theblackbottom

Wanda Phipps is a writer/performer living in NYC and born in Washington, D.C.  She studied theater and English literature at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City, acting at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, CA and poetry at Naropa Institute in Boulder, CO.  She is the author of Field of Wanting:Poems of Desire (BlazeVOX[books]), Wake-Up Calls:66 [...]

Claudia Rankine was born in Jamaica in 1963. She earned her B.A. in English from Williams College and her M.F.A. in poetry from Columbia University. She is the author of four collections of poetry, including Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (Graywolf 2004); PLOT (2001); The End of the Alphabet (1998); and Nothing in Nature is [...]

Once You Learn How to Read, You Will Be Forever Free!~Frederick Douglass
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Alex Heard is an editor at Wired magazine. He has also edited and written for The New York Times Magazine, Outside, The New Republic, Slate, and many other publications.
Nadifa Mohamed was born in Hargesia, Somalia in 1981 and was educated in the [...]

You know you’re watching a groundbreaking documentary when it not only forces you out of your comfort zone but also manages to persuade you to reassess your point-of-view without resorting to potentially-alienating polemic.
This is the case with Biracial, Not Black, Damn It!, a poignant, thought-provoking and ultimately most-enlightening film directed by the brilliant Carolyn Battle [...]

Tired of reading accounts of Africa through the eyes of outsiders, 14 African writers have set out to document the diversity of their content in a series of books and blogs partly inspired by the soccer World Cup.

One of the contributors to the project, Chinua Achebe

The first World Cup to be held in [...]

Tim Seibles is an extraordinary poet and dynamic reader. He has been honored with many grants and awards, including an Open Voice Award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center.
Born in Philadelphia in 1955 to a high school English teacher and a biochemist for the Department [...]

Spike Lee returns to document New Orleans 5 years later with a sequel to his Emmy Award winning documentary “When the Levees Broke”. In conjunction with HBO Spike is back in the Big Easy documenting the progress and lack there of in rebuilding one the nation’s most distinct and culturally diverse cities with a film [...]

In 1990, Activist and Legendary actors, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis visited Fort Wayne, IN to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Gingerbread House Preschool center. A portion of their Panel Discussion appeared on a talks show entitled “A New Generation”.
Via www.SoulVisionTV.com

In a story from The Hollywood Reporter, Columbus Short is set to star in the thriller The Girl Is in Trouble.
It is being written and directed by Julius Onah.
Jesse Spencer (House M.D.) and Wilmer Valderrama (The Dry Land) have also joined the cast of this film.
Spike Lee is executive producing this project. It will start shooting next week in New York. [...]

Lita Hooper is a poet, playwright and educator. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, including Crux: Conversations in Words and Images from South Africa to South USA (2008), The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (2008), Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem First Decade (2006), Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social [...]