Summerland Studio LLC

Wednesday has arrived!

Juneteenth and the Unfinished Business of Freedom…This June, as the United States nears its 250th anniversary, it is fitting to revisit and refocus on the long road toward freedom for too many Americans of a darker hue. When I think of freedom, I realize that for my ancestors, it has always been a long-game pursuit. Victories are often won twice: first legally, then in practice. My American roots and Juneteenth remind me of that.

THE LONG GAME JUNETEENTH AND THE UNFINISHED WORK OF FREEDOM

“A Great Day in Harlem,” this iconic photo was taken by freelance photographer Art Kane for Esquire Magazine, August 12, 1958, on the stoop of a brownstone at 17 E. 126th Street in East Harlem. It brought together 57 of the era’s greatest jazz musicians for Esquire’s January 1959 issue—Golden Age of Jazz. With the death of Sonny Rollins on May 26, 2026, all in the photo are gone. Rest in Jazz!

Commencement Speaker- Spellman: Symone Sanders

May 17 arrives in spring, a season often associated with awakening and renewal. But in the history of civil rights, awakening has never meant ease. It has often meant the painful moment when a nation is forced to see what it has denied, and when people long excluded from democracy rise again to demand what should never have been withheld. May 17 carries that tension. It is a date of hope, but also of harsh history.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court rejected the lie of “separate but equal” in Brown v. Board of Education. Three years later, on May 17, 1957, Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial and called Brown “a great beacon light of hope,” even as he warned that Black citizens were still being blocked from the ballot. In that sense, May 17 was a spring awakening before the long, hot summers of marches, sit-ins, protests, voter registration drives, and state resistance that would define the modern Civil Rights Movement. ...

May 17: An Anniversary of Hope and Harsh History May 17 arrives in spring, a season often associated with awakening and renewal.

This is what my governor did on March 26: “Today, I am honoring Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration Day in Virginia. Hundreds of Virginians served our country as Tuskegee Airmen. These men and women not only paved the way for the desegregation of the U.S. military — they inspired future generations to serve. 🇺🇸” Thank you,

Spring has sprung.

WASHINGTON, DC—Something joyful just hatched on the Hill.🐣Today, Howard U (‘86) alum and beloved “The Chew” star opened , a brand-new Southern fried chicken pop‑in at 303 Pennsylvania Ave SE—turning Capitol Hill into a little pocket of comfort‑food joy. In partnership with the Sunnyside/Mendelsohn team, Carla’s serving up crispy fried chicken sandwiches, Southern chicken nugs, biscuits, pimento cheese, and all the fixings for foods to feed the spirit. DMV fam and Hill neighbors, today was the grand opening. This may be the place to find some much-needed Southern joy mixed with Bison sis Carla Hall’s signature sparkle! (Photos by me)