Way Black When

One of the most astounding voices in African-American literature, Maya Angelou is heralded for her literary prowess and activism. Working alongside Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., Angelou was a profound figure in the Civil Rights Movement, and was the first Black woman to have a screenplay produced. The Grammy Award-winning poet is an […]

Music videos weren’t exactly a new phenomenon when MTV debuted in 1981. French musicians had been making short films to accompany their songs since the invention of the Scopitone visual jukebox in the late 1950s. However, MTV’s launch upped not only the quantity of music videos being produced, but the quality. We racked our brains […]

Even if the song didn’t have words, we knew the melody. For all the talk of how great some of these sitcoms were, we mustn’t forget the very first reason we tuned in was to dance or sing or rap along to the song played during the opening credits. Here are nine of our favorite […]

History

One of the most astounding voices in African-American literature, Maya Angelou is heralded for her literary prowess and activism. Working alongside Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., Angelou was a profound figure in the Civil Rights Movement, and was the first Black woman to have a screenplay produced. The Grammy Award-winning poet is an […]

History

It would be easy to say that a black man born in 1947, in the ghetto of uptown Manhattan, has the odds stacked against him. But Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stood tall—7 feet, 2 inches tall — in the midst of this troublesome time and place. In high school, he won three straight New York City Catholic […]