Black Woman

It really was a beautiful thing: presidential candidates making nice to a black woman and meaning it. You don't see that every day in America. But when Oprah calls, even would-be presidents answer. Appearing on "Oprah" gave George W. Bush and Al Gore the chance to reach out to the all-so-important-but-only-at-election-time women's vote. Only during campaign season do you hear this many pundits and politicians talking about the "power of women. " Especially about the power of black women.

If black women don't shift their conventional ways of thinking, joy will never be theirs, warns journalist and South Jersey native Sophia A. Nelson. And that is awful. "The journey to happiness is a marathon, not a sprint," Nelson said recently. "We all have to take a good look at ourselves and be willing to take it. " This journey is at the core of Nelson's new and much-talked-about book, Black Woman Redefined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in the Age of Michelle Obama . In 11 chapters, Nelson takes on issues like dating outside the race, the impact of the church on black women, a tougher-than-nails attitude, and rape.

WE'VE NEVER seen first lady Michelle Obama yelling or arguing with anyone. So why can't she shake the notion that she's angry? Worse, that she's an angry black woman. If you think about it, it makes no sense. Obama, who turned 48 yesterday, graduated from both Princeton and Harvard and is married to the most powerful man in the world. Her daughters are adorable. Their food - organic - is prepared by White House chefs. She has her own staff and gets to work on causes she's passionate about.

Talking with playwright Marian Hammonds Warrington, it's easy to understand why the voices of her characters, particularly black women, ring with what one critic called "richness of feeling. " There's an intensity about Warrington. Even when she is still, one can sense that she swells inside with emotion, that if she could, she would take all black womanhood in her arms and whisper in their ears poetic words, stirring them to confront the reality of their lives and to define themselves by their own terms.

Noise. Way too much of it. Connie Briscoe noticed it when she arrived at the Convention Center to read at Sistahs! - the recent celebration of African American women. Voices buzzed around her like flies. Background noises - the hiss of helium being pumped into balloons; music blasting through loudspeakers; a joyous but raucous gospel choir - all of which seemed to hover right over the place where Briscoe was scheduled to read from her latest novel, Big Girls Don't Cry. Uh-oh.

Anita Allen remembers an extraordinary remark made by one of her white, male University of Michigan philosophy professors in the 1970s when she was in graduate school seeking a Ph.D. in philosophy - a field that at the time lacked a single black woman professor. " 'Anita,' he told me," recalls Allen between the good-natured laughs that punctuate the seriousness of what she says, " 'you will have to pee on the floor of the American Philosophical Association convention to not get a job in philosophy.

THE LATE Justice Juanita Kidd Stout was the first African-American woman elected to a court of record in the U.S., the first to sit on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and the first appointed to the state Supreme Court. Now City Council is on track to rename the Criminal Justice Center on Filbert Street near 13th as the "Justice Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice," making it the first major building in Philadelphia to be named for a black woman. Stout received her law degree from Indiana University and arrived here in the early 1950s.

HA, HA, HA. I'm laughing and smiling so no one will think I'm one of those angry, mean, overly aggressive, emasculating black women. I've been known to be curt and impatient when stressed, but I'm not an eye-roller or a neck-swiveler even when highly provoked. I know black women who fit that stereotype and who readily admit as much, but even they were incensed by the Pepsi MAX commercial that aired during Sunday's Super Bowl. In that ad, Pepsi not only resurrected the angry black woman, but had her hurling a soda can. In case you missed it, here's the recap: A black woman tries to get her guy to eat better by kicking him, pushing his face in a pie and stuffing his mouth with soap.

The case for - or is it against? - Michelle Obama: "One, she's black," says James B. Peterson, associate professor of English and director of the Africana studies department at Lehigh University. "Two, she's assertive. Three, she's smart. Four, she's strong. Five, she's a great political mind. And we can't forgive her for it. " In a new book, The Obamas , by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, Michelle Obama is depicted as often at odds with the West Wing staff, pushing for health-care reform.

RE FATIMAH Ali's "Advice for the Sister": I'm not surprised that a column so quickly criticizing Michelle Obama was written by another black woman. One of the things I love about Ms. Obama is that she is herself. Most black women today are too insecure to be themselves. She obviously is a confident woman. She is brilliant and attractive. I hope and pray that she won't listen to other women and their "girlfriends" who think black women are inadequate and need "jaw reshaping" and probably weaves or extensions down her back to sling and toss to give her self-esteem.

THE LATE Justice Juanita Kidd Stout was the first African-American woman elected to a court of record in the U.S., the first to sit on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and the first appointed to the state Supreme Court. Now City Council is on track to rename the Criminal Justice Center on Filbert Street near 13th as the "Justice Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice," making it the first major building in Philadelphia to be named for a black woman. Stout received her law degree from Indiana University and arrived here in the early 1950s.

HARRISON, Ark. - When a black man supposedly broke into a white man's home in 1905, a mob ran most black people out of town - and instantly gave this community a lasting reputation as being too dangerous for minorities. More than a century later, only 34 of the nearly 13,000 residents in Harrison are black. But the town desperately wants to overcome its past, hoping a better image will attract more residents and businesses. So leaders are advocating for diversity in a way rarely seen in overwhelmingly white places: creating a task force on race relations, printing posters about the city's ugly history, and bringing in a civil rights speaker.

Philadelphia police are examining surveillance video in an effort to identify the robber who beat a parking lot attendant in Center City Wednesday night. The 30-year-old victim is reported to be in critical but stable condition today at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. The incident unfolded about 7:50 p.m. Wednesday in the EZ Park garage on Locust Street near 13th. Witnesses told police they saw a black man in his 30's with dreadlocks and wearing a black jacket attack the man and then rifle through his pockets once he was on the ground.

SANFORD, Fla. - George Zimmerman once took criminal-justice classes at the community college and was practically a one-man neighborhood watch in his gated part of town, calling police close to 50 times over the last eight years to report such things as slow-driving vehicles, strangers loitering in the neighborhood, and open garages. Now, suddenly, people are wondering if Zimmerman, 28, is an earnest if somewhat zealous young man who was just looking out for his neighborhood, or a wannabe cop who tried to take justice into his own hands.

WE'VE NEVER seen first lady Michelle Obama yelling or arguing with anyone. So why can't she shake the notion that she's angry? Worse, that she's an angry black woman. If you think about it, it makes no sense. Obama, who turned 48 yesterday, graduated from both Princeton and Harvard and is married to the most powerful man in the world. Her daughters are adorable. Their food - organic - is prepared by White House chefs. She has her own staff and gets to work on causes she's passionate about.

The case for - or is it against? - Michelle Obama: "One, she's black," says James B. Peterson, associate professor of English and director of the Africana studies department at Lehigh University. "Two, she's assertive. Three, she's smart. Four, she's strong. Five, she's a great political mind. And we can't forgive her for it. " In a new book, The Obamas , by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, Michelle Obama is depicted as often at odds with the West Wing staff, pushing for health-care reform.

Police have identified a man found stabbed to death, along with a woman, in a South Philadelphia apartment. Eugene C. Zappacosta who lived in the apartment at 13th and Dickinson, was stabbed repeatedly and his throat slashed, police said. It was his 78th birthday. A woman, who was covered with so much blood that police initially thought was a man, has not yet been identified. Their bodies were discovered Tuesday morning. Investigators have not reported a possible motive in the killings that shocked neighbors.

SAVANNAH STATE University's ex-football coach received a $240,000 settlement to dismiss a federal discrimination lawsuit he filed last year claiming the historically black college fired him because he's white. A copy of the settlement obtained by the Associated Press yesterday shows Robby Wells' attorneys were paid $110,000 in addition to the money paid to the former coach. Wells became Savannah State's first white football coach when he was hired in 2007. He led the Tigers for two seasons, with records of 5-7 in 2008 and 2-8 in 2009.

I AM WRITING this to bring awareness that children cannot come home in peace on public transportation from school without being assaulted. My son and four of his friends were attacked by 15-20 youths on the SEPTA subway system. Where is the police presence? There is a history of crime committed on the subway system, with the most recent one of someone losing their life as a result of these attacks. Is it that difficult to have police officers/SEPTA police walking the train and/or platform at peak hours, when children and working adults travel to and from work/school?

WHEN WENDY WILLIAMS was commuting from Mount Laurel to Roxborough, working at Power 99, she was secretly dreaming of the TV talk show she hosts now. "I don't think I would have been able to pull this off 10 years ago," Williams said Friday when we caught up with her at the offices of 92.5 WXTU and Wired 96.5 on a visit promoting "The Wendy Williams Show," which airs at 10 a.m. weekdays on Fox 29. "This is where I became a woman....