February commemorates the annual celebration of Black History Month, which highlights the important contributions by people of African descent. Each year, however, we discover that there are many more black individuals and groups that significantly contributed to today’s world, yet remain unacknowledged in today’s history lessons. Black people have made (and continue to make) considerable…
February commemorates the annual celebration of Black History Month, which highlights the important contributions by people of African descent. Each year, however, we discover that there are many more black individuals and groups that significantly contributed to today’s world, yet remain unacknowledged in today’s history lessons. Black people have made (and continue to make) considerable…
By Noni Marshall When the D.C. Council recently repealed a bill that aimed to end the so-called “tipped minimum wage,” it rejected a measure that 55 percent of Washington voters had approved only a few months earlier. However, the vote to kill Initiative 77 is being applauded by those most affected: servers and restaurant owners….
By Jessica O’Donnell WASHINGTON — As more states move to pass strict voter ID laws, cries of voter suppression have grown louder. But that’s not really new: Voter suppression in the U.S. is as old as the nation itself. From the beginning, white women and enslaved black people were barred from the polls. After the…
By Judayah Murray For many years, there has been a fierce debate over whether or not whipping a child for discipline should actually be considered child abuse. Many people spank their children as a way to teach them right from wrong. And they believe it works, too. Twenty-year-old Terrence Lanham admits that he was in…
By Alexa Imani Spencer Cathay Williams is history’s only known female Buffalo Soldier, according to the National Park Service. In 1866, she enlisted in the United States Army under the pseudonym “William Cathay,” becoming the first known black woman to enlist in the Army and the only documented African-American woman to serve as a soldier…
BLACK HISTORY: Activists of the Past and Present By Judayah Murray Jackie Aina, a popular beauty YouTuber, is stepping up in the world and emerging as an important voice in the black community. Using her platforms of over 2 million subscribers on YouTube, 829,000 followers on Instagram and 280,000 followers on Twitter, Aina regularly distributes…
By Maya King Decades before Frederick Douglass published The North Star and more than a century prior to John H. Johnson’s Jet and Ebony magazines, freedmen Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm established Freedom’s Journal. Founded in 1827, the newspaper was the first to be written and published by black Americans, thus giving birth to…
By Niaja Smith WASHINGTON –The market for marijuana is booming. Seven states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use. An additional 22 states have made medical use of marijuana lawful. Along with buying marijuana to smoke, customers can now get cannabis-infused candy, cookies, brownies, sodas and cuisine prepared by specialized marijuana…
After nearly every major disaster, there are reports of businesses taking advantage of desperate and dazed consumers, jacking prices up by two or three times the normal cost for the basics. This year was no different. In the wake of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and, most recently, Maria, thousands of complaints of price gouging followed. Soon…