Breaking News! History in the Making

boyega_2

John Boyega Braces for Galactic Fame

By David Itzkoff, the New York Times […] Were they specifically looking for a nonwhite actor to play Finn? Everybody was being seen for all these roles. I would have been suspicious if it was only black people going in for Finn. I would have thought, “Oh, maybe there’s an active agenda there.” It looked…

baltimore_redux

‘We Need a Conviction’: Baltimore Reacts to Mistrial in Freddie Gray Case

Protesters turn out in frustration after Baltimore Police Officer William Porter’s trial ends with the jury deadlocked.

Sam's Club CEO Rosalind Brewer

Sam’s Club CEO’s Call For Diversity Provokes Angry Reaction

The chief executive of Sam’s Club is being criticized this week for articulating the need for more diversity at the top in corporate America.

Supreme Court Justices (L to R): Thomas, Sotomayor, Scalia, Breyer, Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, Kagan, Ginsberg

Supreme Court Justice Scalia Is Wrong About Affirmative Action

Graduation rates for students of color rise when they attend more selective schools.

Being Black And Loud Is Necessary, One Poet Demands

“This can’t be the land of the free and home of the brave only for some.” By Taryn Finley, The Huffington Post Black voices should never be silenced. This was April Wells’ message in her poem “Loud Voices,” which she performed at the Get Lit Classic Slam in Southern California. The teen shunned the notion that…

noose

Man guilty of hanging a noose is jailed over new yard sign

A Virginia man was arrested for a second time after he put up a sign in front of his home that read “N—– lives don’t matter. Got rope?” Jack Turner was convicted in September of hanging a noose with a dark-colored, life-sized dummy in his front yard, apparently stimulated by an ongoing dispute with his black neighbors.

“Black Nativity” by Langston Hughes – December 10-13, 2015

The Hansberry-Sands Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, presents Black Nativity, a musical by renown poet Langston Hughes, at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, December 10-12, 2015.

How Rosa Parks’ Legacy Lives On In The Black Lives Matter Movement

Rosa Parks would believe that #BlackLivesMatter, too. By Zeba Blay, the Huffington Post Sixty years ago on this day, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus and settled in to American history. We’ve seen the iconic pictures of Parks getting booked at the police station, or later staged seated on…

A protest sign in Minneapolis, photographed hours before gunmen opened fire on a predominantly Black crowd.

To Be Black Is To Never, Ever Feel Safe

Last Monday’s shooting in Minneapolis revealed a devastating truth about living while black.

Protecting history: Meet MKE’s rare books librarian (and ABHM Board member)

Maria Cunningham is Milwaukee Public Library’s new Rare Books Librarian and a member of the Board of Directors of the Dr. James Cameron Legacy Foundation, which operates ABHM. She talks about her early fascination with rare books and what excites her about the job.

INOVA Gallery Shows Work by Artist and ABHM Volunteer, Jenna Knapp

Jenna Knapp is an artist, activist, and ABHM volunteer. This article highlights her 2015 art exhibit at INOVA Gallery and shows some of her pieces in which she uses text, movement and video to probe the relationship between race and media representation.

WhiteUnion

More than 30 purported ‘White Student Unions’ pop up across the country

As of Tuesday morning, there are roughly 30 Facebook pages purporting to represent some form of a “White Students Union,” all of which were created within the past few days.

Fighting Poverty, Plagued by Violence: Why 10,000 Black Women in Brazil Marched for Their Rights

Black women from all over Brazil, of different backgrounds, education and socioeconomic status, came together to protest widespread inequality. BY KIRATIANA FREELON, The Root They were lawyers, feminists, Christians, transgender women, domestic workers, militants, favela dwellers, politicians, students and many more. Despite their differences in beliefs, education and income, on Wednesday they came together behind the…

Dr. Malveaux is a labor economist, noted author, and commentator for ABC, BET, CNN, Fox News, LA Times, NBC, PBS, and USA Today. During her time as the President of Bennett College for Women, Dr. Malveaux was the architect of exciting and innovative transformation at America’s oldest historically black college for women.

ABHM’s Reggie Jackson Receives “Eliminating Racism Award”

The YWCA of Southeast Wisconsin presents ABHM Head Griot Reggie Jackson with its 2015 Eliminating Racism Award at its annual Evening to Promote Racial Justice. Included is Reggie’s bio and story of how he became involved in this work.

victim

White Americans long for the 1950s, when they didn’t face so much discrimination

In a new poll released by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) on Tuesday, a whopping 43 percent of Americans told researchers that discrimination against whites has become as large a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minority groups.

Campus Racism Protests Didn’t Come Out Of Nowhere, And They Aren’t Going Away Quickly

Mizzou seems to have catalyzed years of tension over inequality and race. Tyler Kingkade, Lilly Workneh, Ryan Grenoble, The Huffington Post If there’s one thing University of Missouri senior Alanna Diggs thinks people are getting wrong about campus racism protests, it’s the assumption that they’re something new. The demonstrations at Mizzou this month…partly over how they handled…

Residents of Poor Neighborhoods See More Than Their Share of Costly Municipal Citations

By Brendan O’Brien, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service Johnny Ruffin reached into his wallet and pulled out $35…defiantly displaying most of the money he had to his name for anyone to see. About 10 minutes earlier, Ruffin explained his financial plight to a Milwaukee Municipal Court judge who had none of it, telling him that he…

Washington Redskins quarterbacks Robert Griffin III (L) and Kirk Cousins.

Racism Between the Goal Posts

New research finds black quarterbacks are benched far more often than their white counterparts.

Black Student Activists Stand Against Racist Cultures on Campus

From Yale to Missouri, college campuses are becoming ground zero in challenging white supremacy and institutional racism. By Peniel E. Joseph, The Root The radical spirit of the Black Lives Matter movement touched college campuses this past week in high-profile demonstrations against a culture of racism infecting higher education. The University of Missouri in Columbia…has…

Ferguson Police Seek To Restore Trust With New Initiative

The neighborhood program calls for teams of officers to be assigned to a specific area, where they would build relationships with residents and businesses.

Mississippi flag backer accused of tossing bomb in Walmart

A man known for flying a 4-foot-long Mississippi state flag on his car has been accused of bombing a Walmart in Tupelo because the chain stopped selling the flag.