Lena Horne

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
Jul 26 2012

Hollywood by Choice

A recent article in the August issue of Essence magazine got me to thinking about how little Hollywood has changed when it comes to casting Black women in film and television productions, specifically in regards to the darker-skinned Black woman.

Actress Nia Long and her two sons grace the cover of the magazine, and it is her comment in the cover story that clicked that certain something in my mind. She told writer Dream Hampton that, “I was the first Brown girl from my generation who got cast in lead roles.”

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

Welcoming the oldest civil rights organization

It may have been fate that brought the Somerville Hotel into existence just in time to house attendees to the first West Coast convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1928. The hotel was completed in June of that year. The 19th annual convention was held that same month.

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.

Apr 16 2009

Ride, observe and learn about Black Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA -- For over 50 years, Our Authors Study Club, Inc. (founded in 1945), has provided Angelenos the opportunity to see up close some of the numerous sights where famous African Americans either made history and/or lived while enjoying their celebrity. From the Dunbar Hotel on Central Avenue to the oldest Black fire station in Los Angeles, the tour points out the homes of Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Marvin Gaye, the Bonnie Brae House-birthplace of the Pentecostal movement, and others.

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.”