By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – In 1965, Tuskegee Institute in Alabama was a hotbed for social protest and bred students passionate about equality, justice and civil rights. Seventeen year-old, Ruby Sales, born in Jemison, Ala., was one of those students.“Once you got the religion of civil rights and you were really […]

By Julianne Malveaux I love voting.  Every time I go into the booth, I see little girl me, pigtails and all, plaid skirt, white blouse and green sweater, part of my Catholic school uniform.  Most of my relatives were Democrats, though my grandmother voted Republican a time or two because “Lincoln freed the slaves.”  In […]

By George E. Curry You would think that news of a high school student from a family of African immigrants getting accepted into all eight Ivy League universities would be met with universal celebration. If you thought that, think again.First the news:In the next month, Kwasi Enin must make a tough decision: Which of the […]

By Marian Wright Edelman Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a White mother’s son—we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.                      –Ella Baker The quote above is from Ella Baker 50 years ago, and like so much […]

By Julianne Malveaux If you missed the news about the disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370 over the Indian Ocean, you must have been buried in sand.  For three weeks, we have been bombarded with theories – was it terrorism?  Pilot error? Something else?  Now the story has evolved.  Were pieces of the plane found?  Is […]

By George E. Curry  When I interviewed Marie Johns, then the outgoing deputy secretary of the Small Business Administration, a year ago, she said the SBA does not separate figures by race, though it hopes to do so at some point.Technically, she was correct in saying the SBA does not separate agency-wide figures by race. […]

By Marian Wright Edelman  One of our country’s most cherished values is the idea that if you work hard you can get ahead, be part of the middle class, raise a family comfortably, and ensure your children will do better than you did. But this is a hollow promise to countless families today. The sad […]

By Julianne Malveaux  Do you know about Elizabeth Keckley?  Maggie Lena Walker, Sarann Knight Preddy, Gertrude Pocte Geddes-Willis, Trish Millines Dziko, Addie L Wyatt or Marie-Therese Metoyer?What about Ernesta Procope, Dr. Sadie Alexander, Or Dr. Phyllis Wallace?  What about Bettiann Gardner, Lillian Lambert, or Emma Chappell?  What about Ellen Holly, Mary Alice, or Edmonia Lewis?If […]

By Julianne Malveaux President Barack Obama announced a “My Brother’s Keeper,” an initiative to help young Black and Brown men succeed.   Many present in the East Wing of the White House described the announcement of this initiative as “an emotional moment” for President Obama and for many of the others gathered there.Several of the African […]

By George E. Curry, NNPA Columnist In all the hoopla surrounding President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, overlooked is that fact that our young girls also need to be targeted for special attention. Sure, they outpace Black males in college attendance and, in many instances, in the workplace. Still, that does not mean they do […]