Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

May 17 2012

It’s a civil rights issue

By George Dean and Ortensia Lopez
The Greenlining Institute

Aug 25 2011

Inspire economic healing and strength

WASHINGTON—In his last public message the day before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called on Black people in Memphis to support Black banks.

"We’ve got to strengthen Black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank,” he said in his “Mountaintop” speech at Mason Temple on April 3, 1968. Tri-State Bank, now 65 years old and still in operation, was among the institutions where civil rights demonstrations were planned during that time.

Jun 2 2011

Poet, writer, power source

He never claimed the title “Godfather of Hip Hop,” but for our generation of music artists, he fathered the best in us.

Gil Scott-Heron, one of a rare breed of popular revolutionary poets, fits into the class of artists from the second Black American arts renaissance—a result of the aftermath of 1960s civil unrest around the nation.

Mar 3 2011

Civil rights protesters

On March 7, 1965, 600 civil rights protesters took to Route 80 in Selma, Ala., on a historical, peaceful march for social freedom and justice. Just three weeks prior to the march, a state trooper shot and killed Jimmie Lee Jackson who was protecting his mother during a civil rights demonstration. This also fueled the march.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Sep 23 2010

Ernest Withers may have played both sides

It was recently discovered that Ernest Withers, a very well-known civil rights photographer, who was at the forefront of many of the pivotal movements in the African American community, including the murder of Emmett Till and the marches with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was actually playing both sides of the field, because he was also an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Across Black America

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

California
Allied Integrated Marketing recently announced it is launching a new African American marketing division, Allied Moxy. The new division will create innovative campaigns that integrate publicity, promotions, digital and grassroots outreach to speak directly to the full diversity of African American consumers. Spearheading Allied Moxy are industry veterans Kim Walters and Gloria Jones. Walters will oversee national strategy from Los Angeles, while Jones will oversee regional/local strategy from Washington, D.C. Walters brings more than a decade of marketing experience working with entertainment companies such as Codeblack Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and A&E Lifetime Television, as well as consumer brands such as KIA and L.A. Gear and awards programs such as NAACP Image Awards and Soul Train Music Awards. Jones has been with Allied for five years running publicity and promotional campaigns for clients, including Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Relativity Media, and previously worked for WBDC-TV in D.C. and MTV Networks’ Nick @ Nite and TV Land.

 

Representing Los Angeles and Center Theatre Group, Tyler Edwards, a senior at the Orange County High School of the Arts, placed third at the national finals of the fifth annual August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre in New York City. “I am thrilled . . . I’m so glad that I took it for L.A. the first time we got up . . . that’s what we’re talking about!” said an elated Edwards following the competition. Edwards, an aspiring actor, describes the soaring, lyrical monologues found in the plays by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson as “very inspirational,” and said prior to the Los Angeles Regional Finals of the August Wilson competition, “I would love to share a bit of that inspiration with any audience, in hopes that they leave with more appreciation than they walked in with.”

 

Georgia
Bounce TV, the nation’s first-ever over-the-air broadcast television network for African Americans, will launch a second new original comedy series, “Uptown Comic,” on June 18, immediately after the series premiere of the just-announced sitcom “Family Time.” “Uptown Comic” is a half-hour series featuring stage and skit performances by some of the hottest up-and-coming comics in the country. The show is currently in production in front of a live studio audience at the longest-running African American comedy club in the U.S.—Uptown Comedy Corner in Atlanta. Actor and comedian Joe Torry (Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam) hosts. “Family Time,” a half hour situation comedy created by Bentley Kyle Evans ( “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “Martin,” “Love That Girl”) and produced by Evans and partner Trenten Gumbs is set to launch Monday, June 18, at 8 p.m. The series premiere of “Uptown Comic” will follow and be seen weekly at 8:30 p.m. (All Times Eastern.)