TUCSON, Arizona (AP) — When Oprah Winfrey chose the novel “American Dirt” for her book club, she imagined engaging in an impassioned television dialog about the narrative, which follows a Mexican mother and her son fleeing to the United States. Instead, Winfrey ended up organizing a show that put the book, author Jeanine Cummins and […]
HOUSTON (AP) — Martha Whiting-Goddard believes there’s power in voting — she’s seen it firsthand. Her great-grandfather, the Rev. John Henry “Jack” Yates, was one of a handful of freed slaves who founded Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in 1866, Houston’s oldest African American Baptist church. The church has historically helped shape the city’s political discourse, […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden has for weeks looked to the black voters of South Carolina to hand a win to his flagging campaign. On Saturday, they delivered. Biden won 61% of the votes cast by non-white voters, dominating a crowded Democratic field among a group that made up more than half of […]
CHICAGO (AP) — Imagine being so close to Martin Luther King Jr. as he gives one of the world’s most famous speeches that you notice the creases in his face and then realize the late civil rights leader is looking you square in the eye. That’s the intense personal moment organizers are striving for with […]
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — For James Felder, the question of which presidential candidate to support in the South Carolina primary has never been terribly complicated. The 80-year-old civil rights activist has always backed Joe Biden, appreciative of the eight years he spent as the No. 2 to the first black president. But when Felder opened […]
Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits for NASA’s early space missions and was later portrayed in the 2016 hit film “Hidden Figures,” about pioneering black female aerospace workers, has died. She was 101. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said on Twitter that she died Monday morning. No cause was given. Bridenstine […]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — In 1959, Ronald Erwin McNair walked into a South Carolina library. The 9-year-old aspiring astronaut wanted to check out a calculus book, but a librarian threatened to call the police if he didn’t leave. McNair was black. Years later, McNair was selected to become only the second African American to travel […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ja’Net DuBois, who played the vivacious neighbor Willona Woods on “Good Times” and composed and sang the theme song for “The Jeffersons,” has died. DuBois’ song “Movin’ on Up” provided a joyous intro to “The Jeffersons” during the show’s 10-season run. BernNadette Stanis, who played Thelma Evans Anderson on “Good Times” […]
CHICAGO (AP) — It has become one of the NBA’s most revered traditions: On the morning of the NBA All-Star Game, the league pays tribute to retired players with what is called the Legends Brunch. It brings together about 3,000 guests, and every year a recent retiree with ties to the game’s host city is […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Colin Kaepernick can add author and publisher to his resume. The former NFL quarterback who knelt during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality announced Thursday he’s writing a memoir through his own publishing company. It’s called Kaepernick Publishing, and the audio version of the currently untitled book […]