Ludacris’s latest project celebrates the joy and complexities of Black girlhood

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An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Some Exhibits to Come – One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

Bibliography – One Hundred Years Of Jim Crow

Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.

Freedom’s Heroes During Jim Crow: Flossie Bailey and the Deeters

Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.

An Iconic Lynching in the North

Claxton Dekle – Prosperous Farmer, Husband & Father of Two

Ancient manuscripts about mathematics and astronomy from Timbuktu, Mali

Some Exhibits to Come – African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles for Adults & Children from the Henrietta Marie

Some Exhibits to Come – The Middle Passage

What I Saw Aboard a Slave Ship in 1829

Life After Hate: A Former White Power Leader Redeems Himself

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March 11, 2022

By Claretta Bellamy, NBC News

Ludacris performs last November. (Alberto E. Rodriguez vie Getty Images)

When the actor and rapper Chris “Ludacris” Bridges came up with the idea for a children’s show, he wanted to make sure that his daughters were represented. Fourteen years into the making, he created “Karma’s World” — an animated children’s series depicting the life of Karma, a 10-year-old Black girl and aspiring musical artist.

Season two of the series, which premiered Thursday on Netflix, tackles real-life challenges related to body shaming, setting boundaries and other important topics in a way that both entertains and allows for kids to comprehend.

“I feel like we need shows like this now more than ever,” Bridges, the show’s executive producer, said, “and the reinforcement is in the music as well.”

Since the first season debuted in October, “Karma’s World” was in the Top 10 on Netflix Kids for a month, and then became available in 190 countries and in 22 languages. Expanding Black representation beyond the screen, the show has a line of dolls with Mattel and an official album out with songs including, “Proud of My Hair,” “Open Your Heart” and “Reach the Top” that promote self-confidence.

Head over to NBC News to learn more about Karma‘s World and the show’s positive impact on Black youth.

Representation has become increasingly important in children’s media. Find out what Black children lose in a white world and how Andrea Stephenson and her son Corbin hope to change with their books.

More breaking news here.

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