Mavis Staples may be best known as one of the most dynamic gospel and soul singers of all time, but her involvement in the civil rights movement was just as important as her powerful voice. The vocalist and activist continues to add to her vibrant legacy as she is set to celebrate her 75th birthday […]
This weekend is the 60th anniversary of the historic Brown V. Board Of Education Of Topeka, the court decision that marked the beginning of the end to legal segregation in public schools. But efforts to end racially segregated schools happened far before the May 17, 1954 Supreme Court ruling that outlawed it at last. Segregated […]
The Freedom Rides were part of a series of protests against the outlawed practice of bus segregation conducted primarily by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The first ride began on May 4, 1961, with a group of “Freedom Riders” leaving Washington, D.C. The Freedom Riders, a collective of Black and White civil rights activists […]
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton used the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act to criticize efforts in several states to restrict…
Franklin McCain was a U.S. civil rights leader who, with three other students, is credited with starting the lunch-counter sit-ins to protest Jim Crow laws at restaurant establishments in America. The four students earned the name the “Greensboro Four.” McCain was a student at North Carolina A&T when he and other black student activists chose […]
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Franklin McCain, who helped spark a movement of nonviolent sit-in protests across the South by occupying a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in 1960, has died, his son said Friday. He was 73. McCain died of respiratory complications late Thursday, Frank McCain of Greensboro said Friday. Franklin McCain was one of four […]
Willie Mae Kirk, also known as “Ankie,” of Austin, TX, was a civil rights leader who led black students in protest against injustice in the 1940’s. Ms. Kirk worked as a teacher in Austin schools for 32 years. Among her battles was discrimination in public venues of Austin and voter registration. She was the mother […]
ATLANTA (AP) — Evelyn Lowery, a pioneer in civil rights and women’s empowerment and the wife of the Rev. Joseph Lowery, died Thursday at her home in Georgia, a family spokeswoman said. Family spokeswoman Diane Larche said the 88-year-old Lowery died Thursday morning. She had been hospitalized since Sept. 18 after suffering a severe stroke […]
It was 50 years ago this week that I fell madly in love with Denise McNair. That love was unrequited. If you don’t immediately recognize the name Denise McNair, perhaps you will if it’s mentioned with three others. Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley. Those were the “four little girls” killed in the […]
From the pulpit to the parks, the city of Birmingham this week is looking for thousands of people to visit that city this week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of one of the most horrific acts of racial violence in the nation’s history and to see how the city has changed. On September 15, 1963, […]
Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington when over 200,000 people heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message. Many are familiar with his famous speeches, but only eight students had the privilege of receiving one-on-one instruction from Dr. King. In 1962, during his tenure at Morehouse College, Dr. King taught eight students […]
As a co-host for “Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton,” a nationally syndicated radio show, I listened respectfully when a black caller questioned the reasoning for Saturday’s March on Washington. Why attend another rally, he asked. Why call for another mass gathering for black protestors? Why bother? In fact, the caller said, Saturday’s march would […]
