Sunday, January 12

Tag: black

Black Churches In Philadelphia Overcame Disease, Depression And Civil Strife
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Religion

Black Churches In Philadelphia Overcame Disease, Depression And Civil Strife

The Black Church is an institution that was forged in crises. Through slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation and the civil rights era, the network of places of worship serving traditionally Black congregations has seen its fair share of traumatic events. In 2016, the Rev. Robert Franklin, former president of Morehouse College, acknowledged as much in a speech on urban ministries: “Disruption is the question, but the radical love ethic of Jesus is the response.” And that was before 2020 delivered the COVID-19 pandemic, the related economic crisis and the global movement for Black Lives – forcing Black churches to find new ways to worship and serve their communities. As a scholar who looks at how the Black Church engages with the community, I believe looking at how the institution ...
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Why Black Biomedical Scientists Still Lag In Research Funding Matters To All Americans
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Journalism

Why Black Biomedical Scientists Still Lag In Research Funding Matters To All Americans

The statistics tell the story. People of color are more likely to be infected, hospitalized and killed by COVID-19 than white, non-Hispanic people. This grim reality is just one more illustration of an unacceptable truth: Science does not benefit all Americans equally. While part of the solution lies in making access to health care more equitable, I believe the key to real change is more fundamental. If science is to benefit all Americans, science first must be done by all Americans. As a Black woman in America and an academic biomedical engineering researcher, I have encountered racial, ethnic and gender discrimination and systemic racism at every stage of my life and career. Through these lived experiences, I have become deeply committed to addressing the “diversity problem” in the aca...
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A Long History Of Medical Abuse Suggests Why Many Black Americans Aren’t Rushing To Get The COVID-19 Vaccine
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COVID-19

A Long History Of Medical Abuse Suggests Why Many Black Americans Aren’t Rushing To Get The COVID-19 Vaccine

Black Americans have been the least inclined of any racial or ethnic group to say they’d get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The proportion of Black people who said they’ll probably or definitely take the shot has risen over time – but even by mid-January, with two COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S., only 35% of Black survey respondents said they’d get it as soon as they could, or already had gotten the shot. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately harmed Black, Indigenous and other people of color in comparison to white members of American society. With Black Americans being hospitalized at rates 2.9 times higher than white Americans and dying from COVID-19 at rates 1.9 times higher, you might assume that Black people would be lining u...
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The Famous ‘Doll Test’ That Looked At How Black Kids See Race, Recreated, This Is What I Learned
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EDUCATION

The Famous ‘Doll Test’ That Looked At How Black Kids See Race, Recreated, This Is What I Learned

Back in the 1940s, Kenneth and Mamie Clark – a husband-and-wife team of psychology researchers – used dolls to investigate how young Black children viewed their racial identities. They found that given a choice between Black dolls and white dolls, most Black children preferred to play with white dolls. They ascribed positive characteristics to the white dolls but negative characteristics to the Black ones. Then, upon being asked to describe the doll that looked most like them, some of the children became “emotionally upset at having to identify with the doll that they had rejected.” The Clarks concluded that Black children – as a result of living in a racist society – had come to see themselves in a negative light. Kenneth Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark in 1945. Washington Area Spark/flick...
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Public Schools Have Fail To Recognize Black Prodigies
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EDUCATION, VIDEO REELS

Public Schools Have Fail To Recognize Black Prodigies

Amid numerous articles about how Black students lag behind others in educational achievement, occasionally you may hear about a young Black “prodigy” who got accepted into college at an early age. According to Donna Y. Ford, an education professor at The Ohio State University, there could be far more Black prodigies. But it would take the right support from families, who may not be familiar with some of the characteristics of gifted students and the existence of gifted programs, and educators, who often overlook the talents of Black students. Indeed, while Black students represent 15.5% of the student population in the U.S., they represent only 9.9% of all students in gifted and talented programs. In the following Q&A with education editor Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Professor Ford – who has be...
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At The Forefront Of Black Achievement For More Than A Century Have Stood Black Sororities
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VIDEO REELS

At The Forefront Of Black Achievement For More Than A Century Have Stood Black Sororities

In her speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention Kamala Harris saluted seven women who “inspired us to pick up the torch and fight on.” All but two of them, one of whom was her mother, belonged to Black sororities. Harris also mentioned her own Black sorority, saying: “Family is my beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha.” Many Americans may have wondered why Harris would invoke sororities on such an occasion. But not me. Like her, I am a proud member of a Black sorority: Delta Sigma Theta, which I joined as a student at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. If I were in Harris’ shoes, accepting such an unprecedented leadership role, I, too, would have paid homage to my sorority as a way to thank those on whose shoulders I stand. This shoutout also resonated with me because I have resea...
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50 Years Ago A Shootout Happen Between Black Panthers And Law Enforcement And Why It Matters Today
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

50 Years Ago A Shootout Happen Between Black Panthers And Law Enforcement And Why It Matters Today

In the early hours of Feb. 10, 1971, police surrounded a property in High Point, North Carolina, where members of the Black Panther Party lived and worked. In the ensuing shootout, a Panther and a police officer were both wounded. Members of the Black Panther Party outside the High Point property raided by police. Sonny Hedgecock/High Point Enterprise, CC BY-SA The incident did not receive much national attention at the time – armed conflict of this type was relatively common during the late 1960s and early 1970s. But 50 years on, as the U.S. reckons with a year that saw militarized police confront Black Lives Matter protesters and fail to prevent an attack on the U.S. Capitol, I believe the circumstances of this shootout are relevant today. As a historian who has interviewed participan...
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Making Black Lives Matter During COVID
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COVID-19

Making Black Lives Matter During COVID

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unveil the deficiencies in all of our systems, racial disparities—particularly the disproportionate number of Black people dying—top the list. The staggering statistics keep pouring in, dispelling an earlier rumor among some in Black communities that Black people are somehow immune to contracting the disease. But more importantly, the high numbers highlight the health care inequities in the United States. “Inequities have existed for generations, and it’s something we cannot ignore,” Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist says. “The disparity and mortality rate with COVID-19 are more urgent because people [can] die within a month of contracting the virus.” In Michigan, Gilchrist’s home state, the African American population is 14%. Yet, as of mid-April, ...
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Shut Out From The Whitewashed World Of Children’s Literature – Black Kids Took Matters Into Their Own Hands
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Journalism

Shut Out From The Whitewashed World Of Children’s Literature – Black Kids Took Matters Into Their Own Hands

Hanging on the wall in my office is the framed cover of the inaugural issue of The Brownies’ Book, a monthly periodical for Black youths created by W.E.B. Du Bois and other members of the NAACP in 1920. A newspaper boy hawks copies of the Chicago Defender. Library of Congress The magazine – the first of its kind – includes poems and stories that speak of Black achievement and history, while also showcasing children’s writing. Although much of American children’s literature published near the turn of the last century – and even today – filters childhood through the eyes of white children, The Brownies’ Book gave African American children a platform to explore their lives, interests and aspirations. And it reinforced what 20th-century American literature scholar Katharine Capshaw has descr...
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How White Co-Workers And Managers Can Support Black People And Be An Antidote To Systemic Racism
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

How White Co-Workers And Managers Can Support Black People And Be An Antidote To Systemic Racism

President Joe Biden committed the U.S. government to racial equity by issuing four executive orders on Jan. 26 that seek to curb systemic racism. In the orders, he cited the killing of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked months of protests and prompted many U.S. companies to likewise commit themselves – and hundreds of billions of dollars – to helping Black Americans overcome institutional discrimination. Shortly after the protests began last year, we hosted a panel that addressed this very topic. Held on Juneteenth, the webinar featured four Black women – including one of us – who poignantly shared their own frequent encounters with racial bias in job interviews, shopping for clothes and even working with their peers. A common question we got from the predominantly white audience was so...
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