Harlem

Jan 10 2013

Supervised services of many Black elite

George Bernard Benta, who as executive director of Benta’s Funeral Home in Harlem personally supervised the funerals of such notables as Langston Hughes, Hall Johnson, James Baldwin, Sandy Sadler, Etta Jones, Coleman Hawkins, Paul Roberson, Alvin Ailey, Pearl Primus, John Henrik Clarke, Matthew Henson, among others, has died. He was 91.

Funeral services were being held today, Jan. 10, at 11 a.m. at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 204 W. 134th St., New York.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Jun 9 2011

Beloved member of the Cosby cast is laid to rest

Clarice Taylor, best known as Anna Huxtable, the mother of Dr. Cliff Huxtable’s (Bill Cosby), on “The Cosby Show,” died in Englewood, N.J., of congestive heart failure. She was 93. Taylor was born on Sept. 20, 1917, in rural Virginia and raised in Harlem.

Stanley O. Williford  |   OW Editor
Mar 3 2011

Money raised doubles the estimate

Adoring fans paid more than $315,000 recently to pluck up portions of Lena Horne’s life. That was OK since the singer-actress-activist had vacated her earthly premises eight months before, leaving only the trappings of the great and courageous life she had led.

After about three hours, some 150 fans who had packed the small Manhattan auction house—Doyle, New York—went their way, owners of books, art, gowns and others items that had once been some of  Horne’s favorite things.

Nov 18 2010

Democrat calls errors “good faith mistakes”

A house ethics subcommittee composed of eight Democrats and eight Republicans has found veteran New York Congressman Charles Rangel guilty of violating some of its rules and convicted him on 11 of 13 counts. The verdict came even though the 80-year lawmaker was neither in the room to plead his case nor did he have a legal representation fighting for him.

Rangel must now face the full ethics committee, which will hold a hearing to determine the appropriate punishment.

May 7 2009

Author, widow of Harlem gangster Bumpy Johnson

Philadelphia, PA -- Mayme Hatcher Johnson, a native of North Carolina who spent most of her life in Harlem, died in Philadelphia on Friday, May 1, 2009 of respiratory failure.

Mrs. Johnson was born in 1914 in N.C., and moved to New York City in 1938, where she found work as a waitress in a club owned by singer/actress Ethel Waters. In 1948 she met and married Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson, the legendary Harlem gangster who was depicted in the movies “The Cotton Club,” “Hoodlum,” and “American Gangster.”

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.