In early November, more than 70,000 people from the global tech industry gathered for the annual Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, a tech conference that drew leaders in the field from all corners.

Kelly Burton, the co-founder and CEO of Black Innovation Alliance, brought a large delegation from the United States to network toward BIA’s efforts to build a sustainable ecosystem for Black entrepreneurs.

Night after night, even as the number of shootings have increased in central Brooklyn neighborhoods, a group of violence interrupters, armed only with the respect they have in the community, try to quash potentially deadly confrontations before they erupt.

Some of Elite Learners Inc.’s violence interrupters are formerly incarcerated gang members. They’ve turned their lives around and are now using their street savvy and connections to mediate conflicts and mentor high-risk young men in the New York City borough’s high-crime areas...

Bettye Kearse has always wanted to feel connected to her ancestors, who were among the hundreds of slaves at Montpelier, James Madison’s vast estate in Orange County, Va., who served the nation’s fourth president.

She first visited the estate, which is now a National Trust Historic site, in 1992 while researching her family’s history. According to their oral tradition, Kearse descended from an enslaved cook named Coreen and Madison.

“When I first arrived at Montpelier, I felt like I belonged there, and that all of my ancestors wanted me there and had something to tell me,” she recalled at a meeting in April with a group of other Montpelier descendants and their lawyer, as they battled for co-stewardship of the site.

In 2018 and 2019, news began to percolate around the growing number of social networking spaces emerging across the country for and by people of color.

In New York City, for example, there was “Roll Call,” a meetup for Black Theatre-goers; “The Black Mastermind Group” for entrepreneurs; the “Black Baby Boomers Who Just Wanted to Have Fun;” and far too many more to list here.

However, there was one Brooklyn-based group that seemed to grab the most media attention: The Gentlemen’s Factory.

The Christmas movie season is once again upon us, and few celebrities deliver the holiday cheer as well as Vanessa Estelle Williams. The Soul Food and Candyman actress’ latest is Lifetime’s Welcome to The Christmas Family Reunion, which airs Nov. 29.

The hit series Bruh on BET+ got real when Mike (Phillip Mullings Jr.) revealed to Pamela (Alyssa Goss) that he has a cocaine problem. The intensity level went up a few notches when the couple’s turbulent, on-and-off relationship turned physical at the end of episode 15, with the hyper-masculine Mike appearing to get ready to rough up Pam.

A few years ago, while recovering from a vocal injury, JAWAN was at a crossroads. He was studying classical music and musical theater in Mississippi but had no passion for them.

“At that point, I never want to sing another note of a song that I don't connect with,”
JAWAN recalled vowing to himself. “Classical and musical theater just was not where my heart was. It was with R&B.”

Pooh Shiesty has arrived. In just three years, the 21-year-old phenom has attained impressive milestones as an artist.

Season three of The Family Business on BET+ premiered in October, and it is absolutely fire. The action picks up right where the previous season left off with cutthroat villains trying to destroy the tight-knit Duncan family.

Building on the success of his steamy single “In My Bed (feat. Wale),” which earned an RIAA gold certification, he dropped his first studio album, All or Nothing, on Aug. 27.

One month later, Rotimi, 32, and his 33-year-old fiancée Vanessa Mdee, a Tanzanian singer/songwriter, welcomed their first child into the world. The proud parents announced the birth of their son, Seven Adeoluwa Akinosho on Instagram.

The actress spoke with BET.com about the show, its characters and why it resonates with audiences.