In documenting the history and experience of African-Americans, the Simpson collection also records and depicts acts of racism, oppression, and violence; though they are sometimes unpleasant and even shocking, such materials represent significant aspects America’s complicated history.
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They called him Bunchy, like a bunch of greens | San Francisco Bay View
“When they killed Bunchy, they killed the Party – we just didn’t know it at the time.” – Roland Freeman, member of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party.
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Basquiat Left School at 17—and Made New York Museums His Classroom | Artsy
By the time Basquiat was included in the “Times Square Show,” he’d begun to talk about his influences: a pantheon of artist-heroes he’d encountered over many years of museum visits.
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The Long History of Black Officers Reforming Policing From Within | The Atlantic
Black Lives Matter and Donald Trump’s agenda are inspiring some police to more vocal advocacy. But their project—ending racial bias in the profession—is a decades-old one.
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United Flight 93 Co-pilot’s Wife Challenges View of What Happened Onboard on 9/11 | Skift (2013)
United Flight 93’s passengers got all of the media glory. The co-pilot’s widow doesn’t downplay their efforts, but gives the crew its due. — Dennis Schaal
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Rep. John Conyers, most senior member of House, resigns amid accusations of sexual harassment | Los Angeles Times
Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, resigned Tuesday after his support among fellow Democrats collapsed amid accusations of sexual harassment by several female employees.
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Carmen de Lavallade is 86 and still the best dancer in the room | The Washington Post
De Lavallade’s ability to express psychological meaning through her body, to disappear inside the choreography and mold herself to wildly different artistic styles, has been her life’s work.
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Watch: Eartha Kitt spoke truth at a White House luncheon, and got blacklisted | Timeline
Her simple, brutal words about the Vietnam war had the first lady in tears
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‘Father of Black Psychology’ Joseph L. White dies at 84 | AFRO
IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Joseph L. White, a psychologist, social activist and teacher who helped pioneer the field of Black psychology to counter what he saw as rampant ignorance and prejudice in the profession, has died. He was 84.
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Kehinde Wiley on Painting the Powerless. And a President. | The New York Times
LONDON — Early next year, a portrait of Barack Obama will go up on the walls of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, produced by an artist who was chosen by Mr. Obama himself in the closing months of his presidency.
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