By Jordan Brasher, The Conversation — The aroma of fried chicken and biscuits roused my appetite as the country sounds of Alison Krauss, Alan Jackson and Johnny Cash played over the loudspeakers. This might have been a county fair back home in Tennessee, but it wasn’t. I was in a cemetery in rural Brazil, at the “Festa Confederada” – the “Confederate Party” – an annual celebration of southern U.S. heritage held each April in Santa Bárbara…
By Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News — U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. introduced a bill in every Congress for nearly 30 years to study the institution of slavery and to recommend appropriate reparations. Few of his colleagues in the Democratic Party seemed to take him seriously. The bill had a hearing in 2007 and never moved out of committee. But reparations has become a recurrent topic in the Democratic…
By LaMont Jones, Diverse: Issues In Higher Education — It makes sense that African-American students at Princeton Theological Seminary have issued reparatory requests based on research tying much of the school’s current wealth to slavery, and it’s equally fitting that the school live up to its religious precepts in its response, according to some scholars. The Association of Black Seminarians (ABS) has proposed that the seminary commit at least 15…
Understanding what the conversation about reparations is, and isn’t, about. By Richard North Patterson, The Bulwark — In 2014, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote his seminal essay “The Case For Reparations.” Five years later we are talking about reparations again. This presents a fresh opportunity for Americans at large—liberals, conservatives and everyone of goodwill—to thoughtfully consider the ways in which systemic racial injustice has warped our social fabric. For the stark reality is that…
Lincoln signed a bill in 1862 that paid up to $300 for every enslaved person freed. By Tera W. Hunter, New York Times — On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill emancipating enslaved people in Washington, the end of a long struggle. But to ease slaveowners’ pain, the District of Columbia Emancipation Act paid those loyal to the Union up to $300 for every enslaved person freed. That’s right, slaveowners got…
By examining scientific papers, correspondence between naturalists, and the records of slaving companies, historians are now seeing new connections between science and slavery and piecing together just how deeply intertwined they were. By Sam Kean, Science Magazine — At the dawn of the 1700s, European science seemed poised to conquer all of nature. Isaac Newton had recently published his monumental theory of gravity. Telescopes were opening up the heavens to…
By Jordain Carney, The Hill — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said on Monday that he will introduce legislation creating a commission to study the issue of granting reparations to African-Americans. “This bill is a way of addressing head-on the persistence of racism, white supremacy, and implicit racial bias in our country. It will bring together the best minds to study the issue and propose solutions that will finally begin to…
From prize-winners Esi Edugyan and Marlon James to debut novelists such as Sara Collins, a new generation of novelists is exploring a painful past. By Colin Grant, The Guardian — Two hundred years ago, slave narratives seemed one of the few routes to publication for black writers on both sides of the Atlantic. Autobiographical accounts written by former slaves such as Olaudah Equiano, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass proved enormously popular with readers, who…
By Katherine Franke, NYR Daily — A bill calling for the federal government to “study and consider” how to provide reparations to African Americans for slavery has been introduced into every session of the US Congress for the last thirty years. The bill’s aim is “to address the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the thirteen American colonies between 1619 and 1865.” Representative John Conyers, the primary sponsor…
Harvard University sued over allegedly profiting from what are believed to be the earliest photos of American slaves. By Joey Garrison, USA Today — Video — A lawyer says Harvard University has the opportunity to “remove the stain from its legacy” by honoring a Connecticut woman’s request to turn over photos of two South Carolina slaves she says are her ancestors. (March 20) AP, AP BOSTON – In 1850, a…
Transform every online purchase into a donation for Institute of the Black World 21st Century — Join Now
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW21) is committed to enhancing the capacity of Black communities in the U.S. and globally to achieve cultural, social, economic and political equality and an enhanced quality of life for all marginalized people. – Learn more here
© 2019 Institute of the Black World 21st Century.
sending...