By Faith Karimi On February 25, 1964, four African American icons met in a Miami hotel room for a night of revelry, bonding, arguments and ice cream. One of them, the brash and flamboyant Cassius Clay (soon to change his name to
By Neelam Bohra and Radhika Marya Members of the Women’s Army Corps’ all-Black 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion had to fight racial discrimination, gender discrimination and the war itself during World War II. After traveling overseas in 1945, the unit, nicknamed “Six Triple Eight,” survived encounters with Nazi U-boats and a German rocket explosion before
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By Harmeet Kaur For much of US history, Juneteenth has been a date observed mostly by Black Americans commemorating the symbolic end of slavery. Since the reckoning reignited by the killing of George Floyd last year, though, the tide has changed enormously. All but one state, as well as the District of Columbia, recognize the milestone of
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By Toby Lyles Juneteenth is the oldest known US celebration of the end of slavery. African-Americans and others mark the anniversary much like the Fourth of July, with parties, picnics and gatherings with family and friends. Here’s a look at Juneteenth, also called Emancipation Day, Freedom Day and Jubilee Day, by the numbers: 155 –
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By AJ Willingham It’s hard to see art in the smoldering aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre, when White Americans destroyed a wealthy Black community in 1921, killing dozens and leaving entire city blocks in ashes. It’s hard to see triumph in the innumerable chapters of racism, bondage and hatred that have darkened our American
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By John Blake and Suzanne Malveaux We lost civil rights icons. They lost friends. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Xernona Clayton and Andrew Young are some of the last remaining members of a generation of civil rights activists who reshaped the US and challenged their country to become a genuine multiracial democracy. But they are also
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By Tim Stanley TULSA, Oklahoma (Tulsa World) — The Tulsa World recently talked to 10 Tulsans who, each in their own way, have committed to telling the story of Greenwood and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre while helping raise awareness of its too-long-ignored history. 50 years ago, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was a taboo
MoreBy Faith Karimi On February 25, 1964, four African American icons met in a Miami hotel room for a night of revelry, bonding, arguments and ice cream. One of them, the brash and flamboyant Cassius Clay (soon to change his name to Muhammad Ali) had just won the world heavyweight boxing championship in an upset
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Opinion by Dean Obeidallah On April 4, 1968, a White gunman shot and killed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. More than 50 years later, the fight he waged to ensure Black Americans had equal access to vote is still very much alive. We are now
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By Leah Asmelash, CNN A bust of the enslaved explorer who accompanied Lewis and Clark was mysteriously put in a Portland, Oregon, park last month. Weeks later, the artist still hasn’t formally come forward — but the work has sparked a citywide reflection on the people of color who helped shape the city’s history. In
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By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN Debra Barnes Wilson was 8 on “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. She and her grandmother, Julia Barnes, joined the voting rights marchers, filing in at the back of the column, but turned back because the elder, an asthmatic, grew short of breath. The girl’s grandmother, who raised her, lived in
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