By J. K. Schmid, Special to the AFRO Jack Whitten, the distinguished contemporary Black artist, premieres at the the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) this weekend. “Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963-2017” features 40 works of an artist whose career spanned five decades. Part exhibition, part biography, the BMA display presents a uniquely physical encounter with the […]
Category: LIFE & STYLE
Posted inPrince George's County News
Vick and Church Leaders Seek to Inspire Next Generation
By Hamil R. Harris, Special to the AFRO On April 13 and 14, First Baptist Church of Glenarden was filled with more than two-thousand men for the 18th annual “Mighty Men of Valor,” a conference tailored for men to have a weekend of, “fellowship, training and celebration,” said its founder, the Rev Dr. Clifford Ashe. Ashe […]
Posted inLiving
Black-Owned Studio Tones Bodies
By Lenore T. Adkins, Special to the AFRO Caption: Maya Dennis (left), Jillian Carter (center) and Alexis Miller (right), all work at Sidebarre, a Black-owned barre company that teaches classes in D.C. and Maryland. Carter, 24, formerly a pointe ballerina, started the company in January after she noticed a lack of diversity at mainstream barre studios. […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Why Aren’t More Black Baltimoreans Working?
By J. K. Schmid, Special to the AFRO Black Baltimoreans remain dramatically behind Baltimore Whites across several key employment sectors, a new study reveals. The study, commissioned by Associated Black Charities (ABC), penetrated into traditionally generalized employment figures to determine just what jobs Black were working compared to Whites. While Blacks could be considered to be […]
Posted inSports
Former NFL Great Michael Vick Doesn’t Dodge His Past
By Mark F. Gray, Special to the AFRO Michael Vick became an NFL legend by eluding defenders that were trying to stop him. With his playing days now over Vick doesn’t run away from his past as he candidly shares his life story around the country while making an appearance at First Baptist Church of Glenarden’s […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Tennessee Lawmakers Punish Memphis for Removing Confederate Statues
By The Associated Press The Republican-dominated House in Tennessee voted Tuesday to punish the city of Memphis for removing Confederate monuments by taking $250,000 away from the city that would have been used for a bicentennial celebration next year. The retaliation came in the form of passage of a last-minute amendment attached to the House […]
Posted inAfro Briefs, Food, National News
Starbucks to Close Stores for an Afternoon for Bias Training
By The Associated Press Starbucks, moving swiftly to confront a racially charged uproar over the arrest of two Black men at one of its stores in Philadelphia, plans to close more than 8,000 U.S. stores for several hours next month to conduct racial-bias training for nearly 175,000 workers. Protesters gather outside of a Starbucks in […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Rosa Parks House to be Shown, After Trans-Atlantic Odyssey
By MICHELLE R. SMITH and DAVID RISING, Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The small, tired house with peeling white paint once served as a refuge for Rosa Parks in Detroit. It has traveled across the world and back in an odyssey conceived by an artist and a Parks family member determined to preserve the civil […]
Posted inNational News
Irène P. Mathieu’s Poetic Approach to Global Health
By Tilesha Brown, Special to the AFRO Irène P. Mathieu was a featured poet at the recent Virginia Festival of the Book. At the New Dominion Book Shop, in downtown Charlottesville, she read to a room full of both fans of her work and new supporters in a program called “Root & Tendril: A Poetry Reading.” […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
No, White Ladies of Virginia Tech, You Can Not Use the N-Word
The women of Virginia Tech’s lacrosse team were apparently feeling themselves after beating Elon on March 24. Someone on the team posted a video of group of apparently all White women singing along to Lil’ Dicky’s recent hit “Freaky Friday,” which prominently features the n-word. The Virginia Tech women’s lacrosse team is in hot water […]
Posted inCommentary
To Help DC’s Restaurant Workers, Save Our Tips
I can still hear my Jamaican mother’s voice, questioning why I, who’d graduated with a degree in social work, was instead making ends meet as a server at Bistro Bis. It was 20 years ago, and the now-famous gathering spot for D.C. power brokers was as new to the city as I was. She calmed […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Smithsonian Scholar Takes D.C. Kids Inside the Fascinating World of Cell Phones
Joshua Bell, a cultural anthropologist with the Smithsonian Institution, recently talked to students at a District of Columbia charter school about an everyday gadget that most people in the world use and how it has shaped lives. On Feb. 28, Bell talked to 19 students in the library of Thurgood Marshall Academy in Southeast, D.C. […]
