In The Arts

Kendrick Lamar is arguably the most influential hip hop artist of this generation. On June 8th, Kendrick took part in a Compton peace walk supporting Black Lives Matter along with …
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Could we please give the police departments to the grandmothers?

Give them the salaries and the pensions and the city vehicles, but make them a fleet of vintage corvettes, jaguars …
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African American improvisational quilt-making is an innovative branch of a medium that reaches back to African textiles and continues to thrive.

New York Times writer Roberta Smith talks about how …
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Haitian American spoken word artist Melissa Lalin Briye Beauvery grew up in Brooklyn.  All 9 tracks on her cd, My Grandmother’s Tongue, are dedicated to her grandmother.  Melissa grew up surrounded …
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For more about Bill Withers visit his website:

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In Toni Morrison’s widely-acclaimed novel Beloved, she features a black grandmother who transcends the barriers of time and mortality. Though mainly revealed through flashbacks and a supernatural presence that haunts …
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You saw Big Mama Thornton in her cocktail dresses & cut off boots & in her cowboy hat & man’s suit as she drummed & hollered out the happy hour …
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Artist Elizabeth Catlett (April 15, 1915-April 2, 2012) created a massive amount of work over her lifetime (sculptures, prints). Her granddaughter Naima Mora shared, “It had to …
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Silver gray hair neatly combed in place. There were four generations of love on her face. She was so wise, no surprise passed her eyes, She’d seen it all.

I …
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To those aware of the spiritual jazz genre/movement, the name that usually comes to mind is John Coltrane. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, jazz music was at …
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