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Urban One, the nation's largest distributor of Black and Urban content, today announced the official launch of ONE Yard: The HBCU Experience, a multi-city engagement tour celebrating the culture, community, and legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Originally born as a digital sanctuary, ONE Yard is stepping outside of the screen and hitting the ground to deliver immersive, live on-campus experiences at Bowie State University on August 27 and Clark Atlanta University on September 2.

Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and two-time Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead, an exuberantly entertaining novel that brings to life 1980s New York in the magnificent final volume of his Harlem Trilogy

1981. New York City is beginning to emerge from financial ruin and decline, energized by rampant real estate development and a Wall Street unchained by Reagan-era predatory capitalism. Up in Harlem, successful business owner/master fence Ray Carney has just been named Sterling Furniture’s Dealer of the Month. When the banks won’t give his beloved wife Elizabeth a loan for her new travel agency, however, Carney gambles on one last heist, and finds himself entangled with a legendary criminal mastermind.

1983. To some, Carney’s friend and partner in crime, Pepper, is a stone-cold sociopath. To others, a top thief with questionable people skills. Either way, he’s feeling his age in his troubled gut and his aching bones. When he takes on a bodyguard gig as a favor to Elizabeth, he’s plunged into the alien territory of the East Village art and club scene. Luckily for him, whether you’re uptown or down, everyone speaks the same language of violence—Pepper is a native speaker.

1986. Carney has always been haunted by his inability to save his cousin Freddie. Now, twenty years after Freddie’s death, he has a chance to rescue Freddie’s son from the violent forces of the city. But coming out of retirement and teaming up with Pepper again will mean risking the safety and security he’s spent decades building for his family, with only one shot to get it right.

With his usual pitch-perfect prose, Whitehead paints a portrait of a city in transition, where shimmering skyscrapers rise to the heavens as displaced people huddle in abandoned tunnels below. In a dazzling display of protean imagination, Cool Machine roves all over the city, from Windows on the World to the Meadowlands, to show that in New York, and in the lives of Whitehead’s vivid characters, it’s what’s below the surface that reveals the truth.

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Bestselling author and artist Vashti Harrison pairs captivating text and beautiful illustrations as she tells the stories of both iconic and lesser-known female figures. Among these biographies, readers will find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things.

Meet the little leaders. They're brave. They're bold. They changed the world.

Featuring 40 trailblazing black women in history, this book educates and inspires as it relates true stories of women who broke boundaries and exceeded all expectations, including:

Nurse Mary Seacole

Politician Diane Abbott

Mathematician Katherine Johnson

Singer Shirley Bassey

Bestselling author and artist Vashti Harrison pairs captivating text and beautiful illustrations as she tells the stories of both iconic and lesser-known female figures. Among these biographies, readers will find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things.

Mattel is paying tribute to Whitney Houston, a generation-defining vocal powerhouse. This incredible artist was nicknamed “The Voice,” and her legacy of award-winning music, cultural impact, and philanthropy is stronger than ever.

Their homage to this superstar captures the iconic look featured in her record-breaking “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” music video. Her body-hugging lilac tank dress is paired with bold, colorful earrings and pumps, plus her stunning ’80s-style curls. With a microphone stand in hand, she’s ready to chase your blues away.

Virginia State University's Dr. Latorial D. Faison has been named Virginia Poet Laureate!

As Virginia's Poet Laureate, Dr. Faison, Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department of Languages & Literature, will promote poetry and literature, encourage appreciation for the literary arts, and celebrate the Commonwealth’s rich literary heritage through public engagement. The appointment is one of the highest literary honors in the state.Ethnic & Identity Groups

State of Black America 2026 Official Release July 30, 2026 at 8:30 AM CT / 9:30 AM EST

For the 50th anniversary edition of the State of Black America, Is the American Dream Dead?, we examine how this pattern has repeated across 250 years of American history. We document how each attempt to guarantee every American the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness has been met with racism, social violence, and political retrenchment. We also chart a way forward. America is changing racially, culturally, and economically, and a new technological revolution is reshaping what is possible. We believe the future holds real promise, if we demand it, and if our leaders rise to meet this moment with the maturity and moral seriousness it requires. This report questions what becomes of an America where millions support policies that threaten individual freedom and physical safety rather than securing every person's right to a full life.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump will hold a press conference tomorrow 08/22/26 to announce the findings of an independent autopsy connected to the death of Nolan Wells. that press conference live.