Son of Ellis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia James Arthur Baldwin  (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and  social critic . His essays, as collected in  Notes of a Native Son  (1955), explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of  racial ,  sexual , and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th-century America, and their inevitable if unnameable tensions.Some Baldwin essays are book-length, for instance  The Fire Next Time  (1963),  No Name in the Street  (1972), and  The Devil Finds Work  (1976). Baldwin's novels and plays fictionalize fundamental personal questions and dilemmas amid complex social and psychological pressures thwarting the equitable integration of not only blacks, but also of gay and bisexual men, while depicting some internalized obstacles to such individuals' quests for acceptance. Such dynamics are prominent in Baldwin's second novel, written well before gay equality was widel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Laverne Cox  is an American actress, reality television star, television producer, and  LGBT  advocate,best known for her portrayal of Sophia Burset on the  Netflix  television series  Orange Is the New Black , for which she became the first openly  transgender  person to be nominated for an  Primetime Emmy Award  in the acting category,and the first to be nominated for an Emmy Award since composer/musician Angela Morley in 1990. She is also known for appearing as a contestant on the first season of  VH1 's  I Want to Work for Diddy , and for producing and co-hosting the VH1 makeover television series  TRANSform Me . In April 2014, Cox was honored by  GLAAD  with its  Stephen F. Kolzak Award  for her work as an advocate for the transgender community. On June 9, 2014, Cox became the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of  Time  magazine.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Grace Jones  (born 19 May 1948) is a  Jamaican  singer, songwriter, model, record producer, and actress. She was born in  Spanish Town , Jamaica and raised by her grandparents. At 13 she moved with her siblings to their parents' home in  Syracuse, New York . Jones started out as a model, initially in New York state, then in  Paris , working for  Yves St. Laurent ,  Claude Montana , and Kenzo Takada , and appearing on the covers of  Elle ,  Vogue , and  Stern  working with  Helmut Newton ,  Guy Bourdin , and Hans Feurer. In 1977 Jones secured a record deal with  Island Records ; with the aid of  Compass Point All Stars  she moved into  new wave  in 1980. She scored Top 40 entries on the  UK Singles Chart  with " Pull Up to the Bumper ", " I've Seen That Face Before ", " Private Life ", " Slave to the Rhythm " and " I'm Not Perfect ". Her albums include  Warm Leatherette  (1980),  N

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zora Neale Hurston  (January 7, 1891– January 28, 1960) was an American  folklorist ,  anthropologist , and  author . Of Hurston's four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her 1937 novel  Their Eyes Were Watching God . In addition to new editions of her work being published after a revival of interest in her in 1975, her manuscript  Every Tongue Got to Confess  (2001), a collection of folktales gathered in the 1920s, was published posthumously after being discovered in the  Smithsonian  archives.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Whoopi Goldberg  ( born  Caryn Elaine Johnson ; November 13, 1955) is an American comedienne, actress, political activist, writer and television host. Although Goldberg made her film debut in the avant-garde  ensemble film   Citizen: I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm Giving It Away  (1982), her  breakthrough role  was playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the  Deep South  in the  period drama  film  The Color Purple  (1985). For her performance, she was nominated for the  Academy Award for Best Actress . She played Oda Mae Brown – a wacky  psychic  helping a slain man ( Patrick Swayze ) save his lover ( Demi Moore ) – in the  romantic fantasy  film  Ghost  (1990), for which she won the  Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress . Goldberg was the second black woman in the history of the Academy Awards to win an acting Oscar (the first being  Hattie McDaniel , who won for  Gone with the Wind  in 1939). She was co-producer of the televi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nichelle Nichols  (born  Grace Dell Nichols  on December 28, 1932) is an American  actress ,  singer  and  voice artist . She sang with  Duke Ellington  and  Lionel Hampton  before turning to acting. Her most famous role is that of communications officer Lieutenant  Uhura  aboard the  USS  Enterprise  in the popular  Star Trek  television series (1966-1969), as well as the succeeding motion pictures, where her character was eventually promoted in  Starfleet  to the rank of commander. Multiple novel series have stated that she rose to at least Captain. Nicholls'  Star Trek  character, one of the first  African American  female characters on American television not portrayed as a servant,   was groundbreaking in U.S society at the time. Civil rights leader  Martin Luther King, Jr.  personally praised her work on the show and asked her to remain when she was considering leaving the series.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, Jr.  (born February 16, 1957), professionally known as  LeVar Burton , is a German-born American  actor ,  presenter ,  director ,  producer , and  author . Burton is best known for his roles as the young  Kunta Kinte  in the 1977 award-winning  ABC  television miniseries  Roots , Lt. Commander  Geordi La Forge  in  Star Trek: The Next Generation , and as the host and executive producer of the long-running  PBS  children's series  Reading Rainbow . He is also known for directing the 1999  Disney Channel Original Movie   Smart House , starring  Katey Sagal .

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Gregory Oliver Hines  (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American  actor ,  singer ,  dancer  and  choreographer . Hines performed as the lead singer and musician in a rock band called Severance in the year of 1975-1976 based in Venice, California. Severance was one of the house bands at an original music club called Honky Hoagies Handy Hangout, otherwise known as the 4H Club. Severance released their debut album on Largo Records (a subsidiary of GNP Crescendo) in 1976. In 1986, he sang a duet with  Luther Vandross , entitled "There's Nothing Better Than Love", which reached the No. 1 position on the  Billboard  R&B charts . Hines made his movie debut in  Mel Brooks 's  History of the World, Part 1 . Critics took note of Hines's comedic charm, and he later appeared in such movies as  The Cotton Club ,  White Nights alongside  Mikhail Baryshnikov ,  Running Scared ,  Tap  and  Waiting to Exhale . On tele

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Etta James   (born   Jamesetta Hawkins ; January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012) was an American singer. Her style spanned a variety of music genres including   blues ,   R&B ,   soul ,   rock and roll , jazz   and   gospel . Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as " The Wallflower ", " At Last ", " Tell Mama ", " Something's Got a Hold on Me ", and " I'd Rather Go Blind " for which she wrote the lyrics.  She faced a number of personal problems, including   drug addiction , before making a musical resurgence in the late 1980s with the album   Seven Year Itch . James is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and was the winner of six  Grammys  and 17  Blues Music Awards . She was inducted into the  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame  in 1993, the  Blues Hall of Fame  in 2001, and the  Grammy Hall of Fame  in both 1999 and 2008.  R

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama   (born January 17, 1964) is an American lawyer and writer. She is the wife of the   44th   and current President of the United States,   Barack Obama , and the   first African-American   First Lady of the United States . Raised on the   South Side   of   Chicago , she is a graduate of   Princeton University   and   Harvard Law School , and spent the early part of her legal career working at the law firm   Sidley Austin , where she met Obama. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of   Chicago mayor   Richard M. Daley , and for the   University of Chicago Medical Center . Throughout 2007 and 2008, she helped campaign for her husband's presidential bid. She delivered a keynote address at the  2008 Democratic National Convention  and also spoke at the  2012 Democratic National Convention . She and her husband have two daughters together. As the wife of a senator, and later the first lady, she has b

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Whitney Elizabeth Houston   (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American   singer ,   actress , producer, and   model . In 2009,   Guinness World Records   cited her as the most awarded female act of all time. Houston is one of pop music's   best-selling music artists of all-time , with an estimated 170-200 million records sold worldwide. She released six studio albums, one holiday album and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification. Houston's crossover appeal on the popular music charts, as well as her prominence on   MTV , starting with her video for " How Will I Know ",   influenced several   African American   women artists who follow in her footsteps. Houston is the only artist to chart seven consecutive No. 1  Billboard  Hot 100  hits.She is the second artist behind  Elton John  and the only woman to have two number-one  Billboard  200 Album awar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm  (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an  American  politician, educator, and author. She was a  Congresswoman , representing  New York's 12th Congressional District  for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1968, she became the first  African-American  woman elected to  Congress . On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for  President of the United States  and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination (US Senator  Margaret Chase Smith  had previously run for the 1964 Republican presidential nomination).  She received 152 first-ballot votes at the  1972 Democratic National Convention .

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Barack Hussein Obama II   (  born August 4, 1961) is the   44th   and   current   President   of the   United States , and the   first   African American   to hold the office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii , Obama is a graduate of   Columbia University   and   Harvard Law School , where he served as president of the   Harvard Law Review . He was a   community organizer   in Chicago before earning his   law degree . He worked as a   civil rights   attorney and taught   constitutional law   at the   University of Chicago Law School   from 1992 to 2004. He   served three terms   representing the 13th District in the   Illinois Senate   from 1997 to 2004,   running unsuccessfully   for the   United States House of Representatives   in 2000. In 2004, Obama received national attention during his  campaign to represent Illinois  in the  United States Senate  with his victory in the March  Democratic Party   primary , his  keynote address  at the  Democr