Every Black History Month we pay respect to those who have already paved the way to make history. But hardly do we celebrate the young Black women and men who are adding to and changing that very same history.

No longer constrained by boundaries that confined those who came before us, Black culture is moving at the speed of light, and these influentials are part of the change.

Michael Fosberg was busy sprinting from one airport in one city to another, one interview followed by another. “January and February are booked solid,” he told theGrio over the weekend, acknowledging his increase in bookings at high schools, colleges and arts festivals for events tied to observances of the Martin Luther King holiday and Black History Month.

It’s high season for Fosberg, actor, writer, theatrical producer, storyteller and a man who discovered a wholesale change in his racial identity in the time it took to make one phone call.

Fosberg is the author of Incognito, a one-man, 12-character play that chronicles his world-changing discovery, what led up to that moment when he, a man whose outward appearance marks him as white, finds out his biological father was black. A book of that journey (out on Feb. 22; preorder on the Incognito website) distills his story in book form, and examines how the nation navigates the same turbulent waters.

Read More @ thegrio.com

Halle Berry has admitted that she considers her daughter to be Black. Berry says in the latest issue of Ebony magazine, “I feel like she’s black. I’m black and I’m her mother and I believe in the one-drop theory.”

But Halle adds that Nahla, who has white heritage on both of her parents’ side, will have to choose how she identifies herself when she gets a little older.

“What I think is that that’s something she’s going to have to decide. I’m not going to put a label on it. I had to decide for myself and that’s what she’s going to have to decide – how she identifies herself in the world. And I think, largely, that will be based on how the world identifies her. That’s how I identified myself. But I feel like she’s black.”

Halle also speaks of interracial relationships in the issue and says, “Well,first thing I want to say is that I’m very connected to my community and I want black people to know that I haven’t abandoned them because I’ve had a child with a man outside of my race and I’m dating someone now outside of my race who is Spanish and French. I have never been more clear about who I am as a black woman. The people I have dated sort of hold up a mirror to me and help me realize more of who I really am.”

Read More @ blackcelebkids.com

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(CNN) — As a sociologist who studies black churches, my research allows for compelling conversations with some of our nation’s most powerful religious leaders. But my most memorable interview to date was not with a celebrity preacher, but a lesser known young gay Christian I’ll call David.

Like many black Christians, David grew up in a theologically conservative church culture that views the Bible as the authoritative word of God. This supplied David with a healthy dose of guilt and regret for succumbing to same-sex cravings, eventually leading to his despondent spiritual state. In gripping detail, David recalled spending many days and nights fasting and praying for God to “deliver” him from his homosexuality.

The recent allegations of four young men against Atlanta, Georgia, megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long have curious onlookers marveling at the irony of how a prominent preacher could find himself staring at the barrel of the same gun he aimed against homosexuality for years.

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For Kenny and Lynette Seymour, last weekend’s black marriage gala was about celebrating their seven-year marriage. They got to meet other black couples while spending a romantic evening together.

“Every time you meet another couple, you learn something new about yourself and relationships in general,” said Kenny Seymour, a 39-year-old Broadway music director who lives in Queens. “It was beautiful to be around a bunch of married people in love.”

Other U.S. black couples will be marking the eighth annual Black Marriage Day this weekend, by attending workshops, black-tie dinners and other activities. Some groups have held events throughout the month, although Black Marriage Day, which celebrates matrimony in the black community, falls on the fourth Sunday in March.

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The NAACP said today that its economic boycott of South Carolina remains in force, despite comments to the contrary.

The organization imposed the ban in 2000 when lawmakers declined to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol. But, according to local news reports, state Sen. Robert Ford—who is Black—declared that this week’s meeting of the three Black Methodist churches in Columbia indicated that the sanctions were over. However, countered church and NAACP leaders, that’s not true.

“I’m here to set the record straight,” the Rev. Nelson B. Rivers III, vice president of stakeholder relations of the NAACP, told the Great Gathering assembly Monday. “Our sanctions are ongoing….If you want to know if the sanctions are over there’s a real simple test: when the flag comes down our sanctions stop.

“That flag represents tyranny, treason, hatred and the oppression of my people and I will die before I give up on tearing it down,” he added to a thundering applause.

The Rev. Staccato Powell, chairman of the Great Gathering as the meeting is called, added that Ford’s statements were prompted by his ambitions and not fact.

“Senator Ford speaks neither for the NAACP nor the Black Methodist churches,” he said in the opening press conference. “Senator Ford is an aspirant for the gubernatorial office in this state and so he does what he needs to do to capture media attention.”

So far, church leaders said, media attention to this issue has centered on rumors that the conference’s presence in South Carolina has been a slap in the face to the NAACP and has brewed discord between the groups.

“It’s the White media; they always engage in divide and conquer,” Powell told the AFRO. He added in other statements, “Our presence here is not in confrontation but in solidarity and we speak with a united voice with the NAACP.”

The Rt. Rev. John Bryant, senior bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, said Black Methodist churches and the NAACP have always been in “lockstep” going back to the Niagara Movement, the precursor of the civil rights organization. Several church leaders have served as officers of the NAACP, including Bishop William Graves, senior prelate of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, who now serves on its board of directors.

The head of the National Black Farmers Association said Thursday the U.S. government has agreed to pay qualified farmers $50,000 each to settle claims of racial bias.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said those farmers may also pursue a claim for actual damages from the bias, and potentially receive up to $250,000.

The settlement, which covers as many as 80,000 black farmers at a price of more than $1 billion, still needs to be funded by Congress, both sides acknowledged Thursday.

The 2010 farm bill, still pending in Congress, includes more than $1 billion to cover the compensation claims.

In a written statement Thursday, President Obama said his administration “is dedicated to ensuring that federal agencies treat all our citizens fairly, and the settlement in the Pigford case reflects that commitment.”

The Pigford case was decided in favor of black farmers by a federal judge’s ruling in 1999.

The head of the farmers group, John Boyd, said: “It’s really the Department of Agriculture agreeing to pay, the Justice Department agreeing to pay and our lawyers agreeing to the process.”

In a conference telephone call with reporters, Vilsack said racial bias unquestionably took place in his agency over many years.

He gave an example of two farmers, one white, one black, applying for a farm loan with an office of the USDA.

The white farmer’s application “was processed rapidly, it was approved, and resources were quickly available to enable him to put a crop in,” Vilsack said. The application from the black farmer “was denied without due diligence on whether he had the capacity to repay, or else he or she was strung out over such a long period of time that they couldn’t put in a crop,” Vilsack said.

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Watch him explain the controversial remark in this video HERE…