Category: Arts

  • Beauty pageants, blackface, and bigotry: Japan’s problems with racism The Wilson Quarterly Washington, D.C. 2015-07-23 Maya Wesby Photograph via Twitter Bearing a false belief of racial singularity and superiority, can Japanese culture ever embrace diversity in an ever-intertwining world? In most developed nations, issues of race occupy headlines and are components, unstated or overt, of…

  • Othello’s Daughter The New Yorker 2013-07-29 Alex Ross, Music Critic Aldridge, circa 1865, and his daughter Luranah, a singer, in an undated image. Credit Photographs by Billy Rose Theatre Division / The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; Mccormick Library of Special Collections / Northwestern University Library The rich legacy of Ira Aldridge,…

  • Amanda Aldridge, Teacher and Composer: A Life in Music Journal of Singing January 2010 ISSN: 10867732 Joyce Andrews, Adjunct Instructor of Music Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin Aldridge was a remarkable person who devoted her lifetime to music, enriching the musical culture of Great Britain through her multi-talents as composer (published under the nom de plume…

  • “Red Velvet” spins a fascinating true story The Berkshire Eagle Pittsfield, Massachusetts 2015-08-13 Jeffrey Borak, Entertainment Editor and Theater Critic LENOX — Actor Ira Aldridge isn’t in the American Theater Hall of Fame; his name is barely a whisper in the annals of American theater. That shouldn’t be, say director Daniela Varon and actor John…

  • Holocaust Art By A Jew Who Was Black Josef Nassy’s Vision Of Nazi Camps Has Its First U.s. Show Here. The Philadelphia Inquirer 1989-04-04 Leonard W. Boasberg, Inquirer Staff Writer There are strength and pathos in the drawings. There are loneliness and community, a sense of the desperation of the individual – the prisoner, the…

  • ‘Key & Peele’ Ends While Nation Could Still Use a Laugh The New York Times 2015-08-15 Dave Itzkoff, Culture Reporter Jordan Peele, left, and Keegan-Michael Key in a scene from the final season of “Key & Peele.” Credit Comedy Central The scene is a hauntingly familiar one: A white police officer stalks an unarmed black…

  • How Embracing Your Background Can Empower Your Life: May J. Talks About Her Mixed Race Heritage, Music, and Pursuing Her Dreams. The Huffington Post United Kingdom 2015-07-17 Emma Leverton Achieving a dream career requires determination and drive, and when we look towards success it’s easy to forget that our histories are much more than just…

  • Amandla Stenberg Is Ready to Be Your Role Model Elle 2015-08-12 Chaedria LaBouvier The actress and activist talks exclusively to ELLE.com about everything from box braids to Black Lives Matter to her ambitions in front of and behind the camera. As one of Hollywood’s most exciting young faces and voices, Amandla Stenberg—whose first name means…

  • Press Release for That Daughter’s Crazy Paradox Smoke Productions 2014 Some apples don’t fall far from the tree. Paradox Smoke Productions is proud to announce the launch of their new documentary, That Daughter’s Crazy, starring Rain Pryor. That Daughter’s Crazy is directed by Elzbieta Szoka, and produced by Sam Adelman and Daryl Sledge, and will…

  • This Instagram Project is Giving a Voice to the “Blaxican” Experience Remezcla 2015-07-28 Yara Simón The history of race in the United States is often told in terms of black and white, a binary that leaves many out of the equation. “Blaxican” researcher Walter Thompson-Hernandez is trying to expand the conversation, with a project that…