Summer 2018: African American Mentions, News, and Articles of Interest

Eight HBCUs Get Loan Relief From the U.S. Department of Education – The HBCU Capital Finance program allowed colleges and universities to take out low-interest loans to restore building and facilities on their campuses. But due to the 2008-09 recession and declining enrollments at some HBCUs, many institutions have had difficulty making payments on their loans….

Blacks were not Cowards during Slavery

“His mistake is also a thorough misrepresentation of the fortitude — the mental toughness and will to survive — required to survive slavery, individually and collectively, for centuries.” – By Blair L.M. Kelley I’m not understanding how people can say, “slaves were cowards” or what #Kanye said, about how “slaves were enslaved as if it were a…

November – December 2017: African American Mentions, News, and Articles of Interest

#BlackBoyJoy: Hazim Hardeman, 1st Rhodes Scholar from Temple University.  Hardeman grew up at 23rd and Diamond, just blocks from Temple’s campus. The university always seemed like “another world.” He dreamed of crossing the barrier. Link to Article: http://www.philly.com/philly/education/temple-gets-its-first-rhodes-scholar-a-north-philly-kid-20171119.html #BlackGirlMagic: Candice Marshall – one of 11 students in the industrial and computational mathematics program at Morgan State University in…

Mary McLeod Bethune: Bethune-Cookman University and her other Legacies

“The drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth.” ― Mary McLeod Bethune   “I was born and reared in the South and no southerner has greater love for the land of his…

LEADers on Inequality, Race, Ethnic Politics, and African American History

Special treat for African American History Month Netflix will stream 22 hard to find films from Black Cinema’s Earliest Pioneers. In 2015, Kino Lorber released a treasure trove from American history in a DVD box set, Pioneers of African-American Cinema. Hours upon hours of feature-length and short films spanning the 1910s to the 1940s were…

Justice in Policing Toolkit | Building Momentum from the Ground Up

Courtesy of The Center for Popular Democracy  15 Steps to Dismantling and changing #PoliceDepartments in your area that have been discriminatory and unjust. Each point can be molded to shape your municipality’s particular needs, and most are doable through a focused and sustained bit of pressure on local elected officials.  Here are 15 things your…

March-April 2017: African American Mentions, News, and Articles of Interest

  African Americans earned 340,946 degrees and certificates from four-year institutions in the 2014-15 academic year. They made up 10.5 percent of all individuals who were given degrees or certificates from four-year institutions. The Full report is here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2016/2016112rev.pdf #BlackBoyJoy: A. Benjamin Spencer, Associate Dean and Professor of and Director, Frances Lewis Law Center:  An expert…

September/October 2016: African American Mentions, News, and Articles of Interest

  Jean Genet knew how to speak his heart without pity or condescension. Now, we have learned how not to mistake solidarity feelings for feelings of pity among the representatives of the ruling culture. Genet, he already knew how to distinguish them. In his Yale speech, on the Mayday Speech day, he even goes so far as to advocate the…

National Read A Book Day on September 6, 2016

September 6, 2016: National Read a Book Day Highlighted Book of the Month The Adventures of Tume The Tug Boat: Tume Visits New York City with his new friend Speed by Monique Brown, ISBN: 978-1534980655: Tume’s Tug Boat Adventures series was created for children of all ages and will help readers understand other cultures, develop an…

July/August 2016: African American Mentions, News, and Articles of Interest

Malcolm X was invited back to London by the African Society to address a large audience in the Old Theatre at the London School of Economics. In both addresses, Malcolm X moved the political discourse from civil rights to human rights and stated clearly and unequivocally that the Black liberation struggle had to be internationalized rather than ghettoized….

I was a Child Thief…Until being Arrested Scared me Straight

My Life, the short Version My home life wasn’t good growing up.  I didn’t have any father figures or mentors and my mom was never mentally healthy enough to teach me things about life and what I should do or don’t do in the world.  We moved around a lot because we was always getting…

Journal Article: Battered Women “Compelled to Crime”

Gender Entrapment Theory Melanie – The lesson Melanie learned was that “Black men live a life that is more difficult than Black women, and that part of their family’s commitment to the community was to understand the pressures on the Black man and to forgive him for not making it in the world.” The women in…