*The family released a statement to RadarOnline.com Thursday confirming the disco diva was “surrounded by her family at the time” she died. “Early this morning, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith. While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can’t [...]

On a trip to visit the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, President Obama took a minute to sit on the same Montgomery, Alabama bus that Rosa refuse to give up her seat. Obama later reflected on the moment at a fundraiser in suburban Detroit. “I just sat in there for a moment and pondered the courage and tenacity that [...]

*Ebony/Jet founder John H. Johnson is being honored by the U.S. Postal Service’s black heritage stamp for 2012. Johnson started Johnson Publishing Co. in 1951 with a $500 loan using his mother’s furniture as collateral. The Johnson stamp joins the ranks of other honorees like U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordon, singer Ella Fitzgerald, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, poet Langston Hughes [...]

*The life of rap pioneer and legend Heavy D is set to air documentary style on Centric TV this Sunday. Appropriately titled, “Be Inspired: The Life of Heavy D,” it will feature exclusive interviews with the rapper’s family and other close friends and artists like Will Smith, Mary J. Blige, and Queen Latifah. According to Centric, “Be Inspired: The Life [...]

WHITNEY HOUSTON DEAD AT 48 LOS ANGELES (AP) – Whitney Houston, who ruled as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, died Saturday. She was 48. Beverly Hills police Lt. Mark Rosen told reporters outside the Beverly Hilton that Houston was pronounced [...]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Don Cornelius, creator of the iconic TV music and dance show “Soul Train” that helped introduce Americans to black pop culture, died on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head, Los Angeles officials said. “The death was reported as a suicide, a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” Los Angeles coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said. [...]

Speech delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Tweet Share on Tumblr

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— The Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, who was bombed, beaten and repeatedly arrested in the fight for civil rights and hailed by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for his courage and energy, has died. He was 89. Tweet Share on Tumblr

ATL and Hip Hop fans KNOW that Killer Mike gets down and has that gift that motivates and make people think. Preach on Mike. Let the world know what we already know and what we go through on a daily basis in Atlanta, Georgia and below the Mason Dixie Line. Atlanta may have a large Black population and maybe the [...]

NEW DELHI — A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 hit northeastern India on Sunday near the border with Nepal. Reports said several people were injured and some buildings fell in the capital of India’s Sikkim state. The quake, centered in Sikkim, was felt over a broad area. It triggered at least two aftershocks of magnitude 6.1 and [...]

JAMAICA –THE already strained relations between the Barack Obama administration and the Government of Jamaica could be in for more severe testing, as the US government now says the granting of a pardon to Jamaica’s National Hero Marcus Garvey would be a waste of time and resources, since Garvey has been dead for ages. A report in the Sunday Observer [...]

NASSAU (Reuters) – The U.S. put its eastern seaboard on alert for Hurricane Irene on Tuesday as the powerful storm barreled up from the Caribbean on a path that could hit the U.S. coast on the weekend. Irene is the ninth named storm of the busy June-through-November season and looks set to be the first hurricane to hit the United [...]

*For the second consecutive year, an all-male charter school located in one of Chicago’s worst neighborhoods is sending its entire senior class to college, reports the Huffington Post. Urban Prep Charter Academy was founded in 2006, and its goal from the start was for every one of its graduates to be attending college when they left. It was an unlikely [...]