Author: Lori Tharps
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Today in Black History: The New York Times Capitalized the B in Black!
Last week, a reporter from the Chronicle of Higher Education called me to get a quote for a story she was working on about why we capitalize the letter B in Black when referring to Black people. Apparently, there are some Black academics out there in the world who are fighting to keep the b…
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MAMP Book Review for Pride Month: Third Girl from the Left
Today is officially the last day of Pride month, but that doesn’t mean we should stop reading books that feature LGBTQ characters and storylines on July 1st. I mean, we don’t only read books about Black people in February, do we? But I do want to grab your attention while rainbow flags are still being…
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MAMP Book Review: Will by Will Smith
It just so happened that when #TheSlap of 2022, aka, that time when Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars for disrespecting his wife, I was in the middle of reading his riveting, self-titled memoir, Will. (No subtitle, just Will.) While I was already enjoying the book, pre-Slap, I was more motivated to get…
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Black Women Belong Anywhere They Want To Belong
April 7, 2022 will go down as a special day in American history, because it was the day the United States finally appointed its first Black woman to the Supreme Court. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed with a vote of 53 – 47 and will replace retiring justice Stephen Breyer in June. *tosses confetti*…
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The Crown Act Gets Closer to Becoming Law: Is this Progress?
The United States is getting closer to making discrimination against natural Black hairstyles officially against the law. On March 18, 2022, the Crown Act was passed in the House of Representatives, leaving just two more steps for the Act to become federal law. It has to pass in the Senate and then officially be signed…
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How to Celebrate National Diversity Month in April
Did you know April was National Celebrate Diversity Month? Great! But do you know how to celebrate National Celebrate Diversity Month or why you should even bother? The goal of “celebrating diversity” is to better understand others; to find the connections and shared experiences that connect you to those who may not look like you,…
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Will Smith, Chris Rock and a Black Woman’s Hair
My writing career started in the world of celebrity journalism. But it never sat well with my conscience. I always felt a sense of unease commenting on the lives of actors and entertainers, as if their actions and reactions to the mundane were somehow imbued with a significance above and beyond the rest of us…
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MAMP Q&A with Yumday Founder: Lia Ballantine
Back in the day, I used to run Q&As with fascinating people doing fascinating things here on The Meltingpot. And since I’m now coming back to blogging on a regular basis, I decided to bring that segment back; The Meltingpot Q&A. And in honor of Women’s History Month, I decided to run this Q&A with…
