Heritage
How World War I sparked the artistic movement that transformed black America
With Africa as a source of inspiration, a “New Negro” emerged out of the ruins of the Great War – not broken and disenchanted, but possessed with a new sense of self, one shaped from bold, unapologetically black models.
Author Ntozake Shange of ‘For Colored Girls’ fame has died
Playwright, poet and author Ntozake Shange, whose most acclaimed theater piece is the 1975 Tony Award-nominated play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf,” has died.
Ethiopia Gets Its First Female President
Ethiopia’s parliament has made Sahle-Work Zewde the country’s first female president. And while the role is largely ceremonial, her appointment carries power in what it signifies.
Forgotten black scholar studied – and faced – structural racism in the 1940s
Allison Davis and his wife Elizabeth Stubbs Davis were among the first black anthropologists in the country. Bringing their experiences on the wrong side of the color line to mainstream social science, they made landmark contributions.
Desegregating blood: A civil rights struggle to remember
Until 1950 the Red Cross segregated blood. It was thousands of African-Americans during World War II who forced the Red Cross to include them as donors and helped pave the way for activism of the 1960s.
Christian Surgeon who recites Bible and Quran to patients wins UN award
Dr. Evan Atar Adaha knows that faith matters to many of his patients. Before administering the anesthetic for surgery, he recites verses from the Bible or the Quran with his patients.
‘Coming of Age in Mississippi’ still speaks to nation’s racial discord, 50 years later
Does Anne Moody’s memoir represent how far we’ve come as a society. Or is it a stark reminder of how far we need to go?
The Danger of ‘Casually Forgetting’ Racial Violence
Southwest Virginia has casually forgotten the racial violence at its heart, as if this ugly history never happened.
Arthur Mitchell, pioneering black ballet dancer, dies at 84
Arthur Mitchell broke barriers for African-Americans in the 1950s as a ballet dancer with the New York City Ballet and went on to become a driving force in the creation of the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Unraveling the Hidden Black History of Appalachian Activism
Placing Black people in Appalachia’s history is not simply a matter of recognizing diversity. Rather, it forces a different angle, a truer way of seeing the region and its relationship to the South and the United States.
Vermont town honors the nation’s first ordained black minister
More than 220 years after the first ordained black minister in the U.S. became a pastor in a small, predominantly white community in Vermont and preached about brotherly love, freedom and unity, people there are honoring his life and work with an historic marker.
Columbia U Protests 50 Years Ago Offer Insight for Today’s Activists
The 1968 protests at Columbia University led the institution to abandon a gym project that residents considered racist and cut off its defense work – and generated worldwide attention in the process.
#IdaPledge Makes History in Honor of Ida B. Wells
How grassroots support and social media made a monumental difference in honoring her legacy.
New coalition seeks sainthood for five African-Americans
The founders of two religious orders and an African-American priest who had to train in Rome because no U.S. seminary would accept him are among five candidates being supported for sainthood by a new coalition of black Catholic organizations.
African rhythms, ideas of sin and the Hammond organ: The evolution of gospel music
A choir sings traditional gospel music. Staff Sgt. Bernardo Fuller The enslaved Africans who first arrived in the British colony of Virginia in 1619 after being forcefully removed from their natural environments left much behind, but their rhythms associated with...
Mysterious missing parts of Malcolm X’s autobiography found
For decades, a burning question loomed over a towering 20th-century book: “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”: What happened to the reputedly missing chapters that may have contained some of the most explosive thoughts of the African-American firebrand assassinated in 1965?
Civil rights legend Meredith says he’s on a mission from God
Meredith aims to confront what he sees as society’s “breakdown of moral character” by encouraging people to live by the Ten Commandments.
Rosa Parks family house set for auction
The house where Rosa Parks sought refuge after fleeing the South amid death threats is scheduled for auction next week with a minimum bid of $1 million.
Tracing Mandela’s footsteps 100 years after his birth
Follow in Mandela’s footsteps from the villages where he was born and raised, to the Soweto township where he became an anti-apartheid leader, to Robben Island where he was imprisoned for years.
Feds Reopen Emmett Till Case
Last year, the 1955 case came to light again when Till’s accuser, Carolyn Bryant Donham, admitted that she lied in her testimony about the brutal beating and murder of the 14-year-old Chicago boy.
When gospel sermons came on the phonograph
The first truly African-American musical form, the “Spirituals,” took shape in the 17th and 18th centuries within the generations of slaves born into the tough American experience. Music was a daily part of their survival and sustenance. Spirituals were sung “a...
‘Dear Martin’: Bishop’s Letters to MLK Trace the Highs and Lows in Race Relations
For decades, United Methodist Bishop Woodie White has been writing letters to the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., bringing the slain civil rights activist up to date on the latest strides in race relations and some of the remaining challenges that arise each year. By Adelle M. Banks.
Pealing Bells to Mark 50 Years Since MLK’s Rousing Speech
By Larry Copeland c. 2013 USA Today ATLANTA (RNS) The King Center is urging communities around the world to participate in a bell-ringing ceremony next month to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. King Center...
Celebrating Dr. King with Service
Rev. Dr. M. William Howard Jr. and gospel artists Richard Smallwood and Tye Tribbett reflect on the influence of MLK on their own lives of service.
King Memorial Controversy Continues
Maya Angelou says a paraphrase of Dr. King’s words makes him sound arrogant and a North Carolina journalist thinks Rev. Billy Graham deserves a statue too.
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Opens
The Martin Luther King Jr. memorial opens today at the National Mall in Washington D.C. in advance of a five-day celebration and Sunday’s dedication.