Visits: 23 In her new one-woman show, she details her 50-year modeling career, her tumultuous relationships — and an unsettling encounter with Bill Cosby. She was 18, new to New York, a tenderfoot in an industry said to eat its …
Alice Mason, Real Estate Fixer and Hostess to the Elite, Dies at 100
Visits: 24 She was the queen of Manhattan real estate when power brokers jockeyed for places in stately co-op buildings. Her dinners for them made the gossip columns. Alice Mason, a real estate broker and hostess whose talent at social …
The Statue of Liberty Hat
Visits: 25 Paying an unexpected price for a novelty crown. It is early April, in the evening. I’m walking through Times Square on my way to a birthday dinner at a restaurant I’ve never been to. As I weave through …
Two Boys on Bikes, Falling in Love
Visits: 34 Julia Botero, Christina Djossa, Reva Goldberg and Marion Lozano, Carole Sabouraud, Pat McCusker and Listen and follow Modern LoveApple Podcasts | Spotify ‘For boys like us, Black boys, the world could seem large and daunting and at the same time feel small …
Helen Williams, Top Model in a Segregated Era, Is Dead at 87
Visits: 43 She was one of the most photographed Black models of the 1950s and ’60s, seen mainly in magazines, like Ebony and Jet, aimed at the Black middle class. Swan-necked and with an arched-eyebrow hauteur, Helen Williams was the …
Quil Lemons Wants to Be the Robert Mapplethorpe of His Community
Visits: 46 The photographer’s new exhibition explores Black masculinity and queerness. Growing up in South Philadelphia, Quil Lemons first trained his lens on family and friends, his photographs of cousins and neighbors snaring the art world’s attention. By the time …
Place to Sit, or Symbol of Resistance? The Evolution of the Folding Chair.
Visits: 42 It figured prominently in viral footage of a brawl, where it was used as a blunt instrument. So why is the humble folding chair now turning up on T-shirts, earrings and at least one tattoo? Within hours of …
The First 10 Words of the African American English Dictionary Are In
Visits: 29 An exclusive look at a dictionary consisting entirely of words created or reinvented by Black people. (Don’t worry: All three variants of “bussin” are included.) In a recent online presentation, editors and researchers working on a first-of-its-kind dictionary …
The Return of Justin Jones and the White Suit
Visits: 30 The Tennessee lawmaker has become a viral symbol. Once again the white suit rears its powerfully symbolic head. There are few garments in the political wardrobe that have been worn so deliberately and become as imbued with meaning. …
Who Gets to Use a Hair Oil?
Visits: 24 When bottles of a hair-care product favored by Black women started getting harder to find, all eyes turned to the influencers. When vials of Mielle Organics’ rosemary-mint hair oil started disappearing from store shelves this year, Black women …