(September 20, 2009) - Results from the 2009 SAT show scores by Black test-takers, “trail every other major ethnic group in the United States,” according to a report in the Journal of Blacks In Higher Education.

(September 20, 2009) - When Briana Johnson’s labor started, according to a report on The Grio.com, she did what every other expectant mother does: called the doctor and got up to head to the hospital. But when she did, her water broke.

(September 20, 2009) - President Barack Obama has requested New York Governor David Patterson refrain from running in the coming election for governor, the New York Times has reported.

(July 25, 2009) - Dozens of police and federal agents descended on the Houston clinic of Michael Jackson’s doctor Wednesday in what his attorney said was a search for evidence of manslaughter, thrusting the doctor back under suspicion in the King of Pop’s death.

(July 25, 2009) - E. Lynn Harris, the author of best-selling novels about the African-American gay community, has died at age 54, according to the Associated Press.

(July 25, 2009) - This year, 12 African-American students were selected from more than 10,000 applicants to become Ron Brown scholars. Four of the 12 will enter MIT this fall; two are headed to Duke and two going to Harvard.

(July 25, 2009) - Earlier this year, Houston appeared at music mogul Clive Davis’ popular Grammy party in Los Angeles and performed a four-song set. Throngs of fans declared that the 45 year-old was finally ready for her music career comeback.

(May 30, 2009) - The number of multiracial people rose 3.4 percent last year to about 5.2 million, according to the latest census estimates.

Americans who check more than one box for race on census surveys, an option first provided in the 2000 census, have jumped by 33 percent and now make up 5 percent of the minority population, with millions more believed to be uncounted.

Demographers attributed the multi-racial population growth to social acceptance and slowing immigration. In particular, they cited Tiger Woods and President Barack Obama, both of mixed ethnic backgrounds, as spurring more individuals to indentify themselves as multiracial.

(May 30, 2009) - In an interview scheduled to air this weekend, director Spike Lee complained about “coonery and buffoonery” in fellow director Tyler Perry’s work, comparing characters on Perry’s shows “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne,” to characters from minstrel shows.

“We’ve had this discussion back and forth. When John Singleton [made ‘Boyz in the Hood’], people came out to see it--but when he did ‘Rosewood,’ nobody showed up,” Lee said. “We shouldn’t think that Tyler Perry is going to make the same film that I am going to make, or that John Singleton or my cousin Malcolm Lee [would make].”

Lee continued, “But at the same time, for me, the imaging is troubling and it harkens back to ‘Amos n’ Andy.’”

(May 30, 2009) - This year, 13 African Americans were among the 210 new fellows elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Those selected included former Secretary of State and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell and two-time Tony Award-winning actor James Earl Jones.

New black members of the academy include: Danielle Allen, UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Studey in Princeton, New Jersey; Kenney Barron, visiting professor at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City; Stanley Crouch, columnist for the New York Daily News; Scott Vernon Edwards, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University; Eve Higginbotham, dean and senior vice president for academic affairs and professor of surgery at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta; Bill T. Jones, cofounder and artistic director at the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in New York City; William Chester Jordan, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History and chair of the history department at Princeton University, and Jamaica Kincaid, visiting lecturer in English and African and African-American studies at Harvard University.

Also elected were: Edward L. Miles, Virginia and Prentice Bloedel Professor of Marine Studies and Public Affairs at the University of Washington; Emilie M. Townes, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African-American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School; and Warren Morton Washington, senior scientist and section head for climate change research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

The inaugural edition of Who’s Who In Black Washington, D.C. will be released in July, joining similar volumes in other cities.

The book will be released by the Who’s Who Publishing Co. in association with Dr. Dorothy Height of the National Council of Negro Women.

The company seeks to document the positive achievements of African-Americans making outstanding contributions in the communities they serve. Since their first edition was published in Atlanta, the company has published other volumes for Birmingham, Ala., Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Houston, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Louisville, Ky., St. Louis, and South Florida.

Dr. Height will write the foreword for the inaugural edition of Washington, D.C.

(May 10, 2009) - Chuck Daly, the NBA Hall of Fame coach who won two world championships with the Detroit Pistons died at his home with his family by his side Saturday due to complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 78.

Daly coached Detroit’s “bad boys” to back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 before coaching the original Dream Team to the Olympic basketball gold medal in 1992. Daly was the first coach to win an NBA championship and a gold medal.

Daly was voted one of the 10 greatest coaches of the NBA’s first 50 years and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994.

(May 10, 2009) - Vice President Joe Biden told Syracuse University graduates that they will face tough times including a global recession, a difficult job market and two wars, but said they can make a difference.

“It is individuals who do determine the outcome of these moments,” Biden said.

Biden, who spoke for approximately 25 minutes at school’s Carrier Dome, said he is hopeful despite the adversity America faces.

“I am more optimistic today than I have ever been in my life, because of you, because of where we are,” Biden said.

The vice president is a 1968 graduate of Syracuse’s College of Law. He is scheduled to speak at Wake Forest in North Carolina on May 18 and the Air Force Academy in Colorado on May 27.

(May 10, 2009) - When former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Vice President Dick Cheney served together in George W. Bush’s White House, it was no secret that they didn’t get along.

Now, Cheney says he no longer considers Powell a Republican.

Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday, Cheney was asked about the conflict between Powell and conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh over Powell’s role in the GOP.

“My take on it was Colin had already left the party,” Cheney said. “I didn't know he was still a Republican.”

Cheney noted that Powell endorsed Barack Obama in last year’s presidential race over John McCain.

“I assume that that's some indication of his loyalty and his interests,” Cheney said.

The National Journal reported that during a speech last week Powell said the GOP was in “deep trouble” and would be better off without Limbaugh.

(May 10, 2009) - Media mogul Oprah Winfrey urged Duke graduates to help others move to “higher ground” in a keynote address at Duke's commencement Sunday.

“Each of us has to stand in our own shoes,” she said. “Will you stand in them in humility and compassion and courage? Every day will give you a chance to make that choice.”

The talk show star and philanthropist told the graduates to “trust your gut to help you stand proudly in your own shoes while you help others stand in theirs.”

Winfrey extended personal congratulations to her godson William Bumphus—the son of Winfrey's close friend Gayle King—who was one of those graduating.

“Will never wants people to know he knows me,” Winfrey joked. “I'm like this crazy aunt that they let out at commencements.”

Duke President Richard Brodhead awarded Winfrey an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

(April 1, 2009) - The Rev. Henry J. Lyons, the Baptist preacher who spent four years in prison after being convicted of stealing millions of dollars from the denomination he once headed, is running for the position again, according to AP.

Lyons was forced out in 1999 as leader of the National Baptist Convention USA, an organization of Black Baptist churches, after an investigation revealed he abused his power in the convention to steal about $4 million. He was accused of using the money to buy luxury homes and jewelry.

Lyons, who became pastor at a Baptist church in Florida after his release from prison in 2003, ran for president of the convention's Florida chapter in 2007, but lost. The convention's presidential election will take place during its annual meeting in September.

(April 1, 2009) - Black leaders across South Carolina recently voiced their opposition to renewed efforts by Republicans to help parents send their children to private school.

After being defeated repeatedly in the state legislature, the issue received a boost last week when prominent Black state Sen. Robert Ford, a Democrat, joined the Republican effort and unveiled the latest plan. Ford said too many minority children attend schools shown as failing, according to media accounts. Other Black leaders said in a teleconference with the media that tax credits and vouchers won't solve the problem and will further drain public schools.

(April 1, 2009) - Ten days away from deportation, 1,000 or more Liberians living in Minnesota were relieved to learn they'll be able to stay put - at least for another year. GIN (Global Information Network) reports that President Obama granted a 12-month extension to the March 31 deportation deadline for the 3,600 Liberians living in the United States legally on a temporary immigration status. Minnesota is home to one of the largest Liberian communities in the country.

Those who received the temporary immigration designation were fleeing a bloody civil war that started 20 years ago. Since then, many have built new lives in Minnesota, having children, buying homes and establishing careers. Meanwhile, there’s no word on relief being sought for 30,000 Haitians facing a similar fate.

A campaign to grant safe haven to Haitians has been launched by the NAACP. “The current plight of Haitians in their homeland clearly qualifies them for TPS (Temporary Protective Status), and thus the NAACP strongly urges President Obama to grant TPS to Haitian refugees,” noted the civil rights group’s action alert.

(April 1, 2009) - Two weeks before members of the International Olympic Committee were set to tour Chicago, the president of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics said his group had agreed to share hiring and economic opportunities with underserved communities.

Chicago 2016 president Lori Healey announced the signing of a legally binding document March 26 that outlines equality efforts in hiring and contracting for the games, as well as affordable housing. Chicago Urban League president Cheryle Jackson told AP her organization is “excited and encouraged” by the agreement.

(April 1, 2009) - The Associated Press reports that the Boston University center that holds a key collection of papers from Martin Luther King Jr. is reopening after being closed for two years.

The reopening coincides with the 41st anniversary of the civil rights leader’s assassination on April 4, 1968. The Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, which houses the collection, was closed while researchers created an electronic search system. The archiving project allows scholars to search by subject and name in BU's collection and Morehead College's Martin Luther King Jr. Collection.

BU's King Collection has more than 80,000 items, including office files, manuscripts and awards. King received his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955 and donated the papers to the school in 1964.

(April 1, 2009) - A Massachusetts man charged with spray painting racist graffiti, including a suggestion that President Obama should be assassinated, has been held on $10,000 bail and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.

Prosecutors say John Sieckarski, 49, of Revere, was free on personal recognizance on gun charges when he allegedly sprayed threats on his former neighbor's property. Sieckarski, who is White, also allegedly wrote that his former neighbor, who is Black, “should die,” according to a report by the Associated Press.

(April 1, 2009) - As part of National Minority Health Month, Tom Joyner, host of the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show (TJMS), has partnered with several nationally recognized Black Greek-letter organizations to promote “Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day” on April 7.

The initiative, led by TJMS and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority President Sheryl Underwood, aims to mobilize more than 14,000 sorority and fraternity members from Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Omega Psi Phi, Iota Phi Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho, Kappa Alpha Psi, Phi Beta Sigma and Zeta Phi Beta to participate in “Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day” events scheduled in Washington, D.C., and other major cities.

The organizations have also pledged to take at least 250 loved ones to each of the seven local Tom Joyner live broadcast events. “This is a really big thing to have black sororities and fraternities pledging to increase health awareness in the communities,” Joyner said in a statement. “As a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity I am proud to see these organizations unite in this effort---what a strong public statement.”

(March 25, 2009) - First lady Michelle Obama last week led a group of women at the peak of their fields on visits to Washington-area high schools to talk to students about their career goals and achieving their dreams. The group included Grammy Award-winning singers Alicia Keyes sister-actors Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad, athletes Dominique Dawes and Lisa Leslie Lockwood, and Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to travel into space.

Mrs. Obama told the Associated Press and other media that pulling together such a day had been a dream of hers for some time. She visited one high school on her own; the group fanned out to 10 other schools in the capital and the Washington suburbs. Later, the star-powered group returned to the White House for dinner with Mrs. Obama and another group of school students

(March 25, 2009) - To remove any doubt that it’s not a seedy motel, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis will undergo a facelift and remodeling. The Commercial Appeal reports that design firms traveled to Memphis last week with competing renovation plans more in keeping with nearby trendy art galleries, restaurants and upscale condos.

The museum opened in 1991 at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, and holds exhibits tracing the history of Black America's struggle for equal rights. Visitors can watch videos summarizing the design concepts and vote for features of each proposal on the museum's Web site. Museum president Beverly Robertson said the museum renovations will be completed in 2011.

(March 25, 2009) - A new exhibit on the international slave trade at Fort Moultrie on South Carolina's Sullivan’s Island was dedicated March 22. During the slave trade, hundreds of thousands of slaves who came to America passed by the island and some were quarantined there.

The exhibit, “African Passages,” opened last month and was formally dedicated last weekend by the National Park Service, according to the Associated Press. South Carolina poet laureate Marjorie Heath Wentworth was scheduled to sign copies of her new children's book Shackles, which tells the story of a couple of young boys who dig up a set of slave shackles on the island.

(March 25, 2009) - An anonymous donor has bequeathed $3.5 million to Norfolk State University, the largest gift in the school's history. The Virginian-Pilot reports the university will use $3 million of the donation to provide financial assistance to NSU students. The remaining $500,000 will be spent on faculty support, research and equipment. Norfolk State is a historically Black college founded in 1935. Nearly 90 percent of its 6,300 students receive some type of financial aid.

(March 25, 2009) - Morris Brown finally paid its $380,000 overdue water bill in full on March 20, a three-month effort against seemingly long odds as the historically Black college struggled for survival.

But the school's still in debt big time - $30 million overall, and the chief obstacle to the 128-year-old historically Black school getting re-accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and much-needed federal funding. Morris Brown Acting President Stanley Pritchett told the AP he’s hopeful. “Our deliberations with financial investors are beginning to meet with some favor and we are in a position to eliminate some of our debt. We trust that the weekly financial emergencies will cease,” he said.

Meanwhile, the college is continuing to raise money. On March 29, Morris Brown is planning Sunday of Hope, a statewide fundraiser aimed at Georgia churches, synagogues and mosques, soliciting prayers and financial contributions on behalf of the school.

(March 25, 2009) - An inmate in a western Pennsylvania county prison has filed a complaint with the NAACP after a new guard was locked in his cell as a prank. The unidentified guard who instigated the prank was fired, according to the Altoona Mirror, which received an anonymous report about the incident.

The report said a new guard was locked up with John Ray for 20 minutes by a guard who wanted to see what the new hire was made of. Ray, a Philadelphia native accused of shooting at Altoona police in November, has filed a complaint with the NAACP, according to the Mirror. But Blair County Commissioner Terry Tomassetti says the new hire was the target, not Ray. Tomassetti said it was “just picking on a new employee,” but still serious.

(March 25, 2009) - The Southern Christian Leadership Conference hopes to mobilize 50,000 people in the Mississippi Delta June 19-21, in a campaign to draw attention to the poverty of a region where some Americans still live in homes with dirt floors.

The effort is much like the one envisioned by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was planning a Poor People's Campaign and march on Washington before he was assassinated in 1968.

SCLC Interim President Byron Clay announced the initiative in an interview with The Associated Press. “We will bring this nation face to face with poverty,” Clay said. “We are organizing poor people of all colors, to form the kind of beloved community that Martin Luther King Jr. talked about.”

A report published earlier this year by Oxfam America found that residents in the Mississippi Delta are living in conditions similar to the world's poorest countries.

First lady Michelle Obama is set to become a superhero next month when a biographical comic book hits the stands. Part of the “Female Force” series showcasing powerful female leaders, the comic chronicles Obama’s path from South Side Chicago, to Princeton University, to the White House.

The Chicago Tribune says the first lady doesn’t possess any superpowers in the comic, but the cover depicts her in a sleeveless top that highlights her now-famous arms.