1.
Spike Lee
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Shelton Jackson Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company,40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983, Lee has acted in ten of his own films. Lees movies have examined race relations, colorism in the community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty. Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Jacqueline Carroll, a teacher of arts and black literature, and William James Edward Lee III, a jazz musician and composer. Lee also had three younger siblings Joie, David, and Cinqué, who all worked in different positions in Lees films. Director Malcolm D. Lee is his cousin, when he was a child, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York. His mother nicknamed him Spike during his childhood and he attended John Dewey High School in Brooklyns Gravesend neighborhood. Lee enrolled in Morehouse College, a black college, where he made his first student film. He took film courses at Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a B. A. in mass communication from Morehouse and he did graduate work at New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts in film & television. In 1991, Lee taught a course at Harvard about filmmaking and it was there that he received his Master of Fine Arts and was appointed Artistic Director in 2002. Lees independent film, Joes Bed-Stuy Barbershop, We Cut Heads, was the first student film to be showcased in Lincoln Centers New Directors/New Films Festival, in 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, Shes Gotta Have It. With a budget of $175,000, he shot the film in two weeks, when the film was released in 1986, it grossed over $7,000,000 at the U. S. box office. Lees 1989 film Do the Right Thing was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1989, many people, including Hollywoods Kim Basinger, believed that Do the Right Thing also deserved a Best Picture nomination. Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture that year, after the 1990 release of Mo Better Blues, Lee was accused of antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League and several film critics. They criticized the characters of the club owners Josh and Moe Flatbush, Lee denied the charge, explaining that he wrote those characters in order to depict how black artists struggled against exploitation. Lee said that Lew Wasserman, Sidney Sheinberg or Tom Pollock and he said he could not make an antisemitic film because Jews run Hollywood, and thats a fact. His 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, about the killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. On May 2,2007, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honored Spike Lee with the San Francisco Film Societys Directing Award and he received the 2008 Wexner Prize
2.
Danny Aiello
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He had a pivotal role in the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing as Salvatore Sal Frangione, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Aiello also played Don Domenico Clericuzio in a miniseries, Mario Puzos The Last Don. Aiello, the fifth of six children, was born on West 68th Street, Manhattan, the son of Italian American parents Frances, a seamstress, aiellos father deserted the family even though his wife had gone blind. For many years, Aiello had publicly condemned his fathers desertion of his children, Aiello reconciled with his father in 1993, but to this day harbors a resentment of his fathers conduct. He moved to the South Bronx when he was seven, at the age of 16, Aiello lied about his age in order to enlist in the U. S. Army. After serving for three years, he returned to New York City and did various jobs in order to support himself, Aiello also once served as a union representative for Greyhound Bus workers and was a night club bouncer at the legendary New York comedy club, The Improv. Aiello broke into films in the early 1970s, one of his earliest roles came as a ballplayer in the 1973 baseball drama, Bang the Drum Slowly, with Robert De Niro. Aiello had a role as small-time hood Tony Rosato in The Godfather Part II. In 1980, Aiello had a role with Jan Michael Vincent in Defiance. The next year, he received acclaim for playing a racist New York City cop in Fort Apache, The Bronx with Paul Newman. In 1981, Danny Aiello won a Daytime Emmy Award for his appearance in an ABC Afterschool Special called A Family of Strangers. He was paired with De Niro again for the Sergio Leone gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America and his many film appearances included three for director Woody Allen, who cast him in Broadway Danny Rose, The Purple Rose of Cairo, and Radio Days. Aiello is perhaps best known for his role as pizzeria owner Sal in Spike Lees Do the Right Thing, at the time of the films release, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, he called the role his first focal part. He further identified the film as a collaborative effort, during which Spike Lee at one point told him Whatever you wanna do. Aiello went on to write a scene he shared with John Turturro ten minutes prior to its production. The role earned him nominations for a Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as film critic awards from Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. Although his characters have often been vulgar and violent, Aiello has also portrayed sensitive and he also had sympathetic roles in the 1990 horror thriller Jacobs Ladder and the 1991 comedy-drama 29th Street. In Léon, The Professional, Aiello had an important role as a cafe owner who assigns jobs to a hitman
3.
Ossie Davis
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Ossie Davis was an American film, television and Broadway actor, director, poet, playwright, author, and civil rights activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed and he and his wife were named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame, were awarded the National Medal of Arts and were recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame, in 1994, Davis was born Raiford Chatman Davis in Cogdell, Clinch County, Georgia, a son of Kince Charles Davis, a railway construction engineer, and his wife Laura. The name Ossie came from a county clerk who misheard his mothers pronunciation of his initials R. C. when he was born. So he inadvertently became Ossie when his mother told the clerk in Clinch County. Davis experienced racism from an age when the KKK threatened to shoot his father. His acting career, which spanned eight decades, began in 1939 with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem, during World War II, Davis served in the United States Army in the Medical Corps. He made his debut in 1950 in the Sidney Poitier film No Way Out. He voiced Anansi the spider on the PBS childrens television series Sesame Street in its animation segments, instead, he tried to follow the example of Sidney Poitier and play more distinguished characters. When he found it necessary to play a Pullman porter or a butler, he played those characters realistically, however, Davis never had the tremendous commercial or critical success that Cosby and Poitier enjoyed. As a playwright, Davis wrote Paul Robeson, All-American, which is performed in theatre programs for young audiences. In 1976 Davis appeared on Muhammad Alis novelty album for children, The Adventures of Ali, Davis found recognition late in his life by working in several of director Spike Lees films, including Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever, She Hate Me and Get on the Bus. In 1999, he appeared as a caretaker in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra film The Ghosts of Christmas Eve. For many years, he hosted the annual National Memorial Day Concert from Washington and his distinguished bearing made him a perfect choice for the concert. Following his passing, the hosting duties passed on to the twosome of Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna. Daviss last role was an episode guest role on the Showtime drama series The L Word. In his final episodes, his character was taken ill and died and his wife Ruby Dee was present during the filming of his own death scene. That episode, which aired shortly after Daviss own death, aired with a dedication to the actor, in 1989, Ossie Davis and his wife, actress/activist Ruby Dee, were named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame
4.
Ruby Dee
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Ruby Dee was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and civil rights activist. She is perhaps best known for originating the role of Ruth Younger in the stage and her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story, and Do the Right Thing. She was a Grammy, Emmy, Obie and Drama Desk winner and she was also a National Medal of Arts, Kennedy Center Honors and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award recipient. She was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she frequently performed, Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace on October 27,1922, in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Gladys and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace, a cook, waiter and porter. After her mother left the family, Dees father remarried, to Emma Amelia Benson, Dee was raised in Harlem, New York. She attended Hunter College High School and went on to graduate from Hunter College with a degree in Romance languages in 1945 and she was a member of Delta Sigma Theta. Dee joined the American Negro Theater as an apprentice, working with Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and she made several appearances on Broadway. Her first onscreen role was in That Man of Mine in 1946 and she received national recognition for her role in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story. She played both roles opposite Poitier, during the 1960s, Dee appeared in such politically charged films as Gone Are the Days and The Incident, which is recognized as helping pave the way for young African-American actors and filmmakers. In 1969, Dee appeared in 20 episodes of Peyton Place and she appeared as Cora Sanders, a Marxist college professor, in the Season 1/Episode 14 of Police Woman, entitled “Target Black which aired on Friday night, January 3,1975. The character of Cora Sanders was obviously, but loosely, influenced by the real-life Angela Y and she appeared in one episode of The Golden Girls sixth season. She played Queen Haley in Roots, The Next Generations, a 1979 miniseries, Dee was nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning once for her role in the 1990 TV film Decoration Day. She was nominated for her television guest appearance in the China Beach episode and her husband Ossie Davis also appeared in the episode. She appeared in Spike Lees 1989 film Do the Right Thing, in 1995, she and Davis were awarded the National Medal of Arts. They were also recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, in 2003, she narrated a series of WPA slave narratives in the HBO film Unchained Memories. In 2007 the winner of the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album was shared by Dee and Ossie Davis for With Ossie And Ruby, In This Life Together, and former President Jimmy Carter. Dee was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2007 for her portrayal of Mama Lucas in American Gangster and she won the Screen Actors Guild award for the same performance. At 83 years of age, Dee is currently the second oldest nominee for Best Supporting Actress and this was Dees only Oscar nomination
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Richard Edson
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Richard Edson is an American actor and musician. Edson was born in New Rochelle, New York and his father, Arnold, was one of the first Marine officers to land at Guadalcanal in August 1942. His mother, Marian, a school teacher, resides with his father in New Rochelle. In 1979, Richard was a member of the San Francisco art rock band The Alterboys with Snuky Tate, Tono Rondone, Richard Kelly and JC Garrett. From 1981 to 1982, he was Sonic Youths original drummer, after the release of Sonic Youths self-titled debut album, Edson left the band to play with Konk full-time. Edson also played trumpet with San Francisco band The Offs on the groups eponymous 1984 album, following his music career, Edson has worked as an actor, appearing in over 35 movies. He also appeared in Platoon, Good Morning, Vietnam, Dirty Dancing, Tougher Than Leather Let It Ride and he starred in the 1993 movie Super Mario Bros as Spike, King Koopas cousin. Edson played the role in three films directed by Raphael Nadjari, The Shade, I am Josh Polonskis Brother and Apartment #5c. In 2003, he appeared in the video for Cave Ins single. Edson played the character of the video, a depressed man walking down the street with his feet encased in cement blocks. His television appearances include The Adventures of Pete & Pete and the season finale of Homicide. Edson appeared in a 2007 TV commercial for The Travelers Companies Inc. in which he plays the personification of risk. In total, Edson has appeared in about 85 movies/television shows. O. V
6.
Giancarlo Esposito
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Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito is an American actor. He is well known for his roles in Spike Lee films such as Do the Right Thing, School Daze, other notable films include Fresh, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, The Usual Suspects and King of New York. He has portrayed Sidney Glass / Magic Mirror on ABCs Once Upon a Time, Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito was born in Copenhagen, the son of Giovanni Esposito and Elizabeth Foster. His mother was an African-American opera and nightclub singer from Alabama, Esposito was raised in Europe until the age of six, when his family settled in Manhattan, New York. He attended Elizabeth Seton College in New York and received a degree in radio. Esposito made his Broadway debut at age eight playing a slave child opposite Shirley Jones in the short-lived musical Maggie Flynn, during the 1980s, Esposito appeared in films such as Maximum Overdrive, King of New York, and Trading Places. He also performed in TV shows such as Miami Vice and Spenser and he played J. C. Pierce, a cadet in the 1981 movie Taps. In 1988, he landed his role as the leader of the black fraternity Gamma Phi Gamma in director Spike Lees film School Daze. Over the next four years, Esposito and Lee collaborated on three movies, Do the Right Thing, Mo Better Blues, and Malcolm X. During the 1990s Esposito appeared in the indie films Night on Earth, Fresh and Smoke. He also appeared in the mainstream film Reckless with Mia Farrow, Esposito is known for his portrayal of FBI agent Mike Giardello on the TV crime drama Homicide, Life on the Street. That role drew from both his African-American and Italian ancestry and he played this character during the shows seventh and final season. Mikes estranged father, shift lieutenant Al Giardello, is portrayed as subject to racism, another multiracial role was as Sergeant Paul Gigante in the television comedy series, Bakersfield P. D. In 1997, Esposito played the roles of Darryl in Trouble on the Corner. Other TV credits include NYPD Blue, Law & Order, The Practice, New York Undercover, Esposito has portrayed drug dealers, policemen, political radicals, and a demonic version of the Greek God of Sleep Hypnos from another dimension. In 2001, he played Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr. in Ali, in 2006, Esposito starred in Last Holiday as Senator Dillings, alongside Queen Latifah and Timothy Hutton. Also in 2006, he played a detective named Esposito in the 2005 film. Esposito played Robert Fuentes, a Miami businessman with shady connections and he has appeared in New Amsterdam and CSI, Miami
7.
Bill Nunn
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William Goldwyn Bill Nunn III was an American actor known for his roles as Radio Raheem in Spike Lees film Do the Right Thing and Robbie Robertson in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man film trilogy. Bill Nunn III was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Frances Nunn and William G. Nunn, Jr. a well-known journalist and editor at the Pittsburgh Courier and his paternal grandfather was the first African American football player at George Westinghouse High School. While ball boys for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bill Nunn and current Steelers President Art Rooney II stole Mean Joe Greenes car during training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Joe Greene showed up in a beautiful green Lincoln Continental, and me and Bill Nunn, somehow Bill got the keys one night and we decided to take it for a ride. We only told Joe that story about 10 years ago and we figured that enough time had passed that we could disclose our little joy ride. Nunn was a 1970 graduate of Schenley High School and a 1976 graduate of Morehouse College and he attended college with Spike Lee and appeared in several of Lees early feature films. Nunn also performed on stage, including August Wilsons Fences, a Pittsburgh-based play, Nunn performed alongside Anthony Mackie, Nunn was also very involved in community outreach, and he formed his own Pittsburgh-area outreach project in 2008. Nunn died on September 24,2016 in his home in Pittsburghs Hill District and his widow, Donna, confirmed that he had leukemia. Bill Nunn at the Internet Movie Database Obituary Life of Bill Nunn
8.
John Turturro
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He has appeared in over sixty films and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, Adam Sandler and Spike Lee. An Emmy Award winner, Turturro has also nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards. Turturros mother was Sicilian and his father immigrated from Giovinazzo, Bari, Turturro was raised a Roman Catholic and moved to the Rosedale section of Queens, New York with his family when he was six. He majored in Theatre Arts at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Turturros first film appearance was a non-speaking extra role in Martin Scorseses critically acclaimed Raging Bull. He created the role of John Patrick Shanleys Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at the Playwrights Conference at the Eugene ONeill Theatre Center in 1983. He repeated it the following year Off-Broadway and won an Obie Award, Spike Lee liked Turturros performance in Five Corners so much that he cast him in Do the Right Thing. He has also appeared in several of Adam Sandlers movies, such as Mr. Deeds and he played a severely disturbed patient of Jack Nicholsons character in the comedy Anger Management and played Johnny Depps characters antagonist in Secret Window. He won an Emmy award for his portrayal of Adrian Monks brother Ambrose in the USA Network series Monk and he has also been nominated and won many awards from film organizations such as Screen Actors Guild, Cannes Film Festival, Golden Globes and others. Turturro produced and directed, as well as acted in, the film Illuminata and he wrote and directed the film Romance and Cigarettes. In 2006 he appeared in Robert De Niros The Good Shepherd, in 2010 he directed Passione, which chronicles the rich musical heritage of Naples, Italy. The cast included Julie Kavner, Marlo Thomas, Mark Linn-Baker, Turturros fifth directorial film Fading Gigolo premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in mid-September 2013. Turturro also acts in the film alongside Woody Allen, who played a novice pimp overseeing the sex work of Turturros character. In March 2014, Turturro received the Career Achievement tribute and award at the 31st Edition of the Miami International Film Festival at the Olympia Theater in Downtown Miami, Turturros brother is actor Nicholas Turturro. Artist Ralph Turturro, composer and film director Richard Termini and actress Aida Turturro are his cousins and he has two sons, Amedeo and Diego, with his wife, actress Katherine Borowitz. Turturro participates as a member of the Jury for the NYICFF, in January 2011, Turturro received his Italian passport, and holds dual Italian and U. S. citizenship
9.
John Savage (actor)
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John Savage is an American actor, best known for his roles in the films The Deer Hunter, The Onion Field, Hair and Salvador. He is also known for his role as Donald Lydecker in the TV series Dark Angel, Savage was born in Old Bethpage, New York to Floyd-Jones Youngs, an insurance salesman who served on Guadalcanal during World War II with the Marine Corps. His sisters are Boston-based radio and television personality Robin Young and actress Gail Youngs and his brother is actor Jim Youngs. His first major role was as Steven in the 1978 film, The Deer Hunter. He also had a role in 1979s The Onion Field. One of his most famous roles was as Claude Bukowski in Miloš Formans 1979 film Hair and he had a brief role in Terrence Malicks war film, The Thin Red Line. In the late 1970s, he appeared on Broadway in David Mamets play. In 1991 he was featured in a role in Italian director Lucio Fulcis final film Door to Silence. In more recent years he has seen on the small as well as the big screen. He was the character of Donald Lydecker in the first and second seasons of Dark Angel. Another recurring role found him as Henry Scudder in the HBO-produced television series Carnivàle, in 2005, he appeared on Law & Order, Special Victims Unit. He lent his voice to a monologue on the track of the album, This Town. In September 2009, he appeared in the episode of Season 2 of the Fox network drama Fringe. He most recently starred in the western thriller The Sorrow with Kirk Harris and he also played a supporting role in Hit List. John Savage at the Internet Movie Database
10.
40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks
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40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks is the production company of noted American filmmaker Spike Lee. The company is named after an episode of early Reconstruction. After President Lincoln was assassinated, President Andrew Johnson revoked the order, took the land away from the freed slaves, and returned it to the previous owners. After the success of such as Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X. Lee has also done collaborations with clothing companies such as Nike, Eckō Unltd. 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks also has a division with DDB called Spike DDB located in New York. They have done several famous Super Bowl, Nike and Lays potato chip commercial spots and they have produced hundreds of commercials and music videos in addition to Lees famous films. In 2004,40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks moved all of its operations to New York City with headquarters in Spike Lees native borough of Brooklyn,40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks headquarters is located on South Elliott Place in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. The production company won a Peabody Award in 2010 for If God Is Willing, official website 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks at the Internet Movie Database
11.
Universal Pictures
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Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. The company was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America and is one of Hollywoods Big Six studios. Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, one story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the days takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons, for Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures, in June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe Stern and Julius Stern. Laemmle broke with Edisons custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers, by naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system. In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence, formerly known as The Biograph Girl, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York on April 30,1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley. Eventually all would be out by Laemmle. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its efforts in the Hollywood area. On March 15,1915, Laemmle opened the worlds largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, studio management became the third facet of Universals operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists, Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas, westerns. In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films — Red Feather, low-budget programmers, Bluebird, more ambitious productions, and Jewel, their prestige motion pictures. Directors included Jack Conway, John Ford, Rex Ingram, Robert Z. Leonard, George Marshall and Lois Weber, despite Laemmles role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew and he also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. Character actor Lon Chaney became a card for Universal in the 1920s
12.
Samuel L. Jackson
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Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American actor and film producer. With Jacksons permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury. He has also portrayed the character in the second and final episodes of the first season of the TV show Marvels Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D and he is married to LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has a daughter, Zoe. Samuel L. Jackson is ranked as the highest all-time box office star with over $4.9053 billion total box office gross, Jackson was born in Washington, D. C. the son of Elizabeth and Roy Henry Jackson. He grew up as a child in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father lived away from the family in Kansas City, Missouri, Jackson only met his father twice during his life. Jackson was raised by his mother, who was a worker and later a supplies buyer for a mental institution. According to DNA tests, Jackson partially descends from the Benga people of Gabon, Jackson attended several segregated schools and graduated from Riverside High School in Chattanooga. Between the third and twelfth grades, he played the French horn, during childhood, he had a stuttering problem. While he eventually learned to pretend to be people who didnt stutter and use the curse word motherfucker as an affirmation word. Initially intent on pursuing a degree in biology, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta. After joining a local acting group to earn points in a class, Jackson found an interest in acting. Before graduating in 1972, he co-founded the Just Us Theatre, after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Jackson attended the funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers. Jackson then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march, in a Parade interview Jackson revealed, I was angry about the assassination, but I wasnt shocked by it. I knew that change was going to something different – not sit-ins. In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the schools curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, Jackson was then suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions. He would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972, while he was suspended, Jackson was employed as a social worker in Los Angeles
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Martin Lawrence
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Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is a German-born American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, writer, and voice actor. Lawrence was named after civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and U. S. President John F. Kennedy and his parents divorced when he was eight years old and Lawrence rarely saw his estranged father, who worked as a police officer. His mother, Chlora, began working several jobs to support her family, during his teen years, Lawrence excelled at boxing. Lawrence lived in Queens, New York, and Landover, Maryland and he seriously considered a professional career until he suffered a broken eye that prompted him to reconsider. Lawrence ended up moving to New York City and found his way to the legendary The Improv, shortly after appearing at The Improv, Lawrence won a performance spot on Star Search. He did well on the show and made it to the final round, however, executives at Columbia Pictures Television saw Martins performance and offered him the role of Maurice in Whats Happening Now. This was his first acting job, upon cancellation of that show, Lawrence found bit parts in various films and television series. His breakthrough role was as Cee in Do the Right Thing, other roles followed in films such as the House Party series, Talkin Dirty After Dark, and the Eddie Murphy vehicle Boomerang. During this period, entertainment mogul Russell Simmons selected him to host the groundbreaking series Def Comedy Jam on HBO, Def Comedy Jam gave many comedians mainstream exposure. During his stint with Def Comedy Jam, Lawrence appeared in his own hit series, Martin, the show ran from 1992 to 1997 and was an enormous success. Martin was the flagship of Foxs Thursday-night line-up, which millions of viewers away from NBCs Must See TV line-up. Martins ratings continued to skyrocket so much that Fox became more of a contender against NBC, after Martin ended its run in 1997, Lawrence found work in comedy films. He often starred as the lead opposite actors including Eddie Murphy, Danny DeVito. Many of his films were blockbusters at the box office, including Nothing to Lose, Life, Blue Streak and he also starred in critical- and box-office failures, including Black Knight and National Security. Regardless, his salary increased to over $10 million per film role. He continues to work in film, with films as Big Mommas House 2. In 2006, Lawrence appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, during which Lawrence briefly brought back to some of the characters hed portrayed on Martin. In 2008, Lawrence starred in Disneys College Road Trip co-starring with Raven-Symoné and it was his first G-rated film, but not his first appearance in a childrens film, he supplied a voice for Open Season opposite Ashton Kutcher
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Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
15.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
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The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Walter Brennan was the first winner of award for his role in Come. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 72 actors. Brennan has received the most awards in this category with three awards, Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, and Claude Rains were nominated on four occasions, more than any other actor. As of the 2017 ceremony, Mahershala Ali is the most recent winner in category for his role as Juan in Moonlight. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-1-55002-574-3. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com Complete Downloadable List of Academy Award Nominees
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Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, the Library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. it also maintains the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, which houses the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world and its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages. Two-thirds of the books it acquires each year are in other than English. The Library of Congress moved to Washington in 1800, after sitting for years in the temporary national capitals of New York. John J. Beckley, who became the first Librarian of Congress, was two dollars per day and was required to also serve as the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s, most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812. To restore its collection in 1815, the bought from former president Thomas Jefferson his entire personal collection of 6,487 books. After a period of growth, another fire struck the Library in its Capitol chambers in 1851, again destroying a large amount of the collection. The Library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to have two copies deposited of books, maps, illustrations and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections of British and other European works and it included several stories built underground of steel and cast iron stacks. Although the Library is open to the public, only high-ranking government officials may check out books, the Library promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book, and Poet Laureate. James Madison is credited with the idea for creating a congressional library, part of the legislation appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress. And for fitting up an apartment for containing them. Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and 3 maps, was housed in the new Capitol, as president, Thomas Jefferson played an important role in establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. The new law also extended to the president and vice president the ability to borrow books and these volumes had been left in the Senate wing of the Capitol. One of the only congressional volumes to have survived was a government account book of receipts and it was taken as a souvenir by a British Commander whose family later returned it to the United States government in 1940. Within a month, former president Jefferson offered to sell his library as a replacement
17.
National Film Registry
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The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Boards selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The NFPB, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992,1996,2005, and again in October 2008. The NFPBs mission, to which the NFR contributes, is to ensure the survival, conservation, the 1996 law also created the non-profit National Film Preservation Foundation which, although affiliated with the NFPB, raises money from the private sector. To be eligible for inclusion, a film must be at least ten years old, for the first selection in 1989, the public nominated almost 1,000 films for consideration. Members of the NFPB then developed individual ballots of possible films for inclusion, the ballots were tabulated into a list of 25 films which was then modified by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and his staff at the Library for the final selection. Since 1997, members of the public have been able to nominate up to 50 films a year for the NFPB, the NFR includes films ranging from Hollywood classics to orphan films. A film is not required to be feature-length, nor is it required to have been released in the traditional sense. As of the 2016 listing, there are 700 films preserved in the Registry, currently, the earliest listed film is Newark Athlete, and the most recent is 13 Lakes. Counting the 11 multi-year serials in the NFR once each by year of completion, the years with the most films selected are 1928,1939, the time between a films debut and its selection varies greatly. The longest span is 119 years, Newark Athlete was originally released in 1891, the shortest span is the minimum 10 years, this distinction is shared by Raging Bull, Do the Right Thing, Goodfellas, Toy Story, Fargo and 13 Lakes. For purposes of this list, multi-year serials are counted once by year of completion
18.
Italian Americans
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Italian Americans are an ethnic group comprising Americans who have full or partial ancestry from Italy, especially those who identify with that ancestry, along with their cultural characteristics. Italian Americans are the fourth largest European ethnic group in the United States, about 5.5 million Italians immigrated to the United States from 1820 to 2004. Immigration began in earnest during the 1870s, when more than twice as many Italians immigrated than during the five previous decades altogether. The 1870s were followed by the greatest surge of immigration, which occurred in the period between 1880 and 1914 and brought more than 4 million Italians to America. This period of large scale immigration ended abruptly with the onset of the First World War in 1914 and, except for one year, further immigration would be greatly limited by a number of restrictive laws passed by Congress in the 1920s. Approximately 84% of the Italian immigrants came from Southern Italy and Sicily, after unification, the Italian government initially encouraged emigration to relieve economic pressures in the South. After the American Civil War, which resulted in over a million killed or wounded, immigrant workers were recruited from Italy. In the United States, most Italians began their new lives as manual laborers in Eastern cities, mining camps, Italian Americans gradually moved from the lower rungs of the economic scale in the first generation to a level comparable to the national average by 1970. By 1990, more than 65% of Italian Americans were managerial, professional, the Italian-American communities have often been characterized by strong ties with family, the Catholic Church, fraternal organizations and political parties. Today, over 17 million Americans claim Italian ancestry, third only to Brazil with 31 million, and Argentina, Italians and their descendants in America have helped to shape the country and, in turn, have adapted to it. They have gained prominence in politics, sports, the media, the arts, the culinary arts. Italian navigators and explorers played a key role in the discovery, exploration, christopher Columbus, the explorer who first reached the Americas in 1492–1504, was Italian. Another notable Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who explored the east coast of South America between 1499 and 1502, is the source of the name America. Englands claims in North America were based on the voyages of the Italian explorer John Cabot, in 1524 the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to map the Atlantic coast of todays United States, and to enter New York Bay. In 1539, Marco da Nizza, explored the territory later became the states of Arizona. In the 17th century, Henri de Tonti, together with the French explorer LaSalle, De Tonti founded the first European settlement in Illinois in 1679, and in Arkansas in 1683. With LaSalle, he co-founded New Orleans, and was governor of the Louisiana Territory for the next 20 years and his brother Alphonse de Tonty, with French explorer Antoine Cadillac, was the co-founder of Detroit in 1701, and was its acting colonial governor for 12 years. Spain and France were Catholic countries and sent many missionaries to convert the native population, included among these missionaries were numerous Italians
19.
Brownstone
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Brownstone is a brown Triassic-Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is used in the United States to refer to a townhouse clad in this material. In the 19th century, Basswood Island, Wisconsin, was the site of a run by the Bass Island Brownstone Company which operated from 1868 into the 1890s. The stone comes from the Hummelstown Quarry in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, the Hummelstown Quarry is the largest provider of brownstone on the east coast. Typically the stone was transported out of Hummelstown through the Brownstone, connecticut River Brownstone, is also very popular. C. and Baltimore. Quarries from the Passaic Formation in northern New Jersey once supplied most of the used in New York City. The Manhattan neighborhood of the Upper West Side, too, retains many brownstones, Brownstones also predominate in some Hudson County neighborhoods directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan, especially in Hoboken and around Van Vorst Park and Hamilton Park in Jersey City. New York City brownstones usually cost several million dollars to purchase, a typical architectural detail of brownstones in and around New York City is the stoop, a steep staircase rising from the street to the entrance on what amounts to almost the second-floor level. This design was seen as hygienic at the many were built. Lately, it has become fashionable to use the term brownstone to refer to almost any townhouse from a certain period, many townhouses in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, for example, are basically built of brick, some having concrete masonry cladding to make them resemble actual stone. The Rittenhouse Square and Fairmount, Philadelphia neighborhoods of Philadelphia also include examples of brownstone architecture, many of these homes have been converted into apartment buildings. Back Bay, Boston, is known for its Victorian brownstone homes – considered some of the examples of 19th-century urban design in the United States. Although some brownstones exist in Chicago, a similar residential form known as greystones are by far more prevalent, a greystone is a type of residential structure that utilizes Indiana limestone for its facade, regardless of its overall architectural style. As in Brooklyn, there exists a Greystone Belt in Chicago, with numbers of such structures located in the south. It is estimated that around 30,000 of Chicagos greystones built between 1890 and 1930 are still standing, Brownstone, also known as freestone due to its durability and advantages as a building material, was used by early Quakers in Pennsylvania to construct stone mills and mill houses. In central Pennsylvania, some 1700s-era structures survive, including one used as a residence. Archived from the original on 2006-08-13, cS1 maint, BOT, original-url status unknown in Wisconsin. Website devoted to the Weser brownstone quarries from Germany being imported into the US, after Fight, a Brooklyn Brownstones Costly Rescue, The New York Times Website devoted to the colonial-era Quaker Mill House in Pennsylvania
20.
Public Enemy (group)
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Public Enemy is an American hip hop group consisting of Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Khari Wynn, DJ Lord, and the S1W group. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called them the most influential and radical band of their time, in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Public Enemy number 44 on its list of the Immortals,100 Greatest Artists of All Time, the highest ranking for a hip hop act. The group was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007, the band were announced as inductees for the 2013 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on December 11,2012, making them the fourth hip-hop act to be inducted. Carlton Ridenhour and William Drayton met at Long Islands Adelphi University in the early-1980s. M. C. Chuck D put out a tape to promote WBAU and to fend off a local MC who wanted to battle him. He called the tape Public Enemy #1 because he felt like he was being persecuted by people in the local scene and this was the first reference to the notion of a public enemy in any of Chuck Ds songs. The single was created by Chuck D with a contribution by Flavor Flav, around 1986, Bill Stephney, the former Program Director at WBAU, was approached by Ali Hafezi and offered a position with the label. Stephney accepted, and his first assignment was to help fledgling producer Rick Rubin sign Chuck D, according to the book The History of Rap Music by Cookie Lommel, Stephney thought it was time to mesh the hard-hitting style of Run DMC with politics that addressed black youth. With the addition of Flavor Flav and another local mobile DJ named Terminator X, according to Chuck, The S1W, which stands for Security of the First World, represents that the black man can be just as intelligent as he is strong. It stands for the fact that were not third-world people, were people, were the original people. Public Enemy started out as opening act for the Beastie Boys during the latters Licensed to Ill popularity, and in 1987 released their debut album Yo. Bum Rush the Show. Over the next few years, Public Enemy released It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Fear of a Black Planet, and Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black. In addition to ushering in the age of hip hop, during this time, Public Enemy reached the height of their popularity, adulation. The group then separated from Def Jam and has since been producing, marketing. Their debut album, Yo. Bum Rush the Show, was released in 1987 to critical acclaim, the album was the groups first step toward stardom. In October 1987, music critic Simon Reynolds dubbed Public Enemy a superlative rock band, Nation of Millions. was the first hip hop album to be voted album of the year in The Village Voices influential Pazz & Jop critics poll. In 1989, the returned to the studio to record Fear of a Black Planet. The album was supposed to be released in late 1989, but was pushed back to April 1990 and it was the most successful of any of their albums and, in 2005, was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress. Fight the Power is regarded as one of the most popular and it was the theme song of Spike Lees Do the Right Thing
21.
Boombox
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Boombox is a common term for a portable transistorized cassette tape recorder/player and AM/FM radio with an amplifier, two or more loudspeakers and a carrying handle. A boombox is a device capable of receiving radio stations. Many models are capable of recording onto cassette tapes from radio. Designed for portability, boomboxes can be powered by batteries as well as by line current, the boombox was introduced to the American market during the mid-1970s. The desire for louder and heavier bass led to bigger and heavier boxes, by the 1980s, most boomboxes were battery-operated, leading to extremely heavy, bulky boxes. The boombox quickly became associated with society in the United States, particularly African American. Cities petitioned for the banning of boomboxes from public places, the boombox became closely linked to American hip hop culture and was instrumental in the rise of hip hop music. The first boombox was developed by the inventor of the compact cassette. Their first Radiorecorder was released in 1966, the Philips innovation was the first time that radio broadcasts could be recorded onto cassette tapes without the cables or microphones that previous stand-alone cassette tape recorders required. Although sound quality of tape recordings was poor, improvements in technology and the introduction of stereo recording, chromium tapes. Several European electronics brands, such as Grundig, also introduced similar devices, boomboxes were soon also developed in Japan in the early 1970s and became popular there due to their compact size and impressive sound quality. The Japanese brands soon took over a portion of the European boombox market and were often the first Japanese consumer electronics brands that a European household might purchase. The Japanese innovated by creating different sizes, form factors, and technology, introducing such advances as stereo boomboxes, removable speakers, in-built TV receivers, and inbuilt CD players. The boombox was introduced to the American market during the mid-1970s, with the bulk of production being carried out by Panasonic, Sony, Marantz, and General Electric. It was immediately noticed by the urban adolescent community and soon had a market, especially in metropolitan centers such as New York, Los Angeles. The development of audio jacks brought the boombox to the height of its popularity, consumers enjoyed the portability and sound quality of boomboxes, but one of the most important features, especially to the youth market, was the bass. The desire for louder and heavier bass led to bigger and heavier boxes, most units can be powered by AC or DC cables in addition to batteries. As boomboxes grew in popularity, they became more complex in design
22.
Malcolm X
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Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little and later also known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history, Malcolm X was effectively orphaned early in life. His father was killed when he was six and his mother was placed in a hospital when he was thirteen. In 1946, at age 20, he went to prison for larceny, while in prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam, and after his parole in 1952, quickly rose to become one of the organizations most influential leaders. He served as the face of the controversial group for a dozen years. In his autobiography, Malcolm X wrote proudly of some of the achievements the Nation made while he was a member. The Nation promoted black supremacy, advocated the separation of black and white Americans, by March 1964, Malcolm X had grown disillusioned with the Nation of Islam and its leader Elijah Muhammad. Expressing many regrets about his time with them, which he had come to regard as largely wasted and he continued to emphasize Pan-Africanism, black self-determination, and black self-defense. In February 1965, he was assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm Little was born May 19,1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, the fourth of seven children of Grenada-born Louise Helen Little and Georgia-born Earl Little. Earl was an outspoken Baptist lay speaker, and he and Louise were admirers of Pan-African activist Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X later said that white violence killed three of his fathers brothers. Because of Ku Klux Klan threats—Earls UNIA activities were spreading trouble—the family relocated in 1926 to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, there the family was frequently harassed by the Black Legion, a white racist group. When the family home burned in 1929, Earl accused the Black Legion, when Little was six, his father died in what was officially ruled a streetcar accident, though his mother Louise believed Earl had been murdered by the Black Legion. Rumors that white racists were responsible for his fathers death were widely circulated, as an adult, he expressed conflicting beliefs on the question. To make ends meet Louise rented out part of her garden, in 1937 a man Louise had been dating—marriage had seemed a possibility—vanished from her life when she became pregnant with his child. In late 1938 she had a breakdown and was committed to Kalamazoo State Hospital. The children were separated and sent to foster homes, Malcolm and his siblings secured her release 24 years later. Malcolm Little excelled in high school but dropped out after a white teacher told him that practicing law. Later Malcolm X recalled feeling that the world offered no place for a career-oriented black man
23.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, with the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech, on October 14,1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, in the final years of his life, King expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled Beyond Vietnam. In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D. C. to be called the Poor Peoples Campaign, Kings death was followed by riots in many U. S. cities. Ray, who fled the country, was arrested two months later at London Heathrow Airport, King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, hundreds of streets in the U. S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also renamed for him. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, King was born on January 15,1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. It was during this time he chose to be called Martin Luther King in honor of the German reformer Martin Luther, King had Irish ancestry through his paternal great-grandfather, as well as African ancestry. King was a child, between an older sister, Willie Christine King, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. King sang with his choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie Gone with the Wind. His mother was an accomplished organist and choir leader, and she took him to various churches to sing and he received attention for singing I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus. King later became a member of the choir in his church. King said that his father regularly whipped him until he was fifteen, King saw his fathers proud and fearless protests against segregation, such as King Sr. When King was a child, he befriended a boy whose father owned a business near his familys home. When the boys were six, they started school, King had to attend a school for African Americans, King lost his friend because the childs father no longer wanted the boys to play together. King suffered from depression throughout much of his life, in his adolescent years, he initially felt resentment against whites due to the racial humiliation that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure in the segregated South
24.
Breakdancing
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B-boying or breaking, also called breakdancing, is a style of street dance that originated primarily among Puerto Rican and African American youths during the mid-1970s in the Bronx. The dance spread worldwide due to popularity in the media, especially in such as Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Korea. While diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance, b-boying consists of four kinds of movement, toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes. B-boying is typically danced to hip-hop, funk music, and especially breakbeats, although modern trends allow for much wider varieties of music along certain ranges of tempo, a practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. Although the term breakdance is frequently used to refer to the dance in culture and in the mainstream entertainment industry. These terms are preferred by the majority of the pioneers and most notable practitioners, instead of the term b-boying, the mainstream media promoted the artform as breakdancing, causing many to only know it as such. Enthusiasts consider breakdancing an ignorant and derogatory term due to the exploitation of the artform. The media displayed a simplified version of the dance, making it seem like the so-called “tricks” were everything, ultimately trading the culture for money and promotion. The dance itself is properly called breaking according to such as KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Mos Def. The terms b-boy, b-girl, and breaker are the terms used to describe the dancers who performed to DJ Kool Hercs breakbeats. DJ Kool Herc is a Jamaican-American DJ who is responsible for developing the foundational aspects of hip-hop music, the obvious connection of the term breaking is to the word breakbeat. DJ Kool Herc has commented that the term breaking was 1970s slang for getting excited, most breaking pioneers and practitioners prefer the terms b-boy, b-girl, and/or breaker when referring to these dancers. For those immersed in culture, the term breakdancer may be used to disparage those who learn the dance for personal gain rather than for commitment to the culture. B-boy London of the New York City Breakers and filmmaker Michael Holman refer to these dancers as breakers, frosty Freeze of the Rock Steady Crew says, we were known as b-boys, and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa says, b-boys, what you call break boys. Or b-girls, what you call break girls, many elements of b-boying can be seen in other antecedent cultures prior to the 1970s. B-boy pioneers Richard Crazy Legs Colon and Kenneth Ken Swift Gabbert, many of b-boyings acrobatic moves, such as the flare, show clear connections to gymnastics. The engraving shows a man apparently B-boying. The dance was called the Giesse Harad Polska or salmon district dance, a young street dancer performing acrobatic headspins was recorded by Thomas Edison in 1898
25.
Nigger
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In the present-day English language, the word nigger is an ethnic slur, usually directed at black people. The word originated as a term referring to people with black skin, as a variation of the Spanish and Portuguese noun negro. It was often used derogatorily, and by the century, particularly in the United States, its usage became unambiguously pejorative. Accordingly, it began to disappear from popular culture, and its inclusion in classic works of literature has sparked controversy. In contemporary English, using the word nigger is considered extremely offensive, the variant nigga has to some extent been reclaimed by African Americans. The variants neger and negar derive from the Spanish and Portuguese word negro, etymologically, negro, noir, nègre, and nigger ultimately derive from nigrum, the stem of the Latin niger. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the first English use to 1577, other early spellings attested include nigor and Nigre, the first spelling of nigger is in 1608. The second meaning, of a term of abuse or contempt from whites to blacks is first attested in print in 1775. Its use by people both as a neutral or favourable term and as a depreciatory term go back to 1831 and 1834 respectively. In the colonial America of 1619, John Rolfe used negars in describing the African slaves shipped to the Virginia colony, lexicographer Noah Webster, whose eponymous dictionary did much to solidify the distinctive spelling of American English, suggested the neger spelling in place of negro in 1806. The dialect spoken in the Southern United States changes the pronunciation of negro to nigra, during the fur trade of the early 1800s to the late 1840s in the Western United States, the word was spelled niggur, and is often recorded in literature of the time. George Fredrick Ruxton used it in his mountain man lexicon, without pejorative connotation, niggur was evidently similar to the modern use of dude or guy. It was not used as a term exclusively for blacks among mountain men during this period, as Indians, Mexicans, the noun slipped back and forth from derogatory to endearing. The term colored became a respectful alternative, in 1851 the Boston Vigilance Committee, an Abolitionist organization, posted warnings to the Colored People of Boston and vicinity. Writing in 1904, journalist Clifton Johnson documented the opprobrious character of the word nigger, by the turn of the century, colored had become sufficiently mainstream that it was chosen as the racial self-identifier for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 2008 Carla Sims, its communications director, said the term colored is not derogatory and its outdated and antiquated but not offensive. Nineteenth-century literature features usages of nigger without racist connotation, mark Twain, in the autobiographic book Life on the Mississippi, used the term within quotes, indicating reported speech, but used the term negro when writing in his own narrative persona. Joseph Conrad published a novella in Britain with the title The Nigger of the Narcissus, president Thomas Jefferson had used this word of his slaves in his Notes on the State of Virginia, but black had not been widely used until the later 20th century
26.
Baseball bat
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A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than 2.75 inches in diameter at the thickest part, although historically bats approaching 3 pounds were swung, today bats of 33 ounces are common, topping out at 34 ounces to 36 ounces. A baseball bat is divided into several regions, the barrel is the thick part of the bat, where it is meant to hit the ball. The part of the barrel best for hitting the ball, according to construction, the end of the barrel is called the top, end or cap of the bat. Opposite the cap, the barrel narrows until it meets the handle, the handle is comparatively thin, so that batters can comfortably grip the bat in their hands. Sometimes, especially on metal bats, the handle is wrapped with a rubber or tape grip, finally, below the handle is the knob of the bat, a wider piece that keeps the bat from slipping from a batters hands. Lumber is a slang term for a bat, especially when wielded by a particularly able batter. The bat drop of a bat is its weight, in ounces, minus its length, for example, a 30-ounce, 33-inch-long bat has a bat drop of minus 3. Larger bat drops help to increase swing speed, bats with smaller drops create more power. The bats form has more refined over time. In the mid-1800s, baseball batters were known to shape or whittle their own bats by hand and this allowed there to be a wide variety in shape, size, and weight. For example, there were flat bats, round bats, short bats, earlier bats were known to be much heavier and larger than todays regulated ones. During the 19th century, many shapes were experimented with, as well as handle designs, today, bats are much more uniform in design. On June 17,1890, Emile Kinst patented the ball-bat, the bat is shaped with a curve, hence the name banana bat. The mushroom bat, made in 1906 by Spalding, with baseball bats being larger in the 1900s the Spalding company designed a larger bat with a mushroom-shaped knob on the handle. This enabled the batter to get a distribution of weight over the entire length of the bat. The Wright & Ditsons Lajoie baseball bat and this bat had a normal size barrel but had two knobs on the handle. The lowest knob was at the bottom of the handle and the other knob was roughly two inches above the lowest knob and this was designed to have better spacing between the hands due to the knob being in the middle of the grip
27.
Police car
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A police car is a ground vehicle used by police for transportation during patrols and to enable them to respond to incidents. Some police cars are specially adapted for certain locations or for certain operations, Police cars typically have rooftop flashing lights, a siren, and emblems or markings indicating that the vehicle is a police car. Some police cars may have reinforced bumpers and alley lights, for illuminating darkened allies, terms for police cars include cruiser, squad car, area car and patrol car. In some places, a car may also be informally known as a cop car, a black and white, a cherry top, a gumball machine. Depending on the configuration of the lights and livery, a police car may be considered a marked or unmarked unit. The first police car was a run by electricity fielded on the streets of Akron, Ohio. The first operator of the patrol wagon was Akron Police officer Louis Mueller. It could reach 16 mph and travel 30 mi before its battery needed to be recharged, the car was built by city mechanical engineer Frank Loomis. The US$2,400 vehicle was equipped with lights, gongs. The cars first assignment was to pick up a man at the junction of Main. In some areas of the world, the car has become more widely used than police officers walking the beat. Vehicles also allow for the transport of larger numbers of personnel, decommissioned police cars are often sold to the general public, either through a police auction or a private seller, after about 3–5 years of use. Such cars are usually sold relatively cheaply due to the high mileage on such cars, in some cases exceeding the 300. In some cases, the cars are re-purposed as a taxicab as a way for cab companies to buy cars instead of fleet vehicle services. There are several types of police car, the car that replaces walking for the beat police officer. Their primary function is to normal police officers between their duties. Patrol cars are able to respond to emergencies, and as such are normally fitted with visual. A response car is similar to a car, but is likely to be of a higher specification, capable of higher speeds
28.
Robin Harris
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Robin Hughes Harris was an American comedian and actor, known for his recurring comic sketch about Bébés Kids. Robin Harris was born in Chicago, Illinois and his father, Earl, was a welder, and his mother, Mattie, was a factory seamstress. In 1961, the moved to Los Angeles, where he attended Manual Arts High School. Harris then attended Ottawa University in Kansas, during this time, he began to hone his craft of comedy. He worked for Hughes Aircraft, a car company. In 1980, he debuted at Los Angeles’ Comedy Store, during the mid-1980s, Harris worked as the master of ceremonies at the Comedy Act Theater. His “old school” brand of humor began to gain him a mainstream following, Harris made his acting debut playing a bartender in Im Gonna Git You Sucka. Harris also had a role in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, as Sweet Dick Willie, Harris served as part of the neighborhood Greek chorus that commented on the events of an increasingly tense day. Harris was Pop, the father of Kid in House Party and he followed up later that year with a small role as a jazz club MC in Mo Better Blues. He also appeared in Eddie Murphys Harlem Nights, in Harris Bébés Kids routines, Harris girlfriend Jamika would insist that he take her son and her friend Bébés three children with them on a date, as she continually agreed to babysit them. The children would make a fool out of and/or annoy Harris. We Bébés kids, they would proclaim, we dont die. we multiply, the Hudlin Brothers had intended to make a feature film based upon the Bébés Kids sketches, but Harris died while the film was in pre-production. Bébés Kids instead became an animated feature and it was directed by Bruce W. Smith and featured the voices of Faizon Love, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Marques Houston, Nell Carter, Rich Little, and Tone Lōc. Harris was transported back to California and interred in a crypt in Inglewood Park Cemetery. However, the legacy continued in the two sequels to House Party. In House Party 3 when Pops brother and Kids uncle, Vester looks at a photograph of him, he tells Kid how he misses his father and wishes he was alive. At the time of Harris March 1990 death, his wife was pregnant with their son, Robin Harris, Jr. who was born in September 1990, in 2006, a posthumous DVD, titled We Dont Die, We Multiply, The Robin Harris Story, was released. The film features never-before seen performances by Harris and accolades from such contemporaries as Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, hughley, Robert Townsend, and Joe Torry
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