When I was in the 8’s* at the Little Red Schoolhouse, a very progressive private school in “the city”, we had projects for Black History Month. I was part of a team of two. Our project was Sojourner Truth. After school, my teammate and I would go to her house and work on our “project”. […]readmore
November 1997 (Winner 1998 New York Association of Black Journalists First Place in Personal Commentary) The empty buses rolled into Brooklyn early Saturday morning. Across the rain-washed Manhattan Bridge, the Greyhounds came, their empty seats silhouetted against gas station neon, appearing as ghosts through fog-wet windows. The buses were coming to transport the keepers of […]readmore
On the closing day of Reel Sisters Film Festival presentations, Sunday, October 21, a discussion moderated by ImageNation co-founder Moikgantsi Kgama circled into great stories untold, lost or forgotten within our own families and networks. Stories that would make great films. That topic was inspired by Reel Sisters’ founder Carolyn Butts response to one of our questions in the […]readmore
In recognition of the many contributions of Philadelphia’s own Octavius V. Catto, a prominent African-American intellectual, scholar, teacher, athlete, Civil War veteran and civil rights leader who was slain on Election Day in 1871, Mayor Kenney joined the Octavius V. Catto Memorial Fund co-chairs Carol Lawrence and James Straw and other dignitaries at the unveiling of […]readmore
“Fake news,” if let to stand unchallenged long enough, becomes fake history and gets to be taught in school and taken as fact. Such is the case with the canard that Christopher Columbus “discovered” the North American continent. He was the second European after Viking explorer Lief Erickson, but he came later than voyagers from […]readmore
By Monée Fields-White www.theroot.com Comedian Dick Gregory—who attacked racism through a biting and satirical style of comedy, and was equally well-known for his civil rights activism and advocacy of an austere health regimen—died Saturday, Aug. 19 at the age of 84. Gregory’s family confirmed his death with a post on Instagram. Born Oct. 12, 1932 […]readmore
African-Americans may not have invented Memorial Day on May 1, 1865, but the following narrative from the Snopes Fact Checker gives us an opportunity to imagine that time and place. In his book, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, Professor David W. Blight made the case for Charleston, South Carolina as Memorial […]readmore
By Priscilla Mensah Often, when we come across great leaders, whether it be through history textbooks, on the television or in our own lives, we wonder about their beginnings. One of the questions that we frequently want answered is, who taught them? Who is it that helped to shape, mold and inspire them into the […]readmore
