WRIIT - KOLUMN Magazine

Marie Scott Lynched in Wagoner County, Oklahoma | Equal Justice Initiative

April 1, 2020April 1, 2020African American History, Lynchings

On March 31, 1914, a white lynch mob in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, seized a 17-year-old black teenaged girl named Marie Scott from the local jail, dragged her screaming from her cell, and hanged her from a nearby telephone pole. Days before, a young white man named Lemuel Pierce was stabbed to death while he and […]

Virginia Teen Makes 3-D Printed Face Masks For Coronavirus Relief | Black Enterprise

March 31, 2020March 31, 2020African American Entrepreneurs, COVID-19

The global coronavirus pandemic, also called COVID-19, has brought mass closures and cancellations of events, businesses, and schools across the country and around the world. The viral outbreak has caused many to take necessary precautions to reduce their chance of infection by routinely washing their hands, disinfecting surfaces, and wearing face masks. The pandemic has caused panic around […]

The Black Girls Cheer Movement Empowers Young Cheerleaders of Color | Black Enterprise

March 8, 2020June 7, 2020African American Sports, KOLUMN Magazine

A movement to empower young black girls is gaining momentum, according to ABC News, thanks to Black Girls Cheer. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Sharita Richardson was and still is fond of cheerleading, a lifelong passion. The woman with roots in North Carolina started cheerleading in middle school. As a mother, she raised three daughters who cheered competitively. […]

Calls to boycott the black woman-owned Honey Pot Company backfired spectacularly | Fast Company

March 4, 2020June 7, 2020African American Entrepreneurs, Black Businesses

After deeming a Target ad for the feminine-product brand “racist,” some people attempted to trash the company online. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Target is consistent when it comes to branding itself as inclusive and supportive of small businesses. In February, for instance, Target celebrated Black History Month as it does every year, by highlighting a selection of […]

Goodbye, Columbus Day. CPS ends the holiday in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day — and parade organizers call it ‘a slap in the face.’ | Chicago Tribune

March 3, 2020June 7, 2020Native Americans

Columbus Day will no longer be observed in Chicago Public Schools — and the group behind the city’s annual Columbus Day parade is already pushing to reverse that decision. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] “This is a slap in the face of the more than 500,000 Italian Americans in Chicago, and the 135 million Italian Americans worldwide,” said […]

In 1918, A Black Man Avoided Lynching & Convinced The Mob To Donate To His School. | InspireMore

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020African American History, KOLUMN Magazine ...

His passion for his students was so strong that not even tornadoes, financial difficulties, or an attempted lynching could stop his work. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] In the dictionary, a hero is defined as “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” Oftentimes, heroes work tirelessly behind the scenes to give […]

Fannie Lou Hamer | PBS

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020African American History, Black History

Fannie Lou Hamer was born in 1917, the 20th child of Lou Ella and James Lee Townsend, sharecroppers east of the Mississippi Delta. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] She first joined her family in the cotton fields at the age of six. Although she managed to complete several years of school, by adolescence she was picking hundreds of […]

Black Boys Don’t Need More Discipline, They Need Mentors | Education Post

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020African American Commuities, African American Education

Black children’s pain is often criminalized or punished rather than treated. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] When I first met Chris, he was quiet—I could tell he was trying to figure out who I was, and who I could be in his life. The stories I heard about Chris did not align with the boy in front of […]

79 years of love: Virginia’s longest married couple celebrates another anniversary | WSLS 10 News

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020Black Love

A.J. and Lillie Reeves celebrate lifetime together [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] We Were Eight Years in Power Virginia’s longest married couple just celebrated another anniversary. A.J. and Lillie Reeves recently celebrated 79 years of marriage. The pair were married Jan. 25, 1941 in Sontag. The couple is from Truevine, where they’ve lived their entire life. The couple […]

Before Making Military History, She Witnessed One Of History’s Worst Race Riots | NPR WAMU 88.5

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020African American History, Black History ...

Olivia Hooker was a 6-year-old in Tulsa, Okla., when a race riot destroyed her community as well as her own home. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] In less than 24 hours, mobs of white men destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses in the Greenwood District, an affluent African American neighborhood of Tulsa. It’s estimated as many as […]