54th Annual Legislative Conference Congressional Black Caucus Setptember 24 - 28, 2025

The Annual Legislative Conference is the leading public policy convening focused on issues impacting African Americans and the global Black community. The ALC is a unique platform where thought leaders, legislators, influencers, and concerned citizens converge to discuss and address critical issues, forge partnerships, and promote the political, economic, and social advancement of Black communities.

. 5 Tips for CBCF ALC CBC is one of the many reasons September is thee best month in DC. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation hosts its Annual Legislative Conference as the convention center, and all the surrounding hard-to-get-into unofficial parties and receptions make things that much more exciting. I’ll be out at some of the parties and working with TikTok on something cool, but I’m an actual ambassador to the policy conference for a second consecutive year. Listen, please party, but don’t forget the POLICY. Lmaooooo. The conference can be overwhelming if you’re a first timer, so here are some tips: taliacadet A post shared by @taliacadet Download the CBCF ALC54 mobile app. This is the conference website at your fingertips. You can customize your personal agenda, set up and look at attendee profiles and receive real-time updates. Your login information should be coming any day now… Study and customize your agenda. There are dozens of sessions at ALC54. You simply can’t go to them all. Look at the agenda and flag sessions that speak to your interests with the ‘add to my agenda’ feature. I plan to attend the sessions put on by my elected officials, Sen. Alsobrooks and Rep. Ivey, and centered around the issues that matter the most to me—climate change, reproductive justice and the evolving media landscape. Dress comfortably. You should plan on dressing professionally (business casual or better), but you need to be comfortable. I recommend wearing shoes you can walk and stand in for hours and clothes that you’ll feel good in all day. Be ready to network. ALC54 is a conference after all. Have your business cards and introduction ready. There are so many Hill staffers, policy makers, advocates, industry professionals, brand reps and business owners in attendance to connect with. Don’t only go to the sessions. It’s easy to be laser-focused on attending sessions put on by members of Congress, but the exhibition hall at ALC54 will have many brand activations and freebies and Black-owned business marketplace. You also got to look into the signature event add-ons like the Phoenix Awards and Black Party.

Tramell Tillman makes History as first Black Actor to win Supporting Actor in a drama series for Severance

Tramell Tillman has made history with his Emmy win on Sunday night for Severance Season 2. In winning the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance as Seth Milchick in the Apple TV+ drama series, he is the first Black actor to nab the trophy. The Supporting Actor category was the only Emmys category to not have a Black winner. Tillman is also the first openly gay Black man to be nominated in and win the category. He won the award over co-stars Zach Cherry and John Tuturro, as well as The White Lotus‘s Walton Goggins, Jason Issacs and Sam Rockwell, and Paradise‘s James Marsden. The actor paid tribute to his mother in his acceptance speech. Tramell Tillman’s 2025 Oscars acceptance speech He said in part, “You remember what you want to remember. You make time for what you want to make time for, do the work, show up, and most importantly, for the love of God, don’t embarrass me in public. My first acting coach was tough, y’all, but all great mothers are. Mama, you were there for me when no one else was and no one else would show up. Your loving kindness stays with me, and this is for you. Thank you to the Academy. I am full. I am humbled. I am honored. And as my mama would say, ‘Look at God.’” ‘Severance’ led to to his ‘Mission Impossible’ franchise role Tillman told Blavity’s Shadow and Act earlier this year that his role in Severance led to him being cast in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. “Well, I learned that [director/co-writer] Christopher McQuarrie is a huge fan of Severance. And so as I chatted with him, he told me that he was a big fan of Milchick as well,” Tillman said. “So, you know, I think the success of the show and my work on the show Severance really did set me up, because if he hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have been in a Mission: Impossible [film], you know? And he’s such a talented and wonderful director and writer. The man knows how to tell a story.” Season 3 of the show is anticipated to debut in 2026 or 2027. The post Tramell Tillman Makes History As First Black Actor To Win Supporting Actor In A Drama Series For ‘Severance’ appeared first on Blavity.

Polo Ralph Lauren: A portrait of the American Dream

Cricket sweaters, patchwork blanket and distressed baseball caps. Each is part of the new collection called Polo Ralph Lauren for Oak Bluffs, celebrating the historically Black community of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. The collection is an evolution of the 2022 collection based on Historically Black Colleges Morehouse and Spelman, who are again partners in the Oak Bluffs collection, and is a part of the company's "Design with Intent" portfolio. "Ralph Lauren as a man, as a brand is sort of the world ambassador to Americana," James Jeter, Creative Director, Concept Design & Brand Direction for Polo Men’s at Ralph Lauren told USA TODAY. "With that comes this incredible responsibility for us to tell these incredible American stories as fully, as broadly, as accurately as possible." The collection deftly weaves HBCU campus style drawn from Morehouse and Spelman with resort wear that references the historic Black beach town and Black traditions. It was just very important to tell that story, the multi-faceted, multi-dimensional experience that is the Black experience that also translates into the American experience. It is accompanied by a documentary on the community directed by Cole Brown titled "A Portrait of the American Dream: Oak Bluffs" that debuted on the brand's YouTube page on July 24.

Goodbye Summer/Hello Fall

THE SUPREMES EARL ALL YOU CAN EAT

THE SUPREMES AT EARL’S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT follows lifelong best friends Odette (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), Barbara Jean (Sanaa Lathan), and Clarice (Uzo Aduba) known as “The Supremes”, who share the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood from decades of weathering life’s storms. Through the joys and sorrows of life, marriage and children, happiness and blues, love and loss, new shades of heartbreak and illness threaten to stir up the past when the trio sees their bond put to the test as they face their most challenging times yet. Directed by: Tina Mabry Screenplay by: Cee Marcellus and Tina Mabry, Based on the 2013 New York Times best-selling novel by Edward Kelsey Moore Produced by: Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner Cast: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Sanaa Lathan, Uzo Aduba, Mekhi Phifer, Julian McMahon, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Russell Hornsby

SPIKE LEE ATTENDS THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

SPIKE LEE AND PRESIDENT

SPIKE LEE AND PRESIDENT CLINTON

SPIKE LEE HAKEEM JEFFRIES

SPIKE LEE AND AL SHARPTON

SPIKE LEE AND LIL JON

SPIKE LEE AND STEVIE WONDER

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS AND FIRST GENTLEMAN DOUG EMHOFF

The Vice President Kamala Harris married Doug Emhoff on 22 August 2014. They just celebrated their 10th year anniversary this week during the Democratic Convention. They share a deep compassionate love and understanding for one another.

ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CACUS

The 53rd Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) is the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's leading policy conference on issues impacting African Americans and the global black community. From September 11-15, 2024 in Washington, DC AT THE Walter E. Washington Convention Center join thought leaders, legislators, grassroots organizers, influencers and celebrities at the 2024 ALC! Come support CBCF's mission, network, and engage in dynamic policy sessions and challenging discussions.

BE WHO YOU ARE

LASTING LOVE LEGACY OF THE OBAMAS

SAMM HENSHAW - CHURCH FT EARTHGANG

I LOVE THIS CATCHY SONG BY SAMM HENSHAW IT'S CHURCH WITH AN ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT VIBE. THIS SONG IS NOT NEW BUT IT NEVER SOUNDS OLD TO ME.

THE PIANO LESSON ALL ABOUT THE WASHINGTONS

With eldest son John David working with Oscar-winning directors like Spike Lee and Christopher Nolan, daughter Olivia starring in the Boots Riley series "I'm a Virgo" and the West End production of "Slave Play," and youngest son Malcolm getting behind the camera to adapt August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "The Piano Lesson," it's fair to say Denzel Washington and wife Pauletta Washington may be shaping the next great entertainment dynasty, up there with the Hustons and the Fondas. Producing his son Malcolm's directorial debut, which stars both his other son John David and one of his best friends, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel helps to hone in on one of the key themes of "The Piano Lesson": Family legacy. The official synopsis reads: "A battle is brewing in the Charles Household. At the center stands a prized heirloom piano tearing two siblings apart. On one side, a brother (John David Washington) plans to build the family fortune by selling it. On the other, a sister (Danielle Deadwyler) will go to any lengths to hold onto the sole vestige of the family's heritage. Their uncle (Jackson) tries to mediate, but even he can't hold back the ghosts of the past." In many ways, "The Piano Lesson" is about how history haunts. Speaking for a recent piece in Vanity Fair, co-star Michael Potts said of Malcolm's translation from stage to screen, "He got the haunting. He created this ghost story, which is far more difficult to manifest on stage, but the way he did it in the movie was extraordinary. It's like, this family's haunted. They're haunted by their past. They're haunted in their present." Potts was featured in the Tony-nominated 2022 Broadway production directed by Jackson's wife, Latanya Richardson Jackson, and starring John David, Jackson, and Ray Fischer, all of whom reprise their roles in the film. They're joined by new cast members Danielle Deadwyler, Corey Hawkins, and Erykah Badu. A previous TV film version of the play was produced by Hallmark for CBS in 1995 and starred Charles S. Dutton and Alfre Woodard. Denzel himself has a great history with Wilson plays, having performed in "Fences" on Broadway and following it up with an Oscar-winning screen adaptation written by, directed by, and starring himself. He also produced an adaptation of Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" for Netflix starring Viola Davis and featuring Chadwick Boseman's final role. "The Piano Lesson" currently is slated for an "international premiere" at Toronto International Film Festival, implying it will have its world premiere at Telluride, though no lineup for the Colorado fest has been announced. Netflix will release the film in select theaters November 8, before streaming on November 22. Watch the trailer below. INDIE WIRE

I'M WITH HER

Kamala Harris 49th first black woman Vice President of the United States. First woman of color to serve as Vice President Candidate running for President,she is for the people. 52 years ago Shirley Chisolm was the first black woman to run for president and eight years ago Hilary Rodman Clinton ran for president. Vice President Kamala Harris will break barriers as the first woman president let vote and make this happen.

FEELING BLUE

ANGELA BASSETT COVERS NEW BEAUTY MAGAZINE

This article first appeared in the Fall 2019 issue of NewBeauty. When Angela Bassett arrives to our cover shoot, she does the unthinkable: she shows up early. There are no airs—she got ready at-home with her loyal glam squad—there are no requests, besides a black coffee, and there is, thankfully, no drama, even though the rest of us are scrambling to finish prep. “I’m ready when you are,” the 61-year-old says, taking a deep, almost meditative-like breath as she steps in front of the camera, bringing that same energy she projects on the big screen to a still photo shoot. To say she is busy is an understatement: Besides being a mom to 13-year-old twins Bronwyn and Slater with husband Courtney B. Vance, there’s tomorrow’s flight to Berlin to start filming Gunpowder Milkshake, a female-driven action film Bassett says will be “strong and powerful for women.” There was also last weekend’s talk as a spokesperson for the American Heart Association. Soon, there will be her sort of start-of-fall, back-to-the-grind regular gig of Fox’s 9-1-1, what she refers to as “a feature film every week.” And then there is her first Netflix film, Otherhood, featuring Felicity Huffman and Patricia Arquette, available now. “Which child am I most passionate about work-wise? All of them. But this one [Otherhood] is special because it hits on my mother’s birthday and we filmed it in New York—is there anything better? “But you never know…” she trails. “Of course, you do this kind of work and you hope that there is an audience of people—hopefully a diverse audience who’ll get a chance to see you, who’ll come to know you and appreciate your work and become fans and all of that, but you never know who will like it or how it will turn out.” A surprising admission for one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actresses, maybe, but Bassett readily admits she feels as if she’s continually striving to grow and get herself out there when it comes to her career. “Of course, when they say, ‘I wrote this for you,’ it’s such a tremendous boost to anyone’s confidence, but it’s all about faith—you don’t know if a project will fly or if it will fail. You always go into it with the highest of hopes and expectations, but you never know what is going to capture the hearts. You want to go in with the greatest of intentions and come away with great experiences and wonderful relationships made. So you say ‘yes.’ It’s important to say ‘yes.’”