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African World, Hubert Avenue, Leimert Park, Johannesburg (2025)

30/09/2025

Dawn Silva, George Clinton, and Lynn Mabry stand frozen in time in a 1979 photo by Diem Jones, an image that now anchors Seth Neblett’s new book, Mothership Connected; The Women on Parliament-Funkadelic (University of Texas Press).

The book finally puts a spotlight where it belongs; on Mallia Franklin, Lynn Mabry, Dawn Silva, Debbie Wright, and Shirley Hayden. These women weren’t background singers or side players, they were architects of the Parliament-Funkadelic universe and driving forces behind spin-off groups like Parlet and the Brides of Funkenstein.

Their voices, style, and vision helped turn Clinton’s cosmic circus into legend. Neblett’s work makes it plain; the mothership never flew without them.

30/09/2025

Lt. Col. George E. Hardy (1925 - 2025); Tuskegee Airman Who Fought in Three Wars.

Today we honor Lt. Col. George E. Hardy, one of the last living Tuskegee Airmen, whose life embodied both the struggle and triumph of breaking America’s color barrier in the skies.

Born in Philadelphia in 1925, Hardy trained at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama and graduated as a second lieutenant in 1944. He was deployed the following year to Italy, joining the 99th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, under the command of Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. At a time when African Americans had been barred from military aviation, Hardy and his peers rewrote the rules, flying more than 1,500 combat missions and earning Distinguished Unit Citations, Flying Crosses, and a legacy that would help desegregate the U.S. armed forces.

Hardy flew 21 combat missions in World War II, 45 in Korea, and 70 in Vietnam before retiring from the Air Force in 1971. Nearly three decades of service across three wars proved what should have been obvious from the start: excellence knows no color line.

In 2007, the Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, belated recognition for what their courage forced the nation to admit. And while history often focuses on the pilots, Hardy never forgot the 10,000-plus Black men and women, mechanics, instructors, medics, and more, who kept the planes and the mission alive.

He died on June 8, 2025. Thus, Hardy’s death closes another chapter in the Tuskegee story, but his life remains a blueprint for service, discipline, and strength. Through war planes, Hardy lifted a nation higher than it wanted to go.

30/09/2025

Lionel Richie Says Michael Jackson Had a “Smelly” Habit.

Lionel Richie’s new memoir pulls no punches, and Michael Jackson’s laundry habits didn’t escape notice. According to Richie, the King of Pop sometimes refused to change or wash his clothes for days, a quirk that earned him a backstage nickname.

“Michael was very close with his siblings and his mom, but once he went solo… his day-to-day life was what you could call eccentric,” Richie wrote. He and producer Quincy Jones jokingly called Jackson “Smelly”, a tag Jackson himself laughed at, admitting he could go days without swapping pants.

Richie recalled the odor getting so bad that he once gifted Jackson jeans and underwear with a friendly nudge to shower. “He just got into the habit of wearing the same pants until they were unwearable,” Richie said.

The revelation is less scandal than snapshot; a reminder that even pop royalty had quirks that were, well, human.

30/09/2025

Before she was America’s first Black woman billionaire, Sheila Johnson was a violinist, teaching classical music at Sidwell Friends School. That early devotion to the arts that shaped her skills and her vision.

With $15,000 and a bold idea, Johnson and her then-husband co-founded BET, putting Black culture on the national stage. From there, she didn’t stop. She became the only African American woman to hold stakes in three pro sports teams, the Washington Wizards, Capitals, and Mystics, breaking barriers that many assumed were untouchable.

Her influence flows into hospitality, too. Through Salamander Hotels & Resorts, she redefines luxury while highlighting overlooked Black histories, including the legacy of Black equestrians. She has also produced films and documentaries that shine a light on social justice, proving that storytelling can be as powerful as business.

Sheila Johnson’s life is more than a record of wealth, it’s a blueprint for building opportunities, lifting communities, and reshaping what success can look like.

30/09/2025

Mississippi had built walls, not brick, but fear, prejudice, and a stubborn refusal to share power. On this day, James Meredith tore through them. Despite threats that could have scared away even the bravest, Meredith enrolled at the all-white University of Mississippi, a single man carrying the weight of a nation’s conscience.

Years in the Air Force had sharpened his resolve. Stationed in Japan, Meredith found a world where respect didn’t come attached to skin color. A young boy’s surprise that someone from the South could exist outside oppression lit a fire in him. He left the Air Force determined to return home and fight, not with weapons, but with the unassailable claim to his own humanity.

The response in Mississippi was chaos. Mobs fired gvns, threw bricks, and hurled Molotov cocktails at federal marshals and National Guardsmen. By dawn, hundreds were injured. Two were dead, including French reporter Paul Guihard. And still, Meredith walked into class, flanked by guards, unbroken.

Meredith later framed it plainly: it wasn’t about grades, books, or diplomas. “It was about power,” he said. “It was about citizenship. It was about enjoying everything any other man enjoys.”

Today, a statue on the Ole Miss campus quietly marks the battlefield he walked across, reminding us that courage sometimes arrives in a quiet pair of shoes, not a roar.

30/09/2025

In 1997, hip-hop culture, comedy, and that late-90s flashy vibe collided in “How to Be a Player,” and tucked right into it was actress Mari Morrow.

Morrow, already known from TV shows like Family Matters and Living Single, slid into the film playing Amber, one of the women caught up in Dray’s (Bill Bellamy) wild player lifestyle. While the movie was all about game, seduction, and double lives, Mari brought her signature mix of beauty, wit, and sharp screen presence, she stood out even in a cast packed with personalities.

By the late ’90s, Mari Morrow had built a reputation as a dependable actress who could swing between drama and comedy with ease. Her role in How to Be a Player tapped into that, balancing the film’s over-the-top humor with a grounded performance that kept it from being cartoonish.

And here’s something cool, Mari Morrow was part of that wave of Black actresses in the ’90s who made the transition from sitcoms into big-screen projects, cementing themselves in the culture. How to Be a Player became a cult classic, and her performance is one reason why the film still gets nostalgia rewatches today.

30/09/2025

Some voices, some faces, some souls left us before their stories were finished. They burned bright, they burned fast, and their legacies still echo today.

29/09/2025

CHECK OUT THE LEGENDS AS CHILDREN/TEENAGERS: 😍

1st Row: Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross.

2nd Row: Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, Etta James, Jackie Wilson, Otis Redding.

3rd Row: Jimi Hendrix, Solomon Burke, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Sly Stone.

4th Row: Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Prince, Barry White, Rick James.

29/09/2025

The Tragic Demise of Sam Cooke.

“Lady, you shot me.” Those were the last words spoken by soul legend Sam Cooke on December 11, 1964, before he collapsed from three gunshot wounds in a Los Angeles motel.

Cooke, whose smooth vocals and timeless hits like “A Change Is Gonna Come” and “You Send Me” defined an era, had spent the evening enjoying martinis at a Hollywood hotspot. Before the night was over, he checked into the Hacienda Motel with a 22-year-old woman named Elisa Boyer. According to Boyer, she had not wanted to be there and left when she got the chance.

When Cooke, dressed in only a sports jacket and one shoe, entered the motel office asking about her whereabouts, he encountered the motel manager, Bertha Franklin. A confrontation followed, and Franklin fired three shots, one of which struck Cooke in the chest. Authorities later determined the case to be self-defense, accepting Franklin’s claim that she feared for her safety.

But those closest to Cooke questioned the official story. His family and friends believed there was more to what happened that night. The circumstances surrounding his passing, Boyer’s inconsistent statements, missing money, and the rushed investigation, left unanswered questions that still linger today.

Decades later, mystery surrounds the final moments of Sam Cooke’s life. What really happened that night? And was the full truth ever uncovered?

29/09/2025

A towering 10-foot statue of Tina Turner has been unveiled in the rural Tennessee community where she grew up.

The Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll may have conquered global stages, but this tribute sits right where her journey began, a reminder to the hometown folks that greatness was born in their backyard.

The statue was revealed during a ceremony at a park in Brownsville, located about an hour drive east of Memphis. The city of about 9,000 people is near Nutbush, the community where Turner went to school as a child. As a teen, she attended high school just steps from where the statue now stands.

The bronze figure captures Turner in her signature power stance, microphone in hand, eternal energy frozen in time. For a woman who redefined music, fashion, and performance, this statue is a permanent stage.

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