Academy Award Winner, Hair Love will become a Series on HBO Max

The short film, Hair Love, the brain child of Matthew Cherry, a former NFL wide receiver turned filmmaker is being picked up by HBO Max. After winning an Academy Award in the best  animated short film category, HBO Max is adapting the film, Hair Love into a 12-episode TV series called Young Love.

The 2020 Academy Award winning filmmaker Matthew A. Cherry is a Chicago native and a former NFL wide receiver who played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers and the Baltimore Ravens.

His Hair Love, which centers on a father's effort to do his daughter's textured hair for the first time, resonated with both families and young children.  The story was based on his book by the same name. Cherry stated that he was inspired to create Hair Love to counter stereotypes about Black fathers, and to increase positive images of Black hair.

According to a press release by Warner Media Group, "the all-new animated series Young Love expands on the family introduced in Hair Love—including millennial parents Stephen and Angela, their daughter Zuri and her pet cat Rocky—as they juggle their careers, marriage, parenthood, social issues, and multi-generational dynamics all while striving to make a better life for themselves." Young Love will be a 12-episode 2D animated series available on HBO Max. Hopefully, this new series will follow the premise of Hair Love with its heart felt message, and explore issues relevant to Black families.

Children's Author and Illustrator, Jerry Craft Pens Book of the Year!

Congratulations to New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, Jerry Craft who is having a very special year. His book, New Kid, is the winner of the 2020 John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature. This is the first graphic novel in the Newbery's nearly 100 year history to receive the award. He also received the 2020 Coretta Scott King(Author) Book Award. Every year this award recognizes an African-American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

In New Kid, readers meet seventh grader Jordan Banks who loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.

As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

New Kid is a timely, insightful novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real. Young adults will find this book a great addition to their summer reading list with its message of diversity and change.  New Kid will resonate with many in this season of social and political transformation.

We Celebrate the life of Our Great Statesman John R. Lewis

John R. Lewis
February 21, 1940 - July 17, 2020

While young people take to the streets in protest, one of the iconic leaders of the Civil Rights Movement has passed away. John R. Lewis became an activist for Civil Rights as a young teenager with the same zeal as some of the young people today. He was beaten and clubbed for standing up for his rights but he paved the way for the generations to come.  Young readers can learn more about his life and the Civil Rights Movement in his graphic novel trilogy, March. He has left us his legacy and shared  his wisdom and encouragement in his words and actions. Please be sure to share his wisdom with our children and young people.

"Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."
— A tweet from June 2018

"Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”
— From his 2017 memoir, "Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America"

"You are a light. You are the light. Never let anyone — any person or any force — dampen, dim or diminish your light. Study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant."
— From his 2017 memoir, "Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America"

“My dear friends: Your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union.”
— A 2012 speech in Charlotte, North Carolina

Marvel Announces New Graphic Novel featuring Black Panther's Suri

Young readers will be able to follow the Marvel character, Suri in a series of graphic novels next year when Marvel Entertainment expands its partnership with Scholastic.  Marvel had already begun publishing diverse picture books which included prose title, Shuri: A Black Panther Novel, written by New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone. The graphic novels, however, will be written by another New York Times best-selling author Roseanne A. Brown. Brown’s previous works include the mystical young adult novel A Song of Wraiths and Ruin. The illustrator and story line will be announced at a later date.

The first book to be released as part of the new deal between Marvel and Scholastic will be Miles Morales: Shock Waves by Justin A. Reynolds and Pablo Leon, in which Morales has to solve the mystery of an apparent kidnapping and its potential connection to a fundraiser Morales himself is running in the wake of a natural disaster. 

Descendants of Frederick Douglas Read Excerpts of His "Fourth of July Speech"

The U.S. celebrates this Independence Day amid nationwide protests and calls for systemic reforms. In this short film, five young descendants of Frederick Douglass read and respond to excerpts of his famous speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" which asks all of us to consider America's long history of denying equal rights to Black Americans.

On July 4, people gather throughout Massachusetts and other parts of the country to read this famous speech.  Read the whole speech here.

Juneteenth with 20/20 Vision

Juneteenth 2020 is like no other.  This is the year of 20/20 vision, where new insight and changes are coming hard and fast.  Of course, the first Juneteenth celebrated in 1865 cannot compare. That year the slaves learn for the first time that they were free. This information had been kept from them by slave masters for two years so one can imagine how they felt when they learned that they were finally free. Happy and also angry?  We are not sure how they celebrated but I think  they probably didn't know exactly what to do as this new reality set in. We know that for many the first thing on their mind was to look for family.  So Juneteenth has always been a time of bringing family and friends together. This was a time of healing, of thanking God and praying, and finally being able to share their love with their family. There probably was also a lot of anger, and a hope for justice.  Freedom meant something different to everyone, some packed up to leave and some stayed.  After emancipation there were stories of newly freed slaves moving across the nation, building  new families and creating new communities. While the significance of the first Juneteenth will always be etched in our minds, this Juneteenth is also one to remember. Today new alliance are being formed and new truths revealed. Change is in the air and there is no turning back.

Every year Juneteenth is celebrated not because Black people have enjoyed  the fruits of freedom but because they are resilient and determined in spite of racism, financial hardships and the inability to achieve the American dream. Black people celebrate their survival. This is their way of being resilient and carrying on. They celebrate their culture, their music, food, dance and traditions. Most important they celebrate that they are still here despite the fact America has never lived up to the true freedom promised in the Emancipation Proclamation.

Happy Juneteenth!

Juneteenth Google Doodle by Black woman artist Loveis Wise with music by producer Elijah Jamal.

Today’s video Google Doodle, illustrated by Los Angeles-based guest artist Loveis Wise and narrated by actor and activist LeVar Burton, honors the 155th anni...

Happy Juneteenth!

Lift Every Voice and Sing – often called “The Black National Anthem” – was written as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) and then set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954) in 1899. 



Lift Every Voice and Sing
James Weldon Johnson


Lift ev'ry voice and sing
'Til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on 'til victory is won
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
'Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of…