Category: KOLUMN Magazine

Wilson Jerman, who first worked for Eisenhower and retired under the Obamas, has died aged 91 Tributes from former first families have rolled in after the death from Covid-19 of Wilson Jerman, a former White House butler who was a fixture in Washington under 11 presidents. Jerman, who was 91, started working as a cleaner […]

TULSA, Okla.  —   Jim Goodwin ran his thumb over the screen of his iPhone, reading a rough draft of a newspaper editorial. In 300 words, the author recounted one of the worst acts of racial violence in American history and offered a stark suggestion to Tulsa officials as the 100th anniversary of the massacre approaches: Don’t […]

Michelle Duster, author, educator, and the great-granddaughter of pioneering journalist and activist Ida B. Wells, announced that she will be publishing a biography about her great-grandmother’s extraordinary life and career. Ida B. the Queen is slated to be released in February 2021, according to One Signal Publishers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. “After working on various projects […]

The word backlash gained popularity in the summer of 1963, when, after dallying on the issue for the first two years of his presidency, President John F. Kennedy proposed significant civil-rights legislation. In response, the word, which had primarily denoted the recoil of a fishing line, was repurposed, usually as “white backlash,” to refer to opposition to […]

A massive collection of books, films, and documents; photos; pieces of our past that were well hidden, are among thousands of artifacts devoted to America’s Black history and found in the garage of Mayme Agnew Clayton (1923–2006) just after her death. Her son, Avery Clayton, worked to create “a museum and research institute that would […]

Covellite International Film Festival alumnus Charles Perry aims to shed light on African American rodeo culture through his upcoming documentary “The Black Cowboy” — and now, thanks to a grant from the Montana Film Office, part of that story will be told in Montana. Perry first hit the Butte scene when he attended the film […]

This mother-daughter duo is making history together as the first-ever to graduate from medical school at the same time and match at the same hospital. The University of Medicine and Health Sciences (UMHS) reports that Dr. Cynthia Kudji & daughter, Jasmine, both matched at LSU Health in Louisiana after receiving their medical degrees–Cynthia in Family Medicine and […]

On the evening of May 21 1961, more than 1,000 black residents and civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth attended a service at Montgomery’s First Baptist Church. The service, organized by Rev. Ralph Abernathy, was planned to support an interracial group of civil rights activists known as the […]

The lead scientist who is researching a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine tells STEM students to stay focused, have a true career support team and to let their own good work be a voice to critics. Viral immunologist Kizzmekia Corbett is the scientific lead for the Coronavirus Vaccine Program at the Vaccine Research Center. The center is […]

Black women from across the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County released demands on May 15 of state and local leadership to prioritize early childhood education providers in pandemic response.  “There is no reopening our economy without the individuals and centers that care for babies and children while their parents are at work,” […]