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"Venus and Serena" (Courtesy Photo)
Roots and Rise of Venus and Serena
Originally published May 15, 2013

Richard Williams was born and raised in Shreveport, La., where he was left traumatized by having a railroad spike driven through his leg for refusing to behave deferentially towards a gang of white racists. Understandably, that experience played a significant role in shaping the youngster into the highly-ambitious and fiercely-overprotective father he would later become.more More Arrow

Headlines

Peeples
Blue-Collar Beau Meets Bourgie Fiancee’s Family
by Kam Williams
May 08, 2013 - After dating for over a year, Wade Walker (Craig Robinson) is head-over-heels in love with his girlfriend, Grace (Kerry Washington). He’s ready to pop the question, and has even purchased a ring, but there’s a slight problem: he still hasn’t met her parents yet.more More Arrow
King's Faith
Lynn Whitfield Helps Reformed Thug in Modern Morality Play
by Kam Williams
May 01, 2013 - Brendan King (Crawford Wilson), a kid raised in the foster care system, was sent away at the age of 15 after being caught dealing drugs and running guns as a member of a notorious gang known as Avenue D. Upon parole a few years later, the juvenile offender was released to the custody of Vanessa (Lynn Whitfield) and Mike Stubbs (James McDaniel), a couple still struggling with the loss of their police officer son to a senseless act of violence. more More Arrow
Herman's House
Herman's House
by Kam Williams
April 17, 2013 - Seventy-two year-old Herman Wallace has been imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola ever since he was found guilty of committing bank robbery back in 1967. His sentence was later lengthened to life after he was convicted, solely on the testimony of a fellow inmate, of stabbing a prison guard to death. more More Arrow
Olympus Has Fallen
Angela Bassett, Morgan Freeman Star in High-Octane Thriller
by Kam Williams
March 27, 2013 - While serving as the President’s (Aaron Eckhart) personal bodyguard, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) grew very close to the First Family. During his tenure at the White House, the dedicated, detail-oriented Secret Service agent also familiarized himself with every aspect of the building’s layout. more More Arrow
Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary
Biopic Takes Sympathetic View of Anti-Establishment Convict
by Kam Williams
January 24, 2013 - Wesley Cook, aka Mumia Abu-Jamal, was born on April 24, 1954 in the City of Brotherly Love. There, he founded a branch of the Black Panthers at the age of 15 after being kicked by a cop at a rally for segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace. more More Arrow
Ex-Slave Exacts Vengeance in Homage to Spaghetti Westerns
by Kam Williams
January 02, 2013 -  

There’s a sensible reason why nobody ever wanted to be an Indian whenever we played Cowboys and Indians as kids. That’s because the white man was invariably the hero of the Westerns on which we’d been weaned, while the red man had always been presented as a wild savage dismissed by the dehumanizing affirmation that, “The only good Injun is a dead Injun.”   more More Arrow

Latest Spike Lee Joint Deserves to Get the Hook
by Kam Williams
January 02, 2013 - Flik Royale (Jules Brown) is 13 by the time his mother (De’Adre Aziza) is finally ready to introduce him to his grandfather (Clarke Peters). Trouble is the bourgie mamma’s boy was brought up in suburban Atlanta where he’s been raised vegetarian and been attending private school. more More Arrow
The Loving Story
Documentary Recounts Landmark Supreme Court Interracial Marriage Ruling
by Kam Williams
December 12, 2012 - Soon after Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving tied the knot in Washington, D.C. on June 2, 1958, they decided to move back to their tiny hometown of Central Point, Va. to settle down and start a family. The groom, a bricklayer by trade, even purchased a plot of land where he promised to build his bride a house.more More Arrow
President Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) looks across a battlefield in the aftermath of a terrible siege in this scene from director Steven Spielberg’s drama “Lincoln” from DreamWorks Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox. www.thelincolnmovie.com/?gallery
Civil War Drama Reveals Lincoln’s Team of Rivals
by Kam Williams
November 21, 2012 - At the beginning of his presidency, Abraham Lincoln invited three of his political opponents to join his Cabinet to form a so-called “Team of Rivals” with the hope of preserving the Union. But the challenges proved to be insurmountable as the Southern states seceded anyway, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War.more More Arrow