Traveling at 30,000 feet can certainly have its perks. 

Christiaan van Heijst and Daan Krans run the photography firm Amazing-Aviation, and have captured some amazing photos from the cockpit of planes of some of the most breathtaking weather events on earth. From the Northern Lights to neon lightning, they have seen it all. 

“Ever since I started my first job as a pilot, I felt the need to capture the atmosphere of the unique views that I had from the cockpit,” van Heijst told Caters News Agency. “I feel very privileged that I can somehow translate these views with my camera into something that can be shared, viewed and appreciated by anyone.”

Check out more of Heijst’s work below and on Instagram. 

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You are probably quite familiar with Marilyn Monroe the muse, the blond bombshell, the so-called “sexy looking angel.” We’ve heard tales of Ms. Norma Jeane singing sultry renditions of “Happy Birthday,” getting caught in the breeze in a stunning white dress, casually remarking she wore only Chanel No. 5 to bed.

It’s easy to remember the beauty that was Marilyn Monroe as she appeared in pictures or movies. But of course, she was so much more. An exhibition titled “Marilyn: Character Not Image” (curated, oddly enough, by Whoopi Goldberg), aims to create a more complex portrait of one of Hollywood’s most spellbinding celebrities, featuring not just her photographs but her clothing, her poetry, and, yes, even her artwork. 

The drawing above, titled “Lover watching his love sleep,” was made by Monroe herself in the late 1950s, with Conté crayon on paper. The sepia-toned image depicts a woman who may or may not be Monroe herself, unclothed and reclining leisurely while her lover watches on, entranced. 

It’s a simple drawing, but powerful nonetheless, not only in its aesthetic qualities but in what it reveals about its maker. The artwork hints at a different Marilyn than the bold vixen we see on screen. Rather, a Marilyn who is thoughtful, introspective, and creative ― an avid reader and obsessive writer. 

Along with Monroe’s drawing, the exhibition will feature other iconic objects, photos and video footage that speak to Monroe’s multiple, often unseen dimensions. This includes images snapped by personal friend Milton Greene, depicting the star’s quieter moments, playing with animals and taking direction behind the scenes. Also on view are eerie street photographer Weegee’s photos of Monroe, which use dark-room distortions to visualize the bizarre and grotesque effects of Hollywood, fame and superstardom. 

“This show presents a different side to the legendary actress,” a statement from gallery Mana Contemporary explains. “Behind the glamour was a vulnerable, sensitive, and ambitious young woman who spent time writing poems and diary entries to self-analyze, understand, and reassure herself. In these writings, she craves love and friendship, and battles with ongoing pain, heartbreak, and disappointment. She attempts to understand the world on her terms, tries to accept her insecurities and fears, and to become a better artist.”

“Marilyn: Character Not Image,” curated by Whoopi Goldberg, will be on view from Sept. 25–Oct. 22, 2016, at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, New Jersey. 

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Yesterday, video artist Mary Reid Kelley was awarded one of 23 prestigious MacArthur Fellowships, which comes with a sweet “no strings attached” grant of $625,000. (Congratulations, Mary!)

The 37-year-old New York-based artist creates absurd black-and-white videos from scratch with her husband and collaborator Patrick Kelley. Together, they re-stage moments of trauma, lust, taboo and betrayal throughout history ― both real and mythologized ― through the lens of women’s roles and gender relations.

Each of Kelley’s films takes approximately one year to make. First, the artist writes the scripts, dense with puns, wordplay and innuendo, playfully and analytically reimagining historical events or literary texts. Then, she fashions an entire black-and-white world by hand, transforming a historical era or literary realm into a tripped-out baroque diorama sprung to life.  

Next, Kelley disguises herself from head to toe, transforming her face into a variety of flattened masks that are part Cubist, part haunted puppet show. Patrick films each work, and Kelley plays each and every role. Together, they edit the piece in post-production. The resulting films are strange little glimpses of parallel worlds in which people look different, talk differently and move differently than in ours. And yet, in this monochromatic, clunky, hallucinatory sphere, the way men and women interact is really quite familiar. 

We reached out to Kelley to learn more about her past work and future plans. 

Your work involves some intense knowledge of history and literature. Were these passions of yours before you began integrating them into your artistic practice?

I was definitely interested in history and literature, but I didn’t integrate them into my painting practice. I thought of it as something separate. This didn’t change until I started working in video. With video, I found I could use a time-based medium to integrate visual work and writing. Video provided a way to unite all these different facets.

Was there a particular text or historical event that first inspired you to incorporate elements of it into your work? 

When I got started, I was inspired by poems and memoirs written during the first World War by people who were actually experiencing the war ― the so called “trench poets.” But there was a much wider world of learning and versifying that I was interested in.

Your work addresses serious topics in history and literature with rhyme, wordplay and plenty of absurdity. What motivated you to address serious topics with an experimental sense of humor? 

It was really the writers and creators who were alive at the beginning of the 20th century and witnessed the first World War who were influences. What struck me was, very often, these people who had experienced very traumatic events, whether fighting in the war or losing family to the war, would use humor to process what must have been trauma of a very serious kind.

Reading these works ― poems by Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves ― they are very funny and also very critical. I think it’s important that they’re both. The humor and criticality plays hand-in-hand. So, it’s a model I didn’t make up. I saw it in action, employed by people seeing very sad things. They were inventing new literary forms and approaches to describe trauma and betrayal.

Are there certain figures in art or pop culture today, aside from yourself, you see navigating this space between history and humor? 

I’ll tell you about one semi-obscure piece of WWI literature — The Wiper’s Times. It was a trench magazine, published in the middle of the war by active duty soldiers on the Western front in Belgium. It was essentially a humor magazine, like MAD magazine. It was a parody of British newspapers at the time, like the Daily Mail.

It was a very direct forbearer to something like “The Colbert Report.” Colbert, there, is directly parodying a form of journalism. Through his parody, he is addressing very serious things ― the war, hypocrisy of public figures, even criticizing himself. Those are real models for me. They’re not fine art. One was a newspaper published by soldiers for soldiers, and Colbert is this major media, broadly popular product.

For your work to be recognized this year, there is clearly something about it that resonates very strongly with the current moment. Do you think viewers are hungry for art with women at the center? 

My work almost always has a woman as the central character. This is partly because I play almost all of the roles myself, although I usually am also playing male characters. My work is about women, but it’s also about traditional gender roles and making fun of them, often through me playing a man, playing a woman or playing a monster. Being lighthearted with gender roles, that’s never going to go away. It’s going to evolve, and we’ve seen things evolve. I majored in women’s studies when I was in undergrad. That type of direction in academia has really broadened to include LGBTQ studies, queer studies, queer theory. I’m really glad my work is being recognized at this time so it can be in dialogue with that conversation.

You touched upon the subversive power of role-play in your work. Can you talk specifically about how makeup and costume, which are often regarded as trivial or superficial, can create change on a more substantial scale? 

It’s kind of difficult to point to very many things and say, “Look, this impulse is truly universal for all people and all times.” But I think you really can point to costuming and masks as being universal. Every culture has its own type of theater, its own way of presenting a fictionalized, parallel vision of themselves. I consider my work in makeup and costume to be part of this enormous undertaking that does seem to be part of being human.

In my particular case, even though I’m usually just wearing patches over my eyes, it turns my whole face into a mask. More to the point, it turns my face and whole body into a two-dimensional drawing. The goal is to integrate the figure and its painted look with the background and its painted look. To create a seamless artificial world that is a reflection of reality.

All of your films take place in a handmade alternate sphere. Would you say each of your works takes place in a different world or do you return again and again to the same fictionalized space?

It’s definitely different places every time. Right now, Pat and I are deciding what we’re going to do next. In a way, it is kind of a matter of choosing where we want to go. One of the first decisions we make is: When are we? Are we in the future, in the past? If in the past, are we in the mythological past or the historical past? That determines a lot of where we go, which world we end up in. It’s great to be able to choose.

You mentioned your partner and collaborator Patrick Kelley, who produces all your films. You’ve also spoken about how, as a feminist artist, recognizing artistic collaboration is important to you. Does it feel strange to be receiving this recognition alone? Do you think this reflects the art world’s tendency to portray artists as lone actors? 

We’ve got basically three interlocking situations here. The first is the MacArthur Foundation, and giving grants to individuals is what they do. They only give grants to a single person and they talk extensively in their materials about why that is. Patrick and I understand that, and it meant a lot to us that they mentioned that the work is made as part of a collaboration. Practically speaking, the grant is for both of us. It’s an incredibly liberating financial gift that we’re going to benefit from together.

The art world has a definite lag on recognizing collaboration. If you look at the film world, even the avant garde film world, they know films are made by teams of people. But as artists, it is constantly a challenge for us to explain that we’re collaborators and if you’d like us to come talk somewhere, we’d be happy to do it but we both need to come talk. It’s Pat who holds the camera and does the post-production.

And finally, Pat and I are both feminist artists. We make feminist work. It’s as simple as that to us. I do not think the point of feminism is to turn the tables and put male collaborators in the shade. It’s now very known that female collaborators have been in the shade themselves ― like with Elaine de Kooning and Willem de Kooning, for example. But we’re not trying to make a correction. We’re just trying to be honest about the way we make our work. I think feminism is about presenting reality. Feminists are realists.

In your interview with the MacArthur Foundation, you discuss your desire to make a film that was perfect. What would that look like?

Usually, when artists are engaged in actually constructing work, it’s a very concrete process. You are constantly making decisions. Should the dress be black or white? Should there be polka dots? Especially for something like a film, which takes a year to make, it breaks down into thousands of small decisions that all accrue to make the piece a success ― or not.

One thing that would make us feel like we could come closer to the ideal we both have is taking a little more time. I really hope this will help us be able to set our schedule the way we want it a little bit more.

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Night after night for nearly a decade, Sandra Joseph transformed herself into Christine Daaé, the leading lady in “The Phantom of the Opera.” With her incredible voice and stunning presence, the audience would never guess that Joseph was once a shy, quiet kid with paralyzing stage fright.

“I remember being terrified the night before my first rehearsal,” Joseph tells “Oprah: Where Are They Now?.” “[I was] just so intimidated to meet everybody and go backstage.”

While everyone was welcoming, Joseph recalls feeling especially anxious about meeting her on-stage counterpart. “I didn’t meet the actor who played the Phantom for quite some time because I would hide every time he’d come around, I was too nervous to meet him,” she says. “I thought he was just such a big, huge star.”

Joseph went on to perform hundreds of shows and become a star in her own right, but admits she never actually got over her stage fright. “People ask me, ‘How did you overcome the fear?’” she says. “And I really never did. I learned how to work with it.”

Joseph’s full interview airs Saturday, Sept. 24, on “Oprah: Where Are They Now?” at 10 p.m. ET.

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Previously held assumptions, confirmed.

MacArthur ‘geniuses’ ― recipients of a fellowship that includes a no-strings attached $625,000 to continue their work ― are a mobile bunch, with 80 percent of awardees living outside the state they were born, according to the foundation’s data.

In comparison, about 30 percent of the general public was born in their current state of residence according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

This year’s fellows are no different: Composer Julia Wolfe was born in Philadelphia and moved to New York. Synthetic chemist Jin-Quan Yu grew up in a remote village in China and now resides in California. And video artist Mary Reid Kelley was born in South Carolina and is currently a New York state resident.

Intellectuals and creatives are pulled to California and New York 

It’s part of a larger trend of creatives gravitating toward cities. Indeed, a fifth of American artists lived in one of five major metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington or Boston, according to a 2008 National Endowment for the Arts report.

There’s also a link between intellect and moving, according to a 2014 study published in the journal Intelligence, which found an association between cognitive ability and migration from rural and suburban areas to city centers.  

Of course a link doesn’t explain what causes this phenomenon, leaving a lingering question: Does moving foster creativity and intellect? Or are the best and brightest among us more inclined to move?  

Opportunity is a driving force behind MacArthur mobility 

Of the 965 MacArthur fellowships awarded since 1981, the most common birth states for MacArthur fellows were New York (166) and California (65), with most fellows residing in New York (208), California (185) and Massachusetts (112) at the time of their award.

“People move for a variety of reasons, but one driving factor is economic opportunity,” Cecilia Conrad, managing director of the MacArthur foundation, wrote in Time in 2014. 

“Scientists tend to cluster near the research universities and high-tech corridors of Massachusetts and California. For those in the arts, the concentration of potential employers and prospective customers in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco makes these urban centers attractive places to live.”

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New York-based singer-songwriter Jamil Kassam calls his new song “a hymn to all those in need of a voice” that was inspired by a close friend who came out as a gay man. 

“I urge you try to believe in the world accepting you for who you are,” the 27-year-old sings in the lyric video for “Rise Now,” which was released Sept. 16. “So stand up and rise now, baby.” 

Ultimately, the song is about “affirming your own truth, no matter how hard it is and no matter how afraid you are,” Kassam told The Huffington Post. Although he drew on his gay friend’s experience in writing "Rise Now," he added, “I decided to make it more universal so that anyone could relate to it.” 

Kassam, who identifies as straight, was born in Ivory Coast and spent several years in Paris before he relocated to New York. His international background has influenced what he calls a “multifaceted” sound, which is also inspired by Michael Jackson, Queen and Chaka Khan. 

Noting that his mission is about “world commitment” and “striving for global equality,” he told The Huffington Post that the LGBT community has “accepted me for who I am, and I can relate to their struggle.” 

“Rise Now,” he added, has personal resonance, too. 

“As ironic as it was, I realized this song was also about me coming forward as an artist and owning my music,” he said. ​

Head here to read more about Jamil Kassam. 

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When Patrick McMullan was in the ninth grade, he told his guidance counselor he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. When pressed to provide some sort of career outlook, he said what most teens would say: “Well, I like going to parties.” The guidance counselor was less than impressed, telling McMullan, “Well, forget it. You’re never going to find a job going to parties.” 

And then, he did.

McMullan, who recently syndicated his entire collection of photographs with Getty Images to increase their visibility, has become a mainstay in the celebrity nightlife scene. Over the years, he’s given us myriad iconic photos (like the one below of a young Leonardo DiCaprio goofing around in New York City.) Not only has he managed to carve a spot for himself in the industry, he’s also made plenty of famous friends along the way.

McMullan’s interest in shooting celebrity nightlife stems from his general love of parties and a desire to capture all types of people. Building relationships with stars is just a bonus, he claims, that comes with the territory. 

“I’m not necessarily somebody that’s wanting to be best friends with big stars, it’s nothing like that,” he told The Huffington Post over the phone. “It’s more of an interest in the palettes of people that color the world. There’s all these interesting people that are doing amazing things.” 

Sometimes those “interesting people” turn out to be the next big thing. 

“I remember being at a big party with Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston and everyone was around them, and somebody asked me, ‘Have you met Madonna?’” he explained. “I didn’t know who Madonna was, [she was just] a young girl. I said, ‘I’d love to meet her.’ She turned out to be bigger than anybody else.”

“Everybody, to me, is of interest,” he added.

And while McMullan photographs celebrities, he offers a suggestion on what differentiates him from the average paparazzo. Unlike the men and women who go to great lengths to capture stars in shocking or compromising situations, often without consent (see: photos of a nude Orlando Bloom or Britney Spears shaving her head), McMullan makes sure to get the consent of his subjects ― the first step in getting a good photograph, he noted ― and does his best to show them in what he considers to be a positive light. 

“I really never wanted to make anyone look bad. If people appeared in a column I did, I wanted them to know, this is a good thing,” he explained. “I’ve always been pro-choice in all matters of life ― no one has to do something that they don’t want to do, if they don’t want to.” 

McMullan also describes himself as very hands-on. He’s not the type of photographer who will hide behind his lens at a party, silently snapping away in hopes of getting “the shot.” Instead, he takes it upon himself to introduce famous party guests who’ve never met ― a method he seems quite proud of. 

For instance, he said he introduced Tesla founder Elon Musk to actress and comedian Amy Schumer (Musk’s mom later asked McMullan to send her the photo), and Raquel Welch to Mary Tyler Moore. Then, there was that time he introduced Bill and Melinda Gates to Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks. 

“I remember saying to Bill, ‘Would you like to meet Tom Hanks?’ and he said, ‘Can I bring my wife?’ It was the cutest thing,” McMullan recalled. 

There was also the time he introduced actor Tom Cruise to euthanasia activist Dr. Jack Kevorkian at a Time magazine anniversary party. He described the moment, saying, “I was with Dr. Kevorkian and I introduced him to Tom who said, ‘I love your work.’ Kevorkian looked at me funny and I said, ‘I think what Tom means is that you have crossed a very important barrier.’ And Tom said, ‘Yes that’s what I mean.’ We all laughed a bit and I took the picture.” 

It could be argued that McMullan’s method of arranging meetings between party guests results in a manufactured image, one that lacks the candid nature of a paparazzi shot. But for a man who considers himself the “ultimate party guest,” the mingling seems to be his way of making public outings a little more interesting.

After all, he’s been in the business for decades. And as someone with that much experience photographing nightlife, McMullan has seen plenty of changes in an industry he believes will continue to evolve. “In the near future, I think it’s going to be more of the same but it will be a little bit more curated,” he said, adding that photographers, celebrities and stylists will “walk away with exactly what they want.” 

The far future, as he explained it, sounds a bit like a cross between “Blade Runner” and “Ex Machina.” 

“In the future, everybody’s going to have their own avatar,” he said. “You might say, ‘Oh, I didn’t go out but I sent my avatar,’ or ‘Oh, it wasn’t really me. It was my avatar who had sex with Tom Hiddleston.’ You could have more than one avatar that goes out and then all the photographers would go, ‘Oh, it’s the avatar.’ It could be really fun. You can be at home, controlling your own avatar. I think that’s going to happen. I’d still take pictures of the avatars if they’re dressed nicely!” 

Beyond avatars, McMullan predicts the future will bring us more celebrities like Sia who choose to hide themselves in plain sight. “You’ll know when they’re there, but you won’t really know what they really look like. And I think that might be a good thing, because then people can have it all,” he said.  

Whatever happens, McMullan will be there to witness the changes. Because in his heart, he’s a still that kid in high school who loves going to parties. 

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Black history is finally taking its rightful place within the Smithsonian Institution with the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s grand opening on Saturday.

While the museum is now opening to considerable fanfare ― the ceremony includes a three-day festival and a dedication lead by President Obama to mark the historic occasion ― getting the project off the ground was anything but easy.

A group of black Civil War veterans first advocated for the idea of a national African-American history museum in the early 1900s. Decades later, a group of congressmen led by civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) took the fight for the museum to Capitol Hill. Lewis introduced legislation to fund the museum every year for 15 years, but it was defeated every time.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said the museum faced plenty of challenges, from “overt bigotry” to “lack of prioritization.”

“In many ways, it itself is reminiscent or reflective of the African-American experience. Nothing has been easy. Everything has had to be earned,” he said. 

Some representatives who opposed the museum said the project was too costly. Others, like Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), warned the museum would set a dangerous precedent and open the floodgates for additional museums dedicated to other racial minorities. 

“Every other minority will give thought to asking the taxpayers to pony up for a special museum for them,” Helms said in 1994. 

In 2001, President George Bush created a commission to explore the need for the museum and develop a plan of action. After much debate over the location for the museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture Act was finally signed into law in 2003, establishing the 19th Smithsonian museum.

But the project still faced another hurdle: funding. It would ultimately cost $540 million and the federal government was only going to cover half. 

Bunch said the funding situation was “unusual.” According to The New York Times, government funds have covered all or most of the building costs for every other Smithsonian museum. 

Organizations including the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contributed millions to the project. The museum also found support from the black community. According to The Washington Post, 74 percent of individuals who donated $1 million or more to the project were African-American.  

The museum’s three-tiered building, which sits on the National Mall alongside the Washington Monument, is inspired by Yoruban caryatid ― a slender wooden column with a crown at the top. The museum is filled with everything from historical artifacts of the days of slavery to pop culture relics.

“In essence what you will find in this museum is a tension. A tension between difficult moments and a tension between moments that are full of happiness hope and resiliency,” Bunch said.

And with Obama’s dedication on Saturday, the journey for the museum has truly come full circle. Booker said the presence of the first black president coupled with the museum’s opening will mark “spiritual culmination” of sorts.

“I mean these two moments in history have met up in a beautiful way, almost as if it were sort of ordained by the spirits, like the heavens are sort of rejoicing,” he said. “I just think it’s a wonderful exclamation point on the journey of this museum. 

The video above was produced by Rahel Gebreyes and Jacques Morel, edited by Zack Chapman and shot by Ian MacInnes and Shane Handler.

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California-based singer-songwriter Alicia Champion is back with an “unapologetic” rocking ode to bisexuality that’s the perfect anthem for Bi Visibility Day, which is celebrated Sept. 23.  

The music video for “Bi” sees Champion, 35, cavorting with men, women and other performers from all over the gender spectrum, including transgender activist and adult film producer Buck Angel. 

The song’s lyrics are a cheeky take on Champion’s bisexuality. “This isn’t a game for some boyfriend/I love them all the same, this is my problem,” she sings. “My, my, my, I’m so bi/I can’t stop my wandering eye.” 

Last December, the singer-songwriter put a cute, same-sex spin on a holiday classic with her video for “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” which co-starred her wife, Danielle LoPresti, and 4-year-old son, Xander. At the time, Champion told HuffPost that she wanted to show that families come in “all different colors and formations.”

As for “Bi,” Champion said the new song was “birthed from a need.” Although bisexual characters have gotten greater exposure in films and on television in recent years, she believes general discussion around bisexuality remains minimal. 

“Members at large of both straight and LGBT communities still do not validate bisexuality, reducing it to a phase, [a] game or straight male fantasy,” she said. “I wanted to unabashedly claim power in that because all too often women are shamed for being sexual beings, while men are revered for the same thing.”

Ultimately, Champion hopes the all-inclusive message of “Bi” extends beyond the bisexual community, noting, “It’s an homage to the human race, and I hope the diversity in this video showcases that effectively.”

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This post originally appeared on National Geographic.

Photographs by Mitch Dobrowner

Mitch Dobrowner has a vivid imagination. When he listens to music, he can see colors. And before he goes out to photograph, his mind’s eye already sees an image of what he wants.

More from National Geographic:

Pictures Capture the Bond Between Politicians and Their Dogs

Are We Losing The Grand Canyon?

One Of The World’s Most Unusual Plants Is Disappearing

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The only national museum in the United States solely dedicated to the history, culture and impact of the black community will finally open to the public on Saturday, Sept. 24. 

After a hundred years of push back, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) has finally come into fruition, located on the National Mall. The museum will encapsulate the struggle, triumph and story of black Americans dating back to the horrific details of the slave trade.

Lonnie Bunch, the director of NMAAHC, called the black experience the “quintessential American experience” and added that his team’s goal with the creation of the museum was to “help all realize how profoundly affected we are as Americans by the African-American community” at the media preview day on Sept. 12.

“We felt it was crucial to craft a museum that would help America remember and confront. Confront it’s tortured racial past,” Bunch said to journalists. “But we also thought, while America should ponder the pain of slavery and segregation, it would also have to find the joy, the hope, the resilience, the spirituality that was embedded in this community. So in essence, the goal was to find that tension between moments of tears and moments of great joy.”

Bunch said the NMAAHC attempts to “fulfill the dreams of so many generations who believe that America would be made better if it understood, if it grappled with, if it immersed itself in the African America experience.” The museum, without a doubt, is intentionally and unapologetically black, which can be seen in it’s stunning Yoruban Caryatid-inspired architecture, the 37,000 precious artifacts (which includes Harriet Tubman’s hymnal and shawl), and it’s elaborately soulful cafeteria menu that pays homage to regional African-American cuisine.

When President Barack Obama cuts the ribbon on opening weekend, he’ll help usher in a new era for the National Mall, which will aim to help reconcile the past, present and future of black America in this nation. And it’s about damn time.

Still, many people across the country will have to wait to experience the NMAAHC in person, especially since tickets to the free museum are currently limited.

But don’t fret, we’ve brought you a glimpse from a few of the museum’s 12 exhibits in the form of 360 degree photos that will make you feel as though you’re at the NMAAHC. If possible, we definitely implore everyone to make a trip to see it for themselves, but in the meantime these pictures should hold you over until you can get your hands on some tickets. 

From the Slavery and Freedom exhibit (which includes Nat Turner’s bible, a slave cabin from Edisto Island, shackles from an enslaved child and more):

From A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond exhibit (which underscores the social, economic, political and cultural impact black movements and figures have had in recent decades):

From the Making a Way Out of No Way exhibit (which tells the story of how resilient black people in this country have been, even in the face of oppression):

From the Sports exhibit (which highlights the all-around contributions of athletes like Muhammad Ali, Gabby Douglas, Serena Williams, Carl Lewis and more):

From the Cultural Expressions exhibit (which holds pieces of African-American and African diaspora culture):

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Author Laura Silverman wrote a YA novel, Girl Out of Water, that’s slated for publication in May 2017. The book hasn’t fully made its way through the editorial process, and review copies have not been sent out.

Nonetheless, one day last week, Silverman heard from a fellow author that Girl Out of Water had been besieged with one-star ratings and reviews on Goodreads, a popular site where readers keep track of the books they’re reading.

“There’s zero chance those reviews could have been legitimate,” she told The Huffington Post in a phone conversation. Not only is the book still under wraps, but she and others noted that many of the nasty reviews were posted by brand-new accounts.

So what was going on? Silverman, who is Jewish and frequently tweets about the election, had a good idea. Ever since this summer, her tweets calling out presidential candidate Donald Trump for his problematic statements had attracted bucketloads of anti-Semitic responses and threats from white supremacist accounts. After she tweeted her anger about Trump’s cozy interview on Jimmy Fallon last week, the trolls multiplied ― and, apparently, spread to other forums. 

On Sept. 16, she tweeted a screenshot of her book’s newly abysmal Goodreads rating, with a plea to the site. “Please help. White supremacists are tanking my book,” she tweeted. “They’re trying to ruin my livelihood.”

Many of the reviews drip with accusations of cartoonish bigotry supposedly found in the pages of Silverman’s book. “[F]illed with utter disgust toward the white cis male that is Laura Silverman,” wrote one. “She is literally worse than Hitler.” According to Kathryn Lynch, a publicist at Sourcebooks and Silverman’s publisher, “an unauthorized user” changed the book’s title on the site to “Genderqueer Womyn,” briefly. 

Authors and other members of the literary community rallied, tweeting in support, posting five-star reviews to boost the novel’s rating and encouraging others to do the same.

According to Lynch, Goodreads was able to remove the troll reviews and ratings by early this week. HuffPost reached out to the site for comment, but as of publication time had not yet received a response. 

Despite the quick response, Silverman is shaken. “The GoodReads thing scared me a lot, because they were taking it to the next level,” she told us. Since she also happens to have a disability, she said, building an online presence is the most accessible way to promote her work. “Many of us can’t attend events,” she said, “so the internet is how we can promote our books.” Withdrawing from that space could undermine a burgeoning career.

Though women have increasingly spoken out about the attacks they receive in digital spaces, the damage caused can be still greater if they’re marginalized in other ways. Not long before Silverman was deluged with anti-Semitic tweets and one-star reviews on Goodreads, black writer A.C. Thomas faced overwhelming, targeted harassment after starting a hashtag to promote diversity in the publishing world. Thomas’ debut novel, The Hate U Give, was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement; it comes out in 2017 and is already being developed for a movie starring Amandla Stenberg.

One troll tweeted at Thomas that her book must be called “How Stella Got Her EBT Card Back.” The hashtag was swarmed by tweeters attacking the pro-diversity message as anti-white. “#IStandForDiversity ― Unless it’s diversity of opinion, in which case you’re literally Hitler (every SJW),” tweeted an editor-at-large of Infowars. 

Thomas eventually locked her Twitter account.

“I’m really glad that people are rallying around Laura, but I can’t help but wonder where some of you were when Angela [Thomas] was getting shit,” tweeted author Justina Ireland during Silverman’s Goodreads fiasco.

This kind of social media abuse isn’t new, but as conversations about race, such as Black Lives Matter, and bigotry-stoking movements like the Trump campaign hold so much public attention, some have observed that it’s getting worse. Silverman hesitated to make a broad claim, but noted that until this summer, she’d never been the target of anti-Semitism.

For writers like herself, the chilling factor of anti-Semitic, sexist, and racist abuse on social media could be devastating. “I think the proof is in us having to lock down our accounts and go private,” she told HuffPost. Once trolls start taking their harassment to review sites like Goodreads, an author’s career is still more directly threatened.

The solidarity shown to Silverman by the reading community is an encouraging counterpoint ― and a form of support other authors will likely need in the future.

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Loving your body never looked so good.

For Lane Bryant’s fall 2016 campaign #ThisBody, actresses Danielle Brooks and Gabourey Sidibe teamed up with models Candice Huffine, Ashley Graham and Alessandra Garcia to promote some seriously awesome body positivity. In the short ad, all five women dance around in their underwear proudly showing off their curves. 

Brooks told People on Sept. 22 that she’s excited to be a part of Lane Bryant’s campaign because she really believes in the message behind it: body love. 

“We have a voice and we have a platform to really change the way that women look at their bodies, and we want to be a part of that,” the “Orange Is The New Black” actress said. “We want to do everything that we can to help push the needle in this world.”

So, basically:

Way to slay, ladies. 

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When we heard word of this year’s MacArthur Fellows this week, we were particularly thrilled to see the name of curator, art historian and professor Dr. Kellie Jones among the list of recognized “geniuses.” 

At 57 years old, Jones has devoted her life to challenging the oversimplified and whitewashed mainstream narratives of art history, incorporating artists of color into the canon and the conversation. In addition to serving as an associate professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University, Jones has curated groundbreaking exhibitions including “Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964–1980” (2006), “Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980” (2011), and “Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties” (2014). 

Through her tireless dedication and work, Jones ushered many pivotal yet under-acknowledged artists into their rightful places in the contemporary art dialogue, and changed the way the African diaspora is seen, taught and remembered. Basically, she is a true queen. 

We reached out to Jones to speak more about her past accomplishments and what she plans on doing with her $625,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation:

You mention in your interview with the MacArthur Foundation that you grew up surrounded by diverse and underrepresented artists. Can you talk a little about the environment in which you were raised and the role art played?

I grew up on the Lower East Side, what’s now called the East Village. My parents were both poets — my father, the late Amiri Baraka, and my mother, Hettie Jones. I’ve been around art and culture my whole life.

I went to The High School of Music and Art, what’s now LaGuardia. One of the things about going to school in New York City ― it’s a very diverse place. I was surrounded by very creative people, but while studying art history, I noticed nobody in the books I was reading represented the people in the class. 

Do you have a particular memory of a moment or experience when it hit you that something was very messed up? 

I do remember being struck by the fact that the only people of color in textbooks at that time ― which was in the ‘70s, but maybe it’s still pretty much the same ― were very ancient. They were Egyptians, they were Mayans. They were not living people now. No Latinos, African-Americans, etc.

Now we know in the contemporary art world, these people have taken the art world by storm — we have Wangechi Mutu, Lorna Simpson, David Hammons, so many more. These people are everywhere in current discussions about art. Things have changed. I hope the textbooks catch up.

Were there specific mentors who guided you or artists who inspired you to become more interested in the field? 

Al Loving, Jack Whitten, Howardena Pindell, William T. Williams. These were all people I grew up around. As I grew older and got into museums, Lowery Stokes Sims, who was president of the Studio Museum and a curator at The Met. 

But as for the field, there was no such thing. When I was in college, I created my own major, interdisciplinary between African-American studies, art and Latin-American studies. I invented that for myself. Then I went back and got a PhD and started teaching that in a classroom. We have been making this field a discipline, all of us now teaching these things in the academy. Certainly that wasn’t the case in the ‘70s. 

As an art history professor at Columbia, you’ve shown the impact that black artists have had in art historical movements, many of which have long been overlooked. Can you talk a little about what’s at stake in expanding these established histories?

History, when you really get a chance to look at it, is much broader than is usually written. Comprehensive, diverse histories are very difficult to write. And by the time people are at the PhD level, they are very specialized.

But with new technologies and new generations of people, it’s becoming more the rule to have somebody like myself teaching at Columbia University. To stand up in front of all kinds of students, not just black students, but anyone who wants to come to my class!

In history, so many black scholars, even with PhDs, would only be able to teach in black colleges. people, such as David Driskell who taught at Howard and Fisk universities. These are also the people whose shoes I walk in. The fact that society now allows people to teach in many forms and many places is important. It creates a more diverse student body, which is good for everyone. 

The art world can be a very insular space. Is it important to you to reach beyond the scope of galleries and museums to reach a more diverse public?  

I think that’s the beauty of the museum work that I do. A show I did about Basquiat at the Brooklyn Museum in 2005, in just the last weekend, 40,000 people saw that show. And a more recent show I did there, “Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the 1960s,” which I co-curated with Teresa Carbone, we had 75,000 people come to the show.

The art world is contained in certain ways, but, when you see those numbers, people just want knowledge. In many ways we can say the art world is a small place. But community art centers like the Jamaica Art Center in Queens really bring in all kinds of people. 

What, in your mind, is an indicator of progress?

I’m always optimistic. When I started doing this work I was in college, basically teaching myself, making up a discipline. And now, you have people teaching Latin-American art, you have people teaching African diaspora art history. That is progress. You have Franklin Sirmans at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami. You have Naomi Beckwith as a curator at MCA Chicago. You have Mary Schmidt Campbell at Spelman College.

You can measure progress. You just have to look around, and don’t just take the easy answer. I think the world is changing. Is it changing fast enough? No. But if we keep having a strong commitment to the diversity of art and culture and to recognizing people’s contributions, we’ll be on the right track.

For people who aren’t curators or professors or established in the art world, but still interested in pushing art and art history in a more inclusive, diverse direction, how can they get involved?  

I think you can start by visiting and start by asking. Becoming a docent, becoming a volunteer. Go to places like The Queens Museum, The Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning. Get involved in smaller spaces. Even by supporting an artist by buying a piece of art. There are so many ways to participate in art and culture. If you can pay to go to a movie, maybe, save that $15, go to a free art show and talk with somebody. You save enough money and maybe you can work out an arrangement. Go to an artist studio and see how things are made. Especially in a city like New York, art is everywhere.

What are you planning to do with your grant?

I think, what the grant is suggesting to me, is to take more risks and think bigger. And to buy a new desk. I’ve had the same desk since college. It’s probably a good idea to start a new creative life on a new surface. 

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After working with vulnerable populations for years as a caseworker, Liz Powers switched to running art groups in shelters and was “totally amazed” by the talent she saw. She was inspired to create a way for artists facing homelessness and disability to harness their creative talents and stabilize their income. 

Powers explained to HuffPost that her clients would frequently tell her, “Liz, I don’t want another handout. I just want opportunity.’” To provide them with that, she and her brother created ArtLifting, a website that curates and sells original artwork.

“My brother and I thought, ‘Well, why not create a scalable marketplace where we can sell artwork across the country and also help artists make unending money from the sale of print sent products from their work?’” Powers said.

The company started three years ago now features work from about 120 artists in 19 cities throughout the country. The website works “just like a normal gallery,” Powers said, and 55 percent of the profit goes back to the artist. ArtLifting features 1,300 images that can be sold as prints, bags and phone cases.  

As buyers of ArtLifting’s merchandise enjoy their purchases, the artists are reaping the benefits. Powers said five of the artists have gained housing and she looks forward to the company expanding even more. 

“I firmly believe that everyone can contribute to the economy in a positive way,” she said. “The whole concept of job-lifting, of creating more jobs to include more people and have that domino effect of hope.”

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Just because Sean “Diddy” Combs is a multimillionaire doesn’t mean he’s blind to the financial hardships college students face. The music mogul donated $1 million to Howard University students who have an outstanding tuition balance on Thursday.

During his Bad Boy Reunion concert in Washington, D.C., Diddy brought the historically black university’s president, Frederick A.I. Wayne, Ph.D., onstage and presented him with the check for current students “that can’t pay their financial aid.”

Diddy, who attended the college when he was young and received an honorary degree in 2014, wrote in an Instagram post that his education from Howard helped “to fuel my success in business and life.” 

“This scholarship will make it possible for the next generation of leaders to pursue their dreams and achieve greatness,” the former Bison wrote. “I know that Howard students are intelligent, talented, passionate, and their hard work will shape the future. This gift will make sure the whole world knows what they are capable of doing!!”

In a Snapchat post after his show, Diddy announced that the donation is the beginning of the Sean Combs Scholarship Fund.

With people across the country owing roughly $1.3 trillion in student loan debt, it’s good to know that Howard students can focus on other things now since Diddy has paid off their debt― like getting lit at homecoming.

Take that, take that. 

Watch Diddy present the check to Howard University’s president in the video below.

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When Daisy Coleman was 14 years old, she went to a small house party at the invitation of her older brother’s friend. Within mere hours, Coleman says she had blacked out and had been sexually assaulted. Afterward, she was left on the front lawn of her Maryville, Mo. home in the dead of winter with her hair frozen to the ground. 

Nine months later, on the other side of the country, 15-year-old Audrie Pott was sexually assaulted at a house party by a group of her classmates. Photos of the assault were circulated around her high school in Saratoga, Ca. A week later, Pott had committed suicide. 

A new documentary from Netflix, “Audrie & Daisy,” tells the young women’s stories side by side, detailing the horror and shame of sexual assault, as well as the infuriating backlash that survivors often face when they seek justice.

(Watch the trailer below.)   

Directors Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen were interested in telling the stories together because of how similar they were in nature. “We had this realization that Daisy’s story completed Audrie’s story. They had these haunting similarities,” Shenk told The Huffington Post. Both young women were sexually assaulted when they were too drunk to consent, by boys they considered friends. In the aftermath, both suffered protracted bullying and public shaming from their respective communities.

The film feels particularly timely, with its release coming just months after the sentencing ― and release ― of Brock Turner. In June, after Turner was sentenced to just three months in jail the woman who survived his assault publicly released her victim impact statement from the trial. In the months that followed, a number of other women have done the same, sharing similarly gut-wrenching statements, giving voices and faces to the countless victims of sexual violence.

Cohen agreed that the film couldn’t have been released at a better time. “Audrie & Daisy” is a form of an impact statement,” she said. 

Coleman acknowledged the importance of making stories like hers public, even though she was initially hesitant to be involved in the documentary. Her case had already come to a close, and more media attention was the last thing that she wanted. 

“I was extremely hesitant going forward,” she said. “But I realized that I wasn’t just doing this for myself, I was making an impact and inspiring so many other people.” It was learning what had happened to Audrie that made Coleman fully commit to sharing her story with Shenk and Cohen. 

“I feel like [Audrie] didn’t get a fair chance to use her voice. I decided that I would go full force for the documentary to be Audrie’s voice.”

The film emphasizes the often endless stream of slut-shaming, bullying and victim-blaming that survivors endure, particularly in the age of social media. After pressing charges against the young man who’d assaulted her, Coleman’s family had to leave Maryville due to the sheer volume of threats they received. In 2013, their house was burned down. It was this same kind of bullying and online slut-shaming that presumably led Pott to take her own life. 

Cohen and Shenk spoke to an array of characters in both Maryville and Saratoga ― including the alleged and admitted perpetrators, family members, and law enforcement. 

“It was very difficult to see all of the different sides of this. There’s devastation wherever you look,” Shenk said. “Bonni and I have been around the world making documentaries for many years, sometimes in some godawful places, but this by far the hardest thing we ever did.” 

As emotionally devastating as the stories in “Audrie & Daisy,” are, Cohen, Shenk and Coleman herself all feel hopeful that the film could incite the necessary discussions to prevent more of these stories from occurring in the future. 

“The reason we’re so excited to be releasing the film with Netflix is that we’re hoping tons of teenagers see it,” Cohen said. “They can really turn this around.”

Coleman agreed. “I’m hoping that this opens up the discussion about this stigma in our nation that we have right now about sexual violence.”

As an ambassador for PAVE ― a nonprofit that supports victims of sexual violence ― since December 2015, Coleman travels to different high schools and summits to give talks about sexual assault prevention and consent. 

“Every time I speak out I have at least three women come forward to me and tell me how I gave them the inspiration to speak out about their case, to get that weight lifted off their chest,” she said. “I feel like it’s going to be a movement in the right direction.”

You can now stream “Audrie & Daisy” on Netflix.  

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.

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A remake of Beyoncé’s “Formation” is telling ladies to “get information” about anti-abortion laws. 

Created by feminist organization Lady Parts Justice League, “InFormation” is a badass feminist anthem that’s reminding everyone how damaging the Hyde Amendment and other anti-abortion laws are for women. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal programs like Medicaid from covering abortion care for mostly poor and uninsured women.

The video, which is part of a pro-abortion rights campaign titled #BeBoldEndHyde, calls for health insurance that covers abortion care and it's smart, clever and more important than ever. 

“Ok ladies now let’s get in-formation, cause I say // We gotta get informed about this whack legislation, like today // Your rights, they might get eliminated,” the song lyrics read. 

The “InFormation” lyrics were co-written by Jean Grae, while the video was produced by Joyelle Nicole and choreographed by Denae Famada.

Below are a few of our other favorite lines from “InFormation”: 

“These laws disproportionately affect poor women and women of color,” according to an on-screen message by Lady Parts Justice in the “InFormation” video. 

“Women ― especially [women of color] ― are not strangers to having our bodies and our physical and mental health be subject to laws that rob us of choices,” Grae told Colorlines on Thursday. “Choices, options, information [are] all things that we should know exist and that we have the right to have access to... While they are the most basic and human statements to make, they are not just being not honored, but taken from us ― both systematically and with what one can describe as a great disdain for our human rights.” 

Anti-abortion politicians and groups are limiting women’s health access in all 50 states by creating laws that make it harder and harder for abortion doctors to practice. Anti-abortion laws also make abortion more expensive and harder for women to obtain. Often referred to as TRAP laws (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers), these restrictions are shutting down clinics left and right across the country.

Although the Hyde Amendment is not a permanent law, Republicans repeatedly attach it to other bills. 

Using the hashtag #BeBoldEndHyde, Twitter users made some great points about why the Hyde Amendment needs to be repealed: 

OK ladies, now let’s get in formation... and fight anti-abortion laws. 

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The ladies of Twitter never fail to brighten our days with their brilliant ― but succinct ― wisdom. Each week, HuffPost Women rounds up hilarious 140-character musings. For this week’s great tweets from women, scroll through the list below. Then visit our Funniest Tweets From Women page for our past collections.     

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Question: What is the one thing that all human beings on this earth, regardless of age, gender, race, political party, or taste in snack foods have in common?

Answer: We emerged from a great and mighty vagina, of course! 

Despite vaginas being the source of literally all human life on Earth, they still remain largely unseen and unspoken of in “polite” society. Thanks, sexism! 

If you are not familiar with the general appearance of a vulva, or have yet to see one besides your own, feast your eyes on these awesome illustrations by Laura Callaghan, featuring a variety of lady caves, each unique and beautiful in their own way. 

Callaghan created the drawings for a new Guardian web series called “Vagina Dispatches,” which aims to bridge the embarrassing knowledge gap in understanding how women’s bodies work and function. 

Whether you already spend quality time in the mirror gazing at your most private of parts, or you’ve yet to stare at yourself up close and personal, peruse these candy-colored vaginas to see all the lovely shapes a vulva can take. 

And to learn more about women’s bodies, check out HuffPost’s Cliteracy Project.

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