Category: Black Excellence

Mallori Johnson on Relearning Her Own Face in ‘Is God Is’ and Learning Bravery From Her Co-Stars

There are roles that challenge you. And then there are roles that completely rebuild you.

For Mallori Johnson, Is God Is was both.

As Anaia — the quieter, more contemplative of the twin sisters at the center of Aleshea Harris’s genre-defying revenge thriller — Johnson didn’t just have to access some of the most emotionally complex material of her career. She had to do it underneath prosthetics that covered her face, relearning every expression, every subtle movement, every moment of vulnerability through a physical transformation she had never experienced before.

But the prosthetics were only part of the journey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleshea_Harris

Aleshea Harris is an American playwright, performer, and screenwriter. Her play Is God Is won the American Playwriting Foundation’s Relentless Award in 2016. In 2023, her play On Sugarland was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.^[1]

Her work has been commissioned for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Her plays have toured in France and in Belgium and have been presented at Playfest at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, California Institute of the Arts, VOXfest at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and the Comédie de Saint-Étienne-National Drama Center in France.

https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/people/rodney-carmichael

Rodney Carmichael is a storyteller, journalist and cultural critic, covering hip-hop at NPR Music since 2017. He often works at the intersection of race and inequality, telling stories across mediums that combine reporting and criticism to spotlight the sociopolitical significance of Black cultural production. As co-host/co-creator of NPR’s first narrative music podcastLouder Than A Riot, he and co-host Sidney Madden traced the collision of hip-hop and inequality across two seasons that respectively exposed how mass incarceration and misogynoir impacted the culture. Louder’s investigative reporting helped former No Limit rapper Mac Phipps gain clemency in 2021 after serving 21 years in prison for a murder he maintains he didn’t commit. In 2024, Louder Than A Riot became the first podcast team to receive Journalist of the Year honors from the National Association of Black Journalists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lawson_(activist)

James Morris Lawson Jr. (September 22, 1928 – June 9, 2024) was an American activist and university professor. He was a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the Civil Rights Movement.^[1] During the 1960s, he served as a mentor to the Nashville Student Movement and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.^[2][3] He was expelled from Vanderbilt University for his civil rights activism in 1960, and later served as a pastor in Los Angeles for 25 years.

https://www.hipletballerinas.com

The Hiplet Ballerinas are the professional Company of the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center in the USA.

Hiplet™ was created by Artistic Director Homer Hans Bryant & evolved from the “Rap Ballet” of the 1990’s.  Specifically designed to make Ballet accessible to all people, Hiplet™  is a fusion between classical pointe technique, Hip-Hop, and a variety of other dance styles. 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Waithe

Lena Waithe (/weɪθ/;^[1] born May 17, 1984)^[2][3] is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter. She is the creator of the Showtime drama series The Chi (2018–present) and the BET comedy series Boomerang (2019–20) and Twenties (2020–21). She also wrote and produced the crime film Queen & Slim (2019) and is the executive producer of the horror anthology series Them (2021–present).

Waithe gained recognition for her role in the Netflix comedy-drama series Master of None (2015–2021), and became the first African-American woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 2017 for writing the episode “Thanksgiving“, which was loosely based on her personal experience of coming out to her mother. She has also appeared in Steven Spielberg‘s 2018 adventure film Ready Player One and the HBO series Westworld. In 2023, she received a nomination for Best Play at the 76th Tony Awards, her production work on the sketch-comedy play Ain’t No Mo’.

Waithe was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2018;^[4] and was included on Fast Company‘s Queer 50 list in 2021 and 2022.^[5][6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Gantt

Harvey Bernard Gantt (born January 14, 1943)^[1] is an American architect and Democratic politician active in North Carolina.^[2] The first African-American student admitted to Clemson University after attending Iowa State University, Gantt graduated with honors in architecture, earned a master’s at MIT, and established an architectural practice in Charlotte with a partner.

https://www.donnasrecipe.com/pages/about-us

Donna’s Recipe was co-founded by Tabitha Brown (@iamtabithabrown) and Gina Woods (@ginalosangeles). Together, they embarked on a mission to provide exclusively vegan, clean ingredients in their products—ones that not only deliver results but also become eagerly anticipated staples in your hair care routine. The entire line is crafted with nutrient-rich, clean, vegan ingredients, ensuring a consistent and satisfying hair care journey. Discover Donna’s Recipe at DonnasRecipe.com, as well as at every Ulta Beauty store nationwide and select Target locations. In April 2023, Ulta Beauty recognized Donna’s Recipe as the Black-Owned Brand of the Year. Donna’s Recipe as received Allure’s Best of Beauty Award for their innovative Sweet Potato Pie Hair Cream.

William Still

1821-1902

William Still was born in Burlington County, New Jersey. His father, Levin Steel, had been enslaved, purchased his own freedom, and changed his name to Still to protect his wife, Sidney. Mrs. Still had tried to escape once before she succeeded, but could only bring two of her children with her. William Still had little formal education, but studied whenever he could. In 1844, William moved to Philadelphia.

https://www.aaihs.org/the-times-requires-this-testimony-william-stills-the-underground-railroad

William Still, the leader of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS) Vigilance Committee, kept meticulous records on the hundreds of women and men he helped escape slavery. Maintaining these records was no small risk. They were dangerous evidence of highly illegal activity in a nation whose fault lines fractured along the boundaries of slavery and where the territoriality of slave law extended far beyond its geographical boundaries through the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (and that of 1793).¹ Still collected information from freedom seekers as he helped usher them toward the relative safety of the North and Canada. Despite the dangers of keeping this evidence, Still hoped that doing so would help with familial reunions in the future. When not in use, he kept these journals safely hidden in a barn at a cemetery. After the Civil War, these records would become the basis for Still’s book, The Underground Railroad, first published in 1872.

https://nationaljuneteenthmuseum.org

The National Juneteenth Museum is more than a museum — it will be an epicenter for education and celebration that is dedicated to building opportunities to advance future generations.

As the epicenter for the preservation of Juneteenth history, the National Juneteenth Museum will be a collaborative space to foster conversations on the global significance of freedom and the celebration of Juneteenth worldwide.