om n' t die.
Documenting the leg cy of
Id B. ell -B melt, the ric n
Americ n journ Ii t nd nti­
Iync ing ru der of the 1 th
nd e rly 20th centurie , IdD B.
Well: A Pa ion For Ju tic«
chronicle t virtu lly forgotten
tory of one om n'
cour geou fight for ju tice.
Well w born into I very in
Holl y Sprin , i i ippi, two
yea before the end of the Civil
War. By tbe time 9f ber death in
1931, he woold become one of
the mo t influenti I Ieade of
her time.
When ell w only 16 yea
old, her p rent died of yello
PROUD PARENTS - Denzel WashlDRton and wife Pauletta
dded twins to their household April 10. A boy(Maleolm) and a
- - alri (Olivia) join their brother nd Iter.
B hlnd- The-Scene
It's twins for Pauletta
& Denz I hinqton
.
.
By UIaCoUI
Denzel Washington and wife
Pauletta added two more to their
household on April 10' when
Pauletta gave birth to twins-a
boy (Malcolm) and a gfrl
(Olivia). They already have two
children,-a boy and girl, age 6
and 3. Denzel will have some '
time off to help around the
house, as he's not scheduled to
begin shooting his next movie
until September. Then he'll
reteam with Spike Lee for the
story of Malcolm X. Lee will
direct. Denzel will, of course,
have the ti tie role. r
Eslewhere on the home front,
Lenny Kravitz, whose career has
I' skyrocketed since his recording
debut nearly two years ago, now
blames hi work for the breakup
-of his marriage to now' estranged
Nife, actress Lisa Bonet.
Bonet, who has had mounting
problems with her acting career,
• :arter reportedly being booted off
.; .the Co by ShOW, is now turning
• :her energle to directing. Bonet
' .: � ·i. among those slated to direct
I' Prince video in the near future.
.... In the meantime, Spike Lee
.. 'will direct the new Prince video,
_. '. • , "Willing and Able". It is one of
.. ' . -flve videos from the new Prince
. ' .. 'album, "Diamonds and Pearls",
. ". -due out in late August.
Keith David is one Black
acto. 'most people are 1I0t likely
to lorget. And yet most people
.don't kow him by name. His
: : cree n . credits include'
"Platoon", "Bird", and most
recently "Marked For Death",
and David i one of few Black
.actors, who it seems, is alway
: working. A native of New York,
. David has wanted to be' a singer
: and his whole life.
At 7, he was doing Louis
.Arm trong imitations 0 well
: tbat • couple of kid a ked him
-for autographs. In a blue crayon
:he signed the name Louis
Armstrong.
David's first big break was
when he was c t in the role' of
"King" in the Acad�my �wa�d
winning "Platoon". It I hiS
tyle of talk and dellvery that
has helped him to get the atten­
tion of Hollywood ca ting
agents.
- Everyone 0 u ha ome­
thing in particular to offer. It be:­
comes a matter of ta te whether
-,
you want that or not. He's just
finished a lead role in a Los An­
geles stagge production, based
on the life of jazz pianist Jelly
Roll Morton. You'll see David
later this year in "Article 99", a
film lated for release this fall.
Rodlley King Beating Fea·
tured ill Upcoming Music
VIdeo: If you haven't already
had enough of the now infamous
videotape of Los Angeles police
beating Rodney King, the
female rap group, "Bytches With
Problems" has secured ex­
clusive music video rights.
The footage will be used in an
upcoming single titled
"Wanted", which condemns
police brutality and racism, and
will al 0 feature BWP member
being harassed and handcuffed
by police. (Of cour e, the latter
shots were staged).
Fate 01 Equal Justice
Remains Unknown: Equal Jus-
. rice, the legal series starring Joe
Morton went on hiatus last
month, with three of it's
episodes yet to be aired and
much to the dismay of executive
producer Thomas Carter. Carter
feels his series hasn't been given
a chance to build the kind of
momentum it' needed.
Carter, who is Black, has won
raves as well as an Emmy for his
work with the show, which for
me 'record, has not been can­
celled. Executives at ABC have
not yet come to a fipa1 decision
on what will happen with the
series, although they have
promised to run the remaini ng
three ori gi nal epi ode .
Gabriel's Fi re will ge t a hot at
it's time slot.
B y The Way: NBC has pick­
ed up "Fresh Prince of Bel Air"
for the 1991-92 sea on even
though the ratings aren't so
hot ... NBC ha licensed
"Generations", the daytime
drama to Black Entertainment
Televi ion for 'airing thi fail a
'a trip.. The agreement gives
BET the right to air the how'
470- epi ode library.
Whoopi Goldberg h s inked a
p ct to tar In three HBO com­
edy pecial within the next two
yeafl. Ooldber i et to begin
work on the first in the coming
week ..
The film fe ture on-camera
reading from Well' utobiog­
raphy, Crusade For Ju tice, by
Pulitz r Prize-winning noveli t
Toni Moni on. Hundred of
period photograph and
Ii thogr phs recreate the period
as cholar (including a
o
Prom BaiUy BrOQl/castillg Services
Via SelT'tl S ydication
Some of the pres ure i final­
ly off of Ralph Tresvant. His
long-awaited 010 debut lbum
has gone platinum, and the
single "Sensitivity" and "Slone
Cold Gentlemen" a ma h hit.
Fact i , Ralph Tresvant
hould be sleeping ea y the e
day . His album h lived up to
expectation , placing him in the
arne 010 league as Johnny Gill,
BBD, and Bobby Brown, and
part of the reason thing have
gone 0 moothly (despite the
album's long delays), was that
Ralph learned from the mistakes
that New Edition made. '
Indeed, learning from mis­
takes in the pa t is something all
the member of New Edition
will have to do if they
have that reunion tbey all keep
talking about. Apparently, there
was some friction with other
New Edition members when it
first came out that Tresvant
wanted to go solo.
And in an interview with the
LA Times, BBD expressed long­
held frustrations about the way
they were treated as part of New
Edition, with Michael Bivins
saying that "BBD was not going
to be in the background
anymore". Ricky Bell added that
Bobby, Ralph, and Johnny had
gotten all the good vocal parts.
THAT SITUATION is some­
thing Ralph is fully-aware of. "I
was like the lead singer", Tres­
vant says. Bobby Brown was
like the lead singer. So that wa
like tension to the guys, and a lot.
of the group members used to
feel that nobody knew their role .
Now, that they have their'
career, that's been satisfied, so
when we get together, we just
work on New Edi lion and make
sure t at happens." Offstage,
Ralph's life is full. He and
longtime girlfriend Shelly have
a seven month old baby
daughter, Na'Quelle. But he'
not in a hurry to get to the altar.
He's still coming to grips with
his parents divorce.
Hi father moved back to
Bo ton and hi mother live in
Los Angele . Yet, even though
his parents' marriage didn't
work out he' not lost his strong
family tie. Says Tresvant "I'm
very family-orientated. "Indeed,
Ralph Tre vant is one young
brother who' holdin'g it all
together. .
With his long delayed album
holdi ng it's own agai ns t the
product put out by Bobby
Brown, Johnny Gill, and BBD,
Ralph' got nothi ng else to
prove. That i , until the next
time around.
Prom tlte PP& T (People,
ell
gr nd on of ell) re e
pI ce in Americ n hi tory.
Tod y, Id ell i being
"redi covered" by hi tori n nd
the medi . She recentl y ,
ducted into both the Tenne ee
11 of F me nd the Society of
Profe ional Journ Ii t' all of
Fame. La t year, the Uni ted
State Po tal Service i ued a
tamp commemorating Wells­
over 200 million tamp have
been printed thu far.
At the turn of the century,
Well 1 leader hip and dynamic
organizing abilitie c tapulted
ber to the forefront of Blac
Y HOW ccount,
"H ving 10 t my p per, bad
price put on my life, nd been
m de an e He from my home for
hinting at the truth, I felt lowed
it to my elf and to my race to tell
the whole truth."
"She wa probably the most
uncompromi ing Blac leader­
mayb leader [Black or white]­
that I have ever read bout in thi
country," ay author Paul Gid-
cro
v
Place & Things) File: George
Jackson and Doug McHenry, the
producers of "New Jack City"
have locked up an eight-film
deal with Warner Brother . The
duo will produce a slate of films
ranging from thriller, comedie
and hip hop project .
Mo t of the films will focu
on The urb n or African­
American experience. Two
projects on the drawing board
are "Funky Manuvers" , the
story of kids who end up in the
military; and "Cloc kin ' The
Beat" , the tale of an under­
ground reporter who inves­
tigates the disappearance of a
rap artist. Right now, Jackson
and McHenry are at work on
"House Party II".
Ernest Dickerson, who'
Spike Lee's cinematographer, is
set to make hi directing debut
with "Juice". Filming is already
underway in New York City and
in the cast are En Vogue's Cindy
Herron and "2-Pac" from Digital
Underground .... Caron
Wheeler' madea pia h with
her 010 album, "U.K. Blak".
e conn try.
"It' not enou h th film
out Afric n America -m de
by Afric n American -have
been produced," y Greave.
It' import nt tb t they be m -
sively di tributed if th yare to
fulfill their ultim te purpo e.
"By the ye r 2000 almo t 50
percentoftbe tudentbodyinthe
Americ n public choo! sy tem
ill be compri ed of people of
color. It' e ential th t thi f ct
be reflected in the chool cur­
riculum .. Th multicultural hi -
tory of America i very ricb and
virtually unt pped education I
re ource. It' e ential to in­
cl ude the Blac experience in
thi new understanding of hi -
tory. "
For information on purcha e
or rental please contact: George
A. Sosa at -1-800-874-8314 or
(212) 265-6150; Fax (212) 315-
0027.
IN THE MIDST of her uc­
cess the introspective Singer
recently revealed a horrible
ecret he' been keeping for
seven ye r . According to
report in "The Voic�n, an
Engli h new paper, Wheeler
told another pubtlcauon, "The
Guardian", that she is the
mother of a 7-year old boy, who
was taken from her by the coturt
after she hook him violently.
After the incident her son
Nesta was diagnosed as having
cerebral palsy and brain
damage. Wheeler was found
guilty of grievous bodily harm
and given a two-year suspended
sentence and mandatory
psychiatric counseling. The
singer is not allowed to see her
son, who is being raised by
fo ter parents.
r
F •• dbGck Line: In re ponse
to the many listeners calling in
after seetng HBO' "Josephine
Baker Story", with their own
sugge lion on biopic of Black
entertainment greats, here's .
some good news.
Sammy Davis Jr. left film
rights to hi's 1965 autobiog-
.r a h Yt "Y�s I b�,qn' to his .
dau�h'ler t cy/who i [now pur-
ulng the project with Suanne •
de Passe, head of Gordy/dePa e ' ••
Productions. Gordy/de Passe .••
Productions j also working on a _
cript on the life of Marvin :
Gaye. It's called "The Divided : •
Soul: The Marvin Gay« Story". •
And a 1..0 Angeles-be ed in- : :
dependent film company bas a
Dorothy Dandridge movie in the .
works.
Got a question or a commen:
on any RadioScope story, just
call the Feedback Line at (213)
257-2354.