HOLLYWOOD (BLACK PR WIRE) (BUSINESS WIRE) – Oprah Winfrey and Sidney Poitier present the Trailblazer Award to Cheryl Boone Isaacs at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon. Boone Isaacs is the first African American and only the third woman elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in its 86-year history. This is one of the most exciting years in Black film ever, and 2014 is a record year for African American presenters at the Oscars®.

By Christine Thomasos , Christian Post Reporter

Tina Campbell, one half of the gospel music duo Mary Mary, is speaking up in defense of her sister Erica Campbell’s decision to post an image of herself in a controversial white dress that she posted on Instagram last year.
While Erica, 41, was not showing any skin in her white turtleneck dress, the hip hugging garment did accentuate the gospel singer’s curves. After her Instagram photograph received some backlash, Erica spoke about people recognizing their beauty in God.
Although Erica was publicly defended by fellow gospel singer Yolanda Adams, her sister and fellow group member Tina, 39, recently had some things to say about the issue.
“What was the problem? She’s completely covered up, her hands are posed very gracefully,” Tina told Rolling Out magazine. “She’s not cocking her hips, she’s not poking her booty out, she’s not puckering her lips, she’s not doing anything.”
Tina went on to identify what she believed to be the problem at hand.
“You’re looking at her looking nice, and yes, the dress is fitted and her body looks nice in it, but she’s not trying to ‘give it to you.’ The problem is God made her beautiful and it’s not her problem,” she told Rolling Out. “Most of the people with the problem are mad that they can’t put that dress on and look the same way; that is their problem!”
She went on to chastise some religious critics saying, “It’s a bunch of haters and religious people because religious people are the same people that killed Jesus.”
Erica previously defended her own clothing choice last year by speaking about people recognizing their beauty in God.
“This is about confidence and realizing that God made you and that you are beautiful just the way you are,” she previously told ESSENCE.com. “I think that young girls shouldn’t only get sexy images from people who are not proclaiming Jesus. But I am. And I’m cute too.”

 CHICAGO, Ill. – Oprah Winfrey welcomes an audience of single moms to Harpo Studios in Chicago for a no-holds-barred conversation about the most pressing issues they face in two all-new episodes of the Emmy® Award-winning series “Oprah’s Lifeclass”; one of which aired Friday, February 28 and the other on Friday, March 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
Oprah and spiritual life coach Iyanla Vanzant, who is a single parent herself, tackle the most-asked questions amongst single mothers about raising their children. Currently, there are an estimated 10 million single moms in the United States and these two episodes address how they can empower themselves, manage issues of judgment, stress, co-parenting and begin to set boundaries and even start dating again.
Special celebrity guests will join this important conversation, including actress Nia Long, who was raised by a single mother and has been a single mom herself, and Tyler Perry from the upcoming film “The Single Moms Club”; plus, Kym Whitley from OWN’s hit series “Raising Whitley” joins to share her journey raising her 3-year-old adopted son, Joshua.
In addition, an online resource is available starting, as Iyanla Vanzant hosts an online forgiveness meditation geared towards single mothers. The stream will be available for a limited time at Oprah.com/Forgive.

By EURweb.com

Marlo Hampton’s violent ways took center stage on Sunday night’s episode of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and RadarOnline.com has discovered that NeNe Leakes’ former BFF has quite a criminal track record – she has been arrested at least seven times.
The website reports…  According to court records obtained by Radar, Hampton was arrested on May 26, 1999 – at age 23 — for “Aggravated Battery/Great Bodily Harm,” which is a first-degree felony.
Leakes hinted at the charges in her latest blog, claiming Hampton “slashed a friend’s face with a knife and disfigured her over a man.”
Hampton was released later the same day on $5,000 bond.
In her defense, Hampton has spoke of the incident in January saying, “I am shocked and saddened to hear of the recent distortions of events and false accusations disseminated over an altercation I was involved in over a dozen years ago… I was in my early twenties, and what took place started out as an argument with someone who was once my friend, over the phone.”
“As disturbing as the carrying of a weapon may seem, it was quite common in the environment in which I was raised, and not only I, but also the person involved in the altercation, had each brought weapons to protect ourselves,” she continued.
“There was a confrontation, her knife dropped, mine did not.”
On Sept. 28, 1999, Hampton began to serve time for her aggravated battery felony conviction. Online records show she served four months in jail and was released on Jan. 28, 2000.
The case would come back to haunt Hampton though – leading to four parole violation arrests over the next several years. Online records didn’t list the specific violation of her parole, but she was arrested on June 19, 2000 and served 111 days in jail.
Then, on Valentine’s Day in 2001, Hampton was arrested again and served six days in jail for violating her parole.
Her criminal antics didn’t stop there. A warrant was out for her arrest for “Obtaining Property or Services in Return for Worthless Checks, Drafts, or Debit Card Orders (under $150).” She was arrested on Sept. 9, 2002 and released on $1,000 bond the following day.
A few months later on Dec. 4, 2002, Hampton was picked up and charged with “possession of a firearm,” which is against the law for a convicted felon. She was released from jail after nine days.
The “Aggravated Battery/Great Bodily Harm” charges continued to follow her, and another parole violation landed Hampton back in jail on July 28, 2003. There are no details available about the specific violation, but court documents reveal she was released 30 days later on August 27, 2003.
As RHOA viewers saw on Sunday, Hampton was looking for a fight and hurled a water bottle at Leakes, who refused to retaliate.
“Marlo showed me her street side that everyone talks about!” Leakes wrote, alluding to her former BFF’s criminal past.
“Yes you can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig!”

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. – Find the luck of the Irish at Shamrock City Saturday and Sunday March 8th, 9th, 15th and 16th from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.! Rock City hosts this 7th annual event with Irish food, drinks, bands, Jig lessons, activities for kids and much more!
Hear live Irish, Scottish, Celtic and Highlands music, featuring Olta, Celtic Plain, The Molly Maguires, The Chattanooga Pipe Band, Pay the Reckoning, Jennifer Daniels, John Lathim and Michelle Young, plus dance performances!
Get your green on and blend in to this colorful event, with features like the green waterfall, green costumes and green merchandise. Watch how our green fudge is made during fudge demonstrations in our famous Fudge Kitchen, and try some homemade green limeade!
Make sure to get decked out with Lucky Clover Makeovers on your visit, and enjoy green kettle corn along the way, and green peppermint lattes or frappuccinos from Starbucks. Go on a Lucky Shamrock Treasure Map Adventure, pan for gold or eat a Reuben sandwich! And journey to the Climbing Wall and “Kiss the Blarney Stone”!
Shamrock City has been named a Top 20 Event by Southeast Tourism Society for the past four years! Go to www.seerockcity.com/shamrockcity for more info on the expanded entertainment lineup.
Shamrock City is once again partnering with the Chattanooga district of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Guests can purchase green shamrocks for $1 and gold shamrocks for $5 from March 1-27 to help supply needed funds to local families with MD.
Located only six miles from downtown Chattanooga, Tenn., Rock City is a 14-acre natural and scenic attraction with unique rock formations and gardens atop Lookout Mountain.

    You love to sing because it’s your thing and you dance when you get the chance.
On the sidewalk and in the park. For school, for church, or just for yourself, you gotta open your mouth and move your feet. No doubt about it, you’re the kind of kid who needs a stage.
So what would you do if you were told that you couldn’t perform because your skin was the wrong color?  In “Josephine” by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson, one woman decides to do it anyhow…
Josephine’s mother loved to dance. It made her happy but she didn’t do it much because there was rent to pay and children to feed. So instead of dancing, Josephine’s mother scrubbed floors.
While her Mama worked, Josephine listened to sidewalk horns and honky-tonks and “sponged up that funky music.”  She loved to dance, too. She loved it so much that she worked hard to earn pennies so she could watch “the Negro theater” where Ma Rainey sang and others shimmied. Josephine loved performing so much that she left home at age 13 to work with the Dixie Steppers. She was just a kid, but she could help dress the dancers – and as soon as they let her, she joined the chorus line.
Yippee!  Josephine was finally able to dance and sing to crowds, but she still wasn’t allowed inside certain hotels or restaurants. They were for “WHITES ONLY.”
When the Dixie Steppers broke up, Josephine found herself a long way from home in East St. Louis. She fell in love, married a man named Baker in Philadelphia, and then left him to go to Broadway where she found fame.
But the color of her skin kept her from the kind of fame she really wanted. It was frustrating, and Josephine felt like a volcano sometimes – until she was invited to perform in “La Revue Negré” in France.
Ooh la la, the French seemed color blind! And they were wild for Josephine Baker!
And yet, there was one thing Josephine hadn’t done, and it bothered her. She hadn’t become a star back home in America. She needed to do it – but was America ready for her?
As I was reading “Josephine” through for the first time, something tickled the back of my mind. I liked the colorful illustrations by Christian Robinson well enough, but that wasn’t it. The story is familiar, so that wasn’t it, either.
And then it hit me: the words.
Author Patricia Hruby Powell’s story is written almost like scat: quick lines, be-bopping here and shooby-loobing there, rising and falling as though Josephine Baker herself was singing the story. It’s infectious, even in the sad parts. Your little one might not notice that hoppity-bop but once you do, you won’t be able to not see it.
I think smaller kids might enjoy this book for the artwork but readers ages 8-to-12 will probably get more out of “Josephine.” If your child’s gotta sing and gotta dance, then she’s gotta read this book, too.

By Esther Callens

Award winning novelist Helen Oyeyemi has yet scripted another fascinating novel.  Soon to be released (March 6, to be exact) is Boy, Snow, Bird – Oyeyemi’s latest.  A most intriguing tale incorporating race, beauty and envy – Boy, Snow, Bird gives a remarkable twist to the fabled Snow White. It is extraordinary!
It is in the winter during the 1950s when Boy Novak runs away from her New York home. She has left behind her father and his despicable ways in search of a better life. Boy winds up in a small Massachusetts town. It is here she meets and marries Arturo Whitman and becomes stepmother to his beautiful daughter, Snow. All is assumed well until – along came Bird.
Boy and Arturo eventually have a daughter and names her Bird. Peculiarities surface upon Bird’s birth as her lineage is of African descent – a race that is not evident in her parents’ ancestry. Arturo reveals that the Whitmans have been passing as Caucasians. Under these circumstances, Boy finds that being a stepmother is an arduous task and the dynamics between her and Snow change drastically. Years later, Bird’s curiosity is piqued and more family secrets are exposed, forcing the family to see things clearer.
It is fitting that CNN, Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Flavorwire and The Millions have named Boy, Snow, Bird a most anticipated book of this year.  Helen Oyeyemi has a unique brilliancy when it comes to assimilating the world of the enchanted into the modern society of today. As with her previous reads, it is masterfully executed making the final results an unforgettable great novel.
Helen Oyeyemi is a young British novelist/playwright.  She was born in Nigeria in 1984. She is a 2006 graduate of Cambridge University where she studied political and social science. She has written two plays and five novels of which her title White is for Witching won the 2010 Somerset Maugham Award. She is one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists.