The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Several topics really stood out this week, including the Oscars as social advocacy inspiration, civil rights and Black History Month, and lots of hot news on entertainment going Green. Check out our most popular posts of the week on these subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

Happy Belated “Freedom to Marry” Week!

Rosa and Raymond Parks: Valiant Valentine #5

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Nicole:

Top 10 Oscar Picks to Inspire Social Action

Cornel West: Black Thoughts On Black History Month

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Giulia:

H&M’s “Fashion Against AIDS”

Ed Begley Jr. Goes Green

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Gina:

Top 10 Best Picture Winners That Inspire

Remixing “Chicago 10″

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Kerry:

How To Set the World On Fire Without Burning Out

Eco-Brokers Cater to Green Homebuyers

Rosa Parks and Raymond Parks Shared a Love For Each Other and For Civil Rights. And as Valentine’s Week comes to an end, they are the final recipients of my Valiant Valentines Award (VVA) (joining Tim Robbins & Susan Sarandon, Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, Lucie & Raymond Aubrac, and Robert Capa & Gerda Taro) which honors couples who loved together and worked together to make the world a better place.

When Rosa met her husband in Montgomery, Alabama, Raymond, a 29-year-old barber, was active in the NAACP and the campaign to free the Scottsboro Boys, 9 young black men who had been convicted (8 of whom were sentenced to die in the electric chair) for raping two white women, despite no real evidence. As a couple, they became even more involved in civil rights and Rosa became the secretary and later youth leader of the local NAACP branch. Raymond, whose education was limited by segregation, had educated himself and encouraged and supported Rosa to pursue her education.

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Couples Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins as well as Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee have won Valiant Valiant Awards for coupling their efforts to make the world a better place by taking action together. Here is Valiant Valentine Couple #3, whose love for each other, which has already inspired films, books, and videos, and music, will now inspire you.

#3. Nothing says I love you more than risking your life to save the one you love. And this is exactly what Lucie Aubrac did, not once, but twice! And the last time she was pregnant! Lucie Aubrac was a history teacher when she met Raymond, a Jewish engineer and army officer, in France in 1938. After France fell to the Nazis, the two joined the French Resistance, helping found the group Liberation-Sud. In 1943, Raymond, who was now an important leader in the Resistance, was captured by the Gestapo and scheduled for execution. A pregnant Lucie convinced the notorious Gestapo chief, Klaus Barbie, nicknamed the “Butcher of Lyons,” to let her see Raymond and during the visit, she relayed an escape plan. As he was being driven back to his cell, Lucie and other Resistance members ambushed the truck, freeing Raymond and other Resistance fighters.

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