Little Known Black History Facts

Ella Fitzgerald would have turned 100 years old this week, and fans are celebrating the “First Lady of Song” around the globe. Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917 in Newport News, Va. After her father left the family, Fitzgerald’s mother began seeing another man and relocated to Yonkers, N.Y. Historical record says the arrival […]

Uplifting News

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Portrait Gallery is putting up a photograph of American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, often referred to as “The First Lady of Song.” The portrait is on view beginning Thursday, ahead of the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald’s birth. Fitzgerald, who died in 1996 at the age of 79, would have celebrated […]

Entertainment

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the midst of talking black history with Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys, Maya Angelou breaks out singing a hymn a cappella. The acclaimed poet and author wants to show Keys, a New Yorker, what “lining out,” call-and-response singing that is popular in black churches down South, sounds like. That teaching moment is […]