(via borednschooled)

seeingdarkmatter:

via Yoruba African Orishas |  African Digital Art

(via jmjohnso)

nypl:

Was one of Brooklyn’s finest in Harlem in 1939? This Sid Grossman photo of “Harlem Loiterers” from the Prints Collection at NYPL’s Schomburg Center for Research In Black Culture has created quite a stir since being posted to the Center’s Facebook page the other day. Why? Because the man on the right looks a heck of a lot like Jay-Z (for evidence, check out these photos of Jay-Z when he visited The New York Public Library in 2011). Cue Twilight Zone music, right? Schomburg’s Curator of Digital Collections Sylviane A. Diouf found the photo while researching an exhibition, and said, “I was immediately struck by the similarity to Jay-Z and actually laughed out loud … I still hope somebody will tell us who that you man really was.”

So is Jay-Z a time traveler? Is this someone else - anyone know who? What do you think?

I wonder if its his grandfather. I think Jay Z should hire me as his personal genealogist so I can solve this mystery

soydulcedeleche:

fashionistazapatista:

Danny Glover’s Haiti film lacked ‘white heroes’, producers said

notesonascandal:

rosaflora:

US actor Danny Glover, who plans an epic next year on Haitian independence hero Toussaint-Louverture, said he slaved to raise funds for…

carltonmackey:

50 SHADES OF BLACK
(from black coffee to high yellow)
African American Sex Symbols & the Complexity of Skin Tone

My latest art piece is fashioned in the style of a book cover.  Its title (most certainly) and its subject matter (very loosely) are the result of a creative play on the very popular contemporary novel Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James.

Now that the art/cover is created, it’s time to write the book.  This is where you come into play.  While this subject could very easily lead to a book written by a sole individual, I am interested in a conversation…in a dialogue.  I’d like for that dialogue…those contributions from you to be the basis of the manuscript.

Share with me your responses to this piece.  It may be in the form of quick comments, reflections, essays, personal stories, anecdotes, memories of things you heard your mama say about Billy Dee Williams, etc.  Over time, I’ll organize, synthesize, group, copy and paste these comments into a document with the goal of ultimately producing a FREE downloadable e-book of your contributions to the topic.  It’s a book written on the Internet by Internet users.  Just like any other piece of art, it’s open for interpretation. 

Who knows how this will go?  I don’t.  I don’t even know if it has ever been done before.  But I am very curious what you have to say…and something tells me other people are too. 

Let’s talk.

50 SHADES OF BLACK

(from black coffee to high yellow)

African American Sex Symbols & the Complexity of Skin Tone

 Conceived and Designed by Carlton Mackey – Written by You

Feel Free to leave comments below

 Or

 Email extended comments to:

carltonmackey@carltonmackey.com

carlton.mackey@facebook.com

(via pictour-perfect)

jmjohnso:

(via Accidental Racist: The Brad Paisley/LL Cool J collaboration and songs about the South from the post–Civil War era.)

(via pictour-perfect)

vintageblackglamour:

Actor Graham Brown, pictured on one of his actor composite photos from the 1960s. Born Robert Elwood Brown in Harlem on October 24, 1924, Mr. Brown was an actor whose career spanned more than five decades. A World War II veteran, he began acting in Army shows before enrolling in college at Howard University, where he was a member of the Howard University Players theater group and graduated in 1949. Over the last few months, I have had the honor of analyzing and organizing Mr. Brown’s personal collection of photographs, papers and other historically and culturally relevant ephemera, for donation to a major institution on behalf of his family. I could hardly believe my eyes at some of the things I held in my hands in the Harlem office where I spent hours examining Mr. Brown’s collection: a personal letter to Mr. Brown from Harold Jackman, a prominent Harlem Renaissance figure. Mr. Brown’s Howard Players member card, programs from their plays, and a photo of them in Norway at the home of the Norwegian ambassador, surrounding him at his piano in 1949. There are pages and pages of Mr. Brown’s writing: attempts at poems, short stories, English homework and drafts of articles he wrote for Howard’s school newspaper, “The Hilltop” and copies of the actual newspapers. There are Columbia University bursar’s receipts from 1952 (he briefly attended graduate school there) and show programs, posters, tickets, letters and photos from much of his life and career. Mr. Brown was a member of the Negro Ensemble Company, where he worked with actors such as Roxie Roker (his Howard classmate) in “The River Niger,” Laurence Fishburne and Esther Rolle. He was also in several productions of the Greenwich Mews Theater, a theater famous for it’s integrated productions in the 1950s and a member of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. In the 1960s and 1970s, made several appearances on Broadway (Gore Vidal’s “Weekend”) and with Joseph’s Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival, including “The Black Picture Show” in 1975. His film credits included “Malcolm X,” “Clockers,” “Sanford & Son,” and “Law & Order.” Mr. Brown died on December 13, 2011 at the age of 87.

She was born on May 10th and I was born on May 15th, but she died 10 years before I was born. I have loved her and longed for her every day of my life. This video is my way of bringing her back and making her a part of my life. 

spelmanites:

Spelman jacket created by Angel featured on Flockr

Aaaaw this makes me feel so good to see. These are my designs (Spelman Angel Couture). Thats me on the right with one of my favorite older Spelman sisters. Where did you find this image?