Tracy Hopkins

At the time of our early morning Zoom call, Obie and Lilly award-winning director, actor and musician Whitney White is on the go and in demand.
The Chicago native had “Liberation,” which she directed, in its final weeks at Roundabout Theatre Company; a second show she’s directing, “The Last Five Years” starring pop star Nick Jonas, about to open at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre; and “Macbeth in Stride,” which she wrote, composed and will star in, about to launch at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s...

Do you have a favorite soap opera? Are you planning to watch Beyond the Gates when it premieres on Monday, February 24? Do you love seeing Tamara Tunie rocking silver strands as much as we do? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Are you a fan of daytime soap operas, Sis? If the answer is yes, you already know that watching soaps can offer a guilty pleasure escape from reality (a welcome respite in these turbulent times) to a world immersed in opulence, elegance, romance, adventure and ...

For dancer-turned-minister Adriene Thorne, movement is healing.

On a sunny autumn afternoon, I went walking in Memphis, down the famed yet more abbreviated than expected strip of bars and music venues on Beale Street. It was my first trip to the southern city steeped in Black history, music, and culture. Memphis is where the blues, soul, and rock and roll were born. It’s also where Martin Luther King Jr. died.
The highlights of my two-day trip were chatting with proud locals and exploring two monumental and moving museums: the Stax Museum of American Soul...

According to an international travel study, African American travelers are more likely to visit destinations that promote diversity and inclusion in their marketing and that are deemed welcoming and safe.
“America’s history of slavery followed by repressive Jim Crow laws, segregation, institutional racism, and continuing police brutality has made Black [American] travelers cautious,” said Ursula Petula Barzey, research committee chair of Black Travel Alliance, in a press release.
“It’s why Vi...

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Is there a city or neighborhood or venue that you associate with good music and great memories? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Dig if you will, the picture. Wouldn’t it be groovy to plan your next vacation to a destination that pays homage to your favorite melody makers?
Take my Prince pilgrimage for example. I’ve been mesmerized by the mysterious pop star since I was a new wave, Benetton and Generra wearing girl in high school. Before Prince...

Have you enjoyed traveling in a group with Black women? Is there a destination that you find to be especially beautiful, restful and restorative? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
We love to see your melanin shining in sunny snapshots on social media, Sis. But with your next vacation getaway, perhaps you are ready to spend some restorative and reflective time off in the company of like-minded sisters and immersed in a scenic environment to enhance both your inner and outer glow.
If t...

Is a lavish trip to Dubai on your travel bucket list? After all, it is the sophisticated setting of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Dubai,” which features Kenyan fashion model Chanel Ayan and Jamaican-born, Miami-raised expat entrepreneur Lesa Milan – seemingly living their best lives in the United Arab Emirates’ cosmopolitan city.
But instead of a dream vacation destination, Dubai turned out to be a real-life nightmare for one African-American woman. In 2023, Tierra Young Allen, a social med...

“The sun looks good on you,” a Facebook friend commented under a glowing photo of me taken at Grace Bay Beach in the Turks and Caicos.
It’s not surprising that the beautiful backdrop of white sand and turquoise-blue waters was a highlight of my post-holiday season Caribbean getaway.
This was my second trip to Providenciales, the most developed and populated island in the Turks and Caicos, a group of islands south of the Bahamas. From interactions with some of the friendly staff members at the...

Winston-Salem is a Southern city that celebrates innovation but doesn’t forsake its history in order to do so. Urban farmer Samantha “Foxx” Winship’s agricultural journey in Winston-Salem is an example of entrepreneurial spirit rooted in a reverence for ancestry.
The former hairstylist moved back to her native North Carolina from the Midwest several years ago and decided to try her hand at beekeeping. In an interview with Our State magazine, Winship, now a certified beekeeper, says she was th...

The African American experience in Milwaukee can be defined by both resilience and racial inequities. Records show that African Americans were living in Milwaukee as early as the 1700s, and during a second wave of the Black migration from 1940 to 1970, Milwaukee’s Black population grew rapidly due to opportunities in industrial work.

Currently, African Americans account for nearly forty percent of Milwaukee’s population and are integral to the city’s socio-economic fabric. Milwaukee, however,...

Country music and the Grand Ole Opry is what springs to mind when it comes to Nashville and its melody maker scene. But did you know that the moniker “Music City ” was coined because of the post-Civil War popularity of a choir composed of Black college students known as the Fisk Jubilee Singers?
According to The Tennessean, the singing group put Nashville on the music map and broke racial barriers. With their rousing Negro spirituals, scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. says the group “introduced t...

Maurice Hines, a dazzling member of tap dance and Broadway royalty, died on December 29, 2023, two weeks after his 80th birthday.
If you were fortunate enough to meet the dapper dancer, actor, and singer—even if only briefly—Hines had a way of making you feel like you were a star in your own right. Family and friends echoed that sentiment on social media and at a private memorial service earlier this month in New Jersey.
“I was 21 and new to NYC when I met the legendary Maurice Hines,” wrote ...

Glaucoma was the last thing on my mind when I made my first appointment with an ophthalmologist. I was in my mid-30s and had good health insurance at the time, so I decided to add an eye exam to my annual healthcare routine. That’s when I learned that my eye pressure was slightly elevated (also known as ocular hypertension), and as a result I had borderline glaucoma. Thankfully, my ophthalmologist didn’t give me a reason to panic. She simply gave me samples of lubricant eye drops and said to ...

Per usual, we were rooting for everybody Black, and we enjoyed all of the “for the culture” highlights. The cast of Martin reunited, and longtime friends Tisha Campbell and Tichina Arnold are still fly girls; fresh-faced newcomer Ayo Edebiri won Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for The Bear; and Niecy Nash won for Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her harrowing turn in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
The biggest thrill of the evening, however, was watchi...