“Fly Like a Bird,” full stop. Her finest hour.

Rhetta Hughes as Margaret Alexander in the Broadway musical adaptation of James Baldwin’s THE AMEN CORNER. Although this production stalled after 28 performances, the dynamic Miss Hughes still snagged a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Musical Role. #BlackSkyOver50 #BroadwaySky

A bridge (club) too far: [L-R] Clarice Taylor, Arthur French, Esther Rolle and Frances Foster in Barbara and Carlton Molette’s one-act underbelly-of-the-Black-bourgeoisie play “Rosalee Pritchett,” St. Mark’s Playhouse, 1971. #BlackSkyOver50 #TheatreSky

I knew we would be next. Chicago and Black America, stay up.

Can you dig it?: In 1976, Fitzgerald Publications launched the “Fast Willie Jackson” comic book series, which was essentially Archie and the gang dipped in chocolate and caramel “soul” clichés. The series had seven issues. #BlackSkyOver50 #ComicsSky

Richard Pryor and Lonette McKee during a break in filming WHICH WAY IS UP? [Schultz, 1977], Pryor’s uproarious take on the Lina Wertmuller classic THE SEDUCTION OF MIMI. #FilmSky #BlackFilmSky

Lady Bo: Peggy Jones (1940-2015), “The Queen Mother of Guitar,” widely believed to be the first female guitarist in a highly visible band (Bo Diddley). #MusicSky #BlackMusicSky #BlackSkyOver50

Poster for the early Clifton Davis vehicle TOGETHER FOR DAYS [alternatively titled BLACK CREAM] [Michael Schultz, 1972], a film about a Black Power activist romantically drawn to a white woman. Fun fact: This was also the feature film debut of one Samuel L. Jackson. #BlackSkyOver50 #FilmSky

What y’all know about “Bronze Thrills”? Broadway star Bertice Reading on its September 1954 cover. #BlackSkyOver50 #MusicSky #BlackMusicSky #BroadwaySky

Gloria Foster and Otis Young in character for the “Take Your Lover in the Ring” episode of ABC’s “The Outcasts,” Jet magazine, 13 February 1969 issue. #TVSky #BlackSkyOver50

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em: Lou Rawls and Big Mama Thornton, Monterey Jazz Festival, 1964. [📸: Jim Marshall Photography] #BlackSkyOver40 #BlackMusicSky #MusicSky

Two the hard way: Future martial-arts matinee idol Jim Kelly cuts the cake with bride Marilyn Dishman, 1967. The union ended in divorce the next year. #BlackSky #FilmSky #BlackFilmSky

@rex3181 and I took in the incredible exhibit IN THE MEDIUM OF LIFE: THE DRAWINGS OF BEAUFORD DELANEY at The Drawing Center in SoHo this past Saturday. If you’re in NYC, you’ve got until Sunday [9/14/25] to check it out. #BlackSkyOver50 #ArtSky #BlackGaySky

60 years ago today. #DorothyDandridge #FilmSky #MusicSky #BlackFilmSky #BlackSkyOver50 #InMemoriam

Walter Theodore “Sonny” Rollins. American colossus. 95 years around the sun today. Asé. #JazzSky #MusicSky #BlackMusicSky #BlackSkyOver50

The category is…Ross realness: Sylvester in THE ROSE [Rydell, 1979]. Happy 78th heavenly birthday, legend. #GayBlackSky #MusicSky #FilmSky #BlackSkyOver50

Striking a couture-clad blow against apartheid, Eartha Kitt returns in triumph with a rainbow coalition of children the day after her daughter Kitt [far left] inadvertently integrates a whites-only South African theme park, late ‘60s. #BlackSkyOver50 #MusicSky

The trippy back-cover art for Ike & Tina’s LET ME TOUCH YOUR MIND LP [United Artists, 1973]. #MusicSky #BlackSkyOver50

Hattie McDaniel shines as Minerva, a white family’s housekeeper whose son is accused of a manslaughter actually committed by a member of said family, in IN THIS OUR LIFE [John Huston, 1942], a role that generated serious second-Oscar buzz for her. #BlackFilmSky #BlackSkyOver50 #FilmSky

Peek-a-boo: Gloria Hendry, the first Black Bond romantic interest, in a publicity still from LIVE AND LET DIE [Hamilton, 1973]. #JamesBond #FilmSky #BlackSkyOver50

More than just a long weekend: Thank you to all of our predecessors whose efforts made not only this holiday but all of the perqs that working people enjoy possible. #LaborDay #AmericanHistorySky

Thumper! Trina Parks as the first Black woman Bond villain in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER [Hamilton, 1971]. #BlackSkyOver50 #FilmSky

Goals: The fabulous Marilyn Joi unbothered AF in her uncredited role in COFFY [Hill, 1973]. #BlackSkyOver50 #FilmSky #BlackFilmSky

Lady Day with her beloved Pepi, late ‘50s #MusicSky #BlackMusicSky #BlackSkyOver50 #BillieHoliday

Slow drag: Bernadine Jennings and Leon Brown dance “Deep South Suite,” choreographed by Dianne McIntyre, 1978. [📸: Johan Elbers] #DanceSky #BlackSkyOver50

Happy birthday to international musical treasure Valerie Simpson. #BlackMusicSky #Motown #MusicSky

Zeudi Araya as Debra in LA PECCATRICE [a/k/a THE SINNER] [Pavoni, 1975]. Crowned Miss Eritrea in 1969, Araya went on to become one of the foremost leading ladies in giallo cinema in the ‘70s and ‘80s. She has since pivoted to producing. #BlackSkyOver50 #FilmSky

Azizi Johari as Rachel in John Cassavetes’ THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE [1976]. Johari, Playboy Playmate of the Month in June 1975, was championed by the likes of Leon Ware [who featured her on the cover of his classic MUSICAL MASSAGE LP in ‘76] and Sammy Davis, Jr. #BlackSkyOver40 #FilmSky

Portrait of Diana Sands by Jim Fitzpatrick. Belated happy 91st birth anniversary wishes in the sky to her. #BlackSkyOver40 #FilmSky #TVSky #TheatreSky #BlackFilmSky

The higher the hair, the closer to God: The Gertrude Ward Singers, circa 1945. #BlackSkyOver50 #MusicSky #BlackHair #GospelSky

According to her family, Pulitzer-Prize-nominated poet/playwright/classicist/curator/activist Vivian Ayers has transitioned at the age of 102. May her family, which includes daughters Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad, find peace and comfort in this time of sorrow. #BlackSkyOver40 #BookSky

Vivian Bonnell and Ron Pinkard in the “Floor Brigade” episode of NBC’s “Emergency!,” season 3, ep 20, airdate 9 February 1974. #BlackSkyOver50 #TVSky

Jane White (daughter of past NAACP president Walter) as Queen Aggravain in ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, Broadway, 1959. #BlackSkyOver40 #TheatreSky #BroadwaySky

Actor/future director Billie Allen for Chesterfield cigarettes, Tan magazine, August 1954 issue. This was the year before she scored her big TV break as a regular cast member of “The Phil Silvers Show.” #BlackSkyOver40 #TVSky

Seven years ago feels like twenty minutes. Continue to rest well, Queen. #ArethaFranklin #BlackSkyOver40 #BlackMusicSky #MusicSky #InMemoriam

American dancer Pearl Primus conquers the Princes Theatre in London, 1952. #BlackSkyOver40 #DanceSky

Why don’t you do right? Blues diva Lil Green, photographed by Carl van Vechten, 1942. #BlackMusicSky #BlackSkyOver40 #MusicSky

Earle Hyman and Montrose Hagins in the TV movie HIJACKED: FLIGHT 285 [Correll, 1996]. #TVSky #BlackSkyOver40

Lord, have mercy—Dee’s gone. Courtesy of Forbes. Rest in power, Dr. Spencer. #DanielleSpencer #BlackSkyOver40 #BlackSkyOver40 #TVSky #RestInPeace

Power couple Miles Davis and Cicely Tyson backstage after the premiere of her Broadway star turn in a revival of Emlyn Williams’s THE CORN IS GREEN, 22 August 1983. Co-produced by Elizabeth Taylor, the production was cursed with lackluster reviews. #BlackSkyOver40 #TheatreSky #BroadwaySky

Esquerita (born Stephen Quincy Reeder—S.Q. Reeder) (c. 1935-1986), the man who mentored Little Richard in everything from piano-pounding theatrics to wailing to pancake makeup and pompadours. #BlackSkyOver40 #BlackGaySky #MusicSky #BlackMusicSky

Happy 75th birthday to jazz/soul/pop/dance music supernova Patti Austin. #BlackSkyOver40 #BlackMusicSky #JazzSky

62 in paradise. #WhitneyHouston #BlackSkyOver40 #BlackMusicSky #MusicSky #FilmSky

“It’s your duty to keep little Wilford from evil companions”: Sarina C. Grant as condescending welfare worker Mrs. Parsons in CORNBREAD, EARL AND ME [Manduke, 1975]. #BlackSkyOver40 #BlackFilmSky

Chaka Khan as “Miss Gina B” on “Hunter,” season 3, episode 10 (“The Cradle. Will Rock”), NBC-TV, airdate 3 January 1987. #TVSky #MusicSky #BlackMusicSky #BlackSkyOver40

When Dizzy Gillespie first met her, he said, “Baby, if beauty were a disease, you’d be fucked up.” Happy 95th birth anniversary to the great Abbey Lincoln. [📸🎨: Fine Art America] #MusicSky #BlackMusicSky #FilmSky #BlackFilmSky #JazzSky #BlackSkyOver40

Ad announcing 4-year-old gospel-singing wunderkind Donny Hathaway, St. Louis, circa 1950. Pitts was his grandmother’s last name. #BlackSky #MusicSky #BlackMusicSky

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Marlene Warfield, powerhouse stage/screen/TV actor known for THE GREAT WHITE HOPE, NETWORK and “Maude,” passed away in April aged 83, according to her sister. Rest in Heaven. #BlackSkyOver40 #FilmSky #TVSky #TheatreSky

Louis Gossett, Jr. and Diana Sands in a publicity shot for an unaired pilot called THE LIVING END, a show about an NFL star and his wife trying to balance his career and their marriage, CBS-TV, 1972. #BlackSkyOver40 #TVSky

Supernaturally precocious child star Toni Harper (1937-2023), who retired at 29. #BlackSkyOver40 #MusicSky #BlackMusicSky