Jay-Z, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith have joined forces to produce Free Angela & All Political Prisoners, a documentary premiering at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. The film marks the 40th anniversary of the acquittal of Angela Davis, the revered African American activist, writer and educator who faced criminal charges in the 1970s, at a heated moment in civil-rights history.      Will and Jada ... Read More

  Women are chatting about all sorts of issues in salons, but we're not talking about spots where you can get your hair cut and colored. Glynda Carr and Kimberly Peeler-Allen of Higher Heights for America (which they founded in 2011) are organizing social gatherings where intellectual conversations and cultural discussions ensue--the kinds of salons that have been held for centuries.    (Above, a 17th-century women's ... Read More

When I think of punk music, my mind’s eye is flooded with images of white males jumping around with spikes on their belts, heavy boots, and an anarchist patches safety pinned onto their jeans. But recently, black women have become a presence on the punk scene as well, and they are owning it just as much as any testosterone filled mosher.     Local band TheDeathSet has taken notice of this, and made a mini documentary about ... Read More