Local Archives (67)
Wendy Carson Smith, Julia Hudson Audrey Hinton, Jack H. Olender, Rev. Reginald Green, and Frank Smith celebrate the grand reopening of the African American Civil War Museum, as Council Member, Yvette Alexander looks on. / Photo by Roy LewisA museum that is designed to showcase the contributions of Blacks in the military service during the Civil War is commended for its efforts to educate the public on an unknown chapter in American history.
The African American Civil War Museum in Northwest celebrated its grand opening from Sat., July 16-Mon., July 18. Lucille Tomkins of Bowie, Md., could hardly contain her excitement.
"I am here because I love history," Tompkins, 80, said. "I am here to see and hear a new approach to history."
The effort to recognize the contributions of Blacks who served in the Union military during the Civil War started in 1993, when sculpturist Ed Hamilton was commissioned by the D.C. Commission on the Arts to create a piece that reflected soldiers and sailors, as a memorial. The bronze sculpture was presented in 1998 and there are names of the Blacks who served emblazoned on the structure. More than 200,000 Black service-members participated in the Civil War, some were "contraband" a term used for runaway slaves who secured their freedom by fighting for the Union.
Soon those in need of temporary cash assistance in Florida will be forced to undergo drug testing. / Courtesy photoRepublican Florida Governor Rick Scott recently signed into law a bill requiring adults applying for temporary cash assistance to undergo drug screening. His rationale is to increase personal accountability and prevent Florida's tax dollars from subsidizing drug addiction, while still providing for needy children. Parents failing the required drug test may designate another individual to receive the benefits on behalf of the children.
"While there are certainly legitimate needs for public assistance, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction," Governor Scott said. "This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars."
Written by By Nisa Islam Muhammad-Special to the NNPA from The Final Call
Go-Go artist Chuck Brown performs in support of D.C. Statehood at a recent rally. / Photo by Khalid Naji-AllahRisking Jail for D.C. Statehood
Since April 11 of this year, 75 D.C. citizens have been arrested in the cause for our right to fully participate, at the federal level, in the shaping of laws and policies that govern our lives. I have been one of those arrested. Many have asked, 'Why'?
That inquiry reminded me of the words of renowned poet Langston Hughes, "I, too, am America. I am the darker brother."
Our young men and women, on bitter cold nights, caress their rifles in the Hills of Afghanistan, and on hot steamy days, on the sands of Iraq. While in those far-away places, they, too, are America. They are no different than other young men and women from every state in the United States. Yet, when they come home, back to Washington, D.C., they are different. They assume, once again, a second class status.
Nearly 300 teachers lost their jobs last Friday because they scored poorly on evaluations.
DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson used IMPACT evaluations to release 288 teachers from their contracts. / Courtesy photo"They had been given a year to improve," said District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Kaya Henderson of the 288 people released, but they fell short."
In all, 413 DCPS employees received separation notices based both on performance and non-compliance with licensure requirements. Of the 288, 113 teachers received ineffective ratings and 175 others received minimally effective ratings for the second year in a row.
"This moves out ineffective teachers. If you are rated ineffective, you are saying goodbye to DCPS right away," Henderson said in an interview Friday, July 15. "Everybody will receive the final scores today. Teachers also have the right to resign or retire."
For the past two years, District teachers have been evaluated using a $4 million tool called IMPACT. It was developed by Henderson when she was deputy chancellor, under the direction of former Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
"When we got here it was very clear that teacher evaluations were not giving us the information we needed," Henderson, 40, said. "We looked at a number of models, many [of] which had strong components. We sat down, reached out to external folks all over the country and designed our own evaluation. This is the second year of implementation and it's nationally recognized."
The Washington Informer is going to do a special issue (in addition to our regular paper) on August 25th for the MLK Memorial dedication. It will be a commemorative edition and will be distributed to our 17,000 readers and an additional 10,000 visitors to the memorial foundation. There will also be online and social media distribution, so the issue will have great reach as it grows legs. It is going to be highly anticipated and will provide tremendous value to all of our advertisers. We are only doing full page ads and the cost is $5000. I am hoping you will want to take a position in it. Deadline is August 10th or sooner.
Theme and content will be:
A Monument of Hope... Love... Justice ... Peace
Celebrating the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
MLK Memorial unveiling set for Aug. 28.The District of Columbia is gearing up for the Aug. 28 unveiling of the MLK Memorial, and in commemoration of this momentous event, the Washington Informer invites readers to share their fondest recollections of the slain civil rights leader as well as the historical August 1963 March on Washington that attracted 250,000 participants. Submissions which may include historic photos, can be sent to
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Please be sure to include contact information.
Lamont Carey presents "Raise A Man™" Summit on Saturday, July 30, 2011 at Johnson Memorial Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Doors open at 10am.
The purpose of "Raise A Man™" is to position African American men in the lives of African American boys between the ages of 7-17 who are in need of a strong, positive African American male role model. This will be accomplished through relevant programs that are operated or facilitated by these men. All programs will have openings for on-site enrollment on the day of the event. Programs include but are not limited to entrepreneurship, mentoring, music production, G.E.D studies and more.
Radio Talk Show Host Warren Ballentine, Black bankers, and civil rights representatives are teaming up to encourage an economic revolution by encouraging Blacks to do business with Black banks. Pictured front are: Hermnd E. Palmer Jr., vice president, Industrial Bank; Michael Grant, president, National Bankers Association; Kim D. Saunders, president/CEO, M&F Bank; Ballentine; and the Rev. Deforest B. Soaries, Jr., senior pastor, First Baptist Church of Somerset, N.J.; Back: Victor E. Cook, executive director, NBA; Joe D. Briggs, Counsel, NFL Players Association; Hilary Shelton, vice president, NAACP; and B. Doyle Mitchell, Jr., president and CEO, Industrial Bank.WASHINGTON (TriceEdneyWire.com) - In his last public message the day before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called on Black people in Memphis to support Black banks.
"We've got to strengthen Black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank," he said in his "Mountaintop" speech at Mason Temple, April 3, 1968. Tri-State Bank, now 65 years old and still in operation, was among the institutions where civil rights demonstrations were planned during that time.
After encouraging people to also support Black insurance companies, Dr. King concluded in his speech, "These are some practical things that we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base. And at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. I ask you to follow through here."
Felled by an assassin's bullet the next day, the "follow through" for which Dr. King asked never really happened. Fast forward, 43 years later, an organization of Black and other racial minority banks and a radio talk show host have now united to take up the mantle amidst an economy that is still causing disparate suffering to African-Americans.
Atlanta-based radio talk show host Warren Ballentine and the Washington, D.C.-based National Bankers Association believe reinvesting in Black-owned banks could inspire economic healing and strength in every aspect of the Black community. That's why they have started "The People's Economic Movement."
"If we want to change all the drugs in our community, if we want to change all the violence, if we want to change the educational abilities that our next generation will have, it starts with having the capital available to teach the proper things to do to make a difference," said Ballentine during a July 15 press conference at the NBA headquarters to announce the new movement.
The nation's oldest civil rights organization has seen a resurgence under Benjamin Jealous' leadership./AP Photo
LOS ANGELES — Jobs, education, health, housing — the issues driving the NAACP these days look much like the concerns of most Americans, and that's by design.
As the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People kicks off its 102nd convention this weekend in downtown Los Angeles, the venerable civil rights organization's policy agenda shows how it has evolved from its decades-long role as a leading fighter against racial inequality to become a staunch advocate for social justice for all minorities.
"They're doing a much better job by being seen as lobbying for poor, disenfranchised people of all colors," said Peniel E. Joseph, a Tufts University history professor and author of a book on the civil rights and black power movements.
The strategy has enabled the NAACP to bounce back after a decade in which many charged that the organization had lost its way, becoming irrelevant.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the NAACP was a standard-bearer of the struggle for voting rights, desegregated schools, and equal access to everything from water fountains to bus seats. But by four decades later — with a black president in the White House — the NAACP's prominence had trickled to a place in history books.
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