WHEN NADINE ASHFORD was 18 and a student at Prairie State College, she participated in a protest against the Vietnam War. School officials called the paddy wagon on them. Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. came to their rescue, defending their right to protest. At 74, Ashford takes a Pace bus from Ford Heights to […]
From breakbeats to the dance floor: How hip-hop and house revolutionized music and culture
Producers Fast Eddie and Joe Smooth mix at DJ International Studios in Chicago in 1990. Innovation was at the forefront of house and hip-hop. Raymond Boyd/Getty Images by Joycelyn Wilson, Georgia Institute of Technology There was a time when artists representing two of America’s biggest homegrown musical genres wouldn’t get a look in at the […]
Trump Administration targets Black pilots…Weaponizing lies about diversity
NNPA NEWSWIRE—Donald Trump and his hate-filled administration have launched another racist attack, this time aiming at Black pilots and diversity efforts in the aviation industry. In a stunning display of bigotry disguised as governance, Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum ordering the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to eliminate hiring policies designed to promote diversity, equity, and […]
Harvard under fire for slashing slavery initiative staff as Black History faces nationwide attacks
Harvard University abruptly terminated staff contributing to the research component of its Slavery Remembrance Program on January 23, leaving employees without notice and sparking outrage about the institution’s commitment to its $100 million Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative. The decision comes during a national wave of setbacks to diversity, equity, and inclusion […]
Nancy Leftenant-Colon, trailblazing Army nurse and Air Force veteran, dies at 104
Nancy Leftenant-Colon, the first Black woman to join the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after the military was desegregated in the 1940s, has died at the age of 104. She passed away earlier this month at a nursing home in New York. Known for quietly breaking barriers during her remarkable military career, Leftenant-Colon enjoyed a legacy […]
Democrats silent as Trump’s authoritarian grip tightens, leaving supporters outraged
JAIME HARRISON – DNC CHAIR Except for outspoken lawmakers Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Democrats have remained frustratingly silent as Donald Trump solidifies his grip on power. Despite his administration’s policies, a government funding freeze, and his allies pushing the racist and oppressive Project 2025 agenda onto Americans, Democratic leadership has […]
Federal threats against local officials who don’t cooperate with immigration orders could be unconstitutional − Justice Antonin Scalia ruled against similar plans
A fundamental tension exists between state and federal power in the United States that has not been resolved. Vladstudioraw via iStock/Getty Images Plus by Claire B. Wofford, College of Charleston President Donald Trump has begun to radically change how the U.S. government handles immigration, from challenging long-held legal concepts about who gets citizenship to using […]
Soaring wealth inequality has remade the map of American prosperity
New data highlights an increasing wealth divide across the United States. pick-uppath/Getty Images by Tom Kemeny, University of Toronto One need only glance at headlines about Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and other super-wealthy individuals to understand that wealth in America is increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Inequality is sharply on the rise. Until […]
Rereading Rembrandt: how the slave trade helped establish the golden age of Dutch painting
Detail from Rembrandt van Rijn’s painting Two African Men. Sailko/The Mauritshuis/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY by Caroline Fowler, Williams College The so-called golden age of Dutch painting in the 1600s coincided with an economic boom that had a lot to do with the transatlantic slave trade. But how did the slave trade shape the art market […]