a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ …. and I have to say that Rihanna was for me, that night, one of the most beautiful women that I have ever beheld,” Ford gushed. “As [my husband] Richard said plainly after the evening, ‘If you are as beautiful as Rihanna, you almost owe it to the world to appear in public almost nude’ and I have to say that I wholeheartedly concur.”
article by Antoinette Bueno via aol.com

Eddie Murphy Joins Cast of Richard Pryor Biopic Directed by Lee Daniels

Eddie Murphy Beverly Hills Cop
(PHOTO: GABRIEL OLSEN/FILMMAGIC)

Eddie Murphy is in talks to join the cast of Lee Daniels’ untitled Richard Pryor biopic, sources confirm.  He will play the late comedian’s father, LeRoy “Buck Carter” Pryor, a boxer and WWII veteran, in the Weinstein Co. drama.
Mike Epps is attached to star as the legendary comedian.
Daniels teased the Murphy casting Thursday night on Instagram with a photo of himself and the actor.


Murphy, who recently appeared in the “SNL” 40th Anniversary special, grew up idolizing and impersonating Pryor as a comedian in the ’70s.
“Richard’s the one that made me want to do comedy,” he previously said. “When I was little I used to sneak into my basement and put his albums on.”
Daniels is riding the success of his hit TV drama “Empire,” which Fox just renewed for a second season. He also directed “The Butler” for the Weinstein Co.
Murphy can be seen next in the culinary drama “Cook.”
article via Variety.com

Tony Winner Audra McDonald Announces Broadway Return Alongside George C. Wolfe and Savion Glover for 2016 Musical "Shuffle Along"

Audra McDonald will return to Broadway in 2016, in collaboration with George C. Wolfe and Savion Glover.
Audra McDonald will return to Broadway in 2016, in collaboration with George C. Wolfe and Savion Glover. (© David Gordon)

Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald will return to Broadway in spring 2016 in a new collaboration with Tony-winning director George C. Wolfe and Tony-winning choreographer Savion Glover. The collaboration is called Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Follows. The production begins previews March 14, 2016, at the Music Box Theatre, with opening night set for April 21.
McDonald will play Lottie Gee, the 1920s performer who appeared in the cast of Shuffle Along. This 1921 musical by Flournoy Miller, Aubrey Lyles, Eubie Blake, and Noble Sissle altered the face of Broadway in giving several black performers their first Broadway credits. The show helped launch the careers of Josephine Baker, Florence Mills, and Paul Robeson, among many others.
Ninety-five years later, this backstage musical will explore the creation of this now-forgotten show. Wolfe directs and pens the book, while Glover choreographs. It marks their first collaboration since their 1996 hit Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk. The production will have music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations by Daryl Waters, scenic design by Santo Loquasto, costume design by Ann Roth, and lighting design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer. Scott Rudin serves as producer.
Additional information about the production will be revealed in the coming months.
article by David Gordon via theatermania.com

Kerry Washington to Star as Anita Hill in HBO Movie "Confirmation"

Kerry Washington
(Source: Jon Kopaloff / Getty)

Kerry Washington, the star of Shonda Rhimes’ wildly popular Thursday-night show Scandal, is about to get even bigger with a new project on HBO.
Washington has been announced as the star of an upcoming TV movie about Anita Hill, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The telepic, which is being developed by HBO Films and has a tentative title of Confirmation, will chronicle the nomination hearings held for Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas in 1991.
Thomas’ nomination that year by the first President Bush shook up the country after Hill accused the judge of sexual harassment in a leaked FBI interview. Hill was grilled by Senators about the allegations at Thomas’ confirmation hearing and lambasted by the judge himself.
Washington will play the part of Anita Hill and writer Susannah Grant will be responsible for the script and executive producing the project. Washington herself will also work as an executive producer alongside the CEO of Groundswell Productions, Michael London, and the company’s production president, Janice Williams.
Hollywood Reporter claims that the HBO project could take precedence over Washington’s role in a feature film called Unforgettable while she’s currently away from the Scandal set.
The news comes as HBO readies the rollout of its internet-streaming service HBO Go and plans for the next season of the sprawling fantasy show Game of Thrones.
article by Jay Balfour via theurbandaily.com

PROTEST: Hundreds Shut Down Decatur, GA For #AnthonyHill, U.S. Veteran Killed By Police

Anthony Hill Protest
Brandon Marshall carries a photo of Anthony Hill as protesters march through the street demonstrating Hill’s shooting death by a police officer, Wednesday, March 11, 2015, in Decatur, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman) 
Hundreds took to the streets of Decatur, Georgia yesterday, stopping traffic, chanting and holding signs like “Demilitarize the police” to protest the officer-involved shooting death of Anthony Hill, an unarmed 27-year-old black man in DeKalb County, a suburb of Atlanta.
Protesters, using hashtags like #Antlanta and #AnthonyHill are questioning the use of force against Hill, an Air Force veteran who was naked and unarmed, when he was shot and killed by a white police officer on Monday.
Activists announced the protest with an email asking this very question reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

“Anthony was naked and unarmed at the time of the shooting, yet Officer Olsen found him to be enough of a threat to take his life.”

The officer who shot Hill, a seven-year veteran of the force has been identified by police as Robert Olsen, and has been placed on administrative leave, reports Reuters via The Huffington Post.
Hill was shot after he was dealing with what looked to be a mental health issue, said the DeKalb County police Chief Cedric Alexander on Monday. Alexander confirmed that police received a call about a man “acting deranged, knocking on doors, and crawling around on the ground naked.”
After “running towards a responding officer,” Hill was shot twice. Police found no weapon. Almost immediately, Twitter was flooded with the hashtags #AnthonyHill and #BlackLivesMatter.
Ironically, Hill had used the #BlackLivesMatter himself in the days before his death, reports Reuters:
“The key thing to remember is, #blacklivesmatter, ABSOLUTELY, but not moreso than any other life,” Hill wrote on his Facebook page on March 6.
In another post the same day, he said, “No man (or woman) is ever going to stop me from living the life I envision…Empower yourself. Show these kids that #blacklivesmatter by living yours like it does.”
Hill is at least the third African-American man since Friday who was unarmed when shot dead by police. Thousands have been rallying for the last few days in the streets of Madison Wisconsin for 19-year-old Tony Robinson, who was killed by police last week. Aurora, Colorado police confirmed that Naeschylus Vinzant, 37, was unarmed when he was shot and killed with one bullet by police on Friday.
Hill’s shooting investigation went to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in an effort at “transparency.”
article by Angela Bronner Helm via newsone.com

Suzan-Lori Parks Wins 2015 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History

Award Winning Playwright and Professor Suzan-Lori Parks
Award Winning Playwright and Professor Suzan-Lori Parks

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, who teaches creative writing at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, has been selected as the winner of the 2015 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History. The prize was established by Jean Kennedy Smith, the sister of Senator Edward Kennedy, and is administered by the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University in New York City.
Parks was honored for her play “Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3,” which was first staged at The Public Theater in New York last October. The Kennedy Prize comes with a $100,000 cash award.
Parks is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She is a former MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award” winner. Professor Parks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her play “Topdog/Underdog.”
article via jbhe.com

Duke University Debuts Website Documenting SNCC & the Voting Rights Struggle

Vq1ywrurDuke University in Durham, North Carolina, has just debuted a new website documenting the struggle of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to secure voting rights for African Americans. The site, entitled “One Person, One Vote: The Legacy of the SNCC and the Fight for Voting Rights,” went live one week before the 50th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” voting rights march in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965.
Students and faculty at Duke University worked with veterans of SNCC and other civil rights leaders to develop the website. The site includes a timeline, profiles of the key figures in the struggle to secure voting rights, and stories relating to the struggle.
5193ppoofzL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Wesley Hogan, the director of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and the author of Many Minds, One Heart: SNCC’s Dream for a New America (University of North Carolina Press, 2007), stated that “this is an enormous achievement, to find ways to bring these experts who were so central to the voting rights struggle, into the formal historical record through their own words and on their own terms. The project comes at a moment when our nation is both commemorating key victories of the civil rights movement and seeing those victories challenged by new restrictive voting laws in many states.”
 
[vimeo 87707071 w=500 h=281]
article via jbhe.com

"Empire" Breaks Ratings Record for 9th Straight Week, Grows Viewership to 14.7 Million

empire fox ratings
(IMAGE COURTESY OF FOX)

Daylight Saving Time may have sapped the ratings strength of mere mortal television shows over the past week, but it had little effect on Fox phenomenon “Empire,” which on Wednesday grew its audience for a ninth consecutive airing heading into next week’s two-hour finale.
According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “Empire” averaged a 5.6 rating/17 share in adults 18-49 (down a tick from last week’s prelim score) to more than double the rating of any other program on the night.
In total viewers, it gained about 400,000 to set yet another milestone with 14.7 million.  Last night’s episode of “Empire” also drew a series-high 750,258 tweets during the live broadcast, according to Nielsen Social Guide/Twitter. As a result, its average for the season (451,270) is now ahead of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” (444,029) and ABC’s “Scandal” (354,085).
“Empire” again more than doubled its “American Idol” lead-in (2.3/8 in 18-49, 9.3 million viewers overall) though the music reality competition was up a couple of ticks from last week to edge out CBS’ “Survivor” (2.2/8 in 18-49, 9.4 million viewers overall) both head-to-head and as the night’s No. 2 program in 18-49.
article by Rick Kissell via Variety.com

Apple Commits More Than $50 million to Diversity Efforts

A flashy new smart watch isn’t all Apple has up its sleeve. The company is donating more than $50 million to organizations that aim to get more women, minorities, and veterans working in tech.
In an exclusive interview with Fortune, Apple’s human resources chief Denise Young Smith said the company is partnering with several non-profit organizations on a multi-year, multi-million-dollar effort to increase the pipeline of women, minorities, and veterans in the technology industry—and, of course, at Apple.
“We wanted to create opportunities for minority candidates to get their first job at Apple,” said Young Smith, who took over as its head of HR a little over a year ago. (Before her current role, the longtime Apple exec spent a decade running recruiting for the retail side of the business.) “There is tremendous upside to that and we are dogged about the fact that we can’t innovate without being diverse and inclusive.”
Young Smith likes to say that diversity extends race and gender—Apple wants its employee base to also reflect different lifestyles and sexual orientations. (Last fall, CEO Tim Cook publicly acknowledged that he is gay—the first Fortune500 chief executive to do so while holding the title.) But, at least for now, its diversity initiatives are mostly focused on expanding its pipeline of women and minorities.
To that end, the company is partnering with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a non-profit that supports students enrolled in public, historically black colleges and universities (known as HBCUs). These schools include North Carolina A&T State University, Howard University, and Grambling State University (where Young Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism in 1978). All told, there are 100 HBCUs across the country—47 of them are considered public—and collectively they graduate nearly 20% of African-Americans who earn undergraduate degrees.
“Historically, other organizations have provided scholarship dollars or focused on whatever area matters most to them,” says Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. “What differentiates this partnership with Apple is that it hits on everything that we do—it is the most comprehensive program ever offered to an HBCU organization.”