civil rights
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Watch: The United States vs. Billie Holiday Trailer Debuts as a 'Call to Arms'
Billie Holiday and the art she created is forever relevant. While the anticipated film, The United States vs. Billie Holiday has gone through some distribution challenges perhaps the film ultimately debuting on a streaming platform at this time is divine order as we experience a global pandemic, a racially-charged uprising, political warfare and more. Directed…
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Justice Department Makes Moves to Undo Certain Civil Rights Protections
Instead of just filing a two-week notice and coasting until Inauguration Day, the Justice Department has opted to drastically shift civil rights protections for underrepresented groups. According to the New York Times, the Justice Department has proposed a change to the way Title VI of the Civil Rights Act is enforced. Title VI prohibits organizations…
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Lucille Bridges, Mother of Civil Rights Icon Ruby, Dies at 86
Every day, like many American parents, Lucille Bridges walked her first-grader Ruby to school. But unlike other parents, she did so flanked by federal marshalls, as aggressive mobs of white people, vehemently opposed to racially integrated schools, hurled slurs at her and her daughter. On Tuesday, Ruby announced the death of her mother on her…
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Bipartisan Call in the Senate for Congressional Gold Medal to be Awarded to Emmett Till and His Mother
In a rare moment of bi-partisanship, a Republican and Democratic senator have called for the nation’s highest civilian honor to be awarded posthumously to Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. NBC News reports that Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) introduced a bill to award the Congressional Medal of Honor to…
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Building at Troy University Formerly Named for KKK Leader Renamed After John Lewis
A building at Troy University in Alabama, once named after a former governor with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, has been renamed in honor of late congressman John Lewis. CNN reports the university’s board of trustees voted unanimously to change the name of Bibb Graves Hall to John Robert Lewis Hall, effective immediately. Graves…
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Tune In: Queen Latifah to Host Change Together: From the March on Washington to Today on Facebook Watch
This year, the March on Washington will take place on Aug. 28 and Facebook Watch is teaming up with Will Packer and Jesse Collins Entertainment to premiere a one-hour special to recognize the 57th anniversary of the historic 1963 event. Hosted by Queen Latifah as part of Facebook’s #LiftBlackVoices initiative, Change Together: From the March…
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'Billie Holiday Is Probably One of Our First Civil Rights Leaders': Lee Daniels Discusses His Upcoming Biopic at The Root Institute
It’s been nearly 50 years since the debut of Lady Sings the Blues, which was a huge inspiration for writer-director-producer Lee Daniels—so much so, that he is now directing his own biographical drama about the iconic Billie Holiday, The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Through her art—especially her stirring song, “Strange Fruit”—Holiday became pivotal in…
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John Lewis Honored With Final March Across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala.; Tributes Continue in the Nation's Capital and Georgia
Over the weekend, civil rights leader John Lewis took a final journey over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., during a ceremony that recognized the former congressman’s history with the place he memorably marched on Bloody Sunday. Lewis was carried across the bridge in a horse-drawn carriage on Sunday, reports the Washington Post, as part…
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Civil Rights Icon John Lewis to Lie In State at the US Capitol
The civil rights legend and Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who fought the racist Trump administration right up until his final breath, will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on Monday and Tuesday. Lewis, the longtime Democratic congressman from Atlanta and last living speaker from the March on Washington, died July…