By Shawna Mizelle, CNN Rep. Karen Bass said Sunday that the coronavirus vaccine rollout is failing African Americans and systemic racism is playing a role in vaccine distribution. “But you know when we say that doesn’t mean that people are deliberately withholding vaccines, the greatest problem is access,” Bass told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State
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By Shirin Ali and Melissa Gray, CNN The name of Mary Jackson, NASA’s first African American female engineer and one of the barrier-breaking inspirations for the book “Hidden Figures,” will officially adorn the space agency’s Washington, DC, headquarters Friday. NASA announced its decision last year to name the building in Jackson’s honor. Members of her
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By John Blake Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) overcame prejudice on multiple levels to become a key ally of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and one of the most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century. An openly gay Black man during the Jim Crow era, Rustin was arrested for having sex with men at a
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By Maria Morava and Scottie Andrew, CNN A year of change in the name of racial justice is hard to quantify. But in the 2020 Impact Report released this week by the Black Lives Matter Movement, historic numbers speak volumes. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) said in the report that it raised
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By Nicquel Terry Ellis Two Democratic lawmakers will reintroduce legislation Thursday calling for the formation of the first federal racial justice commission tasked with examining the country’s history of systemic racism against Black people, addressing inequities and backing efforts to provide reparations for slavery. Rep. Barbara Lee of California, who first proposed the creation of
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By Kate Sullivan and Betsy Klein, CNN Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday visited a local pharmacy in Washington, DC, to highlight the Biden administration’s retail pharmacy vaccination program and combat vaccine hesitancy. Harris stressed the importance of all Americans, particularly those in communities of color hesitant about getting the vaccine, signing up for it
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By Scottie Andrew, CNN After years of examining centuries-old writings and digging up artifacts, researchers recently confirmed that an 18th-century building on the College of William & Mary campus was once a school for free and enslaved Black children. The building in Williamsburg, Virginia, that formerly housed the Bray School is thought to be the
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By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Business Thasunda Brown Duckett will succeed Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., as TIAA’s president and CEO starting May 1, the company said Thursday. Duckett is currently chief executive officer of consumer banking at JPMorgan Chase. She will become the second Black woman CEO to helm a Fortune 500 company currently, following the
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By Amir Vera and Jamiel Lynch, CNN Two dorms at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will now bear the names of two Black civil rights leaders in the state “whose fight for equity and social justice transformed the state’s higher education system and the university,” according to a news release from the school. The dorms
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By Lauren Fox, Ryan Nobles, Manu Raju and Phil Mattingly, CNN The Senate parliamentarian has ruled against including the increase in the minimum wage in the Covid relief bill. While Democrats had pushed for the increase to be included — and leadership expressed its disappointment in the ruling Thursday evening — its removal may actually
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