Ida B. Wells, Black journalist and suffragist, honored with new Barbie doll

By Adela Suliman, Washington Post Black American journalist, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells will have her likeness transformed into a Barbie doll to honor her historic achievements. Wells, who was born into slavery in Mississippi in 1862 during the Civil War, went on to break boundaries as a prominent suffragist fighting to expand…

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Louisiana Governor Pardons Homer Plessy From ‘Separate But Equal’ Ruling

By BET staff, BET News The landmark 1896 case solidified Jim Crow. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has pardoned Homer Adolph Plessy, of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling. According to CBS, Edwards signed the pardon during a ceremony outside the former rail station in New Orleans where Plessy was arrested 130 years ago for sitting in a white area…

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Wrongfully Accused: The Exoneration of Black People

By Noah A. McGee, The Root.com Experts explain why we ‘re seeing so many high-profile exonerations of Black people in the United States during the last few decades. In 2021, a total of 132 people received exonerations: 81 of them were Black. Just a decade ago in 2011, only 40 Black people were exonerated. Since 1989 there’s…

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Racism Declared A Public Health Crisis In New York

By Joshua Eferighe, BET News The declaration is to combat discrimination and racism in New York’s healthcare system. Racism is now a public health crisis in New York. The declaration is a part of a series of measures signed last week (December 23) by Governor Kathy Hochul in an effort to address the inequities in New York’s healthcare…

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Texas governor considers George Floyd pardon for 2004 conviction

By Associated Press, via The Grio Gov. Greg Abbott has yet to decide if he will issue the posthumous pardon. Doling out pardons is a holiday tradition for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who around every Christmas grants them to a handful of ordinary citizens, typically for minor offenses committed years or decades ago. But one name…

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Pioneering Black educator’s statue to replace Confederate statue at the Capitol

By Kynala Phillips, NBC News The statue of Mary McLeod Bethune, a civil rights activist born to former slaves, will represent Florida in the National Statuary Hall Collection, starting in 2022. Civil rights activist and Bethune-Cookman University founder Mary McLeod Bethune will soon make history again.  She will be the first Black person to represent…

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Trailblazing Black feminist and social critic bell hooks dies at 69

By Harrison Smith, Washington Post Trailblazing Black feminist bell hooks, whose graceful, probing and wide-ranging books sought to empower people of all races, classes and genders, anticipating and helping shape ongoing debates about justice and discrimination in the United States, died Dec. 15 at her home in Berea, Ky. She was 69. The cause was…

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