Sunday, January 12

Tag: black

Black Girls And Their Communities, Celebrate Prom Send-Offs
No Comments
EDUCATION

Black Girls And Their Communities, Celebrate Prom Send-Offs

Danielle Nolen sat in her living room, looking glamorous in a baby blue robe and trying to preserve her new regal hairstyle as her family decorated the backyard in black and gold in anticipation of her grand appearance. Her grandmother began fanning her to keep her from sweating off her makeup as the day grew more humid. Once everything was in place outside, the women in her family made their way back to the living room, where they helped her into her emerald gown. As her mother made the final adjustments and zipped the back of the gown, we all sat back in amazement at how radiant she looked in her ensemble. We then gathered family and friends in front of Danielle’s home to await her appearance. The DJ cued up her favorite song. A wicker chair awaited her on the porch, but it might as we...
Read More
Black Women Continue To Face High Unemployment As Labor Market Sees Modest Gains
No Comments
SOCIAL JUSTICE

Black Women Continue To Face High Unemployment As Labor Market Sees Modest Gains

The unemployment rate for Black women in February was 8.9 percent, and for Latinas it was 8.5 percent. For White women, it was 5.2 percent. Chabeli Carrazana Originally published by The 19th While the labor market made modest gains in February, Black women continue to be left behind. They were the only group of women who saw their unemployment rate rise significantly in February — up to 8.9 percent from 8.5 percent in January — and the only group of women that lost workers in the labor force. Some 11,000 Black women left the workforce last month, while other groups added thousands of workers, according to new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. Overall, the economy added 379,000 jobs last month — a slight bump in what has been months of stalled growth. Since Sep...
Read More
From Inner-City Philly To Small-Town Texas – For Black Cowboys – Horses And Riding Are A Way Of Life
No Comments
IN OTHER NEWS

From Inner-City Philly To Small-Town Texas – For Black Cowboys – Horses And Riding Are A Way Of Life

Photographer Ron Tarver grew up in Fort Gibson, a small town in Oklahoma where horses, cattle and Wrangler jeans were embedded into the rhythms of everyday life. His grandfather was a cowboy admired for his roping abilities, and many of his family members owned ranches in the area. But he wanted, he told me, “to get away from horses,” and in 1983, he landed a job as a staff photojournalist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he found himself drawn to a range of subjects, from storefront churches to star jump-ropers. Then, in the early 1990s, he photographed North Philadelphia’s drug culture, spending periods of time living in heroin dens and crack houses. Burned out from the despairing subject matter, he decided that for his next undertaking, he wanted to do something that would lift his...
Read More
Black Poets And Writers How They Gave A Voice To ‘Affrilachia’
No Comments
SOCIAL JUSTICE

Black Poets And Writers How They Gave A Voice To ‘Affrilachia’

Appalachia, in the popular imagination, stubbornly remains poor and white. Open a dictionary and you’ll see Appalachian described as a “native or inhabitant of Appalachia, especially one of predominantly Scotch-Irish, English, or German ancestry.” Read J.D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” and you’ll enter a world that’s white, poor and uncultured, with few, if any, people of color. But as Black poets and scholars living in Appalachia, we know that this simplified portrayal obscures a world that is far more complex. It has always been a place filled with diverse inhabitants and endowed with a lush literary history. Black writers like Effie Waller Smith have been part of this cultural landscape as far back as the 19th century. Today, Black writers and poets continue to explore what it means to ...
Read More
Another Blow To Black And Latino Students – Ending Testing For New York City’s Gifted Program
No Comments
EDUCATION, Journalism

Another Blow To Black And Latino Students – Ending Testing For New York City’s Gifted Program

After years of relying on a single controversial test at age 4 for admission to their gifted programs, New York City schools are about to embark upon a new way to identify gifted students. The city’s Department of Education announced in February that it would stop testing students for its gifted program, which places top students in schools with curriculum designed for high academic achievement. Instead, preschool teachers will refer students for consideration. The city’s new schools chancellor, Meisha Porter, who was named to that post March 15, has said that overhauling the gifted and talented system is one of her top priorities. That means the new system likely won’t be long-term, though there’s still reason to be concerned. Research has shown that teacher referrals tend to lead to fe...
Read More
5 Essential Reads On Police Violence Against Black Men: As The Derek Chauvin Trial Begins In George Floyd Murder Case
No Comments
VIDEO REELS

5 Essential Reads On Police Violence Against Black Men: As The Derek Chauvin Trial Begins In George Floyd Murder Case

The trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd is underway in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chauvin, who is white, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with the death of George Floyd, who was Black, during an arrest last May. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, Floyd – handcuffed and face down on the pavement – said repeatedly that he could not breathe, while other officers looked on. A video of Floyd’s agonizing death soon went viral, triggering last summer’s unprecedented wave of mass protests against police violence and racism. Chauvin’s murder trial is expected to last up to four weeks. These five stories offer expert analysis and key background on police violence, Derek Chauvin’s record and racism in U.S. law ...
Read More
The Racial Trust Gap – Black Students Have Far Less Trust In Their Colleges Than Other Students Do
No Comments
EDUCATION

The Racial Trust Gap – Black Students Have Far Less Trust In Their Colleges Than Other Students Do

Black undergraduates consistently said they trusted the people who run the colleges they attend – and society overall – substantially less than their white peers did. We have termed this difference the racial trust gap, and it was not a trivial difference. The trust gaps we observed were of a size rarely seen in education research. We also observed sizable trust gaps for Asian and Latino students, relative to white students. However, the magnitude of the differences were up to three times larger for Black students. Our study results tell us a lot not only about how college students trust, but also which individuals on campus they trust the least (“Not at all” or “Very little”). Campus leadership – that is, presidents, provosts, deans – are the least trusted personnel on college campuses ...
Read More
In The 19th Century Black People Used Photography As A Tool For Social Change
No Comments
SOCIAL JUSTICE

In The 19th Century Black People Used Photography As A Tool For Social Change

Frederick Douglass is perhaps best known as an abolitionist and intellectual. But he was also the most photographed American of the 19th century. And he encouraged the use of photography to promote social change for Black equality. In that spirit, this article – using images from the David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan – examines different ways Black Americans from the 19th century used photography as a tool for self-empowerment and social change. Black studio portraits Speaking about how accessible photography had become during his time, Douglass once stated: “What was once the special and exclusive luxury of the rich and great is now the privilege of all. The humblest servant girl may now possess a picture o...
Read More
Black Cartographers Put Racism On The American Map
No Comments
SOCIAL JUSTICE

Black Cartographers Put Racism On The American Map

How can maps fight racism and inequality? The work of the Black Panther Party, a 1960s- and 1970s-era Black political group featured in a new movie and a documentary, helps illustrate how cartography – the practice of making and using maps – can illuminate injustice. As these films show, the Black Panthers focused on African American empowerment and community survival, running a diverse array of programming that ranged from free school breakfasts to armed self-defense. Cartography is a less documented aspect of the Panthers’ activism, but the group used maps to reimagine the cities where African Americans lived and struggled. In 1971 the Panthers collected 15,000 signatures on a petition to create new police districts in Berkeley, California – districts that would be governed by local ...
Read More
Black And Hispanic Small-Business Owners Have Been So Badly Hit In The Pandemic Recession
No Comments
IN OTHER NEWS

Black And Hispanic Small-Business Owners Have Been So Badly Hit In The Pandemic Recession

The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on Main Street, with small businesses across the U.S. closing by the thousands. But as bad as the overall scene is, for minority-owned businesses the picture is even bleaker. A survey released on Jan. 27 by advocacy group Small Business Majority found that almost 1 in 5 Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs expected to permanently close their business over the course of the next three months – a rate higher than for white business owners. It comes on the back of a report by the Federal Reserve of Cleveland that suggested that the impact of the coronavirus could be over two times larger for Black- and Hispanic-owned businesses than for white-owned enterprises. As scholars who research racial inequities and entrepreneurship, we know that even before the pande...
Read More