She is African and German American or Dutch Paula’s family lived across the street from the 20th Century Fox lot when she was growing up and she was a fan of films from her earliest years. Her mother, who also appreciated good films, was a schoolteacher, and her father was a lawyer. Study film at […]
Read MorePosts tagged movie
Rita Hayworth aka Margarita Carmen Cansino
Before and After Spanish dancer Eduardo Cansino‘s daughter Margarita trained as a dancer from early childhood. At age 12, mature-looking Rita joined Eduardo’s stage […]
Read MoreBright Boulevards, Bold Dreams
Spanning sixty years, this deliciously entertaining history uncovers the audacious manner in which many blacks made a place for themselves in an industry that originally had no place for them. Through interviews and the personal recollections of Hollywood luminaries, Bogle pieces together a remarkable history that remains largely obscure to this day. We discover that […]
Read MoreSalma Hayek aka Salma Valgarma Hayek-Jimenez
Is of Spanish and Lebanese descent, and fluent in Arabic, Spanish, Portugese and English. Studied international relations & drama at college in Mexico City. Father was born in Lebanon and came to Mexico to start a small business where he met her mother. Her Lebanese-Mexican father was a rich businessman and her mother was an […]
Read MoreFlash Dance actress Jennifer Beals
She is African-American and Irish Jennifer Sue Beals was born in Chicago on December 19, 1963 as the second child of Jeanne Anderson and Alfred Beals. Her mother, an Irish-Catholic retired elementary schoolteacher, still lives in Chicago. Her African-American father owned a grocery store on the South Side of Chicago where she spent the first […]
Read Morethe business of being born
Better to give birth to your baby at the hospital…or in your home? Co-producer/star Ricki Lake initiated the filming of this eye-opening documentary–during which director Abby Epstein happened to become pregnant–to contrast the experiences of women who deliver their children in a hospital environment with those who complete their pregnancies at home with the assistance […]
Read MoreBrave New World
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3536993421073315692 In a future society based on pleasure without moral worries, love is prohibited but casual sex, now called ‘engaging’, is strongly encouraged. Everyone is kept happy with a legal drug, soma. People are hatched and cloned on conveyor belts to meet the requirements of five different social classes, from ruling Alphas to robot-like […]
Read MoreAfrican Tribal Dance
From the movie “Coming to America”. Choreography by Paula Abdul Her father (Harry Abdul) is of Sephardic Jewish background from Syria. Her mother is also Jewish and was born in Canada. Her parents have lived in Syria, Brazil, and Canada – and this varied background has contributed to incredibly different stories in the press […]
Read MoreSlowing Aging
The human life span may soon be doubled. Some scientists are honing in on a genetic switch to turn off ageing. Others have discovered a hormone which is already producing startling results in the over fifties.
Read MoreMicaela Reis
Angolan and Portuguese ancestry http://youtu.be/tSKXJWQ-bp4 the beauty pageant titleholder who was a Top 10 finalist at Miss Universe 2007 and placed first runner-up to Miss World 2007, becoming Miss World Africa. She was the highest placed Miss Angola at both Miss Universe and Miss Worldbefore the win of Leila Lopes in Miss Universe 2011 She was also named Miss World Continental Queen of Africa. […]
Read MoreThe Josephine Baker Story
Legendary black American stage performer who took pre-World War II Europe by storm but found constant racial harassment in her homeland.
Biography of the African-American who became a major performer in the Paris cabarets of the 1920’s and 1930’s. The film follows her life beginning as a struggling performer in 1917 St. Louis, her frustrations leading to her move to France, and follows to her death in 1975.
Today in history, June 3rd, 1906… dancer, singer and actress Freda Josephine McDonald (aka Josephine Baker), who gained fame in Paris, France, thanks to her “risque” cabaret and musical hall performances, was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
While Ms Baker did perform on screen in a number of films – Siren of the Tropics (1927), Zouzou (1934) andPrincesse Tam Tam (1935), notably – she’s probably more universally recognized for her vaudeville stage musical acts which helped her become maybe the first international black female celebrity.
She was also politically active, making contributions to the Civil Rights Movement here in the United States, and assisted the French Resistance during World War II, becoming the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de guerre.
She died on April 12th, 1975 at age 68.
Since then, there’s really been only 1 true attempt to tell her story on film – the 1991, HBO movie, The Josephine Baker Story, which starred Lynn Whitfield as Baker. Whitfield would go on to win an Emmy Award for her performance!
Actress & Singer: Dorothy Dandridge As Carmen Jones
In 1943, Oscar Hammerstein Jr. took Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, rewrote the lyrics, changed the characters from 19th century Spaniards to World War II-era African-Americans, switched the locale to a Southern military base, and the result was Carmen Jones. Dorothy Dandridge stars as Carmen Jones, tempestuous employee of a parachute factory. Harry Belafonte plays Joe (originally José), a young military officer engaged to marry virginal Cindy Lou (Olga James). When Carmen gets into a fight with another girl, she is placed under arrest and put in Joe’s charge. Succumbing to her attractiveness, Joe accompanies Carmen to her old neighborhood, where, after killing a sergeant sent to retrieve him, he deserts the army. Carmen tries to be faithful, but fortune-telling Frankie (Pearl Bailey) warns her that she and her soldier are doomed. Enter Joe Adams in the role of boxer Husky Miller (a play on Carmen’s bullfighter Escamillo), who sweeps Carmen off her feet, ultimately with tragic consequences. Alhough both Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte were singers, their opera voices were dubbed in by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne.
Read MoreActress & Singer: Eartha Kitt as Catwoman
Nationality: American Ethnicity: Mother is Cherokee & African American & Father Dutch or German descent. Her surname Kitt is said to be of Dutch or German origin. In the late 1960s, Batman featured recurring villain Kitt as Catwoman after Julie Newmar had left the role, in season 3. She had sung and danced her way out […]
Read MoreModel: Julia Ogun
Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Her mother is Russian and Her father is Nigerian, African. She speaks Russian, Spanish and English. She is 5’11 ft tall. Currently Living In Moscow, Russia. Education: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University) (MIPT) Research Interests: Mathematical Physics, Partial Differential Equations, MATH EDUCATION, Differential Equations, and Nonlinear hyperbolic equations. Orange Models […]
Read MoreSecret Lives of the Super Rich: Mega-Homes
When some of the richest people on earth want to sell their homes they turn to Dolly: The eight billion dollar woman. She’s gained the trust of the rich and famous and her knowledge of their secret lives helped her move over $8 Billion in high-end real estate. Now she’s revealing all, from the new […]
Read MoreGlobal Impact Economy Forum
Actor and activist Maria Bello talks about how investing in women is creating a more inclusive economy in Haiti at the Global Impact Economy Forum in Washington, DC. U.S. Department of State’s Ambassador-at-Large Melanne Verveer and U.S. Agency for International Development’s Dr. Maura O’Neill provides opening remarks.
Read Morecommunity discussions as a catalyst to transform
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/bring_your_a_game To generate a national conversation on the plight of Black men and boys, the Twenty-First Century Foundation (21CF) has partnered with actor-director Mario Van Peebles and producer Karen Williams to create Bring Your A Game – a groundbreaking documentary film that, in Van Peebles’ words, “sheds light on the resilience and influence of Black […]
Read MoreThe art of creating awe
Rob Legato creates movie effects so good they (sometimes) trump the real thing. Ramesh Raskar: Imaging at a trillion frames per second
Read MoreModel: Fatima Siad
Nationality: American Ethnicity: Somali and Ethiopian Fatima Siad raised in Boston, Massachusetts, she placed third on America’s Next Top Model, Cycle 10. Personnel Quote: Be Comfortable in your Own Skin And You Won’t Hate on Others in Theirs Personal Quotes: I don’t want to be known as ‘Baby Iman. I want to make a name for myself. […]
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From Soviet Red, two black Ukrainians were born
Born to Angolan fathers and Ukrainian mothers on the tail end of the USSR’s collapse, these two young ladies epitomize the inadvertent consequences of Soviet Cold War foreign policy. Continue: http://www.kyivpost.com/blog/terrell-j-starr/from-soviet-red-two-black-ukrainians-were-born-305677.html
Read MoreWho is Latino?
Dash asks people on the street to identify Latinos based on physical appearance. Do stereotypes guide people’s perception of a certain “look” of Latino ethnicity? http://youtu.be/-ztOVRSKxqw
Read MoreThe International Hair Business
http://youtu.be/2653J_aaE_I A jaw-dropping documentary (Part 1 of 3) by Aron Ranen, detailing how Koreans now dominate the black hair care market and have been covertly and strategically displacing black owned companies out of the market for decades even though black peoples are 90% of the consumer base. A truly puzzling, thought provoking as well as troubling piece. […]
Read MorePop singer Jamelia goes in search of the truth
http://youtu.be/A9rXFskeFRM
Pop singer Jamelia goes in search of the truth behind the multi-million pound human hair extensions industry. Jamelia grew up experimenting with hair extensions and nowadays they have become an essential part of her stage persona. From celebs to schoolgirls, women will spend anything from £20 to £2,000 to clip, glue or sew another girl’s hair on to their heads. This film accompanies Jamelia as she follows a trail of hair back to its roots. The international road trip takes her from the exclusive London salons to a dingy Moscow apartment where men trade human ponytails for cash, and to the hair sacrificing temples of Southern India. The journey brings her face to face with some of her worst fears when she witnesses hair being shaved from toddlers’ heads and a 13 year old who’s flogging her hair in exchange for pocket money. But she’s also humbled by her experience when she connects with women who still choose to sacrifice it for financial or religious purposes.
Read Moremulti-billion dollar industry
http://youtu.be/TGigLa23vuA
How does a deeply spiritual offering from Indias poor become a must-have accessory in the salons of Europe? As fashion and faith collide, religious sacrifice is fuelling a multi-billion dollar industry.
Every year millions of Hindus shave their heads in offering to the gods. Its called tonsuring, and its big business. On average we are getting in excess of five tonnes, says hair dealer Mayoor Balsara as he finalises his latest purchase from the temples. Its a classic globalisation story: the sacrificial hair is cheaply sourced in the developing world, and is lining the pockets of those in the west. David Gold is one of them. Each year his company turns over $150 million selling hair extensions sourced from Indias temples. He deflects questions of ethics, arguing that the temples pour profits back into local welfare projects. Its a dubious claim, and yet many Hindus seem happy for their hair to be spun into gold: We gave it to God, and its come back like this. Its beautiful.
Books and Documentary: Black Athena – Full version
Winner of the American Book Award and a Socialist Review Book Award What is classical about Classical Civilization? In one of the most audacious works of scholarship ever written, Martin Bernal challenges the whole basis of our thinking about this question. Classical civilization, he argues, has deep roots in Afroasiatic cultures. But these Afroasiatic influences […]
Read MoreSelena Quintanilla
Nationality: American Place of birth: Lake Jackson, Texas. U.S. Ethnicity: Mexican and Native American Cherokee Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known simply as Selena, was an American singer-songwriter. She was named the “top Latin artist of the ’90s” and “Best selling Latin artist of the decade” by Billboard for her fourteen top-ten singles in the Top […]
Read MoreChrishell Stubbs
Nationality: British Place of birth: Turks and Caicos Islands Ethnicity: Caribbean / British
Read MoreTaboo: A few Historical and fiction films
http://youtu.be/XNUPpSLLLpQ
Set in nineteenth-century New Orleans, the story depicts the gens de couleur libre, or the Free People of Colour, a dazzling yet damned class caught between the world of white privilege and black oppression.
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