Groundbreaking and award-winning actress Roxie Roker was a Miami native of Bahamian-American descent.

Roxie Albertha Roker was born in Miami on August 28, 1929 to Albert and Bessie Roker. When Roxie was five years-old, the family moved to Brooklyn, NY for better jobs and educational opportunities for her. She would later graduate from Howard University where she was a member of the drama club and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

While she will be remembered for her groundbreaking role on The Jeffersons, she was a loving mother to her son Lenny, and an activist for civil rights and child advocacy. Roker passed away on December 2, 1995 due to breast cancer. Check out the wonderful video below when she appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show with her son. 

Related Links:

Roxie Roker: Her Life is Not Just the Hollywood Life

Internet Movie Database: Roxie Roker 

Internet Broadway Database: Roxie Roker

~ Va-Va 

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Former local newscaster José Griñan of WCKT-TV, now WSVN-TV, is of Cuban descent.

If you were in South Florida during the 1980’s you remember the dapper WCKT (now WSVN) news anchor, José Griñan. A well-respected journalist, the Tampa native was a calming and informative voice during the McDuffie riots. He is apparently still delivering the news elsewhere without the drama we’ve come to expect from current news anchors. 

Jawan Strader

One of the favorite news anchors in Miami, Jawan Strader, has left CBS4 and joined the news team at NBC6 as weekend anchor and general assignment reporter. He is one of the more active news personalities in the community so NBC6 should definitely come out on the winning end.

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson is scheduled to appear on her first national Sunday show – “Washington Watch” with host Roland Martin on TV One – at 11:00 a.m. this Sunday Nov 6th. She will be discussing voter suppression in Florida.

If you’re in Miami, tune in to channel 173 on Comcast.

– Much-anticipated webisodes hit FAILSHOW.com July 1^st –

Multi-platinum recording artist T-Pain worked his trademark vocals for the series premiere of “FAIL,” a fresh, new take on the black sitcom set for world premiere Friday, July 1, 2011, at 7 p.m. EST.  The new show, executive produced by James Bland of BET “Lens on Talent” fame, and Vanessa Baden from Nickelodeon’s “Gullah Gullah Island” and “Keenan and Kel,” will be launched on FAILSHOW.com and feature the new T-Pain track during the title sequence.  Before recording the song, T-Pain agreed to support the sitcom about college life after hearing a fervent pitch from the producers.

“Getting him was a stretch, but we are beyond excited and so grateful that a superstar like T-Pain took an interest in our show,” commented Bland, co-president of Hometeam Entertainment, LLC, the production firm he runs with Baden. “Our watchers will go crazy when they hear it – it’s going to blow their minds!”

The anticipated premiere episode of “FAIL” opens with a 15-second snippet of the track, which watchers can hear in its entirety when the music video hits later this month.  The show has already garnered a loyal following through the posting of unique video shorts introducing the cast of characters.  Each “FAIL Friday” for the past few weeks, viewers met one of six unlikely friends in a study group that doubles as a platform for foolish misadventures and tough college lessons.

“Each one sports an electric personality just like any group of modern young adults,” shared Baden on her cast. “Everyone who has experienced college life will fall out laughing – we kept it real, showing outrageous student life in and, far more importantly, outside the classroom.”

The sitcom follows the six study-mates that mostly end up getting caught in the many distractions their college affords.  From the absent-minded jock and sheltered daddy’s girl to the money-crazed gold digger, smooth-talking ladies’ man and “wanna-be thug,” the show packs big laughs into five-minute episodes airing biweekly on FAILSHOW.com.

Formerly with Sony Screen Gems, Bland, a Florida native and recent round-one winner of the national Shadow and Act Black Filmmaker Showcase, based the show on his experiences while a student at Florida A&M University, a historically black university in T-Pain’s hometown of Tallahassee. “FAIL” was conceived by Baden and him after getting fed up with the lack of opportunities for blacks in mainstream television.  They join Denzel Washington, Will Smith and others that have taken to the Internet as a self-produced outlet for their work.

“We kept looking for auditions that just weren’t there,” continued Bland. “Writers aren’t creating enough roles for young black actors, so we created a medium for ourselves.  We just want to add a new flavor to the market and we know ‘FAIL’ is it!”

Viewers can go to FAILSHOW.com to meet the characters before Friday’s premiere at 7 p.m. EST.  You can also connect with the cast and fans at facebook.com/THEFAILSHOW, where producers post behind the scenes footage and photos, twitter.com/THEFAILSHOW or youtube.com/FAILSHOWsitcom.  For more information on the show, cast and crew, email press@wearehometeam.com. 

Free overnight shipping and waived activation on all new customer and add a line AT&T Wireless orders. Valid 07.01.2011 to 07.04.2011. Restrictions apply.

Magnetic Productions is currently searching the Miami area for fun, outgoing, enthusiastic homeowners who have ugly kitchens in need of a makeover for a new television series! The to-be-announced project features kitchen design remodels in various towns and cities across the country and the show is scheduled to air on a national cable network later this year.

Homeowners with great personalities and who are willing to turn over creative control to a design team, could get a complete kitchen remodel – for free!

Please send contact information, what you hate about your kitchen, along with photos to newkitchen@magneticproductions.com.

 Pageant to be broadcast on NBC, Sunday, May 16

UM senior Mackenzie Green, a broadcast journalism and sports administration double major, competes for the title of Miss USA Sunday night, May 16.

The pageant will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. (E.S.T.) on NBC, from the Theatre for the Performing Arts at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas.

Green, 21, is the reigning Miss District of Columbia-USA. She won the title last November.  Active on campus, Green, is a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and a reporter for SportsDesk, a show on the University’s cable news channel, UMTV. In the future she aspires to become a broadcaster for ESPN.

The winner of the Miss USA pageant goes on to compete for Miss Universe.