civil rights
Protesters gather at Arkansas Capitol to oppose wide range of legislation targeting civil rights
A crowd of about 75 people gathered Thursday afternoon on the Arkansas Capitol steps so legislators would know that the people they represent “are not sitting quietly” in the face of attacks on their rights, said Kymara Seals, a co-organizer of the protest. “We are at our house, the people’s house,” Seals said to a […]
How the distortion of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s words enables more, not less, racial division
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas is just the latest conservative lawmaker to misuse the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to judge a person on character and not race. In the protracted battle to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House, Roy, a Republican, nominated a Black man, Byron Donalds, […]
Report: Biden says South Carolina should be first primary state, Michigan first in Midwest
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is recommending to the Democratic National Committee that South Carolina become the first primary state in the presidential nominating process in 2024, and that New Hampshire and Nevada follow a week later — leaving Iowa out of the early lineup, the Washington Post reported Thursday night. Georgia and Michigan would […]
Wilma Mankiller, first female principal chief of Cherokee Nation, continues to inspire
If you fish in your pocket or purse for a U.S. quarter today, there’s a chance you’ll see Wilma Mankiller’s face. She was the Cherokee Nation’s first female principal chief, and she inspired generations of Cherokees and young Native people like me. In 2022, Mankiller was one of the first women honored by appearing on […]
Authors Taylor Branch, Isabel Wilkerson, and FedEx founder Fred Smith honored with Freedom Award
Authors Taylor Branch and Isabel Wilkerson and FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith are this year’s Freedom Award honorees from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, museum officials announced Monday. The Freedom Award gala and presentation will be held Oct. 20 at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis. Branch is best known for his trilogy on […]
Confronting history, Congress studies addition of lynching sites to national park system
The U.S. House is considering a bill that would put lynching sites in western Tennessee on track to become part of the National Park Service, part of a trend this year of Congress using the agency to advance discussions of the nation’s troubled and often violent racial history. A bill from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, […]