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During the Great Migration, more than six million Black Americans left the South and headed to the North, Midwest and West in search of a better life and more opportunities. Approximately half a million African Americans moved to Chicago, swelling its Black population from two percent in the early 20th Century to about 33 percent by 1970. The city’s Black residents left a lasting impact on the Windy City, and now, the contributions of Black women on the South Side of Chicago are the subject of a new book. [brightcove id=5581309959001] In “Lifting As They Climbed: Mapping a History of Black Women on Chicago’s South Side – A Self-Guided Tour,” authors Mariame Kaba and Essence McDowell take readers through the historic neighborhoods of Bronzeville and Pullman to highlight the impact Black women had on the arts, technology, medicine, and more. Kaba said the project is long overdue. “It has bothered me that Black women’s intellectual contributions … have been marginalized or always connected to forces of suffering,” Kaba told the Chicago Tribune. “People haven’t taken the time to really know Black women, in our fullness as three-dimensional human beings,” Kaba added. “I want people to think about what these women did, the stories they told, the music they made, the institutions they built and how it’s connected to black women’s lives today.” The book takes readers on a walking tour of the city through focusing on notable icons like journalist Ida B. Wells, pilot Bessie Coleman, and writers Lorraine Hansberry and Gwendolyn Brooks, but also lesser known women like community activist Melissia Ann Elam, Elder Lucy Madden Smith, and educator Fannie Barrier Williams. “These Black women created a road map, a blueprint for how to build in a community,” McDowell said. “These women didn’t care what people thought of them, they didn’t let racism stop them, they didn’t let the threat of violence, didn’t let social structures, stop them.” For Kaba and McDowell “Lifting As They Climbed” is a labor of love. They fit in researching and writing the project between their full time jobs because they wanted to make sure the women, and communities they worked within, were remembered. “I consider these women my family now,” McDowell said. “There’s Mama Elam. Mama Emanuel. Mama (Roberta Evelyn Winston) Martin. These women are a part of me and part of our city.” To learn more about the book and the walking tour, visit www.chicagoblackwomentour.com.

Lena Waithe is virtually a household name by this point, with her momentous Emmy win a hint of further accolades to come. Like many fans, there was a mix of excitement and trepidation at her casting in the upcoming blockbuster and Steven Spielberg adaptation of Ernest Cline’s novel, Ready Player One. Would she be somehow maligned […]

The post SXSW 2018 Interview: Lena Waithe is The Iron Giant! appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

Writer: Robet Venditti / Artist: Rafa Sandoval / DC Comics

Issue #40 is where the Kryptonite finally hits the fan as the Lanterns carry out a full assault on the Family Zod. Most of the book is devoted to the epic slugfest. This is where a Robert Venditti GL book excels. It’s a space swashbuckler where every line talks tough and has you turning the page, wondering, “Are you really going to take that?” Venditti explores some awesome sci-fi concepts and other fun ideas to play with in later issues concerning Hal Jordan’s powers, but never takes too much time to stop and sweat the small stuff.

The characters here are refreshingly fun as always. There’s no other character in the DC Universe I’d rather read as he’s staring nigh-certain death in the face than Guy Gardner. I swear that if he doesn’t get a major role in whatever movie DC has planned for the GL franchise, they’re just leaving money on the table.

And a book like this just doesn’t work without an artist like the incomparable Rafa Sandoval making action beats look easy. I get up early to read this book when I know Sandoval is drawing it. Although the paneling is exceptionally strong, there is a surprising ton of splash and semi-splash moments that just lay out destruction and punishment all across the pages, placing you right in the thick of battle. There is a scene where one character gives another a superpowered haymaker and I kid you not… I grabbed my own jaw in sympathetic pain.

Bottom Line: there aren’t many books in the DC lineup that do sci-fi action like this. This issue in particular does what this book does best—punches you in the face with a green boxing glove and ask questions later if you’re still conscious.

8.5 Top Gun References out of 10

Reading Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.

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The post Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #40 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. One Netherlands-based business thinking along those lines has tweaked the old adage to “when careless humans fill your canals with garbage, turn it into office furniture.” […]

The post This Company Is Turning Canal Garbage Into High-end Office Furniture appeared first on Geek.com.