Ladies First: Smithsonian Hip-Hop Anthology Honors Women’s Contributions To The Genre

Lauryn Hill a hiphop artist

Kierna Mayo, a media maverick and an original staffer for groundbreaking hip-hop magazine The Source, has been one of the premier record-keepers of rap music. With an especial focus on the women of the genre (the debut 1999 issue of Mayo’s late magazine, Honey, featured Lauryn Hill on the cover), she has lovingly bridged the gap between lyricists and fans. Her essay “Hip-Hop Heroines” is a celebration of women’s contributions to hip-hop and is featured in the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap, which is available now.

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Introducing Black Hair Defined

If you’re Black, wearing your hair natural can get your fired, suspended from school, barred from sports and denied your chance to walk across the stage at graduation. In California, the CROWN Act was passed to prevent discrimination against natural hair.

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Elisa Shankle Is Encouraging Her Community To Be Brave And Heal

As Women’s History Month 2019 draws to a close, Huffington Post journalist Julia Craven brings to us the stories of 11 black women who are strong yet relatively unknown advocates for the encouragement of others in their community. One of these unsung heroes is Elisa Shankle, co-founder of Brooklyn’s “HealHaus,” a smoothie shop and community space where marginalized members of the community are welcome to come in, enjoy a smoothie, and improve their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Though our world is full of many troubles, how encouraging it is to see folks still taking measures to help each other out!

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The Quiet Crisis Killing Black Women

Black women are more vulnerable to domestic violence due to a constellation of factors, including high rates of poverty, lack of access to resources and systemic racism within systems designed to help victims of abuse

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Shirley Chisholm NYC statue to help ‘correct glaring inequity in public spaces’

By: Dawn Onley, thegrio.com Fifty years after Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress, New York City has announced it will erect a statue in honor of the congresswoman by 2020. Born on Nov. 30, 1924, Chisholm died in 2005 at 80 years old. In 1972, the congresswoman from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn became the first…

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