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Whitewashing Civil War History
Adam Goodheart’s new book, 1861: The Civil War Awakening, has been widely reviewed as a kind of quirky history, a focused look at “the more obscure corners of antebellum America,” as the New York Times puts it. 1861 tells the story of a handful of little-known figures during the 10 months from October 1860 to…
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Jobs for Ex-Offenders in the Green Economy
Baltimore puts a higher percentage of its population behind bars — 0.6 percent, or more than 4,000 people on any given day in 2009 — than any other city in America, according to the Justice Policy Institute report Baltimore Behind Bars, released in June. (Cook County in Illinois and New York City both incarcerate less…
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Nigeria's Oil Spill and the Missing White Girl
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that in the news media one missing white girl equals half a dozen dead black girls or 100 dead Muslims or 1,000 Africans with AIDS. The missing white girl will always get front-page coverage while death and disease striking men and women of color will be relegated to the inside…
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An Appreciation of Lucille Clifton
The poet Lucille Clifton, one of the most distinct voices of the past forty years, and the former Poet Laureate of the State of Maryland (1979-1985), died on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, in Baltimore. Lucille Clifton was born Thelma Lucille Sayles on June 27, 1936, in a small town called Depew, NY, to literary parents…
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The Origin of ‘Who Dat?’
Is it OK to say “Who Dat?” Now that the Saints have won the Super Bowl, the phrase (if anyone had missed it before) is ubiquitous, and the question is both moot and even more pressing. The answer is yes, it’s OK. The phrase has its roots in vernacular poetry of the 19th century and…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
