Unisun: April 6, 2008

Travel

In Mandela's land

It's been nearly two decades since Nelson Mandela was freed from prison. Four years after his 1990 release, he became the president of South Africa and led his country into desegregated democracy.

Up Front

Civil rights tour; film on big four of Baltimore

Would you like to learn about the civil rights movement on a tour with people who experienced it firsthand?

Celebrity

Relishing a role as a mentor recruiter

With her signature cornrows and velvety-smooth voice, Susan L. Taylor is best known as the striking editor-in-chief of Essence magazine who has inspired countless African-American women with her words of hope, encouragement and self-love through her In the Spirit columns.

Achievement

Getting others to see beyond his blindness

Michael Spriggs listens and waits for cars to pass one night at the intersection of Taylor Avenue and Old Harford Road in Parkville.

Culture

Greetings from Duke and Billie

The African-American legacy has been recorded in many ways -- on television, in film and in print.

Entertainment

Little time for LaKisha Jones to be idle after 'Idol'

When Provident Bank hired LaKisha Jones to work at the Millersville branch in 2006, her co-workers could not have imagined that she was just four months away from the beginning of an explosive singing and acting career. Her fourth-place finish during Season 6 of American Idol was only the start.

Books

Pluz-sized plots a big hit with black women

Author and bookstore owner Carl Weber says the idea for his latest book, Something on the Side, came from watching an episode of HBO's Sex and the City.

Advice

College student eyeing job as exotic dancer

DEAR HARRIETTE // I am a 21-year-old college student without steady employment. I currently live with my family. My grandmother has been retired a year now, and relies on Social Security. My mother, a school-bus driver, has an income level fluctuating between poverty and middle class.

First Person

From lowly pledge to high stepper

If you had told me I would be a member of the Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc., I would have looked at you like you were crazy.

Sandra Pinckney: Thanks to Mom, a tasty, juicy roast chicken

No one could roast a chicken like my mother.

Gospel songs, art and the civil rights era

This issue of Unisun takes you on a photographic tour of social scene events that include a Gospel performance by a choir from a historically black university, an art exhibit based on a character from the hit television show Good Times, and a conversation with the widow of a civil rights leader who was in town during Black History Month.

Editor's Note

There are many destination vacations, but in my opinion few offer the richness of an experience in South Africa. Years ago, I visited several townships and areas in and around Pretoria and Johannesburg. I was there as part of a missionary group. But it wasn't all work.

Calendar

ONGOING

Flashback

This issue's Flashback: Coretta Scott King (fifth from right) leads a "March on Memphis" on April 9, 1968, five days after the assassination of her husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Name some of the people who are shown marching with her.