On Saturday the 4th Annual BET Honors was hosted by Gabrielle Union. Celebration of special contributions of the six honorees in the arts and culture, the award show was a 2 hour event. Before the big show, the celebrities were on the red carpet of the BET Honors 2011 showing off their threads.
This inspirational award show which highlights distinguished African Americans performing at exceptional levels in their fields will premiere during Black History Month. The 2011 award ceremony were Cicely Tyson (Theatrical Arts), Jamie Foxx (Entertainer), Iman (Service), Linda Johnson Rice (Media), Herbie Hancock (Musical Arts), and historian Lonnie G. Bunch (Education).
Take a look at the red carpet of the 4th Annual BET Honors. The celebrities appear to be delighted to be part of the evening. The BET Honors will be on BET Channel on Monday, February 21 at 9:00 pm. Red Carpet Photos - Here
Iman's hair courtesy of Celebrity Hairstylist Oscar James at www.OscarJames.com
Angela Burt-Murray is out as editor-in-chief of Essence, the Time Inc.-owned fashion magazine for African American women, after five years at the helm.
She told staffers at a 4:30 p.m. meeting today that she is relocating to Atlanta with her family.
According to sources, the company quietly began preparing for the move a few weeks ago but wanted to proceed delicately to avoid re-igniting a controversy that flared this summer when Burt-Murray appointed a white woman to the key position of fashion director.
Sheryl Tucker, who took a buyout as an editor-at-large at Time Inc. in 2008, is being brought back to run the magazine on an interim basis.
Burt-Murray's decision to appoint a white woman, Ellianna Placas, to the fashion post incensed some readers, who argued it was difficult for people of color to make major inroads in mainstream fashion magazines and that Essence should be their domain exclusively.
Placas, who had previously worked at O, the Oprah Magazine, had been freelancing in the job for several months without incident before Burt-Murray appointed her as the permanent fashion director in late July.
But reaction was heated and immediate, even if it did attract a fair share of supporters.
"It's with a heavy heart th
at I learned that Essence magazine has engaged a white fashion director," Michaela Angela Davis, a former Essence fashion director and one-time editor in chief of Honey, wrote on her Facebook page, sparking a lively debate on the topic.
No mention was made of it in the official memo from Time Inc. Editor-in-Chief John Huey, in which he heaped praise on Burt-Murray for her contributions to the magazine, including the Essence Book Club and Essence Music Festival Seminar Series.
Huey said the company was "beginning our search for a new editor."
Fashion Fair
Born on April 4, 1916 in Selma, Ala., Mrs. Johnson came from a prestigious family. Her sophistication and fashion sense wasn’t bought. She was born with it. Mrs. Johnson’s father, Dr. Nathaniel D. Walker, was a doctor who practiced medicine for five decades, while her mother, Ethel McAlpine Walker, taught education and art at Selma University. The institution was founded by Dr. William H. McAlpine, her maternal grandfather, who also founded the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. and was close friends with Booker T. Washington.Education was important in the Johnson household. She graduated from Talladega College with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in art. A master’s degree was later earned in social work from Loyola University in Chicago. Mrs. Johnson was working as a social worker when she quit her job to support her husband John’s vision of starting a magazine that focused on Black life. 
When he was having trouble trying to find a name for a new magazine in 1945, he asked her for guidance since she had a degree in art. She chose Ebony because it means “fine black African wood.” The magazine would go on to define generations.
