African American History - KOLUMN Magazine

Freed from prison nine years ago, Brandon Flood is new secretary of Pa.’s pardon board | Will Bunch | The Philadelphia Inquirer

December 16, 2019December 16, 2019Criminal Justice Reform, Mass Incarceration

This column will probably come as something of a shock to all the people in Harrisburg who only know Brandon Flood – a bow-tied, bespectacled policy wonk with sartorial flair – as the persona that he laughingly calls “Urkel Brandon,” in a homage to one of TV’s most famous nerds. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Flood, now 36, […]

Who was Olaudah Equiano – and why was his story of slavery so important? | History Extra

December 16, 2019December 16, 2019African American History, Black History

Kidnapped, torn from his family as a child, and sold as a slave, Olaudah Equiano’s story would become a bestseller of its time, and a catalyst for the abolition of slavery in Britain. Jonny Wilkes explores his story for BBC History Revealed [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Somewhere on the coast of what is now Nigeria, 11-year-old Olaudah […]

James ‘Radio’ Kennedy, football fixture who inspired a Hollywood movie, dies at 73 | CNN

December 16, 2019December 16, 2019KOLUMN Magazine

(CNN)James “Radio” Kennedy, the mentally disabled man whose importance to a South Carolina football team inspired the Hollywood movie “Radio,” died early Sunday at the age of 73, T.L. Hanna High School confirmed. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Eric Levenson,CNN Associated Press Sports Editors Full article @ CNN

Danny Glover, national activists converge on Evanston as city funds reparations with cannabis tax | Chicago Sun Times

December 14, 2019December 14, 2019Reparations, Slavery

The north suburb, with its historic passage last month of legislation creating a $10 million reparations fund seeded by cannabis sales, drew activists and scholars to a “Reparations Town Hall” Wednesday night, keynoted by actor Danny Glover. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Actor Danny Glover told an Evanston town hall Wednesday night the Chicago suburb will go down […]

Honoring the ‘Green Book’: A life-saving travel guide for African Americans during segregation | WMCAction News 5

December 10, 2019December 10, 2019African American History, Black History

‘If you wandered into a place where African Americans are not welcome…you could end up actually being killed’

‘I Got Tired of Hunting Black and Hispanic People’ | The New York Times

December 9, 2019KOLUMN Magazine

Multiple police officers in Brooklyn say they were told by a commander that white and Asian people should be left alone.

Found: The Oldest-Known Photograph of Enslaved African Americans With Cotton | Atlas Obscura

December 6, 2019January 15, 2020African American History, Black History

The daguerreotype records their faces, but not their names.

Harry and Sidney: Soul Brothers | The New York Times

December 4, 2019December 16, 2019African American Entertainment, African American History

Please allow me to divert my gaze for one day away from our national political darkness and toward two national rays of light. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Monday is Sidney Poitier’s 90th birthday. His best friend of 70 years, Harry Belafonte, turns 90 on March 1. This is an ode to and appreciation of the friendship — […]

Sen. Kamala D. Harris is ending presidential bid | The Washington Post

December 3, 2019December 3, 2019African American Politics

Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California announced that she is ending her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] In a note to supporters, Harris wrote that “my campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue.”“It is with deep regret — but also with deep gratitude— that I am […]

Alabama unveils statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks | AP News

December 2, 2019December 2, 2019African American History, Black History

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A new statue of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was dedicated in Alabama’s capital city on Sunday, the 64th anniversary of her historic refusal to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey pulled back a cloth to […]