Oscar

Julianne Malveaux  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Feb 23 2012

Movies that hark back to stereotypes

I still have not gone to see the movie, “The Help.” I read the book and that was enough for me. I read a book where a White woman fully engaged herself in cultural appropriation, putting 21st-century voices into 1960s throats. Which Black women, in 1960, would have said that Black men left their families like trash by the side of the road? Maybe a 21st-century feminist would have voiced such sentiments, but a ‘60s sister? Hardly.

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
Feb 24 2011

Hollywood by Choice

Media mogul Cathy Hughes made headlines recently when she gave her honest opinion about the roles Black women have portrayed in films that have garnered them Oscars, namely Halle Berry for the 2001 film “Monster’s Ball” and Mo’Nique for the 2009 film “Precious.” Both played rather unsavory characters who shocked and dismayed some moviegoers. But their outstanding performances thrust them into American film history.

Nov 29 2010

2011 Student Academy Awards competition

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—Film students can begin submitting their work to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today for consideration for the 2011 Student Academy Awards competition.

Gold, silver and bronze medals, along with cash prizes, are awarded in categories of alternative, animation, narrative and documentary. The application deadline is April 1.

The competition is open to full-time college and university students who produce films as part of their school curriculum.

Across Black America

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

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.