Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of slaves, became an early 20th Century educator and civil rights leader, founding both Bethune-Cookman College and the National Council of Negro Women. But Bethune became even more influential as a friend and confidant of Eleanor Roosevelt, and as an advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Negro affairs. Bethune […]
A master of storytelling, Toni Morrison was the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and legendary professor is known for the vivid black characters brought to life in her novels that recreate the Black experience. Morrison’s novels often illuminate themes of slavery, racism, and identity, but […]
Professing to be “unbossed and unbought,” Shirley Chisholm was the first black female major-party candidate for President of the United States, and the first black woman to be elected to Congress. Chisholm wasn’t intent on winning the presidency, but was steadfast on challenging conventions and showing Black America that they could aim high. She set […]
When Booker T. Washington stepped to the podium at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895 to give a speech on race relations, two things happened. First, many fellow Black Americans, including W.E.B. Du Bois, derided his speech as “The Atlanta Compromise,” because Washington called the agitation for social equality “the extremest folly,” advocating instead slow, steady, […]
In his seminal work, Race Matters, Dr. Cornel West questions matters of economics and politics, as well as addressing the crisis in Black leadership. The book was written in 1993, but many of its themes are salient today. His scholarship has come to be recognized globally and West, himself, is known for his combination of […]
VIA CHICAGO SUN TIMES: If talk show diva Oprah Winfrey decides to reprise this week’s Michigan Avenue block party to open her 25th season, it could cost her a pretty penny. Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) wants to require promoters and sponsors of outdoor special events in the central business district to pay the same […]
VIA THE GRIOT: ATLANTA (AP) — The city that became a post-civil rights movement emblem of the political power held by African-Americans could have a white mayor for the first time in a generation — a possibility that has some in the black community scrambling to hold on to City Hall. Atlanta Councilwoman Mary Norwood, […]
VIA WASHINGTON POST: A woman was abducted at gunpoint yesterday at the Franconia-Springfield Metro station and then forced into the trunk of her car and driven around for about an hour before being released, Fairfax County police said. The woman, who was not injured, told police that she was dropped off in the Lorton area, […]
VIA THE GRIO: ATLANTA — A civil rights icon who worked alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and helped lead the Montgomery bus boycott is headed to Washington to receive the Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, 87, delivered the benediction at Obama’s inauguration in January and now joins […]
VIA MSNBC: Republican will join education secretary, Sharpton on three-city ‘hope’ tour WASHINGTON – Education Secretary Arne Duncan is joining forces with two unlikely allies, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, to push cities to fix failing schools. The trio will visit Philadelphia, New Orleans and Baltimore later this year. […]
