Breaking News! History in the Making
Alabama spends more than a half-million dollars a year on a Confederate memorial. Black historical sites struggle to keep their doors open.
By Emmanuel Felton, The Washington Post MOUNTAIN CREEK, Ala. — Down a country road, past a collection of ramshackle mobile homes, sits a 102-acre “shrine to the honor of Alabama’s citizens of the Confederacy.” The state’s Confederate Memorial Park is a sprawling complex, home to a small museum and two well-manicured cemeteries with neat rows…
‘We Can Not Forget’: Miami-Dade County Renames ‘Dixie Highway’ to Honor Harriet Tubman
The Harriet Tubman Highway in South Florida has been unveiled after many county workers and a very determined teenager called for the removal of the road’s previous problematic “Dixie Highway” title.
USDA to Form Commission to Tackle Racial Disparities That Hurt Black Farmers
The agency has long been accused of discrimination against Black farmers regarding loan applications and debt forgiveness.
Melvin Van Peebles, Champion of New Black Cinema, Dies at 89
Melvin Van Peebles, known as the godfather of modern Black cinema and a trailblazer in American independent movies, has died. He was 89. A Renaissance man whose work spanned books, theater and music, Mr. Van Peebles is best known for his third feature film, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.” Mr. Van Peebles’s fiercely independent legacy can be seen in some of the most notable Black films of the past half-century.
12 Years A Slave’ Director Steve McQueen Remembers Michael K. Williams: ‘He Lifted Everybody’ On Set
Actor Michael Williams was found dead in his apartment on Sept. 6. Many members of the film industry paid tribute to Williams and his work. Director Steve McQueen of the Academy Award winning film 12 Years a Slave opens up about what is was like to work with Williams.
Digital records from 19th Century give Black families a glimpse of their ancestry
By Curtis Bunn, NBCBLK After more than 20 years researching her family’s origin in America, Nicka Sewell-Smith found the name of an uncle who had filed a complaint about having his horse stolen. Another notation said he had shopped for bacon, a broom and tobacco in “Short’s Place” in Louisiana about seven months before the 13th…
DOJ Announces New Limits on Chokeholds and No-Knock Warrants
By Rachel Pilgrim, TheRoot.com The agency acknowledged that the tactics lead to unnecessary deaths but doesn’t outright ban them in the new directive. In the past year, the calls to end fatal encounters with law enforcement have only gotten louder. Many of the physical restraints and apprehension tactics that result in the unnecessary deaths of Black…
He Taught About White Privilege and Got Fired. Now He’s Fighting to Get His Job Back
In his Contemporary Issues class that day at a Tennessee school, social studies teacher Matthew Hawn led a discussion of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha WI. Over the next several months, Hawn, 43, used the news cycle to show students, almost all of whom are white, how systemic racism is an indisputable element of American life. When he got fired, Hawn became one of the first casualties from the nation’s debate this year over “critical race theory” and whether or how teachers should acknowledge racism in class.
Maia Chaka Makes History as the First Black Woman to Officiate an NFL Game
By Rashad Grove, Ebony.com Maia Chaka made history by becoming the first Black woman to officiate an NFL game on Sunday, Sporting News reports. Making her debut as a line judge during the New York Jets vs. Carolina Panthers game, Chaka is only the third on-field female official in the history of the NFL. She joins Sarah Thomas,…
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Lawsuit Filed Over Century-Old Confederate Statue in the Majority-Black City of Tuskegee, Alabama
Macon County officials covered the base of a Confederate statue, Friday, June 12, 2020, in Tuskegee, Ala., after it was vandalized with spray-painted obscenities. The Alabama county is seeking to remove the statue that sits in a town square. Photo: Kim Chandler (AP)
George Marshall Clark: Unmarked Grave of Milwaukee Lynching Victim Gets Headstone After 160 Years
Nearly two centuries after his brief life and brutal death were entered into public record as the only recorded lynching in Milwaukee history, George Marshall Clark’s unmarked grave was memorialized with a granite headstone during a special ceremony at Forest Home Cemetery on September 8. The moving event was sponsored by ABHM and Forest Home Cemetery.
Olympia LePoint, An Engineer Who Helped Launch 28 NASA Space Shuttles, Explains Why It’s Crucial That More Black Women Enter STEM Fields: ‘ We Offer New Insight’
Successful Black scientist Olympia LePoint explains why hiring more Black women in STEM fields is critical for advancing scientific pursuits.
On Labor Day, we remember the Black women who helped win labor rights
Many black women throughout the history of the United States have fought for labor rights. Nannie Helen, an African-American, played a crucial role.
Watch: America’s Racist History of Labor
Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 after a railroad strike led by the American Railway Union known as the Pullman Strike. This was a turning point in the labor movement, though it didn’t benefit all American workers. Black Pullman porters weren’t allowed to participate in the strike because they were not allowed in the white unions. But black people did unionize. In this exhibit, you can watch a short video about the history of the Labor Movement.
Candyman Is the First No. 1 Film Directed by a Black Woman
Almost 30 years after the original film traumatized a generation in 1992, its reboot, directed by Little Woods’ Nia DaCosta, grossed $22,370,00 in its initial domestic weekend, making DaCosta the first Black woman to helm a No. 1, according to IndieWire.
Hate crimes rise to highest level in 12 years amid increasing attacks on Black and Asian people, FBI says
The number of hate crimes in the United States rose in 2020 to the highest level in 12 years, propelled by increasing assaults targeting Black and Asian people, the FBI reported Monday.
Corporate America’s $50 billion promise
After the death of George Floyd, corporate America promised African American’s millions of dollars towards economic development, but has it been successful?
Ladies First: Smithsonian Hip-Hop Anthology Honors Women’s Contributions To The Genre
Kierna Mayo, a media maverick and an original staffer for groundbreaking hip-hop magazine The Source, has been one of the premier record-keepers of rap music. With an especial focus on the women of the genre (the debut 1999 issue of Mayo’s late magazine, Honey, featured Lauryn Hill on the cover), she has lovingly bridged the gap between lyricists and fans. Her essay “Hip-Hop Heroines” is a celebration of women’s contributions to hip-hop and is featured in the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap, which is available now.
Giannis Antetokounmpo buys stake in Milwaukee Brewers
Fresh off his MVP performance in the 2021 NBA Finals, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is investing in a local business — the city’s professional baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers. Antetokounmpo also is firmly putting his roots down in the city he plays in. Last December, the then two-time reigning NBA MVP signed a five-year supermax contract extension with the Bucks, worth $228 million, as reported by the New York Times.
‘Cruel, Unfair and Racist’: Black immigrants whose fathers are U.S. citizens push to overturn law that keeps them from obtaining citizenship
Enacted in 1940, the Guyer Rule prevents U.S.-citizen fathers, but not U.S.-citizen mothers, from passing their citizenship status to foreign-born, non-marital children – in other words, children who were born “out of wedlock.” The rule disproportionately restricts how nonwhite parents could secure citizenship for their children – and for decades has been maintained for just that reason.
Kelvin Silva is one of many Black men held at Stewart Detention Center. He is facing deportation because of this archaic and racially inequitable law that prevented him from becoming a U.S. citizen as a child, even though his father was a naturalized U.S. citizen. Were it not for the Guyer Rule, Silva – who was born in the Dominican Republic but grew up in the United States – would have automatically gained citizenship when he was just 11 years old. Read about his situation and those of other Black men in immigrant detention.
