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Although he never won an Oscar, Lincoln Perry was America's first black movie star. But for that distinction, Perry paid a heavy price — he is best known as the character of Stepin Fetchit, a befuddled, mumbling, shiftless fool.

Nutritionist Rovenia Brock, aka. Dr. Ro, knows that eating well is easier said than done. She's an authority on fitness and diet, and her advice to those starting out on a new fitness regimen is simple: Adopt a meal plan and a movement plan that you can live with, right now.

In this week's Behind Closed Doors, television broadcaster Lee Thomas talks about his book Turning White: A Memoir of Change and how his experience with Vitiligo made him realize that beauty is more than skin deep.

In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe's grip on power seems to be weakening. Election results show his party has lost control of parliament and his only course of action may be to accept a run-off vote to save his seat as president. Journalist Martin Meredith discusses the situation in the southern African nation.

In America's poor neighborhoods, there are ways to make a living, but many of them are "off the books." Sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh immersed himself in one Southside Chicago community and discusses his findings.

In the U.S. South — home to nine of the nation's 12 heaviest states — obesity is playing a role not only in COVID-19 outcomes but in the calculus of the vaccination rollout.

Black entrepreneurs have long faced challenges be it getting financial capital, or discrimination in contracting. Now, the pandemic has hit them the hardest and many are trying to find ways to thrive.

"I am still a Baptist, but I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists," said Moore, a popular author and Bible teacher who has expressed frustration with the church's attitudes toward women.

Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc, the nation's oldest black Greek-lettered fraternity, recently placed a moratorium on all membership intake. The decision comes after a prospective member was reportedly hazed and critically wounded following an initiation exercise, leading the group's president to denounce the behavior. But some say the strong rebuke is long overdue for a practice that is far too commonplace within some Greek-lettered organizations. Host Michel Martin speaks with Lawrence Ross, author of the book, The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities, about the significance of the decision. Ross is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.

The national narrative about Barack Obama's rise to the presidency often takes root in Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. But one author says not enough attention is being paid to the other main line of succession in African-American leadership — the one that stems from Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and the black power movement.