AFRICAN AMERICANS

DeSantis' administration is defending its rejection of a Black studies course as leaders pledge to "fight like hell" against the decision.

Less than 5% of orchestra members are Black or Latino, but the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles is trying to change that tune.

Do diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts actually exacerbate intolerance?

New York Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones spoke at a “racial healing town hall” Tuesday, taking aim at critics of the controversial 1619 Project on slavery.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson voices his concerns over Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's latest legislation and discusses the push for racial reparations on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

In November 2022 cancel culture hit Dr. Ben Carson. The Detroit school board removed his name from the Benjamin Carson High School of Medicine and Science. I was shocked by this.

The story of “Whipped Peter” is captured in the powerful new film “Emancipation,” starring Will Smith. The film was inspired by the 1863 Baton Rouge photos.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson shares his take on reparations programs being proposed in California and across the rest of the nation on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

Supporters of a House bill that would create a commission to study and develop reparations for African Americans are working to push the legislation forward, three decades after it was introduced.

Supporters of a House bill that would create a commission to study and develop reparations for African Americans are working to push the legislation forward, three decades after it was introduced. Last year, the city north of Chicago became the first in the nation to begin implementing reparations for its Black residents. “I want for once an acceptance of the history of the journey that African Americans have taken to be an accepted reality in America,” she added. According to a 2021 Pew Research Center study, 68% of Americans believe that African Americans should not receive reparations. Some New York lawmakers are working on a bill similar to the House measure that would create a reparations commission.

EATONVILLE, Fla. — Neighbors and some town leaders in Eatonville want to stop the last 100 acres of a historical piece of land from being sold to developers. The Hungerford School was founded in 1889 as the first school for African Americans in Central Florida. Julian Johnson and his grassroots organization, 1887 First, say town members have been fighting to get ownership of the Hungerford land to Eatonville for decades. Read: OCPS puts up almost 18 acres of land for sale in EatonvilleChannel 9 reached out to Orange County Public Schools multiple times about the land ownership and how it’s been sold. Read: Little museum in Eatonville is big on culture, history“We want the land back from Orange County,” Johnson said.

DES MOINES, Iowa — (AP) — The federal government has illegally broken a promise to pay off the debts of a group of Black farmers, according to a class-action lawsuit. In 1910, Black farmers owned more than 16 million acres (6.5 million hectares) of land, but today they have less than 4.7 million acres (1.9 million hectares). Faced with the likelihood of a lengthy court battle that would delay payments to farmers, Congress amended the law and offered financial help to a broader group of farmers. The new law allocated $3.1 billion to help farmers struggling with USDA-backed loans and $2.2 billion to pay farmers who the agency discriminated against. Jermaine Walker, who grows corn, wheat and other crops near Pinewood, South Carolina, said the promised federal payments would enable him to save his farm from a bank foreclosure.

Black cemeteries that were said to be relocated for development projects in the 1950s have been uncovered under a parking lot, school and office building in Clearwater, Florida.

Our country's low-income housing policies, from public housing to Section 8, tax credits and more have done real harm to those they were intended to help. Here's how it all began.

Though more than a million Black Americans contributed to the war effort, historian Matthew Delmont says a uniform was no protection from racism at home or abroad. His new book is Half American.

Detroiters could elect a Black Republican to the U.S. House. But GOP candidates face a skeptical voting bloc in the Democratic stronghold.

In 2021, Black, Latino and Asian households saw the sharpest increase in homeownership since the Great Recession, when all their levels of owning had fallen, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Washington Post. The growth for minority households was more pronounced than for White households.

— (AP) — Wes Moore could soon make history if elected Maryland’s first Black governor, and he's not alone: Rep. Anthony Brown would be the state’s first Black attorney general. With a victory, Moore would reclaim the governor’s office for Democrats, after eight years of term-limited Republican Gov. Democrat Stacey Abrams would become the nation's first Black female governor if she wins her Georgia rematch against GOP Gov. Adrienne Jones to be the state’s first Black and first female House speaker in 2019. Hogan proved to be popular and beat former NAACP President Ben Jealous in 2018, becoming only the second Republican governor in the history of Maryland to win re-election.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault’s “My People: Five Decades of Writing About Black Lives” offers a survey of turbulent times and those who made history throughout them.

Students at a Torrance, California high school are feeling unsafe after a 5-year-old video of students saying a racial epithet while giggling resurfaced.

Students at South High School are feeling a sense of discomfort after a 5-year-old video of students saying a racial epithet while giggling resurfaced.

Jennifer-Ruth Green called out the 'hypocrisy' of the Black Caucus' support for her White male Democratic opponent running in Indiana's First Congressional District.

But the poll found that an equally robust majority endorse programs to boost racial diversity on college campuses.

PBS NewsHour questioned if election integrity laws would lead to voter suppression in Georgia, even after early voting smashed 2018 turnout records.

Historian and Smithsonian curator Jon Grinspan writes about how today's hyper-partisan and violent political discourse is not so different from how American democracy was practiced in the wake of the Civil War.

Black gun ownership dates back to before the country's founding. In "Armed Doesn't Mean Dangerous," photographer Christian Lee captures the growing number of Black Americans who own firearms.

Alabama's Republicans say they should not be required to draw a second congressional district likely to elect a Black Democrat.

"Black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect candidates of their choice to Congress," the panel said. But on a 5-4 vote in February, the Supreme Court sided with Alabama to allow this year’s congressional elections to take place without adding a second predominantly Black district. “This is just about getting Black voters, finally, in Alabama the opportunity to elect their candidates of choice. The groups contend that the state’s Black population is large enough and geographically compact enough to create a second district. One of them, Alabama State University, was founded two years after the Civil War and in an area where the districts divide.

Congressional districts that a federal court panel said were unconstitutional because they dilute representation for Black voters in Alabama are nevertheless being used for the November election after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed them.

An experimental treatment gave Alzheimer's patients and their loved ones good news this week. Medicare must be part of the equation for patients as treatments become available.

About 60 percent of the players are Black, but coaching is still dominated by White men.

Black Oakland is being overwhelmed by the arrival of White and Latino residents, low Black birthrates, high costs, and the gentrification transforming the city.

The United States may regard itself as a “leader of the free world,” but it ranks between Cuba and Bulgaria, developing countries.

Since Reconstruction, voters have elected just seven Black U.S. senators and two Black governors. This year, 16 Black candidates — 13 Democrats and three Republicans — are major party nominees for those offices.

“Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971” illuminates a world of creativity and passion that’s been hiding in plain sight.

Onyx Magazine recognized more than 20 Black men Saturday night at its annual awards dinner.

The demographic shift from cities to suburbs illuminates many stories: of families moving to opportunity, of inequality replicating itself when they get there, and of the people left behind.

But before Ed Dwight became an artist dedicated to memorializing notable figures in black history, he had hopes of making history of his own in space.

Dozens of U.S. high schools are offering an Advanced Placement course in African American studies this fall, multiple news outlets are reporting. “AP African American Studies will introduce a new generation of students to the amazingly rich cultural, artistic and political contributions of African Americans,” Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice president of AP and instruction, told NBC News. AP courses are college-level classes and exams that students can take in high school, the College Board says on the program’s website. Well-known professor Henry Louis Gates, the director of Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, issued a statement differentiating the AP course from critical race theory, also known as CRT. “AP African American Studies is not CRT.

A group of teen suspects accused of brutally attacking a Chinese doctorate student with the University of Wisconsin-Madison in June have not been charged with hate crimes. The 26-year-old victim, who suffered minor injuries, recalled his traumatic experience along University Avenue on the night of June 14 in a Weibo post. A Chinese male student was beaten by FIVE random young men yesterday on University Ave. close to @UWMadison campus.

Employees won't be required to disclose their information, but advocates who support this data collection say it's for the Black community's benefit and will shed light on more hidden disparities.

A new poll finds white adults are more than twice as likely as others to get sizable financial help from parents or grandparents. By contrast, Black adults are more likely to give money to elders.

Slave-owning US presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and James Madison, as well as leaders Daniel Webster and Francis Scott Key, were members of the ACS.

A conversation with author W. Nolan Gray on the social and economic costs of urban zoning and what American cities can learn from Houston.

A new research collaboration between Harvard University and Oxford University Press aims to compile the first fully-formed dictionary of African American English.

A coalition of more than 40 organizations is joining forces to mobilize African American turnout for the fall midterm elections.

The era's near-misses and misunderstandings serve as a cautionary tale as the United States again faces off with great-power rivals.

The Bruce family suffered racist harassment from white neighbors, and in the 1920s, the property was seized by the Manhattan Beach City Council through eminent domain.

Concerned about the future of newly-emancipated Black Americans, President Grant saw the Dominican Republic as a place where they could live freely.

Backstreet Cultural Museum Reopening FILE - A member of the North Side Skull & Bone Gang starts the celebration with a wake up call for Mardi Gras at the Backstreet Cultural Museum, Feb. 9, 2016, in New Orleans. Ten months after Hurricane Ida damaged the museum celebrating New Orleans’ African American parading culture, it is reopening. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File) (Brynn Anderson)NEW ORLEANS — (AP) — Ten months after Hurricane Ida damaged a museum celebrating New Orleans' African American parading culture, the Backstreet Cultural Museum is reopening. Hurricane Ida left holes in the roof and water inside the original building, a former funeral home, after the storm crashed ashore in August 2021. Artifacts at the museum include regalia given by Mardi Gras Indians — African Americans who create new elaborately plumed and beaded costumes every year.

Ten months after Hurricane Ida damaged a museum celebrating New Orleans' African American parading culture, the Backstreet Cultural Museum is reopening.

The best data shows neighboring Charles County has become majority-Black in recent years, and incomes there are much higher than in Prince George's County.

Racial Injustice California Beach FILE - A monument on Bruce's Beach in Manhattan Beach, Calif., is pictured on April 8, 2021. The land was purchased in 1912 by Willa and Charles Bruce, who built the first West Coast resort for Black people at a time when many beaches were segregated. They suffered racist harassment from white neighbors and in the 1920s the Manhattan Beach City Council took the land through eminent domain. Last month, the county completed the process of confirming that Marcus and Derrick Bruce, great-grandsons of Willa and Charles Bruce, are the legal heirs. “This may be the first land return of its kind, but it cannot be the last,” Hahn said.

As the United States marks only the second federally recognized Juneteenth, Black Americans living overseas have embraced the holiday as a day of reflection and an opportunity to educate people in their host countries on Black history.

California released an exhaustive report detailing how government laws and policies perpetuated discrimination against African Americans.

The April jobs report provided mixed signals on the economic issue most on the minds of Americans: Chronically high inflation.

A coalition including the four medical schools at the nation's historically Black colleges and universities has announced a new initiative aimed at increasing the number of Black Americans registered as organ donors and combating disparities among transplant recipients.

The city of Groveland was recently notified that they were approved for a state grant for $499,000 to restore the cemetery.

California took a big step this week toward becoming the first U.S. state to make some form of restitution a reality by tackling the divisive issue of which Black residents should be eligible to receive reparations for the atrocity and injustices of slavery and racism.

Scientists are getting their first peek at the genes of nearly 100,000 Americans in what's considered a uniquely diverse genomic database.

President Joe Biden is signaling an election year shift to the center to help protect fragile Democratic majorities in Congress, even as key voices across his party’s sprawling political coalition threaten revolt.

Just blocks away from downtown Orlando, Henry Sadler founded the Sadler Hotel, which welcomed many African American celebrities of the 1960s and 70s.

Harry T. Moore and his wife Harriet, were activists at the forefront of the civil rights movement who helped more than 116,000 African Americans register to vote in Central Florida.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is drawing criticism for comments he made shortly before the GOP blocked a federal elections bill, when he said that “African American” voters cast ballots at similar rates to “Americans.”.

A trilogy by award-winning children’s author Kwame Alexander that tells the saga of an African family begins this fall with “The Door of No Return.”.

Current and former Black state lawmakers in Detroit have announced a pending lawsuit to block Michigan’s newly drawn congressional and legislative districts, contending they illegally dilute the voting strength of African Americans.

When Americans are asked by pollsters about their religious identity, the fastest-growing major group consists of those who don't affiliate with any organized religion.

A quilt exhibit at Jackson State University honors dozens of lives lost in the U.S. to racial violence.

September wasn’t exactly the robust month for hiring that many had expected and hoped for.

The brick foundation of one the oldest Black churches in the United States has been unearthed by archeologists at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man on federal death row for the racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation.

Four law enforcement officers have detailed the racism and bigotry on display during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Civil rights pioneer Gloria Richardson has died.

The town of Oakland in West Orange County has been awarded Florida's Historic Preservation grant of $25,000 that will go toward the restoration and preservation of the historic African-American cemetery which dates back to 1882.

A first-in-the-nation task force in California to study and recommend reparations for African Americans met for the first time Tuesday.

LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and a slew of networks are among those releasing documentaries based on the tragic backstory of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.

As the coronavirus vaccine becomes more widely available, the numbers reveal who is actually getting the shot.

It’s been more than 100 years since dozens of African Americans were killed by a white mob to keep them from voting on election day in 1920.

President Joe Biden says the conviction of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd “can be a giant step forward” for the nation in the fight against systemic racism.

President Joe Biden says the conviction of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd “can be a giant step forward” for the nation in the fight against systemic racism.

A House panel has advanced a decades-long effort to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves, approving legislation Wednesday night that would create a commission to study the issue.

President Joe Biden’s difficult balancing act on policing was put on vivid display over the course of a few hours as he tries to navigate criminal justice and civil rights.

President Joe Biden’s difficult balancing act on policing was put on vivid display over the course of a few hours Tuesday as he tries to navigate criminal justice and civil rights.

Students at Clemson University who found an unkempt graveyard on campus last year sparked the discovery of more than 600 unmarked graves most likely belonging to enslaved Black people, sharecroppers and convicted laborers.

In a Feb. 25-March 1, 2021 poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about 1 in 5 Americans say they lost a relative or close friend to the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)WASHINGTON – About 1 in 5 Americans say they lost a relative or close friend to the coronavirus, highlighting the division between heartache and hope as the country itches to get back to normal a year into the pandemic. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research illustrates how the stage is set for a two-tiered recovery. The AP-NORC poll found about 30% of African Americans, like Parks, and Hispanics know a relative or close friend who died from the virus, compared with 15% of white people. AdThe poll found two-thirds of Americans say their fellow citizens nationwide haven’t taken the pandemic seriously enough.

People wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus gather at a park in Goyang, South Korea, Wednesday, March 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea is extending its current measures on social distancing for at least another two weeks as it struggles to slow coronavirus infections in the greater capital area. ___WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand has removed remaining coronavirus restrictions on the city of Auckland after containing a small outbreak. ___WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is planning to announce during his prime-time address Thursday night that he’ll deploy 4,000 additional U.S. troops to support coronavirus vaccination efforts. Thursday’s announcement from the Department of Corrections comes a year after suspending visits at prisons because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lung cancer is the nations top cancer killer, causing more than 135,000 deaths each year. Lung cancer is the nation’s top cancer killer, causing more than 135,000 deaths each year. Usually, lung cancer is diagnosed too late for a good chance at survival. But "unfortunately, lowering the age and pack-year requirements alone does not guarantee increased equity in lung cancer screening,” wrote Dr. Yolonda Colson and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital. AdOne recent study found just 14% of people eligible for lung cancer screening under the prior guidelines had actually gotten it.

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with labor leaders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Washington. Biden backs the idea of studying the issue, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, though she stopped short of saying he would sign the bill if it clears Congress. Even with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, passing a reparations bill could prove difficult. Most Black Americans favored reparations, 74%, compared with 15% of white Americans. AdRep. Burgess Owens, a first-term Republican from Utah, argued against a reparations commission.

SANFORD, Fla. – No one drives Miss Daisy quite like Michael Morman. He’s reprised the role of Hoke Colburn in “Driving Miss Daisy” seven times, most recently in the Theater West End production, which just finished its run in Sanford. With each subsequent production, he evolved his performance, understanding the meaning of Colburn’s words and actions more fully with age. In “Driving Miss Daisy,” one scene stands out to him. After his closing curtain call in “Driving Miss Daisy,” Morman realized something.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla – As the first elected African American Clerk of Courts in Orange County, Tiffany Moore Russell said her mission is to inspire others to dream big - all while she’s humbly serving in a position where no one has looked like her before. Her win in 2014 also allowed her to break barriers as the first African-American female Clerk elected in the state of Florida. Russell was recently re-elected in Orange County after running unopposed. She was also the youngest member of the Orange County Commission when she was elected back in 2006 where she served two terms. Russell was first elected as the Clerk of Courts in 2014 (Copyright 2021 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved.)

ORLANDO, Fla. – As News 6 celebrates Black History Month, a local woman who’s been a trailblazer her entire life is speaking out about the history that’s now happening right before our eyes. LaVon Bracy endured relentless attacks as one of the first African Americans to integrate Florida schools. As the first and only African American to graduate from Gainesville High School in Alachua County in 1965, the threats against her life were real. “Every day that I would go to school, I would find dead rats, roaches and snakes under my seat,” Bracy said. I really thought that would be the last day I would be on the earth,” Bracy said.

Dr. Rita McGuire, an obstetrician and infection control specialist at Roseland Community Hospital talks Friday, Jan. 29, 2021, with staff members about taking the COVID-19 vaccine. "It’s not something that I trust right now,’’ says Bland, 50, who worries about how quickly the COVID-19 vaccines were developed. Many holdouts come from the mostly Black, working class neighborhoods surrounding the hospital, areas hard hit by the virus yet plagued with vaccine reluctance. She acknowledged "centuries of medical injustice’’ against Black Americans but said COVID-19 vaccines resulted from years of solid research. Many workers ‘’have not forgotten about those studies where they used us as experiments,’’ McGuire said, including the infamous Tuskegee research on Black patients with syphilis.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)WASHINGTON – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell slightly last week to 793,000, evidence that job cuts remain high despite a substantial decline in new confirmed viral infections. The job market had shown tentative improvement last summer but then slowed through the fall and in the past two months has essentially stalled. Part of that increase likely reflects the processing of a rush of claims after the extension of two federal aid programs just after Christmas. Biden’s proposal would extend, through August, two federal unemployment benefit programs that are set to expire in mid-March. Unlike the previous expiration of extended unemployment aid, which occurred on Dec. 26, the cut-off would be phased in between March 14 and April 11.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s home to “The World’s Most Famous Beach” and the Daytona International Speedway, but the city of Daytona Beach also has a history full of African American roots. The Black Heritage Trail features 18 locations highlighting important sites around the city. Spots include more well-known areas like the Jackie Robinson Ballpark and Bethune-Cookman University, but also parks and buildings named after residents. AdFILE - This is an April 18, 1948, portrait of Brooklyn Dodgers baseball player Jackie Robinson. The trail and the information provided about the locations are thanks to Yvonne Scarlett-Golden, the city’s first African American mayor and a native of Daytona Beach.

Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron waits to receive his COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. Aaron and others received their vaccinations in an effort to highlight the importance of getting vaccinated for Black Americans who might be hesitant to do so. (AP Photo/Ron Harris)ATLANTA – Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, former U.N. Ambassador and civil rights leader Andrew Young and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan got vaccinated against COVID-19 in Georgia on Tuesday, hoping to send a message to Black Americans that the shots are safe. Getting vaccinated “makes me feel wonderful," Aaron told The Associated Press.

(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)NEW YORK – The Episcopal Diocese of Texas acknowledges that its first bishop in 1859 was a slaveholder. Some major denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, have not embraced reparations as official policy. The Episcopal Church has been the most active major denomination thus far, and others, including the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, are urging congregations to consider similar steps. This will include scholarships for students attending seminaries or historically Black colleges and assistance for historic Black churches. But Dietsche expects some funds will help congregations launch their own reparations initiatives, particularly if their churches had historical involvement in slavery.

WASHINGTON – A lone senator from Utah has singlehandedly blocked the bipartisan approval of two new national museums to honor American Latinos and women, arguing that “last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation.”Republican Sen. Mike Lee objected Thursday to the creation of the two proposed Smithsonian museums, stalling two projects that have been in the making for decades and enjoy broad bipartisan support. Senate approval would have sent the legislation approving the Latino museum to President Donald Trump for his signature. The Senate was attempting to pass the measures by voice vote, which requires every senator's consent. Lee said he sees an exception for museums dedicated to American Indians and African Americans that already sit on the National Mall. “We have been systematically excluded, not because this senator said so but because the Smithsonian itself said so,” Menendez said.

FILE - This Nov. 29, 2011, file photo shows the signature of president Abraham Lincoln on a rare, restored copy of the 13th Amendment that ended slavery, in Chicago. As ratified, the original amendment has permitted exploitation of labor by convicted felons for over 155 years since the abolition of slavery. Constitutional amendments are rare and require approval by two-thirds of the House and Senate, as well as ratification by three-quarters of state legislatures. In Merkley’s Oregon, voters in 2002 approved the elimination of constitutional language that prohibited Black Americans from living in the state unless they were enslaved. The prevalence of prison labor has been largely accepted as a means for promoting rehabilitation, teaching trade skills and reducing idleness among prisoners.

They will be sworn in as president and vice president on Jan. 20. “I want us to be committed to the idea that representation is exciting and it’s worthy of celebration and also that we have millions of Black women who deserve a fair shot.”Harris is the second Black woman elected to the Senate. “That’s the kind of policy that also happens when you have voices like ours at the table,” said Jayapal, who in 2016 was the first South Asian woman elected to the U.S. House. Harris' mother raised her daughters with the understanding the world would see them as Black women, Harris has said, and that is how she describes herself today. She attended Howard University, one of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, and pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation’s first sorority created by and for Black women.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison speaks at a campaign rally on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)COLUMBIA, S.C. – In the battle for control of the U.S. Senate this year, the Deep South is fielding more Black candidates than it has since Reconstruction. Mike Espy and Adrian Perkins, meanwhile, are launching spirited bids for the Senate in Mississippi and Louisiana, respectively. The Senate currently has three Black members: Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina and Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California. “The more competitive races are, and Black candidates win those competitive races, it diminishes this worry that Black candidates can’t win,” Abrams recently told The Associated Press. In Mississippi, Espy is trying for a second time to become the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction with his challenge to Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith.