The Arts

Getty, Ancestry Team Up to Preserve HBCU Histories

“There were so many stories that needed to be told.” That’s how Cassandra Illidge, executive director of the HBCU Grants Program at Getty Images, describes the growing urgency behind a groundbreaking initiative to preserve and digitize the legacy of historically Black colleges

Getty, Ancestry Team Up to Preserve HBCU Histories

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“There were so many stories that needed to be told.” That’s how Cassandra Illidge, executive director of the HBCU Grants Program at Getty Images, describes the growing urgency behind a groundbreaking initiative to preserve and digitize the legacy of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Now, thanks to a first-of-its-kind partnership with Ancestry.com, that mission

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Credit: Matt Owen Caption: Salamander Hotels & Resort owner Sheila Johnson (left) plays the cello during a lesson with instructor Alan Saucedo Estrada in Middleburg, Virginia, in this undated photo.
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Sheila Johnson Champions Black Arts and Hospitality Diversity

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by Chauncey Alcorn Promoting diversity in the arts has become a mainstream mantra in the entertainment industry since the first #OscarsSoWhite controversy in 2015, but it’s something Sheila Johnson has been doing her entire adult life. It’s been 41 years since the Salamander Hotels & Resorts owner and CEO co-founded the BET network with then-husband

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Amanda Gorman Inspires Youth Poets Ahead of Super Bowl Stage

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Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN For three young scribes, the star of Super Bowl Sunday won’t be Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady, no matter how many touchdowns they throw. No, they’ll be tuning in for Amanda Gorman. The 22-year-old Los Angeles poet brought a moment of peace to a beleaguered nation when she delivered her stirring

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Maurice Mander
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Maurice “Raheem” Mander: Trenton’s HBCU Superheroes Comic

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Writer, educator and Trenton-native Maurice “Raheem” Mander has dedicated the past two decades of his life marrying his love for history, creativity and his hometown of Trenton, NJ into a comic book titled ‘Surian Seed:HBCU Superheroes.’ The comic, and soon to be animated film, follows a group of superhuman Trentonians that graduated from HBCU’s (historically

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The film, Joseph, aligns with the ‘Year of Return’ (2019) and the ‘Decade of Return’ (2020-2030) currently being expressed by African leaders and global influencers as people search for answers in the present by looking to clues from the past. It is the winner of the 2020 “Best Diaspora Narrative Feature” award at the Africa Movie Academy Awards. It has been endorsed and supported by the Governments of Ghana, Jamaica and Barbados and included in the Ghana Tourism Authority's “Year Of Return."
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Award-Winning Film Joseph Premieres on Amazon Prime Dec 24

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 Soulidifly Productions, a film company with a mission to produce meaningful, uplifting stories that are entertaining and beautifully told, has partnered with TRIAL X FIRE, LLC, the distribution branch of Urban Home Entertainment, to release Joseph to audiences everywhere on video-on-demand starting December 24, 2020, on Amazon Prime and Vimeo. “Joseph will bring viewers a

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