African-American - News

African-American - News February 16, 2012   Obama to join black history museum groundbreaking (News Journal) WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and former first lady Laura Bush will celebrate the groundbreaking for a new national museum showcasing black life, art and history on the National Mall. The Smithsonian Institution announced today that Obama will speak at the Feb. 22 groundbreaking for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Actress Phylicia Rashad will host the event. Early construction work has already begun at the museum site near the Washington Monument. Officials have said the museum is on track to open in 2015. Congress has pledged to provide half the cost of the $500 million museum project. Designers for the project have been planning a layered bronze structure with a stone base. Bush serves on the museum's advisory council with Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones and others. African American Women for Political Change (New Pittsburgh Courier Online) In the 2010-2011 school year, an estimated 460 children were enrolled in early childhood education programs in the Pittsburgh Public School District thanks to the state funded accountability block grant. Gay Marriage Advancing In Key State (The Huffington Post) A joint panel of the Maryland legislature approved on Valentines's Day a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, adding to national momentum for gay nuptials following advances in California, New Jersey and Washington state over the last week. African-American Gay Male Couples Through The Years: A Photographic Essay (Switched) The following essay and stunning photographs come to HuffPost Gay Voices courtesy of Trent Kelley, a Texas-based playwright. Jacksonville Novelist Nominated for NAACP Image Award (WTLV) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Brenda Jackson wrote her first love stories as a student at Northwestern Middle School in Jacksonville.