By Darryl Pinckney, NYREV — I will look for you in the stories of new kings. Juneteenth isn’t mentioned in the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois or Carter Woodson, the founder of The Journal of Negro History. I haven’t yet come across a description of the first Juneteenth celebrations equivalent to Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s report of the ceremonies for the Emancipation Proclamation as it was read aloud on Port Royal…
Preserving black history as “an act of liberation” By Nell Porter Brown, Harvard Magazine — Isaac Royall Sr. built a fortune on his Antigua sugar plantation and returned to Boston in 1737 to settle into an opulent Georgian mansion in what’s now Medford, Massachusetts. To operate the surrounding 500-acre farm, enormous by colonial-era standards, he also shipped north across the ocean “a parcel of negroes.” Those 27 enslaved people were plucked…
By Marc Parry, The Chronicle of Higher Education — As Shirley N. Weber built the Africana-studies department at San Diego State University in the 1970s, she spent lots of time defending…
Will young, Black Americans turn out to vote in November? By David C. Barker and Sam Fulwood – Most political analysts define “swing voters” as those who swing their support…
By Danny Glover United Nations Ambassador for the International Decade for People of African Descent, Board Member Institute for Policy Studies — The public lynching of George Floyd pierced deep into the “souls of Black folks” compelling a thorough-going examination of the flawed foundation, values, systems and symbols of white supremacy and structural/institutional racism in these United States. A massive Black Lives Matter-led, multiracial, cross-generational movement has erupted in cities large…
The renowned Actor/Activist Danny Glover has issued a public statement expressing his strong support for reparations for people of African descent and calling on the US Congress to pass the…
By Tyina Steptoe — The sound of Public Enemy’s 1989 song “Fight the Power” blared as face-masked protesters in Washington, D.C. broke into a spontaneous rendition of the electric slide dance near the White House. It was the morning of June 14, and an Instagram user captured the moment, commenting: “If Trump is in the White House this morning he’s being woken up by … a Public Enemy dance party.” View…
Q&A with Caitlin Rosenthal, Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a historian of 18th and 19th century U.S. history with a focus on the development…
These young politicians are following in the footsteps of a shortlist of Black Americans elected to the United States Capitol. By Kelsey Minor, The Grio — You may not know the name Hiram Revels but 150 years ago he became the first Black member of the United States Congress. A Black Republican from Mississippi, Revels was sworn into office although there were heavy objections from the southern White men who…
The 186th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery in the CARICOM Member-countries Which Were Colonised by Britain. By Dr. The Honourable Ralph E. Gonsalves Prime Minister of St. Vincent and…
By Greg Kimathi Carr — The global assault on the lives and societies of people of African descent and the repurposing of our knowledge, abilities and labor for purposes other…
By Brandon R. Byrd, World Politics Review — At approximately 8:19 p.m. on the evening of May 25, Derek Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, brought his weight down upon George Floyd’s neck. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, arrested for the alleged crime of using a counterfeit $20 bill, struggled for breath—for life—for more than five minutes. Lying prostrate on the hot concrete, his arms handcuffed behind…