African American history

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• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  5/23/2023
  

  Scholars Stage Teach-in on Racism in DeSantis's Back Yard

  Yohuru Williams and the Institute for Common Power, directed by Terry Anne Scott, convened a 24-hour teach-in in St. Petersburg to draw attention to the connections between inclusive history lessons and functioning democracy. 

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• SOURCE: WBUR
  5/23/2023
  

  Massachusetts-Based Historians: Book Bans in Florida Affect Us, Too

  Kellie Carter Jackson and Kerri Greenidge explain how the push to restrict books and teaching on racism in Florida will affect teaching even in blue states. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/19/2023
  

  For the Shakurs, Black Liberation Became the Family Business

  Santi Elijah Holley traces the lines connecting Afeni Shakur's Black Panther Party activism to the musical and political messages of her son Tupac. 

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• SOURCE: The Nation
  5/22/2023
  

  If Football is America's Religion, Jim Brown was its Leading Saint

  Dave Zirin, a Brown biographer, says that the hall of famer's complicated politics, advocacy for players in the pre-union era, and mistreatment of women all demand treating his life as a subject of study, not veneration.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/22/2023
  

  Dept. of Ed Charges Georgia Book Removal May Violate Civil Rights

  A review by the department's civil rights unit concludes that Forsyth County, Georgia may have created a hostile learning environment for Black and LGBTQ students through its book removal policies. 

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• SOURCE: CNN
  5/15/2023
  

  I'm Headed to Florida to Teach-In Against DeSantis's Education Policies

  by Kellie Carter Jackson

  This May 17 saw a 24-hour teach-in by historians in St. Petersburg, Florida, to protest the restrictions on curriculum, books and ideas pushed by Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies. As a historian of abolition, the author stresses that denying people the pen may influence them to pick up the sword. 

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• SOURCE: WNYC
  5/18/2023
  

  What Does Clarence Thomas Think Clarence Thomas is Doing?

  A panel of scholars and journalists examine a paradox: how Clarence Thomas went from embracing the tenets of Black Nationalism to an administrative and judicial career that most characterize as hostile to the rights of Black Americans. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/16/2023
  

  Black San Franciscans Have Been Leaving—Could Reparations Bring them Back?

  A city commission has issued non-binding advisory recommendations for extensive cash reparations to Black residents and their families who were pushed out of now-valuable property through urban renewal. It's not likely that the local government will implement any of them, so activists are trying to help make housing more affordable.

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• SOURCE: CNN
  4/15/2023
  

  Could Alex Haley's False Quotation of MLK Have Changed History?

  by Peniel E. Joseph

  By exaggerating the conflict between Martin and Malcolm, Haley helped feed a narrative of the two men's approaches to politics as irreconcilable instead of as facets of a more complex struggle for freedom. It has probably helped to push radical demands for justice to the margins. 

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• SOURCE: Mississippi Free Press
  5/10/2023
  

  What a White Man Learned Selling a Black History Encyclopedia Door to Door in 1971

  by Jonathan Odell

  "What DeSantis and his ilk now fear, is that we the people, Black and white, hold the missing pieces to each other’s stories, and once our stories are told, they can change us profoundly."

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• 5/14/2023
  

  Brandon Johnson Built a Coalition to Win in Chicago. Can He Keep it to Govern?

  by Gordon K. Mantler

  When Brandon Johnson takes office on Monday as Chicago's mayor, he will experience the same challenge that his political predecessor Harold Washington did in 1983: turning a winning electoral coalition into a durable governing coalition. It won't be easy, but progressive change in the city depends on it. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/10/2023
  

  Alex Haley Fabricated Quotes Portraying MLK as Implacable Critic of Malcolm X, Biographer Finds

  by Gillian Brockell

  Jonathan Eig tracked down a secretary's transcript of writer Alex Haley's interview with Martin Luther King and found that Haley seriously misrepresented King's response to Malcolm's militant approach to the Black freedom struggle, contributing to longstanding misunderstanding of King's views and relationship to other political factions. 

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• SOURCE: Miami New Times
  5/4/2023
  

  Florida History Professor's Nonprofit will Distribute Banned Books

  "We will not allow DeSantis to kill our history," says Marvin Dunn. "We just won't allow it. We will take our history directly to the parents if that's what's required, and apparently, it is what is required."

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/6/2023
  

  State Advisory Panel on Reparations Calls for Payments to Black Californians; Legislative Response Unclear

  The task force's report has placed a cash value on harms suffered by Black Californians from state policies that excluded them from the Golden State's prosperity, ranging from redlining to the war on drugs and mass imprisonment. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  5/6/2023
  

  Chad L. Williams on DuBois's Unfinished "Wounded World"

  A DuBois biographer discusses the work of tracing the great intellectual's life and work, and the experience of reading an unpublished and unfinished manuscript. 

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• SOURCE: Black Perspectives
  4/25/2023
  

  The United States Colored Troops Killed at Olustee, Florida are Still Owed a Proper Burial

  by Barbara A. Gannon

  Why are the remains of members of the United States Colored Troop still interred in unmarked graves at the Civil War battlefield of Olustee, Florida, when the defenders of a treasonous rebellion on behalf of slavery are buried with honors? 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/26/2023
  

  Emily Meggett, Preserver of Gullah Geechee Foodways of the Coastal South, Dies at 90

  Mrs. Meggett cooked for decades for her family and church, and as a domestic worker for white families in South Carolina. Her book represents the work of many women who preserved food traditions passed from Africa through slavery and Jim Crow. 

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• SOURCE: Mother Jones
  4/21/2023
  

  Black Mothers Bet on Themselves and Changed Las Vegas—Can Their Ideas Still Change America?

  by Annelise Orleck

  A courageous and politically imaginative group of women challenged the most powerful interests in Las Vegas to win better public aid and build an organization for community service and empowerment. A historian explains who they were, how she came to tell their story, and what it means today.

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• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  4/26/2023
  

  WSJ Editorial Board: Private Emails Show College Board's Intellectual Dishonesty

  While the College Board acknowleged a "breakdown" of the process by which edits were to be vetted by the scholars developing the curriculum, but denied being in conversation with Florida officials about the edits. 

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• SOURCE: Defector
  4/26/2023
  

  FBI Releases Bill Russell's File, Which Includes Allegation of Betting Against Own Team

  The Bureau's file on the late NBA star demonstrates their suspicion of the civil rights movement and disdain for politically engaged Black athletes. It also contains a memo alleging Russell placed a significant wager against the Celtics as player-coach, although many known facts and lack of follow-up make that allegation doubtful.