History
-
Highlighting the Contributions of an 'Unknown Unknown' This Women’s History Month
The great journalist and civil rights activist, Ida B. Wells once said, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” This Women’s History Month, I want to turn the light of truth on three women whose lives intersected to right the wrong of segregated public transportation. These women deserve…
-
Apparently, Violent Extremism Doesn't Exist
A new study on the Jan. 6 insurrection, rally and jumping-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol Building determined that most of the participants in the Mutiny on the Ballot were regular schmegular white people just like me and you. The investigation, conducted by the George Washington University Program on Extremism, analyzed arrest information, court documents…
-
#WhiteHistoryMonth337: The Top 10 Whitest Laws of All Time
After a grueling 28 days of watching corporations, institutions and random white people pretend to care about the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and that other Black guy with the big part in his afro (I think it’s Booker T. Douglass), we now return to our regularly scheduled program. Today marks the…
-
'By Means Fair or Foul': America's Conspiracy to Assassinate Black Power
There is no such thing as “white people.” While the concept of race has always been an unscientific axiom, whiteness is the most mutable of the social constructs we call “race.” Whiteness is a fence with portable borders, defined more aptly by who is not inside. The Irish weren’t considered white. Neither were the Italians.…
-
A History of Black Excellence: The Black Women Who Won Reparations
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on House Resolution 40. The legislative proposal establishes the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans, which examines “slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.” While reparations recently…
-
A History of Black Excellence: The Mad King and Black Queen Who Built Black Wall Street (No, Not That One)
When an angry white mob bombed, lynched, shot and slaughtered the Black residents in the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Okla., on May 31, 1921, they did not destroy Black Wall Street. They destroyed one of the Black Wall Streets. In fact, before the tragic events in Greenwood, if the producers of Family Feud had asked…
-
'My Daddy Had the Nerve to Dream': Robin Roberts Reflects on Her Father's Legacy Ahead of Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage
If you’ve paid attention to Robin Roberts’ rich career and life, you’ll probably describe her as tenacious and celebrate her strength. Whether it was entering a sports journalism career when there were far fewer colleagues who looked like her than today or returning to her revered post as co-anchor of Good Morning America in 2012…
-
A History of Black Excellence: The Man Who Invented Laughter
We are the culture. We created jazz, blues, soul, R&B, hip-hop, swing dancing, the Lindy hop, the Charleston, the jitterbug, tap dancing, the moonwalk, the slide (both the cha-cha and the electric one) juking, the James Brown, the robot, breakdancing, pop-locking, graffiti, freestyling, dunking, running fast, jumping high, Cabbage-Patching during touchdowns, frying chicken and candying…
-
Trump Administration Releases 1776 Commission Report on MLK Day. Spoiler Alert: It’s Racist AF
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I wrote a piece that celebrates King’s legacy and highlights the work that still needs to be done around racial justice and equality. Other writers did the same because that’s generally what writers do to commemorate the holiday—unless you’re a writer for the Trump administration. It’s clear that President-reject…
-
Both Illinois Senators Ask Joe Biden to Designate Site of 1908 Springfield Race Riot as a National Monument
Both of Illinois’ senators have sent a request to President-Elect Biden to designate the site of a 1908 race riot, which inspired the creation of the NAACP, as a national monument. According to NBC News, the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Ill., occurred when 5,000 white people pillaged multiple Black neighborhoods in an effort to find…