Elijah E. Cummings, a Democratic congressman from Maryland who gained national attention for his principled stands on politically charged issues in the House, his calming effect on anti-police riots in Baltimore, and his forceful opposition to the presidency of Donald Trump, died early Thursday morning at Gilchrist Hospice Care, a Johns Hopkins affiliate in Baltimore. He was 68. After undergoing an unspecified medical procedure, the Democratic leader did not return to his office this week, the Baltimore Sun reported. A statement from his office said that he had passed away due to “complications concerning longstanding health challenges.” Born to a […]
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‘Tidal wave of voter suppression’ washes over states, lawyer says | NBC News
“They can do it electronically, they can do it digitally and in ways we never thought about when I was coming along,” said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. law will make elections fairer In Texas, officials in mostly white Waller County, citing cost concerns, announced that they would not make an early voting site available on the campus of a historically black university. Then the state passed a law effectively requiring other communities to take similar action. A Tennessee law threatens third-party groups that register citizens to vote with criminal penalties if they make mistakes on forms or the forms arrive […]
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There Have Been 10 Black Senators Since Emancipation | The New York Times
Elected 150 years ago, Hiram Revels was the first. A few days ago, 300 people gathered in the Old State Capitol in Jackson, Miss., to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the election of Hiram Revels as the nation’s first African-American member of Congress. As nearly everyone knows, in the nation’s more than two centuries of existence Barack Obama is our only black president. Less familiar is the fact that of the nearly 2,000 men and women who have served in the Senate only 10 have been black. Of these, Revels and Blanche K. Bruce were elected from Mississippi during Reconstruction. […]
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Why I’m sick of “woke” culture | Salon
The more affluent control the narrative so being “woke” will be hot until the rest of black America gets a voice Big bruh, I got these #StayWoke shirts for twenty dollars!” said the dude I’ve bought my incense from for over five years now. His shop is just a little ways away from my neighborhood and he always has a nice selection. Dude bagged my goods, I paid him and proceeded to walk away as he grabbed me by the sleeve of my hoodie to show off his new merch. “I’m good, bro,” I said. “I’m not really woke!” He […]
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Ten “Must Watch” Black History Documentaries | PBS
Documentaries can open windows to our past. Through the lens of talented filmmakers, we can re-live iconic moments in history like the 1963 March on Washington or climb aboard a Greyhound bus to join the Freedom Riders on their journey through the Jim Crow South. Documentaries offer rich insight into our society and culture, connect us to some of our proudest and most shameful moments in American history, and remind us of how far we’ve come. What follows is a list of powerful documentaries exploring Black history and culture in America. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross This Emmy […]
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They Came Before Tiger Woods: Wake-Robin Golf Club, Inc | Praise 104.1
For Black History Month, WOL News Talk 1450 AM, WYCB My Spirit 1340 and Praise 104.1 will be taking a look at golfers who came before Tiger Woods and the struggles to play the game in a segregated society. Today we take a look at the Royal Golf Club. The Royals are brother organization to the Wake-Robin Golf Club. In 1938, both groups petitioned the federal government to desegregate public golf courses in Washington and was a major part of the movement of black golfers who pushed the PGA of America in 1961 to remove its white-only rule. Former Club […]
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The Rosewood Massacre: How a lie destroyed a black town | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
From the bruises on her body, it was clear Fannie Taylor had been beaten. The story she told to explain them away destroyed an all-black town in Florida and got several of its residents murdered. On New Year’s Day 1923, Taylor, then the 22-year-old wife of a mill worker, said a black man had assaulted her. She didn’t say rape, only that she’d been assaulted, but the word “assault” was interpreted as a sexual violation by the whites in her town of Sumner, Fla. Sumner was just a few miles from Rosewood, an all-black town of about 120 that had […]
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Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Niece on Her Uncle’s Legacy and Making Her Modeling Debut | Vogue
Jean-Michel Basquiat had a singular sense of style, and Lisane confirms that he loved fashion. This season, Coach creative director Stuart Vevers yet again drew inspiration from the 1980s. While the spring 2020 runway interpreted this theme more broadly, with T-shirts and tank tops featuring famous Richard Bernstein portraits of the likes of Rob Lowe, Michael J. Fox, and Barbra Streisand, this season Vevers narrowed his sights to New York City in the ’80s, focusing even more intently on one particular figure: painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. Vevers rendered a selection of Basquiat’s paintings into prints that appeared on trench coats (like […]
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Morehouse College Makes History As The First HBCU To Have A Polo Team | Because of Them We Can
Morehouse College just became the first Historically Black College & University (HBCU) to have a polo team. The Morehouse Polo Club was started in 2019 by students Rian Toussaint, Justin Wynn, and Caleb Cherry, in partnership with Miguel Wilson, owner of the Ride To The Olympics Foundation, HBCU Buzz reports. Cherry is an experienced equestrian and the only member of the club with prior experience. He competed in horse riding competitions for 10 years before picking up polo about 5 years ago. The idea to start the club on Morehouse’s campus actually came from Cherry’s polo coach. Wilson’s Ride To […]
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Escape Route | Lapham’s Quarterly
How cars changed the lives of black Americans. Between the 1920s and the 1960s, automobile ownership changed African American life. You could not be asked to move to the back of the bus—or, worse, to get off and reenter through the back door—if you drove your own car. The horsepower of an automobile also gave African American drivers the ability to escape. Cars enabled motorists to move rapidly without being stopped or harassed by white citizens anxious to take the law into their own hands. There are instances of African Americans being dragged from their cars and beaten by angry […]
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Mariya Russell Is The First Black Woman To Earn A Michelin Star | Essence
Russell she says she’s baffled by how long it’s taken for a Black woman to break through barriers. Chicago is one of the toughest towns in the whole country. And the culinary arts—with all the blood, sweat, tears, and sleepless nights that come with it—can be one of the toughest industries to make a name for yourself. But after less than a year as the chef de cuisine at cocktail den/basement restaurant Kumiko and Kikkō, in 2019 chef Mariya Russell became the first Black woman to earn a Michelin star. Russell says she is honored and overwhelmed to be the […]
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