Virginia honors slain players in memorial service on campus
Thousands of people have joined Virginiaโs football team, coaches and staff in honoring three players who were shot dead as they returned from a field trip last weekend.
In and outside court, Smollett fights for reputation, career
As Jussie Smollett fights criminal charges that he lied to Chicago police about being the victim of an anti-gay, racist attack, his supporters are also working on a broader strategy: Ensuring the 39-year-old emerges from the scandal with his reputation and career intact, whatever the outcome of the trial.
![In 'Ma Rainey,' channeling the blues of August Wilson](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/DrkSHlmEQ1PFyv5Wk-fQz3SGDD0=/1600x1066/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/5ABIRQXHDNHYHL4NSXR3AFXZN4.jpg)
In 'Ma Rainey,' channeling the blues of August Wilson
Following โFencesโ and โMa Rainey,โ he intends to continue adapting Wilsonโs famed American Century Cycle, a 10-play series spanning each decade of the 20th century. All of Wilson's plays hum with the sorrowful beauty of the blues but โMa Rainey" is soaked through. On a sweaty, summer day, a band has gathered at a white-owned recording studio to cut a new record with Ma Rainey (Davis), the pioneering โMother of the Blues,โ and an unapologetically liberated woman from the South. Itโs Cutler and Slow Drag and Ma Rainey talking," says Wolfe. For Davis, Ma isn't a character she wants to let go of, or stop admiring.
![Convention centers, museums become classrooms amid pandemic](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/arQMCuHX4XoNF3qMng0tDlQh4dM=/1600x1066/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/DYGPLP5XTJAF7POLP37HC43JME.jpg)
Convention centers, museums become classrooms amid pandemic
Students from Hesston Middle School hold class at the Cross Winds Convention Center in Hesston, Kan., Friday, Nov. 6, 2020. Districts are setting up makeshift outdoor shelters, bringing in trailers to house classrooms and making use of otherwise empty spaces like museums. Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson is holding up the Hesston districtโs plan as a model to be replicated. He said his visits to dozens of school districts revealed many were struggling regardless of whether they were offering in-person, virtual or hybrid instruction. However, some 1,100 New York City schools have been approved to spend part of their day outdoors.
![About 100 years later, Harlem Renaissance impact still being celebrated](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/ya10cocXVBV0I4YAZ1rWNiWezkE=/1280x720/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-gmg.s3.amazonaws.com/public/KVFMAIBOFJA4NI3X45K4BNE73A.jpg)
About 100 years later, Harlem Renaissance impact still being celebrated
That might sound contradictory and impossible by math standards, but that partly explains the greatness of the Harlem Renaissance. The result was the birth of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural, artistic, social and intellectual explosion that spanned the entire Roaring โ20s. One of his most recognized works was a poem called โMadam and the Minister,โ which spoke of the mood toward religion in the Harlem Renaissance. One of the writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston was a key contributor to a magazine called โFire! There no doubt will be good celebrations in 2020, but, given the Harlem Renaissance was more than just a one-year movement, the tributes will be lasting for years to come.