By Maya Pottiger, Word in Black Doomscrolling, or the habit of skimming through consecutive depressing news stories for extended lengths of time, has become something of a national pastime — and it’s easy to tune it all out or wonder if things really are as bad as they seem. But when it comes to student […]
Category: Word In Black
Posted inWord In Black
Only seven percent of teachers are Black– this project plans to change that
By Maya Pottiger, Word in Black It had been a crazy summer. And, at the end, Sharif El-Mekki was in tears. He was watching students perform in their end-of-the-year showcase, showing off the singing, dancing, and cultural skills they had learned during the summer of 2019. El-Mekki had worked in schools, both as a teacher […]
Posted inOPINION
Unions are relevant now more than ever
By Fred Redmond This month marks 55 years since the Memphis sanitation strike began following the deaths of two sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, who were crushed by a faulty garbage truck. Organizers and activists rallied the community so that Black sanitation workers who had long experienced low wages and an unsafe work […]
Posted inPrince George's County News
Bowie State University awarded $1.5 million to increase the pipeline of Black male educators
By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, msayles@afro.com The U.S. Department of Education’s Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program recently awarded more than $1.5 million to Bowie State University (BSU) to support the school’s Black Male Educators Project. The initiative strives to increase the number of Black male teachers in early childhood, elementary, secondary and […]
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Children with chronic disability deserve affordable, quality healthcare
By Anissa Durham, Word In Black No one is coming to save them. It should be no surprise families with chronically ill children are behind on rent. They are behind on bills. After all, the United States is the only wealthy nation without guaranteed universal health coverage. Our system simply isn’t set up to save […]
Posted inWord In Black
Are we finally getting after-school programs right?
By Maya Pottiger, Word In Black There’s some good education news: As students, parents, and educators work to make up for setbacks caused by virtual learning and the COVID-19 pandemic, extra academic help is getting to students who need it More than half — 56 percent— of public schools in the United States reported offering […]
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Researchers announce plan to end HIV in Black America
By Alexa Spencer, Word In Black Not enough has been done to end the HIV epidemic in Black America. That’s what Danielle Campbell, a researcher at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and member of PrEP in Black America (PIBA), believes. She’s worked to end HIV for over a decade. That’s long enough to see […]
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Top 5 memorable Black educators in TV and Film
By Laura Onyeneho, Word in Black As Black History continues to be under attack in public schools nationwide, it is difficult to ignore the plight of Black educators. Not only are they constantly under pressure to do their jobs, they also have to do them while trying to keep a positive attitude and elevating the […]
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NFL has been slow to embrace mental health support for players
By Mark Kreidler, Word In Black When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field in the middle of the “Monday Night Football” game in Cincinnati on Jan. 2, Carrie Hastings, half a continent away, understood what she needed to do — and right away. “I had a few guys […]
Posted inNEWS
3 reasons the local Black press has a strong future
By John Celestand andRobert Walker-Smith Black History Month — which evolved from “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans — is known as the annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Although we mostly concentrate […]
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The case for arts education
By Maya Pottiger, Word In Black Arts education changed the course of Fedrick C. Ingram’s life. In ninth grade, while living in housing projects in Miami, Ingram, a saxophone player, planned to enlist in the military. But his band director, William McKenzie, saw an “academic way” about him and encouraged him to go to college, […]
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The HBCU dilemma: is it okay to air our dirty laundry?
By Tashala K. Quick, Word In Black “What goes on in this house, stays in this house!” As a child, I knew this meant I was not supposed to share the inner happenings of our household to just anyone. When folks outside our family inquired about something as simple as what I had for dinner, […]