By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr., AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Black national anthem was born more than a century ago, but the popular hymn within the African American community called “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has resurrected a beacon of hope during nationwide protests. In recent weeks, countless rallies were held from D.C. […]
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Posted inNEWS
From The Publisher: We.Are.Still.Here
“December 23, 1909 My dear Mr. Murphy: I have just read your very generous editorial bearing upon my new book, “The Story of the Negro.” I thank you for all that you have said. Booker T. Washington If the spirit moves you at some time, I wish you might say a word in your paper […]
Posted in!Front Page
REMEMBERING
It is our sacred duty to remember these and many others who have lost their lives in volatile interactions with police officers. Not only to remember, but to also call their names from time to time and tell the stories they can no longer tell. For many, the only record of their encounter is a […]
Posted in!Front Page
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
By Frederick Douglass Excerpted from his speech delivered before the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society, July 5, 1852 in Rochester, N.Y. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political […]
Posted inNEWS
Remembering the 1964 Murders of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner
By Donna Lewis Johnson For Blacks of a certain age, the May 25 knee-on-neck killing of George Floyd by a White police officer evokes that awful time in the summer of 1964 when young civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi by a Klan mob. Their dead bodies lay hidden in a […]
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Evers Fight Against Injustice Lives Through Current Athletes
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com In many respects Medgar Evers’ life has been defined more by his death than his impact on the fight against systemic racism in the United States. If Evers hadn’t been assassinated in 1963 – the same year Camelot ended with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy […]
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Revisiting Emmett Till: 65 Years Later: No Justice and Still No Peace
By Micha Green AFRO D.C. Editor mgreen@afro.com A 14-year-old from Chicago was lynched on August 28, 1955, in Mississippi for allegedly flirting with Carolyn Bryant, a White woman. While Emmett Till’s brutalized body and unrecognizable features became the face of the Civil Rights Movement, 65 years after his death, his murderers, Roy Bryant and J.W. […]
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OP-ED: Past Due Time for American Healthcare System to Protect Black Americans
By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., President and CEO, National Newspaper Publishers Association Today, Americans are facing unprecedented times. We are in the midst of a global pandemic, our country has fallen into an economic recession, and hundreds of thousands are protesting police brutality and racial injustice. But there is another epidemic in this country […]
Posted inUncategorized
President Trump Tweets Out White Power Message, Black Republican Senator Tim Scott Expresses Dismay
By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor In yet another social media moment invoking race in America, President Donald Trump retweeted a video of a supporter heard yelling, “White power!” The tweet displayed a video of a parade of supporters of the President riding golf carts through a retirement community in Florida called “The Villages.” […]
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Former Cop Who Placed Knee On Black Woman’s Neck Booked For Misconduct (video)
By N. Ali Early Another incident of police brutality against an African American has surfaced. According to the Miami Herald, Safiya Satchell was sitting in her Mercedes SUV when she was approached by an off duty police officer who was working as security for a strip club in the immediate proximity of the incident, which occurred on Jan. 14. Satchell […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Traci Braxton Starts Something New With ‘Crash and Burn’
By Rev. Dorothy Boulware Singer, reality show co-star and now, solo recording artist, Traci Braxton, stopped by the AFRO, Oct. 6. The Braxton sister who’s “second to the oldest,” who thought her personal dream had expired, finds herself singing a song to encourage others to keep theirs going. Her first album, Crash and Burn which dropped Oct. […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby formally inaugurated as UMBC’s first female president
By Tashi McQueen, AFRO Political Writer, tmcqueen@afro.com In a joyous celebration, Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby, the first woman to lead the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), was formally inaugurated. “I am truly grateful to be a part of this beloved community,” said Sheares Ashby, during her inauguration on April 27. “Thank you for the […]