Despite the fact that she is also a Republican, and that she campaigned for both Bush I in 1992 and for Bush II in 2000 and 2004, Sophia A. Nelson, ironically, feels differently about herself ever since the election of a Democrat, Barack Obama. She gushes at length about how much the president's wife, Michelle, means to her in "Black Woman Redefined."

LONDON (AP) -- Harry Potter's saga is ending, but his magic spell remains. Thousands of fans from around the world massed in London Thursday for the premiere of the final film in the magical adventure series.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- A new Nelson Mandela book, slim, bound in black and set in eye-straining type, looks a bit like a bible or a prayer book. That's fitting, because the editors of "Nelson Mandela By Himself" brought something close to religious zeal to the task of choosing and checking more than 2,000 quotations to ensure the world gets the anti-apartheid icon's words right.

Given our blend of African, European and Native-American ancestry, black folks come in all shades and hues, and with a wide range of hair and skin types, too. Consequently, sisters can't simply rely on the standard beauty products created for Caucasian women which fail to take into account the broad spectrum of black cosmetic needs.

On April 19, 1989, Patricia Ellen Meili entered Central Park around 9 p.m. Unfortunately, on this occasion, she would be sadistically beaten, brutally raped and left for dead, with 80 percent of the blood draining from her body by the time she was rushed to the hospital ... it was not long before they had somehow extracted confessions from five teenagers from Harlem, none of whom had ever been arrested or even in serious trouble before. They were only exonerated after having completely served sentences ranging from 6 to 13 years when a serial rapist named Matias Reyes, a DNA match to Exhibit A, confessed to the crime in 2002.

"This autobiography tells the story of my life while highlighting some of the tremendous people who helped me overcome adversities I faced and become who I am today. The odyssey begins with my family's escape from the Ku Klux Klan in the backwoods of Louisiana in 1942...."

Four years ago, Black conservative Shelby Steele took a calculated risk when he published a book explaining why Barack Obama wouldn't win the Presidential election of 2008 ... With the help of Donald Trump, the notion that Barack was born outside of the U.S. began to catch fire this spring, at least until the President finally called a press conference on April 27thI think most folks considered the birther issue put to rest once and for all, but now along comes another tome with the same title as Blue's. This "Where's the Birth Certificate?" ...

Michael Sidney Fosberg was raised in a lily-white, Chicago suburb at the height of the Civil Rights Movement by his Caucasian mother and stepdad. Consequently, he grew up blissfully unaware of the fact that the real father he'd been separated practically at birth from was black.
A Jew-fro and a slightly swarthy complexion were all that made Michael stand out in family photos taken with his parents and two younger siblings.

When Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng was growing up on the island of Java, her mother pinned a postcard over her bed of a Georgia O'Keefe painting entitled "Ladder to the Moon." The surreal tableau, which featured a ladder suspended in the desert air and stretching towards a lonely half-moon hanging high in the sky, served to whet the imagination of the bright youngster with an insatiable curiosity.

Given Tavis Smiley's lofty status as the host of a hit, nationally-syndicated, TV talk show, one might not suspect that he'd suffered any setbacks over the course of his meteoric rise. But contrary to appearances, the accomplished broadcaster/entrepreneur/publisher/philanthropist/author has definitely taken his share of missteps on his way to the top.