38 Search results for "independent artist"

by Janyce Glasper Hannah Bledsoe loved Linda Crawford. Yet Hannah desperately needed a quiet, isolated place to paint alone. One simply could not crash on a college friend’s couch forever. She found salvation in the good neighborhood— a drafty basement converted into a studio apartment. The tightly jarred windows and cracked ceilings poorly congealed together […]

Mainstream conversations about online misogyny keep neglecting The Black Manosphere, and it’s because of misogynoir by Aaron Fountain On his weekly podcast, The Brother Pill, Sacramento-native and now Poland-transplant, Oshay Duke Jackson, conducts segments, interviews, and discussions about the issues faced by Black men. Occasionally, he talks about these things alone, but on most episodes […]

By Habiba Katsha Race and racism aren’t topics that are spoken about openly enough in the U.K., and when they are mentioned it’s usually just to compare it to racism in the States. White British people look at the U.S as the epitome of a racist country, especially with Donald Trump as president. They are […]

I wasn’t prepared for the responses to my most recent essay on living intentionally as a childfree Black woman and taking ownership of my womb. I never presumed I was alone in my sentiments on this subject, of course, but I also didn’t expect my words to resonate so deeply with so many people. Writing […]

by Tiffany Hobbs  I hope Jesus doesn’t look like the white man on the wall. That flowy-locked iteration of the Messiah they wanted Black people to believe in would find his alabaster skin colored with surprise as Ms. Aretha Franklin entered the gates and demanded payment—her heavenly reward—upfront. Her blessings must be plentiful, as she […]

by Kirsten Howard “When people tell you who they are, believe them the first time.” -Maya Angelou Last week marked the return of rapper and producer turned alt-right Twitter provocateur, Kanye West. He came to Twitter with no warning after a long hiatus from the social media platform, and it seemed, at first, that his […]

By Latonya Pennington Until recently, gender identity and expression made me feel like a mannequin that has to be dressed up and put into poses. It started when my mother would make me wear this pink, puffy dress when visiting my dad while he worked and lived overseas. The dress just didn’t feel like me. […]

By: Chanda Hsu Prescod-Weinstein Someone was selling cigarettes illegally. The State didn’t need the money, but it did want to be in control of how everyday citizens made money. When the authorities showed up, the enforcers could have let the sale of contraband cigarettes go, but they didn’t. Instead, they used force and the cigarette […]

Issa Rae is the quintessential Black millennial success story but it hasn’t been a crystal stair for her. In an appearance on The View last month, Rae discussed her new hit show Insecure, growing up awkward, and how she has overcome her own insecurities.

Authored by Angela D. LeBlanc-Ernest, Tracye A. Matthews, Mary Phillips, and Robyn C. Spencer This article is a part of a two-part series. See Part 2 here. The Black Panther Party (BPP) has declared 2016 the #yearofthePanther, a year with nationwide events to “reclaim the history and legacy of the BPP and to connect with […]

By: Associated Press The oldest millennials (AP) — nearing 20 when airplanes slammed into New York City’s Twin Towers – are old enough to remember the relative economic prosperity of the 1990s, and when a different Clinton was running for president. The nation’s youngest adults – now nearing 20 themselves – find it hard to […]

While Lauryn Hill was the only non-Haitian member of the Fugees, Pras and Wyclef Jean considered her “Haitian by association.” To show her appreciation of the culture – as well as the Caribbean and African Diaspora as a whole – she’s opened up an art exhibit to coincide with her performance at Kings Theatre this […]