Well Suited Wednesday

Forest Whitaker
Actor  Producer  Director
1961 - 

"As a kid, I never had dreams of becoming an actor or director. Even when I was already working professionally, it took me a long time to know whether this was what I really wanted to be. Now I feel comfortable about what I'm doing, but I see that I can continue to make it better, that I can create a deeper balance in my life, and I'm still working on that. I didn't plan for things to turn out this way at all. But I have to say, I feel good about it. I do."

-Forest Whitaker

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Recommended Watching:

• Lee Daniels' The Butler
• The Last King of Scotland
• Two Men in Town
• Zulu
• The Great Debaters
• Black Nativity
• Brick City
• Fruitvale Station
• Waiting to Exhale
• Full Actors' Roundtable 
• Movie Star Bios
• Bad Books
• Forest Whitaker at Hope North
• Fruitvale Station Interview
• Raise Your Vote
• Conflict and Reconciliation
• March on Washington 50th Anniversary
• Inspired by Dr. King
• My Dream: Forest Whitaker

Black Excellence Month: Day 18

Laverne Cox
Actress  Producer  Transgender Advocate 

"If you're passionate about something, if you love something, don't ever ever give up."

-Laverne Cox

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Recommended Watching:

• Orange is the New Black
• Musical Chairs
• glaad Media Awards 2013
• True Transgender Stories
• I AM: Trans People Speak
• Acting Reel
• Laverne Cox Shares Make-Up Tips
• Breaking the Trans Glass Ceiling
• Orange is the New Black on MHP
• On the Stigma of Loving Transgender Women
• Creating Change: Keynote Address 2014
• More Laverne Cox on MHP
• On 2nd Amendment Rights
• On Musical Chairs
• Ain't I A Woman

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Recommended Reading:

• Laverne Cox on "The Katie Show" Appearance 
• Free CeCe Documentary
• Laverne Cox Huffington Post Entries
• 'Stay in the Love' Interview
• "I'm Good With Myself": A Conversation with Laverne Cox

Black Men Monday

Jesse Williams
Actor 
1981 - 

"We often grow up being told that we can do this or that, but if you don't see anybody that looks like you doing it, you don't believe you can do it. But I had great teachers, and I wanted to be a great teacher."

-Jesse Williams

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Recommended Watching:

• Grey's Anatomy
• Lee Daniels' The Butler
• The Cabin in the Woods
• Jesse Williams Talk Trayvon Martin
• Jesse Williams on The Chew
• Jesse Williams on Sesame Street
• NBA Finals
• Importance of History
• Jesse Williams on The Butler  

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Recommended Reading:

• Django, in chains

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“Feeling threatened is not the same thing as being threatened.” 

-Jesse Williams

Motivation Monday!

-Kid President♥

Black Excellence: Day 17

Amber Riley
Actress  Singer  Dancer
1986 -

"I want to encourage young women to stand up for each other and speak up when they see others in a tough situation."

-Amber Riley

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Recommended Watching:

• Glee
• Glee: The 3D Concert Movie
• Amber Riley: Nobody's Supposed To Be Here Cover
• Amber Riley on Sway in the Morning
• Amber Riley Speaks on Being from Compton and Gardena
• River Deep, Mountain High and Proud Mary
• Seasons of Love: Glee
• I'll Stand By You: Glee
• Bust Your Windows: Glee
• I Will Always Love You: Glee
• And I'm Telling You: Glee
• Sweet Transvestite: Glee
• Amber Riley: I Love My Body
• Interview in NYC
• TrevorLive!
• Beauty Peace

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Recommended Reading:

• Airport Bathroom Incident 
• DWTS Winner
• Broadway Dreams

Black Excellence Month: Day 16

Maya Angelou 
Poet  Novelist  Activist  Educator  Producer 
1928 - 2014

"Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without courage, you cannot practice any of the other virtues consistently."

-Maya Angelou

“A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself, and only herself.”

-Maya Angelou

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Maya Angelou Book List:

• I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings
•  The Heart of a Woman
• Letter to My Daughter
• Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now
• On the Pulse of Morning
• Gather Together in My Name
• All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
• Life Doesn't Frighten Me
• Mom & Me & Mom
• Even The Stars Look Lonesome
• I Shall Not Be Moved
• Just Give Me a Cool Drink A Water 'fore I Die
• Graduation
• Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes

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Recommended Reading:

• How to Write a Poem
• 2013 Oprah Interview
• At the Table With Maya Angelou 
• Master Class Quotes
• 20 Teachable Moments from Dr. Maya Angelou 
• Voices of Our Time: Maya Angelou
• Growing Up Maya Angelou
• How I Write
• An Interview With Maya Angelou
• The African-American Grandmother in Autobiographical Works by Fredrick Douglass, Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou

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Recommended Watching:

• Love Liberates
• TIME: 10 Questions for Maya Angelou
• The Revelation that Changed Dr. Maya Angelou's Life
• A Tribute Poem for Nelson Mandela
• If You Don't Laugh, You Will Die
• Merv Griffin Show 1982
• And Still I Rise
• Conversation With Maya Angelou
• The Powerful Lesson Maya Angelou Taught Oprah
• An Evening with Dr. Maya Angelou
• Maya Angelou and Common
• Introducing Ms Calypso 
• Book TV: Letter to My Daughter
• I'm A Rainbow in Somebody's Cloud
• Phenomenal Woman
• Heaven and Earth Show Interview
• Sesame Street: My Name
• In and Out of Time
• On the Pulse of the Morning
• Global Executive MBA Commencement 
• Poetic Justice
• How To Make An American Quilt

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“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” 

-Maya Angelou

Black Excellence Month: Day 15

bell hooks

Author  Feminist  Activist
1952 - 

“I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else's whim or to someone else's ignorance.” 

-bell hooks

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Recommended Watching:

• Black Female Voice: bell hooks and Melissa Harris-Perry
• Cultural Criticism and Transformation
• Ending Domination - The Struggle Continues
• Culture, Race, and Self Esteem
• At New College of Florida
• bell hooks at OSU
• bell hooks at University of Utah
• bell hooks at Texas A&M

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bell hooks Book List:

• Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
• Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics
• Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery
• Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center
• Black Looks: Race and Representation
• Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood
• Happy to Be Nappy
• We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity
• Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem

Black Love: The Huxtables

The Cosby Show: The Huxtables
Clair and Cliff Huxtable
Russell and Anna
Sondra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa, and Rudy
Elvin, Martin, Justine, Dabnis, Kenny "Bud"
Olivia, Winnie and Nelson
Pam, Charmaine, Lance, Cockroach

The Cosby Show: 1984-1992

Recommending Readings:

• How The Cosby Show Spoke to Race and Class in 80's America
• The Cosby Show Changes the Way Blacks are Viewed by Anthony Crenshaw 
• Enlightened Racism: The Cosby Show, Audiences, and the Myth of the American Dream
• The Cosby Show: The View from Black Middle Class
• The Biggest Show in the World: Race and the Global Popularity of The Cosby Show
• The Cosby Show and Racial Discourse in America

 


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Recommended Watching:

•  Phylicia Rashad on The Cosby Show 
• Al Roker interviews the Cosby's
• 1984 Interview Clip 
• Raven-Symone Audition
• Questlove on How Stevie Wonder and The Cosby Show helped shape modern Hip-Hop
• Sabrina Le Beauf of The Cosby Show
• Racial Comedy and the Creation of The Cosby Show
• Cosby Show PSA
• How The Cosby Show Represented Race in America: Oprah's Next Chapter

Favorite Episodes:

• Off To See The Wretched
•  Father's Day
• Physician of the Year
• Birthday Blues
• Cliff's Wet Adventure
• Halloween
• A Touch of Wonder
• The Prom
• The Last Barbecue
• Cliff Babysits
• No Way, Baby
• Denise Kendall: Babysitter
• The Day the Spores Landed
• The Storyteller
• The Infantry has Landed (and They've Fallen Off the Roof)
• Clair's Liberation
• For Men Only
• Olivia Comes Out of the Closet
• Mrs. Huxtable Goes to Kindergarten

♥

Black Excellence Month: Day 14

Phylicia Rashad
Actress  Singer  Stage Director
1948 -

 “A great person is not great because they are famous or wealthy; a great person is great because they make others greater.” 

-Phylicia Rashad 

“A great person is not great because they are famous or wealthy; a great person is great because they make others greater.”

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Recommended Watching:

• The Cosby Show
• Do No Harm
• A Raisin in the Sun
• Polly
• Oprah's Next Chapter
• A Different World
• Just Wright
• For Colored Girls
• Interview with Bill Boggs
• On Avoiding Being Typecast
• Do No Harm Interview
• YWCA Keynote Speech
• Maria Hinojosa Interview
• Learning Matters My Favorite Teacher Series 
• Who Am I? Interview with Phylicia Rashad
• Self-Esteem and Learning to Love Herself
• AARP Award Acceptance
• All Good Things Will Be Added Onto You
• The Clair Huxtable Mixtape

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Recommended Reading:

• Letter to My Younger Self: Phylicia Rashad
• Phylicia Rashad Makes Tony Awards History

Be Inspired: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Danger of a Single Story 

"I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be." 

-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

♥

We Should All Be Feminists
 

Book List: 

•  Americanah
• Half of a Yellow Sun
• The Thing Around Your Neck
• Purple Hibiscus