Category: Whats Buzzing in the Streets

Faith Jenkins is an American attorney, legal commentator and media personality. On March 11, 2014, she officially joined MSNBC as a legal analyst. She was also a television arbitrator on Judge Faith, a daytime court show, where she rendered decisions in a television courtroom. The court show ended production in 2018.

A native of Louisiana, she graduated from C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana.

She attended nearby Louisiana Tech University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in political science.

Jenkins was involved in beauty pageants and won several major titles. She was the first African-American woman to win the Miss Louisiana Tech title. In 2000, she won the Miss Louisiana title and advanced to compete in the Miss America 2001 competition, where she was named first runner-up, winner of the Quality of Life award, and preliminary winner in swimsuit and talent.

Faith earned her Juris Doctor from the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she was ranked first in her class. And she don’t play.

Jester Joseph Hairston (July 9, 1901 – January 18, 2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor, and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on African-American spirituals and choral music. His notable compositions include “Amen,” a gospel-tinged theme from the film Lilies of the Field and a 1963 hit for The Impressions, and the Christmas song “Mary’s Boy Child”.

Hairston was born in Belews Creek, a rural community on the border of Stokes, Forsyth, Rockingham and Guilford counties in North Carolina. His grandparents had been slaves. At an early age he and his family moved to Homestead, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh, where he graduated from high school in 1919. Hairston, who gave up studies at Massachusetts Agriculture College in the 1920s, went on to graduate from Tufts University in 1928 and studied music at the Juilliard School. Hairston pledged Kappa Alpha Psi (Chi Chapter) in 1925. He worked as a choir conductor in the early stages of his career. His work with choirs on Broadway eventually led to his singing and acting in plays, films, radio programs, and television shows.

Helped by benefactor Anna Laura Kidder who saw his potential, Hairston graduated from Tufts University, near Boston, Mass. in 1929. He was one of the first black students admitted to Tufts.

He sang with the Hall Johnson Choir in Harlem for a time but was nearly fired from the all black choir because he had difficulty with the rural dialects that were used in some of the songs. He had to shed his Boston accent and relearn the country speech of his parents and grandparents. (Johnson had reportedly told him, “We’re singing ain’t and cain’t and you’re singing shahn’t and cahn’t and they don’t mix in a spiritual.”) The Hall Johnson Choir performed in many Broadway shows including Green Pastures. In 1936, they were asked to go to Hollywood to sing for the film,Green Pastures. At that time, a Russian composer, Dimitri Tiomkin, heard Jester and invited him to collaborate with him. This led to a thirty-year collaboration during which time Jester arranged and collected music for the movies. He also wrote and arranged spirituals for Hollywood films as well as for high school and college choirs around the country.

Hairston wrote the song “Mary’s Boy Child” in 1956. He also wrote the song “Amen”, which he dubbed for the Sidney Poitier film Lilies of the Field (1963), and arranged traditional Negro spirituals. Most of Hairston’s film work was in the field of composing, arranging, and choral conducting. Hairston also acted in over 20 films, mostly in small roles, some of which were uncredited. Among the films he appeared in were bit parts in some of the early Tarzan movies, St. Louis Blues (1958), The Alamo (1960), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Lady Sings the Blues (1972), I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) and Being John Malkovich (1999).

In 1961, the US State Department appointed Jester Hairston as Goodwill Ambassador. He traveled all over the world teaching and performing the folk music of the slaves. No matter where Jester performed in the US, he checked the phone book for Hairstons and was responsible for reuniting people on his family tree, both black and white. He composed more than 300 spirituals. All of his research and work has been documented for history. He was the recipient of four honorary doctorates, including an honorary doctorate from The University of Massachusetts in 1972, and another in music from Tufts in 1977.

Hairston appeared on The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show. He had been in the radio program that was the basis for the TV show. He also played the role of Wildcat (1974–1975) on the show That’s My Mama. In his senior years he appeared in the show Amen as Rolly Forbes (1986–1991).[6] His last television appearance was in 1993 on an episode of Family Matters, a sitcom. Hairston also played the role of “King Moses” on radio for the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall show Bold Venture.

In his later years, Hairston served as a cultural ambassador for American music, traveling to numerous countries with choral groups that he had assembled. In 1985 he took the Jester Hairston Chorale, a multi-racial group, to sing in the People’s Republic of China, at a time when foreign visitors were still quite rare in that country.

Hairston died in Los Angeles of natural causes in 2000 at age 98. Born in 1901, Hairston’s life spanned each year of the 20th century. For his contribution to the television industry, Hairston has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6201 Hollywood Blvd. He is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26,1964) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. His “retro” style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop, folk, and ballads. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Kravitz often plays all of the instruments himself when recording.

He won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category as well as setting the record for most consecutive wins in one category by a male. He has been nominated for and won other awards, including American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, Brit Awards, and Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. He was also ranked number 93 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. On December 1, 2011, Kravitz was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He played Cinna in the Hunger Games film series.

Kravitz was born in Manhattan, New York, the only child of actress Roxie Roker and NBC television news producer Sy Kravitz. His father was of Ukrainian Jewish descent (Lenny’s great-grandfather was from Kiev, Ukraine; see the Kravits surname). His mother was of Bahamian and African-American descent, and was from a Christian family. Through his mother, Kravitz is second cousins with television weather presenter Al Roker as their grandfathers were brothers. During his early years, Kravitz did not grow up in a religious environment. After a spiritual experience when he was 13, he started attending church, becoming a non-denominational Christian.

Sy Kravitz was a Green Beret. His brother, Leonard M. Kravitz, followed in his footsteps to the military, becoming a Private First Class. Lenny Kravitz would be named after this uncle, who was killed in action in the Korean War at the age of 19, while defending against a Chinese attack and saving most of his platoon; he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross but was denied the Medal of Honor. In 2014, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor in a ceremony that awarded it to 23 other servicemen who were passed over because of their ethnicity. Kravitz grew up spending weekdays on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with his parents, attending P.S. 6 for elementary school, and weekends at his grandmother Bessie Roker’s house in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Kravitz began banging on pots and pans in the kitchen, playing them as drums at the age of three. At the age of five, he wanted to be a musician. He began playing the drums and soon added guitar. Kravitz grew up listening to the music his parents listened to: R&B, jazz, classical, opera, gospel, and blues. “My parents were very supportive of the fact that I loved music early on, and they took me to a lot of shows,” Kravitz said. Around the age of seven, he saw The Jacksons perform at Madison Square Garden, which became his favorite group. His father, who was also a jazz promoter, was friends with Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, Miles Davis and other jazz greats. Ellington even played “Happy Birthday” for him one year when he was about 5. He was exposed to the soul music of Motown, Stax, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight, The Isley Brothers, and Gamble and Huff growing up who were key influences on his musical style. Kravitz often went to see New York theater, where his mother worked. His mother encouraged his dreams of pursuing music.

In 1974, the Kravitz family relocated to Los Angeles when Kravitz’s mother landed her role on The Jeffersons. At his mother’s urging, Kravitz joined the California Boys Choir for three years, where he performed a classical repertoire, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera. He took part in Mahler’s Third Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl. It was in Los Angeles that Kravitz was first introduced to rock music, listening to The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Creedence Clearwater Revival, KISS, Pink Floyd, and The Who. “I was attracted to the cool style, the girls, the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle,” Kravitz said. Kravitz’s other musical influences at the time included Fela Kuti, Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye, Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis; John Lennon and Bob Marley proved later to be influential as well. Kravitz attended Beverly Hills High School. Maria McKee, actor Nicolas Cage and musician Slash were his classmates. In 1978, Kravitz was accepted into the school’s well-respected music program. He taught himself to play piano and bass, and made friends with Zoro who would later become his long-time collaborator. Kravitz wanted to be a session musician. He also appeared as an actor in television commercials during this time.

Kravitz Design Inc. is a New York City-based company founded by Kravitz in 2003. Kravitz Design focuses on commercial, residential and product creative direction and design. Amongst its clients are the Morgans Hotel Group, Swarovski Crystal, and The Setai Group. In 2010, Kravitz Design Inc. collaborated with Flavor Paper wallpaper on the Tropicalismo Collection, a line inspired by Brazil’s Tropicalia art movement of the late 1960s.

Swarovski selected Kravitz Design Inc. in 2005 and 2006 to participate in their Crystal Palace Collection. Kravitz Design Inc. has also envisioned a luxury recording studio for The Setai Resort and Residences in Miami Beach, New York, Paris and New Orleans.

In 1985, Kravitz’s parents divorced, which had a profound impact on him. His relationship with his father became extremely strained. Kravitz focused on his music to help him get through this period. That year, Kravitz met actress Lisa Bonet backstage at a New Edition concert. Bonet worked on The Cosby Show, the number one rated show on television. They were close friends for two years before falling in love. Like Kravitz, Bonet is half Black and half Russian Jewish. Kravitz moved back to New York City where The Cosby Show was produced in 1987, moving in with Bonet.

Kravitz and Bonet eloped to be married on November 16, 1987, her 20th birthday, in a Las Vegas ceremony. Kravitz, still known as Romeo Blue at the time, suddenly found himself in the headlines of tabloid newspapers. They had a daughter, Zoë Isabella Kravitz, born on December 1, 1988, who became an actress, singer, and model. Kravitz and Bonet divorced amicably in 1993. He then dated French singer Vanessa Paradis until 1997. In 2001, he began dating Brazilian model Adriana Lima. In 2002, the couple were engaged, but less than a year later, the engagement was called off. He briefly dated and was engaged to Australian actress Nicole Kidman in 2003–2004.

Kravitz identifies himself as a Christian in a religious sense, “through choice but I’m also a Jew, it’s all the same to me”. During another interview Kravitz stated, “I’m half Jewish, I’m half black, I look in-between.” He also notes that spirituality “has been an important issue in my growth”, given his upbringing by parents of different faiths. Such spirituality is prominently featured in many of his songs, such as the lyrics on his album Baptism, and having his back inscribed with a tattoo stating, “My Heart Belongs to Jesus Christ”. As late as 2011, Kravitz stated that his 2005 religious commitment to remain celibate until remarriage was unchanged.

Kravitz is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism and worked with them on a radio PSA.

Pam Grier was born on this date in 1949. She is an African American actress.

Pamela Suzette Grier was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the daughter of Gwendolyn Sylvia Samuels, a homemaker and nurse, and Clarence Ransom Grier, who worked as a mechanic and Technical Sergeant in the United States Air Force. She has one sister and one brother. Because of her father’s military career, her family moved frequently during her childhood, to various places such as England, and eventually settled in Denver, Colorado, where she attended East High School.

While in Denver, Colorado she appeared in a number of stage productions, and participated in beauty contests to raise money for college tuition toward Metropolitan State College. She moved to Los Angeles, California in 1967, where she was initially hired as a receptionist at the American International Pictures (AIP) Company. Director Jack Hill discovered her. She was cast in The Big Doll House (1971), and The Big Bird Cage (1972). While under contract at AIP, she became a staple of early 1970s blaxploitation movies, playing attractive, bold, assertive women, beginning with Coffy (1973). In his review of Coffy, film critic Roger Ebert noted that Grier was an actress of “beautiful face and astonishing form” and that she possessed a kind of “physical life” missing from other actresses.

Grier subsequently played similar characters in the AIP films Foxy Brown (1974), Friday Foster, and Sheba, Baby (both 1975). With the demise of blaxploitation Grier appeared in smaller roles until the 1980s. She played a prostitute in Fort Apache the Bronx (1981), a witch in Something Wicked this Way Comes (1983), and Steven Seagal’s detective partner in Above the Law (1988). She made guest appearances on Miami Vice, Martin, Night Court and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and also had a recurring role in the TV series Crime Story between 1986 and 1988. She also appeared on Sinbad, Preston Chronicles, The Cosby Show, The Wayans Brother Show, and Mad TV. In 1994, Grier appeared in Snoop Dogg’s video for Doggy Dogg World. In the late 1990s Grier was a cast member of the Showtime series. 

She again appeared in 1997 with the title role in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. As of 2004 she appears in the cable television series The L Word as Kit Porter and occasionally guest-stars in such television series as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (where she is a recurring character). From 2000 to 2008 she dated marketing executive, Peter Hempel. In 2010 Grier began appearing in a recurring role on the science fiction series Smallville as the villain Amanda Waller. Also in 2010 she wrote her memoir, “Foxy: My Life in Three Acts” with Andrea Cagan.

In 1998 Grier was engaged to music executive Kevin Evans, but the engagement ended in 1999. From 2000 to 2008 she dated marketing executive Peter Hempel. She also dated basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, comics Freddie Prinze, Richard Pryor, and Soul Train host, Don Cornelius.

She received her Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2011. That same year, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Langston University. She started the Pam Grier Community Garden and Education Center with the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum. She lives in Colorado.