Quvenzhané Wallis, the 9-year-old Oscar nominated star of Beasts of the Southern Wild, is really enjoying her moment in the spotlight.
She has talked about fashion with Vogue’s guru André Leon Talley. She has also appeared on NBC’s Rock Center, where she boasted that she is a “triple threat.”
Now the pint-size star is gracing the cover of Entertainment Weekly. Wallis made history this month when she became the young nominee in history in the lead actress Academy Award category.
article via thegrio.com
Good Black News
Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, CA on January 25, 1938, Etta James was an American singer whose style spanned a variety of music genres including blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as “Roll With Me, Henry“, “At Last“, “Tell Mama“, “Something’s Got a Hold on Me“, and “I’d Rather Go Blind” for which she wrote the lyrics. James is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and is the winner of six Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. Rolling Stone ranked James number 22 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number 62 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists. To learn more about Etta James, click here, and watch her perform “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ0ObhAYo4M
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
What he’s said:
“I believe the United States has a unique responsibility to act—indeed, we have a moral obligation. I say this as President of the only nation ever to use nuclear weapons.”
March 26, 2012; Seoul, South Korea.
What he’s accomplished:
The Administration oversaw the ratification of a new Strategic Arms-Reduction Treaty with Russia in April, 2010, which will significantly reduce the number of deployed strategic weapons. It coöperated with Israel in the development of Stuxnet, a computer virus aimed at sabotaging Iran’s nuclear program. The U.S. also led a coalition to initiate harsh sanctions against Iran in order to pressure the country to abandon its program. The President hosted the Nuclear Security Summit in April, 2010.
Possible second-term goal:
Ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. Contain Iran’s nuclear program. Pressure China and Russia to more aggressively oppose Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs.
Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to President Obama for Disability Policy (left), with Learning Ally member Henry “Hoby” Wedler (right)
When Kareem Dale, now a special advisor to President Barack Obama, was in high school, all he wanted to do was wrestle. But as a student who was partially blind, that wasn’t easy.
Dale’s school made it possible for him to participate in the sport by creating a rule that wrestlers always needed to be touching their opponent. “It allowed me to wrestle throughout public high school,” Dale said. “That experience of wrestling gave me confidence, it made me healthier, it was really an extraordinary experience.”
But hundreds of other students with disabilities may not have had an opportunity in school sports, a 2010 Government Accountability Office report suggested. The U.S. Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights on Friday is sending school districts a 13-page guidance document that spells out the rights of students with disabilities to participate in school athletics.
But hundreds of other students with disabilities may not have had an opportunity in school sports, a 2010 Government Accountability Office report suggested. The U.S. Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights on Friday is sending school districts a 13-page guidance document that spells out the rights of students with disabilities to participate in school athletics.
Phiona Mutesi relishes her first victory at the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
(CNN) — She grew up in one of the poorest spots on earth. She couldn’t read or write. As a child, she scrounged for food each day for herself, her mother, and her brother. But a chance encounter with a chess coach turned her into a rising international chess star, the subject of a book — and the protagonist in a future Disney movie.
Ugandan teenager Phiona Mutesi is “the ultimate underdog,” her biographer says. Those who work with her believe she’s 16. But since her birthday is unclear, she might still only be 15, they say. Her father died from AIDS when Mutesi was around 3. “I thought the life I was living, that everyone was living that life,” the teenager told CNN, describing her childhood in Katwe, a slum in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.
“I was living a hard life, where I was sleeping on the streets, and you couldn’t have anything to eat at the streets. So that’s when I decided for my brother to get a cup of porridge.”
Robert Katende, a missionary and refugee of Uganda’s civil war, had started a chess program in Katwe. He offered a bowl of porridge to any child who would show up and learn.
KALAMAZOO, MI – A mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kalamazoo pointed to a black and white photograph of U.S. Army General George S. Patton pinning a Silver Star Medal on an African American soldier during World War II.
“Thank God you’ll never have to see a war like that,” Howard Lynch said to the Little Brother he mentors, Zack Skiles.
The “African Americans in World War II” exhibit at theKalamazoo Valley Museum opened on January 12, displaying 40 photographs of how life was for men and women during the most widespread war in human history.
“It’s interesting we’re finally starting to feature African Americans in military history,” Lynch said. “It’s nice to see them get their day in the sun.”
The exhibit on the first floor gallery is on loan from The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. On the walls are photographs of famous soldiers such as heavyweight boxer Joe Louis and Benjamin O. Davis, the first African American General Officer in military history, and also unknown privates engaging in everyday military life.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker has teamed up with jewelry designer Jessica Mindich to repurpose some of the guns and bullet casings to create bracelets that raise awareness about gun violence.
Newark has figured out a way to turn bullets into bling. Newark Mayor Cory Booker has teamed up with jewelry designer Jessica Mindich to repurpose some of the guns and bullet casings confiscated by the Newark Police Department. They’re using the metal to create bracelets that raise awareness about gun violence.
The bracelets are part of the Caliber Collection and range from $150 for a simple cuff to $375 for a bangle with an embedded diamond. The steel jewelry collection is melted down from confiscated guns that were used as evidence in Newark trials, according to Mindich. The brass bracelets are made from shell casings found at crime scenes. Twenty percent of each sale will go toward Newark’s gun buyback program.
Mother and daughter fitness duo Ellen and Lana Ector. (Image: YouTube screen capture)
From Clutch Magazine: Two spunky women are seeking to break the myth about how black women interact with fitness.
Ellen and Lana Ector have transformed their popular group exercise classes into a workout tape that women can use at home. The Atlanta-based mother-and-daughter fitness duo have put together “Black Girls Workout Too”, an exercise program that pushes females to rigorously increase their heart rate while toning their entire body.
The Ectors are mission-driven with their new fitness project:
“Curves are good..in the right places! Statistics show that 4 out of 5. African-American women are overweight or obese and we have to change that!” a message on their fitness video’s website reads.
Read the rest of this story on Clutch Magazine.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PerORsDLIJg&w=560&h=315]
The State Museum in Albany, NY is marking the 100th birthday of photographer Gordon Parks with an exhibit of his works. The show opens on Jan. 26 and will showcase six decades of Parks’ photographs. It will include his most famous photo, “American Gothic, Washington, D.C.,” which shows a black cleaning woman standing in front of an American flag with a broom and a mop.
State Education Commissioner John King says Parks’ work helped drive the Civil Rights movement by exposing the stark realities of life faced by many African Americans.
The State Museum display is organized by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The exhibit includes images from the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information collections at the Library of Congress.
article by Associated Press via huffingtonpost.com
State Education Commissioner John King says Parks’ work helped drive the Civil Rights movement by exposing the stark realities of life faced by many African Americans.
The State Museum display is organized by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The exhibit includes images from the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information collections at the Library of Congress.
article by Associated Press via huffingtonpost.com
Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks (Photo: CBS/Landov)
The late Rosa Parks continues to make history. Her likeness will be depicted in a statue later this year at Capitol Hill’s Statuary Hall, making her the first African-American woman to achieve the mark.
Each of the 50 states donates two statues of their most prominent citizens to Statuary Hall. Rosa Parks will be representative of the state of Alabama where she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus and became the “mother of the civil rights movement.” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced the statue would be revealed in late 2013. As chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, he is also in charge of artwork in the Capitol.
Congress passed an order to place the statue in the hall in 2005. In 2008, the National Endowment for the Arts announced a design competition calling artists to submit designs for the statue. The U.S. Postal Service is also commemorating the life of Rosa Parks. On Feb. 4, the postal service is issuing a special “Historic Forever” stamp in honor of Parks’ 100th birthday.
Detroit will be the first city to sell the Rosa Parks stamp.
article by Natelege Whaley via bet.com
Congress passed an order to place the statue in the hall in 2005. In 2008, the National Endowment for the Arts announced a design competition calling artists to submit designs for the statue. The U.S. Postal Service is also commemorating the life of Rosa Parks. On Feb. 4, the postal service is issuing a special “Historic Forever” stamp in honor of Parks’ 100th birthday.
Detroit will be the first city to sell the Rosa Parks stamp.
article by Natelege Whaley via bet.com