Arts & Life

Cicely Tyson attends the TIME 100 Gala in 2012. The famed actress died at the age of 96. Tyson inspired generations of African American actors who grew up watching her perform on stage and on screen.

Arts

Cicely Tyson, Who Brought Grace And Gravitas To The Screen, Has Died At 96

9:07am January 29, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

In a career that spanned more than six decades, she commanded attention on the screen and the stage and was known for roles that reflected her experience as an African American woman.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Remembering Hollywood Icon Cicely Tyson

7:22am January 29, 2021

In a career that lasted nearly 7 decades, Cicely Tyson shattered stereotypes with her portrayals of strong black women.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Snow Sculptors Prepare Icy Art Ahead Of National Championship

7:22am January 29, 2021

by Connie Kuntz

Artists across the U.S. have been chiseling and hammering away on massive snow blocks for a chance to represent their state in the National Snow Sculpting Championship in Wisconsin.

Queue Listen Now

Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia, by Thomas Healy

In 'Soul City,' One Man Envisions A Place Where Black People Have Power, Opportunity

7:10am January 29, 2021

by Michael Schaub

Author Thomas Healy chronicles how, in 1969, Floyd McKissick went about building a city from scratch, only to have his dreams dashed by a combination of prejudice and bureaucracy.

A girl makes chalk drawings on the driveway in West Islip, N.Y., in March 2020.

Arts

'This Is Our Dream': A Crowdsourced Poem To Inspire Hope

6:04pm January 28, 2021

by Rachel Martin

NPR poet-in-residence Kwame Alexander's latest community poem started with a request to consider what follows after the words "I dream a world."

Queue Listen Now

Arts

2021 Sundance Film Festival: Questlove, Rita Moreno, Pandemic Films

4:12pm January 28, 2021

by Mandalit del Barco

The 2021 Sundance Film Festival will be mostly virtual this year. Highlights include a documentary from Questlove, a biopic about Rita Moreno and films made during the pandemic.

The Stoop Stare Down (Nia & Afiya, Two Generations in Harlem), Jan. 26, 2020, 3:30 p.m., 42 degrees

Arts

With Power, Poise And Confidence, These 'Women R Beautiful'

9:00am January 28, 2021

by Susan Stamberg

Ruben Natal-San Miguel likes to photograph people where they live. He calls his pictures "environmental portraits." Dozens are on view in the exhibition "Expanding the Pantheon: Women R Beautiful."

Journalist Jon Fasman says local police departments are increasingly using powerful surveillance tools — with little oversight.

Surveillance And Local Police: How Technology Is Evolving Faster Than Regulation

8:30am January 28, 2021

by Dave Davies

Journalist Jon Fasman says local police are frequently able to access very powerful surveillance tools with little oversight. He writes about the threat to privacy in We See It All.

Queue Listen Now

Cloris Leachman, pictured in 1974, seemed game for anything, from playing a creepy housekeeper in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein to competing on ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

Arts

Actress Cloris Leachman, Who Played Both Silly And Serious, Dies At 94

1:39am January 28, 2021

by Jacki Lyden

The actress seemed game for anything: She played a heartbroken lover in The Last Picture Show, a creepy housekeeper in Young Frankenstein and even competed on Dancing With the Stars.

Queue Listen Now

Vera Gissing, shown above at age 6, was one of 669 children from Prague whom Nicholas Winton helped save in the lead-up to World War II.

Books
Arts

He Saved 669 Children From Nazis — A New Book Tells His Story To Kids

6:04pm January 27, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

In Nicky & Vera, Peter Sís chronicles the work of Nicholas Winton, who helped hundreds of kids escape Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939.

Queue Listen Now