March 2016: African American News, Highlights, and Mentions

Follow the links to the appropriate articles, books, or businesses I mention this month.  Hope you enjoy!! – AcademicHustler1975

‘Wathint’ Abafazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo’ meaning (you strike the women, you strike the rock)

These words from the famous resistance song have come to symbolise the courage and strength expressed at the Women’s March of 1956 as South African women refused to give into increasing oppression without some form of protest.

Before the 1950s, only black men were required to carry passes. This gave them permission to be in an urban area. Only people who could find work were given a pass. This allowed the government to control the influx of black men into the cities. The pass law was one of the most hated of the apartheid laws. Men were repeatedly arrested under this law and it had the effect of turning the majority of the population into criminals.

In 1952, the government announced that Black women would also have to carry passes. Women actively resisted this. The idea began in 1955 at a meeting of FSAW, where a suggestion was made: “Let us go to Pretoria ourselves and protest to the Government against laws that oppress us.”

On the 9th of August 1956, over 20 000 women of all races marched in unison to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to hand over a petition to the then South African prime minister Hans (JG) Strijdom.

This was a significant turning point in the struggle against unjust apartheid laws. Though the march was against the restrictive pass laws, it led to significant changes towards the emancipation of women.

Seun Olubodun and his English Bulldog, The Duke

News, Highlights, and Mentions

• Black Business Owner: Duke & Winston launched 2009, in Philadelphia by Seun Olubodun and his English Bulldog, The Duke. With no plan, experience or money, we designed our first t-shirt in two colors which we sold & gave out to friends & folks at street fairs & festivals around the city. And so as a largely one man & dog operation, inspired by a childhood spent in the UK, a love of bulldogs and the timeless style of Winston Churchill, we’ve slowly transitioned from a simple t-shirt line into a grassroots brand catering to the casual & fun nature of our growing customer base.
• From the Virginia plantation to the national capitol; or, The first and only Negro representative in Congress from the Old Dominion: In the fall of 1877, John Mercer Langston laid on his bed on board the British steamer “Andes.” He was sea-sick and could not leave his cabin. Again. The new U.S. minister and consul general to Haiti was three days into his first trip at sea and so far the voyage from New York City to Cap Haïtien had been miserable.
• The 1961 National Conference on Black Business: The “Negro Market,” the Cold War, and the Future of Black Business in America – Marshall Plan for Black America was the establishment of a national financial institution to: supplement the credit function of local banks, or to provide credit to areas which do not have their own facilities. This national organization would not compete with the local institution.
• A new study by researchers at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Georgia State University, and Texas Christian University found that mortgage loan originators (MLOs) tended to discriminate against potential African American home buyers by not responding to requests for information or delaying their responses.
• Harvard University will replace the official shield of its prestigious law school which features the family crest of an 18th century slaveholder, after students objected to its racist associations, the school said on Monday.
• Fighting for Mandela: The Explosive Autobiography of the Woman Who Helped to Destroy Apartheid: One of South Africa’s infamous ‘banned persons,’ for five years Priscilla was unable to take part in any political activities, enter any place where a large number of people were gathered, and had her movements severely restricted. Worse, her own home was attacked with petrol bombs on multiple occasions. Undeterred, Priscilla Jana continued her work, even adopting the baby daughter of a client imprisoned on Robben Island, bringing her up, educating her, and providing a loving home. Finally, upon Mandela’s release and the political revolution of her beloved country, Priscilla’s work was rewarded, as she was elected as a member of South Africa’s first democratic parliament.
• Cherokee Freedmen and the Color of Belonging: Addresses how historic discussions of black, red, and white skin colors, designating the African-ancestored, aboriginal (Native American), and European ancestored people of the United States, have helped to shape the contours of color-based national belonging among the Cherokee. The Cherokee past practice of black slavery and the past and continuing use of skin color-coded belonging not only undermines the coherence of Cherokee sovereignty, identity, and belonging but also problematizes the notion of an explicitly aboriginal way of life by bridging red and white cultural difference over a point of legal and ethical contention: black inequality.
• TM² Education Search: Four former presidents of predominantly Black universities have formed a new executive search firm that will focus on filling positions at historically Black colleges and universities and other colleges and universities where Blacks make up a large percentage of the student body.  Christopher Braswell was named president of TM² Education Search, which is based in Washington, D.C. He has 20 years of experience in search firms.
• Black Enrollments in Higher Education Continue to Drop: In 2014, there was a total of 20,663,464 students enrolled in high education. Of these 2,726,098 were African Americans. Thus, Blacks made up 13.2 percent of all enrollments in higher education. This is down from 13.4 percent in 2013.
• Color in the “Black Box”: Addressing Racism in Juror Deliberations: Such bias manifests itself at all levels of the system, including the deliberative process itself. Currently, however, defendants of color have limited options in challenging racism in juries.

 

John Mercer Langston

 

• According to a new analysis by the AAUW, women who graduated from college in the 2007-08 academic year were able to pay off 33 percent of their student loan debt by 2012. Men who graduated from college in the 2007-08 academic year were able to pay off 44 percent of their student loan debt by 2012.
• Remixing Colorblind – This documentary embarks on examining how the educational system today shapes our understanding of race and, by extension, the nuances of race relations – including notions of implicit bias, individual racism, institutional racism and reverse racism. The film is the work of Sheena Howard, an assistant professor of communication at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. She is the author or co-author of several books including Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013).
• The African American Electorate: A Statistical History by Walton, Puckett, and Deskins.  How have African Americans voted over time? What types of candidates and issues have been effective in drawing people to vote? These are just two of the questions that The African American Electorate: A Statistical History attempts to answer by bringing together all of the extant, fugitive and recently discovered registration data on African-American voters from Colonial America to the present. This pioneering work also traces the history of the laws dealing with enfranchisement and disenfranchisement of African Americans and provides the election return data for African-American candidates in national and sub-national elections over this same time span.
• Obama Chooses Merrick Garland for Supreme Court.  Public pressure is the only way to get GOP senators to release their choke hold on the Supreme Court. Public pressure is up to you. Call your senators now, and tell them you want them to do their job.
• How have neighborhoods changed since the Civil Rights Movement outlawed discriminatory housing? Analyzed census data in more than 10,000 neighborhoods of four major U.S. metropolitan areas: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston. Michael Bader found that many of the neighborhoods in these cities that had become more racially diverse in the 1960s and 1970s, have now faced a significant level of resegregation.
• The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: A Legacy Establishing A Case For International Reparations – This Article also discusses possible legal theories upon which the atrocities of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade may be adjudicated in an international criminal tribunal, thus establishing a case for international reparations, as well as legal obstacles to such cases. The crimes committed throughout the history of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade warrant a legal remedy in the form of international reparations.
• More than 200 million people are underemployed in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 10 million more seek jobs every year (World Bank 2010c). As tourism grows, the sector’s job creation and income-generating potential rises exponentially.  Tourism in Africa by Christie Iain; Fernandes, Eneida; Messerli, Hannah, World Bank Publications, January 2014
• As the organization grew, so did the public role of Amy Jacques Garvey.  Jacques Garvey was still working behind the scenes, never once sharing the limelight with her husband. Yet the issues raised at this meeting provide a sense of the concerns that were escalating when Jacques became Garvey’s wife.
• U.S. Census data shows the eligible voting population will shift dramatically between 2012 and 2016. In several states, the proportions of eligible white voters will drop as the numbers of Hispanic, Asian and African-American voters will continue growing. According to a Washington Post evaluation of the data, those states include Arizona, where the number of non-Hispanic whites will fall to 64% in 2016 from 68% in 2012 and the number of Hispanics will grow to 23% from 20%. In Nevada, non-Hispanic whites will fall to 60% from 65% and Hispanics will increase from 16% to 19%. African-Americans in Nevada will jump to 10% from 9% and potential Asian voters in the state will rise to 8% from 7%.