By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Cyntoia Brown, championed by celebrities as a symbol of unfair sentencing, was released early Wednesday from the Tennessee Prison for Women, where she had been serving a life sentence for killing a man who had picked her up for sex at 16. Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna, […]
By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — When author Angela Flournoy was asked to dress as her favorite literary character for a magazine shoot four years ago, she knew how to look the part: a wide and “severe hat,” a fur stole and the kind of stare that dares you to stare […]
By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Paule Marshall, an exuberant and sharpened storyteller who in fiction such as “Daughters” and “Brown Girl, Brownstones” drew upon classic and vernacular literature and her mother’s kitchen conversations to narrate the divides between blacks and whites, men and women and modern and traditional cultures, has […]
By MEG KINNARD Associated Press GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Joe Darby, a South Carolina pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, pondered a sensitive question that he knew was on the mind of his congregation. Would black voters be able to reconcile their conservative religious doctrine with voting for a gay candidate for president? […]
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Four hundred years after American slavery and democratic self-rule were born almost simultaneously in what became the state of Virginia, ceremonies will mark the arrival of enslaved Africans in the mid-Atlantic colony and seek healing from the legacy of bondage that still haunts the nation. Yet the weekend ceremonies in Tidewater […]
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Comedian Dave Chappelle plans to host a special block party and benefit concert in Ohio for those affected by the recent mass shooting. Chappelle will be among national and local entertainers planned for the main stage at the “Gem City Shine” event in Dayton on Sunday. WDTN-TV reports the City of […]
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man who maintained his innocence even as he served a life sentence for a murder he didn’t commit was freed Thursday and said he got his strength in prison from God and his mother. Dontae Sharpe went free after an evidentiary hearing in Pitt County court in Greenville, […]
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Thousands turned out to a benefit hosted by comedian Dave Chappelle that honored victims of a mass shooting in Ohio. The star-studded “Gem City Shine” took place Sunday in Dayton’s Oregon District, the historic neighborhood that was marred by a 32-second rampage that killed nine people and left dozens injured […]
MIAMI (AP) — Spared from the wrath of Hurricane Dorian, people in South Florida are donating water, food and household supplies in a relief effort spearheaded by descendants of some of Miami’s earliest settlers from the Bahamas. Floridians showed up in droves Tuesday to give cans of food, bottles of water and boxes of diapers […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress observed the 400th anniversary Tuesday of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in America at a time of renewed interest over the history of slavery and its continued impact on contemporary society. “We must tell the unvarnished truth,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during the ceremony at the Capitol. […]