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July 26, 2012

  • Ghana’s President Dies Suddenly

    Ghana’s President Dies Suddenly by Frederick H. Lowe President John Mills of the Republic of Ghana died suddenly on Tuesday at a military hospital, where he was being treated for an undisclosed illness, Martey Newman, his chief of staff, announced on Ghana’s official portal. “It is with a heavy heart and deep sorrow that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the President of the Republic of Ghana---his excellency, Professor John Atta Mills.

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  • Study: Blacks Find Few Places to Get a Photo ID in the Rural South

    Study: Blacks Find Few Places to Get a Photo ID in the Rural South African Americans who live in rural areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia face significant challenges visiting department of motor vehicle (DMV) or county election offices to obtain state-issued photo-identification cards.

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  • African Union Elects First Woman Chairman

    African Union Elects First Woman Chairman by Frederick H. Lowe The African Union Commission, which is the administrative branch of the African Union, elected Dr. Nkosazana Clarise Dlamini-Zuma chairman at the organization’s meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethopia. Dr.

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  • Group Honors First R.I. Public School to Enroll Black Children

    Group Honors First R.I. Public School to Enroll Black Children The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society on Saturday will unveil a plaque at the former Meeting Street School, which in 1828 became the first public school in Rhode Island and one of the first in the nation to enroll African-American children as students.

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  • The NorthStar's Books

    The NorthStar's Books A Plaque And A New Biography Give Forgotten Black Opera Star An Encore by Frederick H.

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  • Big Cheese Supplier Eats Crow

    Leprino Foods Inc., a Denver-based federal food contractor, has agreed to pay $550,000 to more than 250 African- American, Hispanic and Asian individuals who were denied entry-level jobs at the company’s plant in Lemoore, Calif. The U.S.

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  • Foreclosures Hit Black Seniors Hardest

    Foreclosures Hit Black Seniors Hardest New America Media WASHINGTON, D.C.—The mortgage crisis has slammed every age group—especially the oldest Americans 75-plus -- and has hit Latino and African-American seniors and their families the hardest, according to a study being released by the Washington, D.

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  • Virginia Cops Fired After Expressing Desires to See Obama Dead

    RICHMOND, Va. (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Two White Richmond police officers have been fired for calling for the assassination of President Barack Obama during his campaign visit to the city in May.

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  • Olympics May Not Bear Out Promises

    Olympics May Not Bear Out Promises New America Media Three days of grassroots activism, petitions and popular pressure have resulted in a reversal of the British Olympic Association’s decision to deny press accreditation to The Voice, the UK’s only national, weekly newspaper for the black community. The Voice had been denied official media access to the Olympic Games, with organizers citing a lack of space, despite the presence of many black athletes on the British Olympic team, and despite the fact that roughly 700 press passes were set aside for UK media.

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  • 'God's Plan' to Kill?

    'God's Plan' to Kill? By Julianne Malveaux (TriceEdneyWire.com) - George Zimmerman, the Florida man who killed Trayvon Martin, told Fox News personality Sean Hannity that the events that occurred on Feb. 26, 2012 were “God’s will.

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  • Usher's Stepson Dies; Funeral Services Scheduled

    Usher's Stepson Dies; Funeral Services Scheduled Willie A Watkins Funeral Home Inc. will hold a viewing on Thursday, July 26, for Singer Usher's 11-year-old stepson, Kile Glover, who died two weeks after an accident on a lake.

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  • Sylvia Woods

    Sylvia Woods Sylvia Woods, who co-founded Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem with her husband, Herbert Woods, in 1962, was remembered during a more than two-hour service on Tuesday at Abyssinian Baptist Church.

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  • The NorthStar’s Week in Black History

    The NorthStar’s Week in Black History July 26 through August 1 July 26 1916 ----- Born on this date in Richmond, Va., Spottiswood W. Robinson, III was an educator, civil-rights attorney, judge and the first black person to be appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

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Sherman Hemsley
Sherman Hemsley

Sherman Hemsley

Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson on the popular television sitcom The Jeffersons, died on Tuesday at his home in El Paso, Texas. He was 74.

An El Paso police car raced to Hemsley's residence on the city's east side where police officers found him dead. The exact cause of death is not known, but foul play is not suspected, El Paso city officials  said in a news release with the headline, "Famed Actor Dies in El Paso." 

Hemsley was born Feb. 1, 1938, in Philadelphia. He attended Central High School, but dropped out  to join the  Air Force, where he served for four years.

He returned to Philadelphia where he worked for the Post Office during the day while attending acting school at night. He then moved to New York. He continued to work for the Post Office during the day while working as an actor at night. He starred as Gitlow in the 1970s Broadway play Purlie

Norman Lear, who created the hit comedy sitcom All in the Family, asked Hemsley in 1971 to play the role of George Jefferson, Archie Bunker's neighbor. Bunker was the lead character in All in the Family. Lear spun off The Jeffersons into a separate sitcom that ran 11 seasons before ending in 1985 (see this week's video).  He later played Deacon Ernest Frye on NBC's Amen. The show ran from 1986 to 1991.

Hemsley retired from acting, but he recently played George Jefferson on Tyler Perry's House of Payne and he lent his distinctive George Jefferson voice to the animated television show Family Guy.

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