Born on Sept. 7, 1961, Michele Norris was the youngest of three sisters raised in Minneapolis, Minn. by Betty and Belvin Norris, Jr. Since studying communications at the University of Minnesota, Michele has embarked on a stellar career in journalism.

The book compiles facts and interviews covering Hendrix' childhood and the years before his breakthrough as a rock superstar, plus 25 rare photos of the music great's career .... As a father, a military veteran and a lunch-counter protester in the South, so much of Jimi Hendrix's short life has been largely overlooked until now ... The Hendrixes were extremely poor ... a teacher told Jimi's dad this child needs desperately to have an instrument, he is going through a psychological trauma, and finally Al did buy him his first guitar for $5 .

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oprah Winfrey has forgiven Jonathan Franzen.
Nine years after picking Franzen's "The Corrections" for her book club and then canceling his appearance on her show after he expressed ambivalence over her endorsement, Winfrey has chosen his new novel, "Freedom." The talk show host is not scheduled to announce her pick until Friday, but The Associated Press on Thursday purchased a copy that had a book club sticker on the front.

Painter tackles this subject in the serious, methodical and academic fashion expected of a Princeton University professor who also happens to be African-American. Weighing-in at 500+ pages, her informative, encyclopedic opus ponders whether White people even belong to a separate race: the author's examination of the history of Western Civilization from ancient Greece and Rome to the present reveals the emergence of "Whiteness" to be a relatively-recent phenomenon, having caught hold in the 1700s in Germanic propaganda

"American Frankenstein is written as a timely response to the need to revisit the history and realities of the Black existence in America… As with Dr. Frankenstein's creature, African-Americans have been aimlessly trying t find their way in society, trying to fit in

In "More Church Folk," the much anticipated follow-up to "Church Folk," it is now 1986, and the preachers of the Gospel United Church are preparing for their much-anticipated Triennial General Conference

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s "Tradition and the Black Atlantic" is both a vibrant romp down the rabbit hole of cultural studies and an examination of the discipline's roots and role in contemporary thought

Saturday at Comic-Con, the cast of the forthcoming "Avengers" film took the stage. Samuel L. Jackson surprised some 6,000 fans gathered for a Marvel Studios presentation when he stepped out just as it was ending and started introducing the cast of "The Avengers."

At 41, Daymond John might not seem old enough to be writing his second autobiography, but after perusing "The Brand Within," I'm convinced that far more important than chronological age are a person's accomplishments and ability to share pearls of wisdom in an engaging and informative fashion.

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