Beverly Jenkins

Lisa Olivia Fitch  |   OW Contributor
Aug 2 2012

Founded in 1908, Allensworth is now a historic park

You’ve heard of them. Vin Rhames starred in a movie about one. Beverly Jenkins wrote about a few in her early books. They are the “Colored Townships”—towns founded and settled by African Americans after the Civil War, that were a kind of self-segregation, independent-living answer to the oppression of the times.

Sure there was Rosewood in Florida and Nicodemus in Kansas, but did you know there’s a Black township in California?

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.

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.”