Succumbs

Aug 23 2012

Frank D. Godden was 101

If you were an African American of any means at all living in Los Angeles in the 1930s, you went to or owned property in Val Verde, then known as “The Black Palm Springs.” Frank Godden, known as “Mr. Val Verde” because of his long involvement in the development of this once-Black resort town died Aug. 3 of cancer. He was 101.

May 31 2012

She held every major position in the company

NEW YORK—Funeral services for Barbara Kydd Graves, the family matriarch and a guiding force at Black Enterprise, will be held Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Graves died Friday, May 25, at Howard University Hospital after a more than three-year battle with gall bladder cancer. She was 74.

Apr 19 2012

‘America’s oldest teenager’

 Dick Clark, the seemingly ageless television fixture who hosted “American Bandstand” and helped the nation celebrate New Year’s Eve for nearly 40 years, died today, April 18, in Santa Monica of a massive heart attack at age 82.

Affectionately known as “America’s oldest teenager” for his perennially youthful looks and enthusiastic attitude, Clark went to St. John’s Health Center last night for an “outpatient procedure,” but suffered a “massive heart attack,” publicist Paul Shefrin said.

Apr 12 2012

Complications from diabetes

Jamaa Fanaka, born Walter Gordon, on Sept. 6, 1942, was an American filmmaker best known for his 1979 film, “Penitentiary,” and one of the leading directors of the L.A. Rebellion film movement. Fanaka died April 1, from complication of diabetes. He was 69.

Feb 16 2012

Norma Merrick Sklarek broke barriers

Memorial services were being set for Norma Merrick Sklarek, a celebrated African American architect who accomplished numerous firsts in the field.

Sklarek died Monday at her home in Pacific Palisades. She was 85.

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.”