Whitney Houston

Feb 2 2012

He leaves a long list of thankful musical artists

Don Cortez Cornelius, the always immaculately dressed impresario of television’s long-running dance show, “Soul Train,” didn’t just happen to mirror and influence African American culture. He both lived and led it as he followed through on a dance-party concept he had birthed years before.

Sep 1 2011

Codes and codas of a renewed mind

Going back to school can be the same old tedious ritual—shopping for school clothes, binders, protractors and the freshest kicks on the block. We spend endless hours in Wal-Mart and Staples making sure that our kids have every material needed to navigate the first day of school.

Education has historically represented a rite of passage for many American children.

For young Black kids, however, it’s a matter of survival.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Aug 25 2011

Motown and the music world pause

South Carolina native Nick Ashford, of the legendary Motown songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson died of throat cancer at a hospital in New York City on Monday He was 70.

Aug 18 2011

10 years gone, but not forgotten

I remember the very day that Hip Hop Soul died.

It was Aug. 25, 2001. I was sitting with my legs crossed picking popcorn seeds from my teeth, watching 106th & Park with A.J. and Free. The screen went black. Suddenly a message that Aaliyah died in a Bahamas airplane crash scrolled across the television.

I didn’t believe it at first, but the weeks that followed and the years without her made reality sink in. We had lost our brightest star.

Stanley O. Williford  |   OW Editor
Jul 21 2011

He’s on top, but still rising

Music direction is the story of Rickey Minor’s life, and he somehow keeps taking new steps to higher achievement.

But if you’ve been the musical director of the Grammys, “American Idol” and now the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” what other heights are left to climb?

If you’ve been musical director for the nation’s most incandescent artists, such as Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Ray Charles, Beyonce Knowles, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and many more, who else is there to work with? 

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.