Did you guys know that Whoopi Goldberg real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson?  Did you also know that she made her film debut in The Color Purple (1985) playing Celie? A mistreated black woman in the south. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her first Golden Globe Award for her role in the film. In 1990, she starred as Oda Mae Brown, a psychic helping a slain manPatrick Swayze find his killer in the blockbuster film Ghost. This performance won her a second Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Notable later films include Sister Act (1992) and Sister Act 2 (1993), Made in America (1993), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Girl, Interrupted (1999) and Rat Race (2001). She is also acclaimed for her role as the bartender Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Goldberg has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards for her work in television. She was the co-producer and center square of the latest edition game showHollywood Squares from 1998 to 2002. She has achieved success on Broadway and in the music industry, and is one of 10 people who have won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT) Awards. In addition, she has won a British Academy Film Award, four People’s Choice Awards and has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Currently, Goldberg is moderator and co-host of The View, which earned her an Emmy in 2009. She is currently the producer of Head Games, a science themed game show.

On September 4, 2007, Goldberg became the new moderator and co-host of The View, replacing Rosie O’Donnell. O’Donnell stated on her official blog that she wanted Goldberg to be moderator. Goldberg’s debut as moderator drew 3.4 million viewers, 1 million fewer than O’Donnell’s debut ratings. After two weeks, however, The View was averaging 3.5 million total viewers under Goldberg, a 7% increase from 3.3 million under O’Donnell the previous season.

Goldberg’s first appearance on the show was controversial when she made statements about Michael Vick’s dogfighting as being “part of his cultural upbringing” and “not all that unusual” in parts of the South. Another comment that stirred controversy was the statement that the Chinese “have a very different relationship to cats” and that “you and I would be very pissed if somebody ate kitty.”

Some defended Goldberg, including her co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, saying that her comments were taken out of context by the press, because she repeated several times that she did not condone what Vick did.^[20]

On more than one occasion, Goldberg has expressed strong disagreement and irritation with different remarks made by Elisabeth Hasselbeck, such as on October 3, 2007, when Hasselbeck commented that Hillary Clinton’s proposed US$ 5,000 baby entitlement might lead to fewer abortions because of women wanting to keep the money.

Goldberg also created controversy when on September 28, 2009, during a discussion of Roman Polanski’s case, she opined that Polanski’s rape of a thirteen year old in 1977 was not “rape-rape”. Goldberg later reasoned that she was “only referring” to the legal charge against Polanksi at the time 30 years ago, which was later classified as statutory rape, i.e. unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, and that her comment was not in support of his freedom.

Kudo’s to Whoopi a very accomplished woman who isn’t afraid to be herself.

Did you guys know that Halle Berry was the First African-American to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, in 2001 for Monster’s Ball. Yes the first and, as of 2009, she is the only woman of African American descent to have won the award for Best Actress. Did you guys also know Halle was a former fashion model, and beauty queen. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an was also nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster’s Ball, becoming. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood and also a Revlon spokeswoman. She has also been involved in the production side of several of her films.

Halle Berry

Actress and model. Halle Maria Berry was born August 14th, 1966, in Cleveland, Ohio. The youngest daughter born to Jerome and Judith Berry, an interracial couple. Halle and her older sister Heidi spent the first few years of their childhood living in an inner-city neighborhood. In the early 1970s, Jerome Berry abandoned his wife and children, after which Judith moved her family to the predominantly white Cleveland suburb of Bedford.

Berry attended a nearly all-white public school, and as a result was subjected to discrimination at an early age. Her early bouts with racism greatly influenced her desire to excel. Throughout high school, the determined teen participated in a dizzying array of extracurricular activities, holding positions of newspaper editor, class president, and head cheerleader.

A natural performer, Berry earned a handful of beauty pageant titles during the early 1980s, including Miss Teen Ohio and Miss Teen America. She was eventually awarded first runner-up in the 1985 Miss U.S.A. competition. For a short time she attended Cleveland ‘s Cuyahoga Community College, where she studied broadcast journalism. However, Berry abandoned her idea of a career in news reporting before receiving her degree. Choosing to wholeheartedly devote her time to a career in entertainment, Berry first moved to Chicago and then New York City, where she found work as a catalog model.

As the 80s turned into the 90s, the aspiring actress began a career in television with a role on the short-lived sitcomLiving Dolls (1989), followed by a year-long run on the CBS prime-time drama Knot’s Landing, in 1991. Berry’s first big-screen break came later that year when she was cast as Samuel L. Jackson’s drug-addicted girlfriend in Spike Lee’s crticially acclaimed film, Jungle Fever. More substantial supporting roles followed, including that of a stripper in the action-thriller The Last Boy Scout (1991), starring Bruce Willis, and as the woman who finally wins Eddie Murphy’s heart in the romantic comedy Boomerang (1992).

With a few films under her belt, Berry accepted more offbeat roles, making cameos in the rockumentary CB4 (1993), which traced the rise and fall of a rap group by the same name. In 1994, the live-action version of The Flintstonesfeatured Berry as a Stone Age seductress.

Berry offered a no-holds-barred performance as a rehabilitated crack addict seeking to regain custody of her son inLosing Isaiah (1995). Berry, who played opposite Jessica Lange and David Strathairn, was noted for her believable portrayal of a mother struggling with addiction and loss. Later that year, Berry overcame Hollywood’s racial barriers when she was cast as the first African-American to play the Queen of Sheeba in Showtime’s movie Solomon & Sheeba.

Berry’s acting credits the next year included two 1996 crime thrillers: The Rich Man’s Wife, and Executive Decision. The latter film marked Berry’s first leading role in a feature.

In 1998, she took a turn as one of three wives laying claim to Frankie Lyman’s estate in the biographical drama Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, and then played a liberal urban youth in the political satire Bulworth, opposite Hollywood veteran Warren Beatty.

In 1999, Berry released her most passionate project to date, co-producing and starring in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, an HBO biopic. Berry was noted for her striking resemblance to the late Dandridge, and for her engaging depiction of the actress’ struggle to succeed in the racially biased industry of 1950s Hollywood. Berry earned both a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Television Movie for her role.

In February of 2000, Berry faced controversy when the actress was involved in a hit-and-run accident that erupted into a tabloid scandal. After enduring a minor head injury, she claimed that she did not remember leaving the scene. As a result of her actions, she was placed on probation, given community service, and fined $13,500.

Undeterred by the challenges faced in her personal life, Berry continued to star in blockbuster hits, including X-Men(2000), the big-budget screen adaptation of the long-running Marvel Comic. In the highly anticipated summer release, Berry’s character, Storm, teamed up with fellow mutant heroes played by Anna Paquin and Patrick Stewart.

In the summer of 2001, she co-starred with John Travolta in the action movie Swordfish. Audiences did not respond positively to the film, and publicity for the movie centered mostly around Berry’s topless scene, for which the actress was allegedly paid a $500,000 bonus. But Berry also garnered the most positive critical notice of her film career that same year in the dark drama Monster’s Ball. Berry played the wife of a death row prisoner (Sean “Puffy” Combs) who becomes romantically involved with a racist prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton).

The role earned Berry a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama and the Academy Award for Leading Actress. In her emotional acceptance speech, Berry acknowledged the honor of becoming the first African-American actress to win the Oscar for her lead role by thanking all the performers who came before her.

In 2002, Halle Berry joined the ranks of the legendary “Bond Girls” as the character Jinx in the hit James Bond spy adventure Die Another Day. The actress appeared in several more comic-book-inspired films over the next few years. First, she reprised her role as Storm in X2 (2003), the second installment of Marvel Comics’ X-Men film franchise. She then starred in the film adaptation of DC Comics’ Catwoman, in which she played the lead character and her feline alter-ego.

In 2005, she took the lead in the TV adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s classic 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was produced by Oprah Winfrey’s production company, Harpo. She also lent her voice for the CGI cartoon project, Robots. Then in 2006, she starred in the third X-Men installment, X-Men: The Final Stand, switching gears in 2007 to star in the heart-racing thriller, Perfect Stranger, co-starring Bruce Willis. In April of 2007, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Man I remember watching Jo Jo dancer I was really young and I wasn’t allowed so my cousin and I stole the tape and watched it. I remember thinking what’s a whore house lol but my favorite Richard Pryor movie is Moving. Richard Pryor paved the way for acts such as Eddie Murphy and the comedians of today.

His body of work includes the concert movies and recordings Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin’ (1971), That Nigger’s Crazy (1974), …Is It Something I Said?(1975), Bicentennial Nigger (1976), Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979), Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982), and Richard Pryor: Here and Now(1983). He also starred in numerous films as an actor such as Superman III (1983) but was usually in comedies such as Silver Streak (1976), but occasionally in dramatic roles, such as Paul Schrader’s film Blue Collar (1978). He collaborated on many projects with actor Gene Wilder.

Did you know that Richard Pryor won an Emmy Award in 1973, and five Grammy Awards in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1982. In 1974, he also won two American Academy of Humor awards and the Writers Guild of America Award.

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III (1940–2005)

Comedian, actor, writer. Born on December 1, 1940, in Peoria, Illinois. A skilled social satirist with a fondness for profanity, Richard Pryor was a groundbreaking African American comedian who became one of the top entertainers of the 1970s and 1980s. He got a rough start in life. His mother reportedly worked as a prostitute and his father was a bartender and boxer who served in the military during World War II. His parents married when he was three years old, but the union did not last.

For much of his youth, Pryor was left in his grandmother’s care and lived in the brothel she ran. He also experienced sexual abuse as a child, according to his official website. To step away from the grim reality of his life, Pryor found solace in going to the movies.

At school, Pryor played the part of the class clown. He went on to discover acting in his early teens. A natural performer, Pryor was cast in a production of Rumplestiltskin by Juliette Whittaker, the director of a local community center. She believed in his talent and encouraged him throughout the years.

At the age of 14, Pryor was expelled from school and ended up working a string of jobs until he joined the military in 1958. He served in the army for only two years—he was discharged for fighting with another soldier.

Upon his return home, Pryor married Patricia Price in 1960. The couple had one child together before divorcing. After ending his marriage, Pryor pursued a career as an entertainer. He found work as a comic throughout the Midwest, playing African American clubs in such cities as East St. Louis and Pittsburgh. In 1963, Pryor moved to New York City. The following year he made his television debut on the variety show On Broadway Tonight. More guest appearances followed on such shows as The Merv Griffin Show and the Ed Sullivan Show. At the time, his act was modeled after two African American comedians he admired, Bill Cosby and Dick Gregory.

By the late 1960s, Pryor had landed a few small parts on the big screen, appearing in The Busy Body (1967) and Wild in the Streets (1968). He also released his first self-titled comedy album around this time. Pryor even gave marriage another try—he wed Shelly Bonus in 1967. (The couple had one child together—a daughter named Elizabeth—before divorcing in 1969.)

Pryor toured extensively, doing his stand-up act. Playing Las Vegas, he served as Bobby Darin’s opening act at the Flamingo Hotel for a time. He reached an interesting career turning point while playing at the Aladdin in the late 1960s. Tired of the constraints and limitations on his material, Pryor walked off stage and took a break from stand up. He retreated to Berkeley, California, where he met a variety of counterculture figures, including Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton.

In the early 1970s, Pryor scored several successes as an actor and comedian. He earned positive reviews for his supporting role in the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972) starring Diana Ross. In 1973, he netted his first Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety for his work on The Lily Tomlin Show. Pryor won the Emmy for Best Writing in Comedy-Variety the following year for another collaboration with Lily Tomlin—the comedy special Lily. Pryor also wrote for such shows as The Flip Wilson Show and Sanford and Son, which starred comedian Redd Foxx.

Continuing to thrive professionally, Pryor worked with Mel Brooks on the screenplay for western spoof Blazin’ Saddles (1974). His own work was also attracting a lot of attention. Despite its X-rated content, his third comedy album sold extremely well and the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1974—a feat he repeated the next two years.

Comedy fans—of all racial backgrounds—were captivated by Pryor’s comedy, which consisted of situational and character-driven humor—not straightforward jokes. He poked fun at the white establishment and explored the racial divide. In one bit, Pryor describes how differently the horror film The Exorcist would have been if it had featured an African American family instead of a white one. Another routine about Muhammad Ali covered how white people never gave Ali enough credit as a fighter.

By the late 1970s, Pryor had a thriving career as an actor. He starred in the box office hit Silver Streak (1976) with Gene Wilder and Jill Clayburgh. Pryor went on to play the first African American stock car racing champion inGreased Lightning (1977) with Beau Bridges and Pam Grier. He and Grier were involved off-screen for a while before Pryor married his third wife, Deboragh McGuire, in 1977. (They separated after a short while and officially divorced in 1979.)

Off screen and off stage, Pryor had a long history of substance abuse and stormy relationships. In 1978, Pryor had another run-in with the law after he shot his estranged wife’s car. He was on put on probation, fined, and ordered to get psychiatric treatment and make restitution. Four years earlier, Pryor had gotten into legal trouble for failing to file tax returns from 1967 to 1970. He received a fine and probation.

His health began to suffer. He had his first heart attack in 1978. After this health crisis, Pryor started work on what has been considered by many critics to be his finest performance. The film Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979) garnered a lot of praise and sold out at many urban movie theaters. That same year, Pryor traveled to Kenya and after that visit he announced that he would no longer be using the n-word in his act.

Pryor reteamed with Gene Wilder for the popular crime comedy Stir Crazy (1980), which was directed by Sidney Poitier. The film was a huge hit at the box office, earning more than $100 million.

His drug use spiraled out of control the next year. In June, after several days of freebasing cocaine, he lit himself on fire in a suicide attempt. It was initially reported as an accident, but he later admitted in his autobiography that he had done it on purpose in a drug haze. He had third-degree burns on more than 50 percent of his body. Reflective of his comic style, Pryor found the humor in his own suffering. “You know something I noticed? When you run down the street on fire, people will move out of your way.”

After a lengthy recovery, Pryor returned to stand up and acting. He won two more Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Recording—one for Rev. Du Rite in 1981 and one for Live on the Sunset Strip in 1982. Live on the Sunset Strip was also released as a concert film that same year. He also starred in several films, including Some Kind of Hero (1982) with Margo Kidder and The Toy (1982) with Jackie Gleason. Marrying for the fourth time, Pryor wed Jennifer Lee in 1981, but the couple divorced the following year.

In 1983, Pryor became one of the highest-paid African American actors at the time. He took home $4 million to play an evil henchman in Superman III—reportedly earning more than the film’s star Christopher Reeve. He drew from his own life experience for another important project from this era—Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986). In the autobiographical film, he played a popular stand-up comic who takes a look at his life while recuperating in a hospital after suffering serious burns in a drug-related incident. Around this time, Pryor was briefly married to actress Flynn BeLaine. (The couple made another short-lived attempt at marriage in the early 1990s as well.)

The following year, Pryor was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the central nervous system. He did the best he could to not let the degenerative illness slow him down, starring in several movies, includingCritical Condition (1987), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) with Gene Wilder, and Harlem Nights (1989) with Eddie Murphy and Redd Foxx. By the early 1990s, however, once kinetic Pryor was confined to a wheelchair. Still he kept performing stand-up and acting.

He wrote his autobiography, Pryor Convictions: And Other Life Sentences(1995) with Todd Gold, which earned critical acclaim. That same year, he appeared in an episode of the medical drama Chicago Hope with his daughter Rain as a man with multiple sclerosis. His last film appearance was in David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997).

Pryor became the first person to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Kennedy Center in 1998. He said at the time, “I am proud that, like Mark Twain, I have been able to use humor to lessen people’s hatred.”

In 2001, Pryor remarried Jennifer Lee. He spent his final years with her at his California home. Outside of performing, Pryor was an advocate for animal rights and opposed animal testing. He established Pryor’s Planet, a charity for animals.

On December 10, 2005, Pryor died of a heart attack at a Los Angeles area hospital. He paved the way for such comedians as Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, and countless others. “Pryor started it all. He made the blueprint for the progressive thinking of black comedians, unlocking that irreverent style,” comedian and filmmaker Keenen Ivory Wayans explained to The New York Times.

When I hear the name Eddie Murphy, my first thought is that man is a genius. This man has taken Hollywood by storm and yet he still doesn’t get the amount of credit he deserves. Hit after hit Eddie has proven himself as a actor, writer, comedian, producer and among others a box office draw, he is the second-highest grossing actor in motion picture history. Eddie has written hits like  Coming To America which Worldwide gross is $288,752,301, also Boomerang which grossed $131,052,444 I could go on. Of course he hit some ruff patches in his careers, but don’t we all it doesn’t exclude the great body of work that Eddie has, the opportunities that he created for the ones who followed him and the legacy that he will leave behind. Kudos to Eddie for creating such great history and stories that will forever live on.

Eddie Murphy

Comedian. Eddie Murphy was born April 3, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York. He spent his early years in the projects of Bushwick with his father, Charles Murphy, a New York City police officer and amateur comedian, his mother, Lillian Murphy, a telephone operator, and his brother Charles. His parents divorced when he was three; five years later, his father died and his mother went into the hospital for an extended period.

When Murphy was nine, his mother married Vernon Lynch, a foreman at a Breyer’s ice cream factory, and the family moved to the primarily African-American suburb of Roosevelt, Long Island.

Murphy watched a lot of television growing up and developed a great skill for impressions, doing such characters as Bugs Bunny, Bullwinkle, and Sylvester the Cat. “My mother says I never talked in my own voice,” Murphy later said.

In 1982, Murphy received a Grammy nomination for a live album of fresh stand-up material called Eddie Murphy: Comedian. The album eventually went gold. That same year, at the age of 21, he also landed his first major motion picture role alongside Nick Nolte in 48 Hours (1982). He approached the role with confidence and ingenuity, convincing director Walter Hill to adjust some of the dialogue to more genuinely depict a black speaker. His charming and inspired performance as the fast-talking convict stole the film, and 48 Hours grossed over $5 million in its first week.

Murphy followed this success with the 1930s style farce Trading Places(1983). Playing alongside fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd, Murphy’s street-wise Billy Ray Valentine becomes the victim, then the victor, of two Wall Street moguls’ short-sighted bet. Paramount Pictures proceeded to sign the 23-year-old to a $25 million contract for six pictures.

Murphy’s next film, Beverly Hills Cop (1984), hit No. 9 on the list of all-time box office hits. He played bad boy/good cop Axel Foley, a role originally slated for Sylvester Stallone. His performance was a hit with fans, and earned the actor a Golden Globe nomination. Taking advantage of his status as a hot commodity, Murphy released his first album How Could it Be?, which was produced by music legend Rick James. The first single off the album, “Party All the Time,” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Did you guys know that Aresnio Hall was the first Black late night tv host? Did you also know he was the first host who debut rappers, singer and black music. Black History is slowly fading to me, I want to acknowledge things old and new so I give kudos to Aresnio who kicked in the door for African American host and rappers and also main streaming acts like Bobby Brown. NWMasssMedia takes our hat to you this month,

Arsenio Hall

Actor, comedian, television talk show host, born in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 12, 1956, to Fred, a preacher, and Anne, who had separated by the time Hall was six. At age seven he became interested in magic, and began performing at birthday parties, weddings, and bar mitzvahs.

Hall is best known for his groundbreaking talk show The Arsenio Hall Show which ran from 1989-94. As the first black late-night talk show host, one of Hall’s distinctions is that he provided what was the first, and for a time, only, showcase for hardcore rap and hip-hop artists, and for controversial guests like Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader.

He attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, majoring in communications, though he transferred, and graduated from, Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Though he started out in advertising, in 1979 he moved to Chicago, switched to stand-up comedy, and was “discovered” at a comedy club by singer Nancy Wilson. He got jobs opening for musicians such as Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, Patti Labelle, Wayne Newton, and Tina Turner.

Throughout the 80s Hall appeared on various comedy and musical shows, including Solid Gold, Motown Revue, andThe New Love American Style, and hosted a short-lived show called The Half-Hour Comedy Hour. He made his feature film debut in Amazon Women on the Moon in 1987. Hall also appeared in two films with friend Eddie Murphy: the box-office hit Coming to America, (1988) and Harlem Nights (1989).

Back in 1987, however, Hall had tapped into what would be his most successful professional endeavor. He took over hosting duties from Joan Rivers on The Late Show. His easy-going, playful, and somewhat risque banter, was a hit with audiences. Based on that success, he was approached to host his own syndicated late-night talk show. Two years later, The Arsenio Hall Show was born. Hall’s deal included hosting and executive producing duties on the show, produced by Paramount and his own production company, Arsenio Hall Productions. Starting a half-hour earlier than Johnny Carson’s late-night staple The Tonight Show in many regions, and booking younger, new TV and musical artists than his established rival, he drew a young, hip audience, whose often raucous reaction to Hall’s monologue, and guests became famous for its “Woof! Woof!” (with pumping fist) chant.

Strangely, it was the end of Carson’s reign that created a similar fate for Hall. When Carson retired in 1992, and Jay Leno was chosen as his successor over David Letterman (whose show followed Carson’s), Letterman left NBC for CBS, and started his own Late Show, against Leno’s. Leno started drawing young viewers away, and Letterman, who had a long-standing young audience, and his new show’s success, also cut into Hall’s audience, with affiliate stations choosing to air Letterman over Hall. The Arsenio Hall Show aired its final episode May 27, 1994.

I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.

Some women today would say, women like Ms Scott, walked behind her man. She wasn’t what they deemed a independent women, a woman who doesn’t need a man or can pay all her own bills. However Ms Scott was bigger than a independent woman, stronger than a five star check and wiser then a woman who screams she has her own. Ms Scott stood alone, and a real woman stands alone and doesn’t need all that extra title to her name. She was just a woman, but the word woman is so powerful alone. We tarnish the meaning of it by classifying it with those ghetto jingles.  A real woman knows her worth, her power and how positions. Ms Scott not only was involved in the movement of freedom she was the backbone to the foundation, without her struggle, her unselfish love, her dedication and her willingness to let Martin be a man and lead where would we be? Ms Scott marched us into freedom with her husband by his side and that is the true essence of being a woman, and it’s knowing when your needed and when you need to step back. We can holler that independent Bs all we want but the foundation of the word woman will never change. I take my hat off to Ms King and Ms Shabazz who both loved there husbands enough to let them be great, but struggled every night knowing one day he will not return to her and that is Powerful and independent.

Coretta Scott King 1927-2006

Coretta Scott King was the second of three children born to Obadiah “Obie” Scott (1899-1998) and Bernice McMurray Scott (1904-1996) in Perry County, Alabama. She had an older sister named Edythe, born in 1925, and a younger brother named Obadiah Leonard, born in 1930. The Scotts owned a farm, which had been in the family since the American Civil War, but were not particularly wealthy. During the Great Depression the Scott children picked cotton to help earn money.^[1] Obie was the first black in their neighborhood to own a truck. He had a barber shop in their home. He also owned a lumber mill, which was burned down by white neighbors.

Though uneducated themselves, Scott King’s parents intended for all of their children to be educated. Coretta quoted her mother as having said, “My children are going to college, even if it means I only have but one dress to put on.”^[2] The Scott children attended a one room elementary school 5 miles (8 km) from their home and were later bussed to Lincoln Normal School, which despite being 9 mi (14 km) from their home, was the closest black high school in Marion, Alabama, due to racial segregation in schools. The bus was driven by Coretta’s mother Bernice, who bussed all the local black teenagers.^[1]

Scott King graduated valedictorian of Lincoln Normal School in 1945 and enrolled at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Edythe Scott already attended Antioch as part of the Antioch Program for Interracial Education, which recruited non-white students and gave them full scholarships in an attempt to diversify the historically white campus. Coretta said of her first college:

Antioch had envisioned itself as a laboratory in democracy, but had no black students. (Edythe) became the first African American to attend Antioch on a completely integrated basis, and was joined by two other black female students in the fall of 1943. Pioneering is never easy, and all of us who followed my sister at Antioch owe her a great debt of gratitude.

Coretta studied music with Walter Anderson, the first non-white chair of an academic department in a historically white college. Scott King also became politically active, due largely to her experience of racial discrimination by the local school board. She became active in the nascent civil rights movement; she joined the Antioch chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the college’s Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees. The board denied her request to perform her second year of required practice teaching at Yellow Springs public schools, for her teaching certificate Scott King appealed to the Antioch College administration, which was unwilling or unable to change the situation in the local school system and instead employed her at the college’s associated laboratory school for a second year.

Coretta transferred out of Antioch when she won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. It was while studying singing at that school with Marie Sundelius that she met Martin Luther King, Jr. In her early life Coretta was as well known as a singer as she was as a civil rights activist, and often incorporated music into her civil rights work. In 1964, the Time profile of Martin Luther King, Jr., when he was chosen as Time’s “Man of the Year”, referred to her as “a talented young soprano.

Coretta Scott and Martin Luther King, Jr., were married on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her mother’s house; the ceremony was performed by Martin Jr.’s father, Martin Luther King, Sr.. After completing her degree in voice and violin at the New England Conservatory, she moved with her husband to Montgomery, Alabama in September 1954.

The Kings had four children:

• Yolanda Denise King (November 17, 1955 – May 15, 2007)
• Martin Luther King III ( October 23, 1957 in Montgomery, Alabama)
• Dexter Scott King ( January 30, 1961 in Atlanta Georgia)
• Bernice Albertine King ( March 28, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia)

All four children later followed in their parents’ footsteps as civil rights activists.

Coretta Scott King played an extremely important role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Martin wrote of her that, “I am indebted to my wife Coretta, without whose love, sacrifices, and loyalty neither life nor work would bring fulfillment. She has given me words of consolation when I needed them and a well-ordered home where Christian love is a reality.” However, Martin and Coretta did conflict over her public role in the movement. Martin wanted Coretta to focus on raising their four children, while Coretta wanted to take a more public leadership role.

Coretta Scott King took part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 and took an active role in advocating for civil rights legislation. Most prominently, perhaps, she worked hard to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Not long after her husband’s assassination in 1968, Coretta approached the African American entertainer and activist Josephine Baker to take her husband’s place as leader of The Civil Rights Movement. After many days of thinking it over Baker declined, stating that her twelve adopted children (known as the “rainbow tribe”) were ” … too young to lose their mother.”^[5] Shortly after that Coretta decided to take the helm of the movement herself.

Scott King broadened her focus to include women’s rights, LGBT rights, economic issues, world peace, and various other causes. As early as December 1968, she called for women to “unite and form a solid block of women power to fight the three great evils of racism, poverty and war,” during a Solidarity Day speech.^[6]

As leader of the movement, Scott King founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. She served as the center’s president and CEO from its inception until she passed the reins of leadership to son Dexter Scott King.

She published her memoirs, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1969.

Coretta Scott King was also under surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1968 until 1972. Her husband’s activities had been monitored during his lifetime. Documents obtained by a Houston,Texas television station show that the FBI worried that Scott King would “tie the anti-Vietnam movement to the civil rights movement.”^[7] A spokesman for the King family said that they were aware of the surveillance, but had not realized how extensive it was.

Every year after the assassination of her husband in 1968, Coretta attended a commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to mark his birthday on January 15. She fought for years to make it a national holiday. Murray M. Silver, an Atlanta attorney, made the appeal at the services on January 14, 1979. Coretta Scott King later confirmed that it was the “…best, most productive appeal ever…” Scott King was finally successful in this in 1986, when Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was made a federal holiday.

Coretta Scott King attended the state funeral of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, as a very close friend of the former president, himself a contributor to civil rights.

When President Ronald Reagan signed legislation establishing Martin Luther King Day, she was at the event.

Coretta Scott King was the recipient of various honors and tributes both before and after her death. She received honorary degrees from many institutions, including Princeton University, Duke University, andBates College. She was honored by both of her alma maters in 2004, receiving a Horace Mann Award from Antioch College^[2] and an Outstanding Alumni Award from the New England Conservatory of Music.^[18]

In 1970, the American Library Association began awarding a medal named for Coretta Scott King to outstanding African American writers and illustrators of children’s literature.^[19]

Many individuals and organizations paid tribute to Scott King following her death, including U.S. President George W. Bush,^[20] the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,^[21] the Human Rights Campaign,^[22] the National Black Justice Coalition,^[23] her alma mater Antioch College.^[24]

In 2004, Coretta Scott King was awarded the prestigious Gandhi Peace Prize by the Government of India.

In 2007, The Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy (CSKYWLA) was opened in Atlanta, Georgia. At its inception, the school served girls in grade 6 with plans for expansion to grade 12 by 2014. CSKYWLA is a public school in the Atlanta Public Schools system. Among the staff and students, the acronym for the school’s name, CSKYWLA (pronounced “see-skee-WAH-lah”), has been coined as a protologism to which this definition has given – “to be empowered by scholarship, non-violence, and social change.” The school is currently under the leadership of Melody Morgan (Principal) and April Patton (Dean of Academics).

“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in. I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move. Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.” ~~Rosa Parks

Today I want to celebrate a strong black woman, honestly this is when women decided to step up and speak out for themselves in my opinion. Rosa stood for what she believed in as a woman, and we all listened, Kudos to Ms Parks for not only speaking out for black people but for women as a whole.

The foremost African American abolitionist in antebellum America, Frederick Douglass (ca. 1817-1895) was the first African American leader of national stature in United States history.

Frederick Douglass was born, as can best be determined, in February 1817 (he took the 14th as his birthday) on the eastern shore of Maryland. His mother, from whom he was separated at an early age, was a slave named Harriet Bailey. She named her son Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey; he never knew or saw his father. (Frederick adopted the name Douglass much later.) Douglass’s childhood, though he judged it in his autobiography as being no more cruel than that of scores of others caught in similar conditions, appears to have been extraordinarily deprived of personal . The lack of familial attachments, hard work, and sights of incredible  fill the text of his early remembrances of the main plantation of Col. Edward Lloyd. In 1825 his masters decided to send him to Baltimore to live with Hugh Auld.

Mrs. Auld, Douglass’s new mistress and a Northerner unacquainted with the  techniques Southern slaveholders used to preserve docility in their slaves, treated young Douglass well. She taught him the rudiments of reading and writing until her husband stopped her. With this basic background he began his self-education.

Escape to Freedom

After numerous ownership disputes and after attempting to escape from a professional slave , Douglass was put to work in the Baltimore shipyards. There in 1838 he borrowed a African American sailor’s protection papers and by impersonating him escaped to New York. He adopted the name Douglass and married a free African American woman from the South. They settled in New Bedford, Mass., where several of their children were born.

Douglass quickly became involved in the antislavery movement, which was gaining impetus in the North. In 1841, at an  meeting in , Mass., he delivered a moving speech about his experiences as a slave and was immediately hired as a lecturer by the Massachusetts Antislavery Society. By all accounts he was a forceful and even  speaker. His self-taught prose and manner of speaking so inspired some Harvard students that they persuaded him to write his autobiography. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was published in 1845. (Ten years later an enlarged autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom, appeared. His third autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, was published in 1881 and enlarged in 1892.) The 1845 publication, of course, meant exile for Douglass, a  slave.

Fearing capture, Douglass fled to Britain, staying from 1845 to 1847 to speak on behalf of abolition and to earn enough money to purchase his freedom when he returned to America. Upon his return Douglass settled in Rochester, N.Y., and started publishing his newspaper, North Star (which continued to be published under various names until 1863).

In 1858, as a consequence of his fame and as unofficial spokesman for African Americans, Douglass was sought out by John Brown as a recruit for his planned attack on the Harpers Ferry arsenal. But Douglass could see no benefit from what he considered a  plan and refused to  his support.

Civil War and Reconstruction

The Civil War, beginning in 1861, raised several issues, not the least of which was what role the black man would play in his own liberation – since one of the main objectives of the war was  of the slaves. Douglass kept this issue alive. In 1863, as a result of his continued insistence (as well as of political and military ), President Abraham Lincoln asked him to recruit African American soldiers for the Union Army. As the war proceeded, Douglass had two meetings with Lincoln to discuss the use and treatment of African American soldiers by the Union forces. In consequence, the role of African American soldiers was upgraded each time and their military effectiveness thereby increased.

The Reconstruction period laid serious responsibilities on Douglass. Politicians differed on the question of race and its corresponding problems, and as legislative battles were waged to establish the constitutional integrity of the slaves’ emancipation, Douglass was the one African American with enough to make suggestions.

In 1870 Douglass and his sons began publishing the New National Era newspaper in Washington, D.C. In 1877 he was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes to the post of U.S. marshal for the District of Columbia. From this time until approximately 2 years before his death Douglass held a succession of offices, including that of recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia and minister-resident and consul-general to the Republic of Haiti, as well as chargé d’affaires to Santo Domingo. He resigned his assignments in Haiti and Santo Domingo when he discovered that American businessmen were taking advantage of his position in their dealings with the Haitian government. He died in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 20, 1895.

Further Reading

Douglass’s writings can be found in The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, edited by Philip S. Foner (4 vols., 1950-1955). Frederick Douglass, edited by Benjamin Quarles (1968), contains excerpts from Douglass’s writings, portrayals of him by his contemporaries, and appraisals by later historians.

Benjamin Quarles, Frederick Douglass (1948), is a well-written, scholarly biography. See also Philip S. Foner, Frederick Douglass: A Biography (1964), and , Free at Last: The Life of Frederick Douglass (1971). There is a biographical sketch of Douglass in William J. Simmons, Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising (1887; repr. 1968). Works that discuss Douglass at length are John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of American Negroes (1947; 3d ed. 1967); Louis Filler, The Crusade against Slavery, 1830-1860 (1960); and Martin Duberman, ed., The Antislavery Vanguard: New Essays on the Abolitionists (1965).

Before all the weave, pee popping and glitter nails, there was the truth. The truth of Lauryn Hill this month as we celebrate Black History we have to acknowledge the old and recognize the new.  Lauryn Noel Hill (born May 25, 1975) is an American recording artist, musician, producer and actress. Early in her career, she established her reputation in the hip-hop world as a member of the Fugees. Lauryn Hill was born in South Orange, New Jersey, the second of two children born to high school English teacher Valerie Hill and computer programmer Mal Hill. As a child, Hill listened to her parents’ Motown 1960s soul records. Music was a central part of the Hill home. Mal Hill sang at weddings, Valerie played the piano, and Lauryn’s older brother Malaney played thesaxophone, guitar, drums, harmonica, and piano. In 1988, Hill appeared as an Amateur Night contestant on It’s Showtime at the Apollo. She sang her own version of Smokey Robinson’s song “Who’s Lovin’ You?”, where she was booed tremendously. But came back to win the hearts and applause of the Apollo audience.

Hill began her acting career at a young age, appearing on the soap opera As The World Turns as Kira Johnson. In 1993, she co-starred in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit as Rita Louise Watson, in which she performed the songs “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (a duet with Tanya Blount) and “Joyful, Joyful”. It was in this role that she first came to national prominence, withRoger Ebert calling her “the girl with the big joyful voice”. Her other acting work includes the play Club XII with MC Lyte, and the motion pictures King of the Hill, Hav Plenty, and Restaurant. After her rise to musical stardom, she reportedly turned down roles in Charlie’s Angels, The Bourne Identity, The Mexican, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

The Fugees’ first album, Blunted on Reality, peaked at #49 on the U.S. Hot 100. The album sold over two million copies worldwide. Blunted on Reality was followed by The Score, a multi-platinum, Grammy-winning album that established two of the three Fugees as international rap stars. Singles from The Score include “Ready or Not”, “Fu-Gee-La”, “No Woman, No Cry”, and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (made famous by Roberta Flack).

In 1996, Hill began production on an album that would eventually become The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The title was partially inspired by The Education of Sonny Carson, a film and autobiographical novel about a troubled African American youth. The album featured contributions from D’Angelo, Carlos Santana, Mary J. Blige and a then-unknown John Legend. Songs for the album were largely written in an attic studio in South Orange, New Jersey and recorded at Chung King Studios in Jamaica. Wyclef Jean initially didn’t support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered his production help; Hill turned him down.

In 1998, Hill released The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which was both critically and commercially successful. It sold over 423,000 copies in its first week and topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for four weeks and the Billboard R&B Album chart for six weeks; it would go on to sell more than 18 million copies over the next decade. The first single off the album was “Lost Ones” (US #27), released in Spring 1998. The second was “Doo Wop (That Thing)”, which reached #1 in the Billboard charts. Other singles released in support of the album were “Ex-Factor” (US #21), “Everything Is Everything” (US #35), and “To Zion”.

At the 1999 Grammy Awards, Hill was nominated 10 times, becoming the first woman ever to be nominated 10 times in one year: Hill won five Grammys including Album of the Year (beatingMadonna’s critically acclaimed Ray of Light), Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best New Artist. Hill set a new record in the industry, becoming the first woman to win five Grammys in one night. Between 1998 and 1999, Hill earned $25 million from record sales and touring.

Lauryn Hill debut album has out sold Beyonce Dangerously In Love, Alicia Keys Songs in a Minor and to this date there has not been a R&B artist to outsell Lauryn Hills Debut album Kudo’s to Lauryn for making a new fact in Black History.

Our nation was divided once, little boys and little girls could not play amongst each other with out being parted by color. It was a time were we couldn’t drink out the same water fountains or ride on the front of the bus. But this man, this leader fought the good fight through his strength and courage he battled the one thing everyone thought was impossible. Martin, said let freedom ring; he dreamed of a life that others couldn’t even imagine. Not only did he dream about being free he fought for it and risk his life so that we could one day see what he saw. Today lets tell our kids, relatives and friends about this great man who put his life on the line so that we could live free, today is a day of celebration.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr, your name, memory and legacy will forever live on.