Author

Sep 20 2011
Hosted by comedian Mike Epps

NEW YORK, N.Y.—Celebrating its sixth year, the BET Hip Hop Awards, hosted by comedian Mike Epps, will tape at The Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center on Sat., Oct. 1 and air on Oct. 11.   This year’s show will honor LL COOL J with the “I AM HIP-HOP ICON” Award.

Stanley O. Williford  |   OW Editor
May 19 2011

He and seven of his siblings remained together

As we celebrate May as National Foster Care Month, OurWeekly takes a moment to reflect on the life of one prominent local citizen whose life was transformed by foster care.

In his book, “Dreamer in the Fields: My Life as a Child Migrant Farm Worker” (c.2010, Vision Publishing, $12.99, 124 pages), John Hill, who served former Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke for 10 years as her chief of staff, writes of the torturous existence of being a child migrant farm laborer and the literal salvation he found in foster care in Fresno, Calif.

Jan 27 2011

Trailblazing author

William Wells Brown, a trailblazing author and literary revolutionary, was born in Kentucky in 1815 of mixed parentage to a “whip cracking” father and slave mother. Brown worked as a house servant. In his teens, he attempted to escape the cruel inhumanities of slavery by running away, but was captured on his first attempt. After several more attempts, he finally made it to freedom at 19 on New Year’s Day 1834.

Oct 7 2010

Booked for romance

A sold-out crowd of book lovers and prospective authors recently spent a Saturday indulging in conversations with their favorite Black romance writers, during the Fall Into Fiction workshop hosted by the United California African American Bookclubs (UCAAB) in Carson.

Brittney M. Walker  |   OW Staff Writer
Sep 16 2010

Will the real pimps and ho’s please stand up?

Some would say there is a wave of consciousness occurring in the world, because some spiritualists would concede we are entering the fifth dimension. A growing number of educators, writers, conspiracy theorists, and information junkies have been sending messages to the world through every means of communication, especially film.

Author, scholar, filmmaker, and Los Angeles native, E. Raymond Brown, recently added his contribution to the ascension of the mind with his provocative film “Ghetto Physics: Will the Real Pimps and Ho’s Please Stand Up?”

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

California
San Diego college students and volunteers will carry out their sixth home restoration project on Wednesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 14. as part of the “Healing our Heroes’ Homes” (H3) program created by the nonprofit Embrace. The five-day effort will take place at the home of medically retired Marine Corps Capt. Sarah Bettencourt. Bettencourt served with many different units across the country during the Global War on Terrorism and developed a rare neurological disorder in 2008. With a focus to restore the homes of disabled veteran homeowners, H3 falls in line with Embrace’s mission to mobilize college-student volunteers and community members to serve less fortunate members of civilian and veteran communities. The project for the Bettencourts’ home includes kitchen and bathroom remodeling, building ADA-compliant disability ramps, widening their driveway to ADA standards, widening doorways and landscaping.
 
District of Columbia
The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase its five-year community research project on African American identity with the program “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.” This multicity collaboration examines the history and culture of the aesthetics of African Americans. The festival will be held June 26-30 and July 3-7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. “Whether we realize it or not, we are all dress artists. The way we compose our look is a creative expression of our ideas about who we are and who we aspire to be,” said Diana N’Diaye, program curator. “This program explores the diversity of African American traditions of style, but also teaches young people the importance of documenting their own culture and saving that information for themselves and future generations.”