Sculptor Richard Hunt, who died last December, had a career that spanned roughly 70 years, with his work appearing in museums and public spaces across the country, and was the first African American sculptor to have a retrospective at MOMA. Block Club Chicago's Rachel Hinton talked to artists who were inspired by his extraordinary life and work. "I would walk past his monument[s] every day — it’s kind of like the pinnacle of what I wanted to be,” sculptor Faheem Majeed says. “Richard is who I wanted to be at a certain point in my life before I even met him.”
h/t to @horrorboutique, who alerted us to Block Club Chicago's Black History series.
Today is the last day of Black History Month, but we curate our Stories of Black America Magazine all year round. You can follow the Magazine on Flipboard or in the Fediverse. In it, you'll find stories about why presidential candidates aren't better about talking about race, Black history's connection to place, Patrick Mahomes, the "Freaknik" documentary, a trailblazing opera company, and much more.
For Black History Month, NBC has curated this @Flipboard Storyboard on the importance of "place." Read about how honest history helps students, the Black families defying the odds to keep ancestral land, and more.
IndieWire's Carole V. Bell says that the movies many of us think of in terms of Black film are from the 1960s, at the earliest. But when curator Doris Berger looked through the archives of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, she found a treasure trove that dated back to the 1890s. She and National Museum of African American History and Culture film and photography curator Dr. Rhea Combs collaborated on “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 to 1971,” which is now on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Here's a look at what to expect from the exhibition, as well as where to start if you want to explore early Black movies.
54 years after the premiere of "Soul Train," Nylah Burton writes for Vox about its history and lasting cultural impact. "Entertainers like Bill Withers, Al Green, Bobby Womack, Little Richard, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye all furthered their careers by appearing on the show," she writes. "From 'Soul Train' dancer Jeffrey Daniel, Michael Jackson learned the robot and 'backslide,' which was renamed the moonwalk."
Meet Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, she won her US supreme court case, Irene Morgan v Commonwealth of Virginia, that ruled racially segregated Interstate Transport to be unconstitutional, 10 years before the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
This week, @Flipboard's Good Life newsletter was curated by Jessica Bethel, a photographer and the founder of Literature Noir. She selected her favorite books by Black authors as well as features about the importance of Black librarians, the influence of Octavia Butler, and Antonia Hylton's incredible new book, "Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum." Take a look at her curation here.
Words like "periodt," GYAT," "cap" and "drip" have a rich cultural history, and are part of the variety of English known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Linguist/cognitive scientist Nicole Holliday talked to TODAY about how AAVE and other language patterns from marginalized communities can take off and eventually be incorporated into the mainstream. “Black people are at the bottom of the social hierarchy,” she says. “So young white people who use African American English have always done it — one, because Black people are cool, and two, because it pisses off their parents.”
A Texas judge has ruled that a high school was not violating the CROWN Act by punishing student Darryl George for the length of his dreadlocks. George has been in in-school suspension or at an off-site disciplinary program for most of the school year since August. The school said that George's hair violated a dress code regarding length of boys' hair; the family argued that protective hairstyles — which are covered by the CROWN act — require a certain amount of length. The family plans to appeal the decision.
Black women are prone to certain types of alopecia, which, says dermatologist Dr. Hope Mitchell, can be emotionally painful. “Hair is our creativity. It makes me feel powerful, it makes me feel special and important." The 19th talked to her and other experts about how hair loss conditions can be addressed with respect and sensitivity, so women can feel beautiful again.
At the time of World War I, there were around 950,000 Black farmers who owned about 20 million acres of land. Today, there are fewer than 50,000 Black farmers, and just 25% of that land is in Black hands. Artist, activist and farmer Dail Chambers spoke to Capital B.'s Adam Mahoney about how she is working to regain a relationship with the land and help Black folk thrive.
Lanny Smoot has been innovating at the Walt Disney Company for more than 25 years, and was involved in projects such as the creation of BB-8, and a realistic lightsaber that debuted at the now-closed Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. He talked to IGN about bringing Star Wars and Holodeck dreams to life, his love of inventing, and his hopes that he can be a role model for Black kids. Read more about him in this @Flipboard Storyboard.
Sojourner Truth was a feminist, preacher, abolitionist and civil rights pioneer. This much is true. But the version of her that's gone down in history does not do her justice, and the famous words she supposedly spoke — “Ar’n’t I a woman?” — may be a total fabrication. Here's a story from @Smithsonianmag about the real, complex and brilliant woman that worked for four decades for suffrage, Black freedom, and Christianity.
James Weldon Johnson's poem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," was first performed 124 years ago today, and was set to music in 1905 by Johnson's brother John Rosamond. NewsOne explains the history of the song often known as "The Black National Anthem."
It's hard to find Black princesses to appear at children's birthday parties and if you manage to hire one, she'll usually be appearing as Tiana, Disney’s first Black princess from the 2009 film "The Princess and The Frog." TODAY talked to women who are righting that wrong. "Having Black women play this role for little girls can be seen as a mode of resistance, a way of telling little girls that yes, you can aspire to it," says Patricia Davis, a critical/cultural studies scholar at Northeastern University.
"Rhapsody in Blue," George Gershwin's iconic, soaring work, premiered on Feb. 12 1924 as part of "An Experiment in Modern Music," a concert that sought to "make a lady out of jazz." Ryan Raul Bañagale, Associate Professor and Chair of Music at Colorado College, writes for @conversation about its composition, enduring popularity, and whether it is an appropriation of Black music.
Black Americans who are attempting to trace their roots can get help from the Smithsonian. The institute's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) offers free genealogy sessions, both in person and online, teaching people how to interpret census records, find useful sources of information, and more. Here's more from @smithsonian's Tracy Scott Forson, who got answers about her own family history from an NMAAHC session.
February is Black History Month in the U.S. and Canada. USA Today explains its nearly 100-year history — it was started by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who thought an annual celebration would one day not be necessary, since he believed Black people would learn about their past on a daily basis.