Journalism

100 years ago African-Americans marched down 5th Avenue to declare that black lives matter. The only sounds were those of muffled drums, the shuffling of feet and the gentle sobs of some of the estimated 20,000 onlookers. The women and children wore all white. The men dressed in black. On the afternoon of Saturday, July 28, 1917, nearly 10,000 African-Americans marched down Fifth Avenue, in silence, to protest racial violence and white supremacy in the United States. Silent protest parade in New York against the East St. Louis riots, 1917. Library of Congress New York City, and the nation, had never before witnessed such a remarkable scene. The “Silent Protest Parade,” as it came to be known, was the first mass African-American demonstration of its kind and marked a watershed moment in t...

Going on a road trip this summer? 4 reasons why you might end up speeding, according to psychology. Your bags are packed. You’ve sorted entertainment and snacks for your passengers and have squeezed all your holiday luggage in the car. You’re now ready to head off for your road trip – one hour after you meant to leave. There will be more traffic now, but maybe, if you put your foot down you can make up some time. It might be tempting to speed. People do so for a number of reasons, not just because they’re running late. Here’s why, what this does to your risk of being injured, and how to plan your road trip to minimise that risk. 1. You think you’ll get there faster Perhaps one of the biggest myths about speeding is it saves you a lot of time. In fact drivers overestimate how much time th...

Shared meal experiences: The next big thing bringing people and pups closer.  Do you throw birthday parties for your dog? Include them in family photos? Maybe you have matching outfits you don for special occasions? If you enjoy spending time with your pup through fun activities like these, you’ll love the next big thing in bonding with pets: shared mealtime experiences. This isn’t just eating at the same time. Shared mealtime experiences mean pet owners are creating human dishes for themselves that are inspired by the ingredients in their pup’s food bowl. Once the dish is ready, you can both enjoy meals that mimic each other while spending quality time together. It’s an activity that fills your belly and your cup at the same time. Shared meal inspiration Your dog is one of your most belo...

Today’s white working-class young men who turn to racist violence are part of a long, sad American history. In recent years, the United States has seen a surge of white supremacist mass shootings against racial minorities. While not always the case, mass shooters tend to be young white men. Some journalists and researchers have argued that class and ideals of white masculinity are partly to blame. This argument is not surprising. Throughout U.S. history, white men’s anxieties over their manhood and social class help explain many violent attacks on Black people, whom the perpetrators blame for denying them their rightful privileges. Such was the case with Dylann Roof, a then 22-year-old white supremacist who was convicted and sentenced to death in the 2015 deaths of nine Black worshippers a...

We analyzed over 3.5 million written teacher comments about students and found racial bias. Written teacher comments about students can show implicit racial or ethnic and gender biases in school discipline, according to our recent study. To identify these biases, we analyzed more than 3.5 million teacher comments about students from thousands of schools in the U.S. These comments were written in student office discipline referrals. Teacher comments were gathered from a web application used by schools to provide information such as when and where student discipline referrals occurred. When purchasing the application, schools can provide permission for their de-identified data to be used for research purposes. Our study showed that teachers wrote more when describing behavior incidents of Bl...

A century ago, a Black-owned team ruled basketball − today, no Black majority owners remain. For the first time in 20 years, the NBA began its season with no Black-owned franchises. In fact, there’s been only one Black majority-owned team in league history. In late 2002, the NBA awarded an expansion team, the Charlotte Bobcats, to Black Entertainment Television co-founder Bob Johnson. Four years later, former NBA star Michael Jordan bought a minority stake in the franchise, and in 2010, he bought Johnson’s stake. However, Jordan sold his majority stake in the franchise in July 2023. This lack of diversity in basketball team ownership is especially disappointing considering the rich history of Black ownership in sports, which began when the top leagues in the U.S. were still segregated. A c...

From morgue to medical school: Cadavers of the poor, Black and vulnerable can be dissected without consent. Every year, first-year medical students approach their human cadavers with a mixture of awe and trepidation. They will come to know their assigned cadaver intimately. During the course of their studies, they will carefully pull back layers of skin, muscle and tissue as they learn the fundamentals of human anatomy. When the long process of dissection is complete, the cadavers are cremated, with the remains returned to family, interred in a dedicated plot, scattered in a memorial garden or sometimes buried at sea. Historically, anatomy laboratories relied on unclaimed bodies or executed prisoners, and even resorted to grave-robbing to meet the growing demand for cadavers. Today, while ...