African American

Washington - Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele survived a five-hour ballot marathon to win election yesterday as the first African-American chairman of the Republican Party. Steele was regarded as an outsider and an underdog in the five-way leadership contest. The other top contenders were all sitting members of the Republican National Committee, which had not reached outside its membership for a chairman in a contested election in more than 30 years. "This is a remarkable moment," Steele told a post-election news conference.

Maybe Joe Biden just verbalized what a lot of people were thinking. He did it crudely, of course, and the senator from Delaware has been roundly and rightly pundit-pummeled for calling Barack Obama, one of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." That sound you're hearing is merely the bursting of a big thought bubble that's been hovering unspoken over the heads of many people.

African-American photo exhibit Learn about the African-Americans who settled in Howard County in the exhibit Native African American Families of Howard County, Maryland: 1875-1950, at James Clark Library, Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia. The exhibit, which includes more than 300 photos, is based on photos and information submitted by families in the area. Library hours today are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Free. Information: www.hccaacres.org. FYI Sun art critic Glenn McNatt is on assignment.

Oct. 7 Dance performance -- VT Dance, featuring choreographer Vincent Thomas, performs, 5 p.m. at Morgan State University, Murphy Fine Arts Center, 2201 Argonne Drive. Free. 443-885-4440. Oct. 10 Author talk -- Dr. Willarda Edwards discusses her book The Black Woman's Guide to Black Men's Health, 6:30 p.m. at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Central Library, 400 Cathedral St. Free. 410-396-5430. Oct. 11 Soul concert -- Singer/songwriter Ryan Shaw performs, 8 p.m. at Rams Head Tavern, 33 West St., Annapolis.

The Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis expanded with a four-story addition almost a year ago after outgrowing its space in the restored Mount Moriah African Methodist Episcopal Church. The current exhibit, Trails, Tracks, Tarmac, highlights African-American communities in northern Anne Arundel County through artifacts, oral-history recordings and documentary quilts. Museum director Wendi Perry says she is planning more programs to share African-American culture with a wider audience.

The villages of Columbia, African Art Museum of Maryland, Howard County Center of African American Culture and Columbia Association will sponsor an afternoon program, "Roots of Howard County in Celebration of African-American History," from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 11 at Historic Oakland, 5430 Vantage Point Road, Columbia. Admission is free. The event, which will commemorate Black History Month, will include a visit to the African Art Museum of Maryland, displays organized by the Howard County Center of African American Culture, children's entries in the Columbia Association's "Images of Freedom" poster contest, a musical performance by Rae Bernard of Harmony of Sol and a panel of speakers that is to include Maggie J. Brown, Herman Charity, C. Vernon Gray, Morgan Rollins, Barbara Russell, Jean Toomer and Diop Wallace.

LOS ANGELES -- It took political officials nearly a month to respond to the slaying of Cheryl Green. Since then, the 14-year-old African-American girl has become the face of brown-on-black violence in this city. The FBI has joined the Los Angeles Police Department in cracking down on gangs. The police department, breaking with tradition, has publicly named the city's worst 11 gangs. And a city-sponsored report has called for an anti-gang "Marshall Plan," a reference to the post-World War II tactic of making massive investments to win the peace in former enemy territory.

The leaders of two black political organizations in Annapolis revealed a split among African-American leaders yesterday when they asked Anne Arundel County to allow signs crediting the Ku Klux Klan with collecting roadside litter.Robert Eades, chairman of the African American Unity Coalition, said the county would violate the Klan's right to free speech if it barred the group from joining the county's Adopt-A-Road program.Eades appeared at a news conference held by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, which demanded last week that County Executive Janet S. Owens lift the county's prohibition on the Klan's participation in the program.

LOS ANGELES -- Was it only 10 months ago that UPN was being denounced by African-American groups over its then-new sitcom, "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfieffer"?Talk about turnaround. The network is now the home of some of the best black talent in Hollywood and proud of it.UPN yesterday showcased its African-American programming for television critics gathered here for the summer press tour, and it was an impressive sight.After the NAACP threat to sue the four major networks over the fact that none of their 27 new fall series will have a leading character who is black, it was a chance to hear what black actors, writers and producers have to say about the sociology of the images they create.

Be a 4Kids DetectiveWhen you know the answers to these questions, go to http://www.4Kids.org/detectives/1. When did Peter the Great rule Russia? (Go to http://www.alvr.com/1imperial2.html to find out.)2. What are the 2 main types of African rock art?3. Fact or Fiction: The Galapagos islands have never been connected to a continent.LEGEND AND LEGACYDiscover the legends, opinions and insights of African-American culture by visiting African-American History Through the Arts, a detailed Web site that covers various periods of creative thought over thousands of years.

Tracie Thoms' discipline as a performer, nurtured early on at the Baltimore School for the Arts, has enabled her to be spontaneous in character every week as Kat Miller, an avid detective on TV's "Cold Case." Even in the train-wreck big-screen version of "Rent," she fused her eagerness for performing with the passion of Joanne, a lawyer who just has to make a case for herself - or at least make a scene. Chris Rock's engaged and engaging new documentary "Good Hair," a good-humored exploration of the meaning and impact of female hairstyles in the African-American community, offered Thoms a chance to do something she hasn't done before on-screen.

The sudden rise and fall of the woman who would have been the first elected African-American mayor of Annapolis has opened wounds in the capital city's black community. Now it's up to a white county councilman to try to heal them. Josh Cohen lost the mayoral primary last month but became the Democratic nominee after Zina C. Pierre, a charismatic political consultant who eked out a victory in a six-way race, said she was abandoning the contest after embarrassing revelations of debts and other personal financial problems.

Anderson Jackson "Andy" Pigatt Sr., a noted African-American sculptor whose work reflected his African heritage and the struggles experienced by African-Americans, died Saturday at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center of complications from a fall earlier this year. He was 81. Born in Raeford, N.C., the son of a steel worker, he moved to East Baltimore in 1930 when his father went to work for Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point. He was a 1946 graduate of Dunbar High School and served in the Army in the early 1950s.

The history of the American Negro, the educator W.E.B. DuBois wrote in 1903, is the history of strife between opposing forces. "One ever feels his twoness - an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body," DuBois wrote in The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois' thoughts are worth bearing in mind as one contemplates the designs proposed for Washington's next major museum, the Smithsonian's $500 million National Museum of African American History and Culture.

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN, 94 Historian of African-American experiences Duke University professor John Hope Franklin, a historian of life in the South and the African-American experience, died Wednesday in Durham, N.C. Dr. Franklin helped Thurgood Marshall win Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case that outlawed the "separate but equal" doctrine in U.S. schools.

Annapolis is well-known for its historic vibe. The cobblestone streets, the well-kept Colonial homes, the maritime ties - they're just a few of the highlights that make the city, one of the earliest settlements of Colonists, a destination of choice for history buffs. Nevertheless, even some historians are largely unaware of the significant role that Maryland's capital city has played in the progression of African-American history. Annapolis was a prominent port for slave ships in the 18th century.

Washington - Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele survived a five-hour ballot marathon to win election yesterday as the first African-American chairman of the Republican Party. Steele was regarded as an outsider and an underdog in the five-way leadership contest. The other top contenders were all sitting members of the Republican National Committee, which had not reached outside its membership for a chairman in a contested election in more than 30 years. "This is a remarkable moment," Steele told a post-election news conference.

WASHINGTON - A Cabinet that looks like America. That's been the goal for recently elected presidents as they put together their administrations. Barack Obama's team is coming into focus in a slightly different light: It looks, to a remarkable degree, like him. The president-elect says he wants to recruit "Americans of great intellect, broad experience and good character." He's fleshing out his White House and administration with men and women who reflect his racial heritage, cultural background and intelligence.

Now, we can view our futures differently For generations, when African-Americans were growing up, someone would ask, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Answers would vary as African-American young people gazed through the lenses of historical limitations. After Tuesday night's presidential victory for Barack Obama, making him the first African-American president, we can view our future differently. Now we can believe with renewed hope that it is possible to overcome the odds, realize our dreams and be whatever we want to be. We can't celebrate this historic event without acknowledging the contributions of so many who dared to dream, sacrificed and suffered so that all people would be able to experience the American dream.

Anna Curry has been busy since leaving the Enoch Pratt Free Library in 1992, where she had worked for 38 years and was the library's first African-American and female director. "My first job at Pratt was at the Pennsylvania Avenue branch in 1954, and later I worked with Margaret Edwards and Bunny Siebert ... in young-adult services. It was exciting going to city public schools and getting kids excited about reading," Curry said. Curry moved up through the Pratt hierarchy until she was named director in 1981.