News and Events
November 3, 2009
HBO filmmakers get inside Obama campaign
Rice was inspired by Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and wanted to do a film about him as an up-and-coming political leader.
October 30, 2009
Bernice King elected SCLC president
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Friday named Bernice King, the daughter of SCLC co-founder Martin Luther King Jr., as its next president.
October 28, 2009
Mayor Deprives Rival of Black Clergy’s Support
A few weeks ago, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, the influential pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, came to a difficult decision, one he had wrestled with all summer.
October 19, 2009
Pardon for black boxer jailed for interracial dating waits on Obama
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House refused to indicate Monday whether President Obama will issue a posthumous pardon for Jack Johnson, the African-American boxing champion convicted in 1913 for dating a white woman.
October 15, 2009
ASU builds debt, but some believe results are worth it
Alabama State University has about $172 million in debt -- enough that it is spending $11.5 million annually just to service it. It has the highest debt-per-student ratio in the state. And some students and administrators think that's a good thing.
October 12, 2009
Lowery celebrates a star-studded 88th birthday
Before a hushed crowd, Tony-award winning choreographer Savion Glover tapped in the darkness. As the curtain rose, the dancer’s musical accompaniment began playing John Coltrane’s, “Giant Steps.” A perfect tribute to the man of the hour, the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery.
October 10, 2009
Navy honors civil rights martyr Medgar Evers
JACKSON, Miss. — The widow of slain civil-rights pioneer Medgar Evers fought tears Friday as Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a former Mississippi governor, announced he's naming a new Navy supply ship for Evers' late husband.
October 9, 2009
Gasps as Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize
OSLO – The announcement drew gasps of surprise and cries of too much, too soon. Yet President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday because the judges found his promise of disarmament and diplomacy too good to ignore.
October 8, 2009
Room for Debate: One Family's Roots, a Nation's History
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Annette Gordon-Reed and others discuss what Michelle Obama's family tree says about America.
October 8, 2009
In First Lady's Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery
A newly discovered story fleshes out Michelle Obama's family tree and substantiates longstanding rumors about a white ancestor.
October 6, 2009
The tangled web black hair weaves
The Black College Football Hall of Fame is headed to Atlanta.Former Grambling University and NFL quarterbacks James ‘Shack’ Harris and Doug Williams will announce the establishment of the Black College Hall of Fame Friday at a press conference in Atlanta.
October 6, 2009
Black College Football HOF headed to Atlanta
The Black College Football Hall of Fame is headed to Atlanta.Former Grambling University and NFL quarterbacks James ‘Shack’ Harris and Doug Williams will announce the establishment of the Black College Hall of Fame Friday at a press conference in Atlanta.
September 29, 2009
King siblings hold shareholder's meeting -- first in five years
The three surviving children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. met today under court order, holding their first shareholders meeting since 2004.
September 4, 2009
Why Gen-Y Johnny Can't Read Nonverbal Cues
In September 2008, when Nielsen Mobile announced that teenagers with cellphones each sent and received, on average, 1,742 text messages a month, the number sounded high, but just a few months later Nielsen raised the tally to 2,272.
September 2, 2009
Editorial: Reviving Civil Rights
Restoring the nation's commitment to fairness in voting, employment, housing and other areas is one of the new administration's most important challenges.
August 28, 2009
After Bias Ruling, Firefighter Applicants Look Back
Among those in New York who took exams that a judge found discriminatory, some common themes emerge.
August 27, 2009
Nine black women discuss their hairstyles and the attitudes surrounding their hair.
August 25, 2009
MLK memorial tied up in red tape
Forty-six years after Martin Luther King Jr. led the historic March on Washington that culminated with his “I Have A Dream” speech, plans to erect a monument to the slain civil rights leader and Atlanta icon near the National Mall remain a dream unrealized.
August 21, 2009
No papers -- and little hope of advancement
People in their late teens or early 20s are seeking help establishing their identities from a nonprofit law firm. Without documents, they cannot open a bank account, obtain a job or enroll in college.
August 21, 2009
Public housing projects may get markers
In the beginning, public housing in Montgomery had a positive image. It's an image some locals are working to restore. Donald Jenkins, along with local author and historian Richard Bailey, want to remind people of the prominent Montgomerians some public housing neighborhoods were named for.
August 21, 2009
Preserving voting rights trail focus of meeting
About 40 people gathered in the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church sanctuary Thursday evening to discuss preserving the landscape along the historic voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
August 21, 2009
Historian: State has made gains in race relations
Alabama has experienced positive political changes since Reconstruction, but race continues to be an overriding issue in many parts of the state, especially the Black Belt region, historian Samuel Webb said Thursday.
August 17, 2009
Amiri Baraka: Perspectives on Music and Race
Amiri Baraka is the author of the insightful and comprehensive book, Blues People. It is a book that has opened many minds and readers to the African American Diaspora along with the history and roots of African American music.
July 30, 2009
Much has happened in the wake of the Press’ story about the potential destruction of Booker T. Washington’s historic summer home in Fort Salonga.
July 30, 2009
Court issues decision on Judge Wiggins
MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - The Alabama Court of the Judiciary, which convenes only to hear complaints filed against judges, has handed down it's decision in the case of Hale County Circuit Judge Marvin Wiggins.
July 28, 2009
City Room: New York Librarian Chosen as U.S. Archivist
WASHINGTON — President Obama will nominate David S. Ferriero, the director of research libraries at the New York Public Library, to become the United States archivist Tuesday, according to a White House spokesman.
July 27, 2009
The Moral of the Story: Should Henry Louis Gates Sip or Sue?
In the right circumstances, filing suit can be a way to pursue social justice, and that makes it thoroughly ethical.
July 27, 2009
ASU Names New Permanent President
WSFA 12 News has confirmed that the Alabama State University Board of Trustees have named Dr. William H. Harris the permanent President of Alabama State University.
July 26, 2009
Magazine Preview: The Ultimate Obama Insider
Valerie Jarrett is one of the president's most influential advisers. So what does she do, exactly?
July 23, 2009
Obama Wades Into a Volatile Racial Issue
President Obama said that police had "acted stupidly in arresting" Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard professor.
July 22, 2009
Police Drop Charges Against Black Scholar
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Authorities agreed to drop a disorderly-conduct charge against renowned Harvard University African-American studies scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., who had been arrested at his own home last week after police answered a call about a suspected break-in there.
July 20, 2009
In Purchase of School, Hopes of Saving a Neglected Monument
It has been more than a half-century since Sumner Elementary School, now an abandoned shell of a building, had a brief and ignoble moment in the spotlight for what it would not do: allow a black father from the surrounding neighborhood, Oliver L. Brown, to enroll his daughter Linda in the third grade.
July 17, 2009
Less is more, as the saying goes, and nowhere is this truer than in “Prom Night in Mississippi” (Monday 9-10:30 p.m. ET on HBO). When the documentary begins, actor Morgan Freeman is driving through his hometown of Charleston, Miss., population 2,100.
July 15, 2009
Day care center to sue swim club over civil rights
A Pennsylvania day care center is pursuing a federal civil rights lawsuit against a swim club that canceled the center's membership, the day care director and attorney told CNN's "American Morning" on Wednesday.
July 15, 2009
Civil Rights museum set to pay off loan for King Papers
The Atlanta City Council finance committee voted 4-0 Tuesday to use city of Atlanta bonds to repay the $32 million loan to buy a collection of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s papers for the proposed Center for Civil and Human Rights.
July 14, 2009
Video Clip: Be A Voice Not An Echo
Cornel West, Ph. D. gave an amazing commencement address to this year’s Spelman College graduating class. Among many enlightening things, Cornel advised the graduating students keep an attachment to what created them.
Click here to view the video...
July 13, 2009
Job Losses Show Wider Racial Gap in New York
Economists said they were uncertain why the racial difference was so much starker in New York City.
July 13, 2009
Stanley Fish: Because of Race: Ricci v. DeStefano
Ricci v. DeStefano shows that the search for a position that avoids race-consciousness will never succeed.
July 13, 2009
Obama picks Morehouse School of Medicine grad as surgeon general
Washington — As with any 8 a.m. class, it wasn’t easy getting students to the community and family health class at Atlanta’s Morehouse School of Medicine. But Regina Benjamin, the bright-eyed girl from Mobile, Ala., was always on time, enthusiastic and quick to participate, recalled her teacher.
July 13, 2009
Obama chooses Alabama doctor as next surgeon general
Benjamin, 52, was nominated by President Barack Obama on Monday to be U.S. surgeon general, pledging to take her fight from a rural, impoverished outpost to the top tier of American medicine so that "no one falls through the cracks."
July 08, 2009
Interracial Roommates Can Reduce Prejudice
Several recent studies have found that having a roommate of a different race can reduce prejudice, but such relationships are more stressful.
July 07, 2009
Slave memorial sought at Jefferson County park
Historians have estimated that as many as 600 slaves lived near the ironworks between 1858 and 1865. A recent excavation uncovered their living quarters, though not much is known about their lives.
June 30, 2009
Local archivist named in book of rights leaders
Montgomery's Gwen Patton has been a civil rights activist most of her life and still gets a kick out of honors that she insists she's never sought.
June 29, 2009
White Fire Fighters Win Supreme Court Appeal
The Supreme Court ruling in favor of white New Haven firefighters who said they were victims of reverse discrimination will probably leave employers confused, civil rights advocates and labor attorneys say.
June 28, 2009
Exhibit features African-American artifacts
The story of countless immigrants who streamed into the United States by way of Ellis Island is a familiar one. But the story of a large segment of this nation has gone unreported, said broadcaster and author Tavis Smiley...
June 11, 2009
Hobson City Begins 2-Day Forum
Archivist Frazine Taylor addresses the Alabama Historical Commission’s Black Historical Council during a forum entitled, “Celebrating and Preserving the Legacy of Historic Hobson City.” Article from the Anniston Star.
June 9, 2009
SCLC, former officers wrangle over leadership in Florida
Former officers of the Florida state chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference are refusing to step aside after national leaders in Atlanta dissolved their chapter.
March 26, 2009
John Hope Franklin, the scholar who was a pioneer in the field of African American history and dominated it for nearly six decades, has died at the age of 94.
January 13, 2009
Online access to MLK papers starts today
Scholars and casual researchers can get their hands on important civil rights history —- virtually, at least —- for the first time today as a major portion of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s papers go public.
January 08, 2009
During a brief period of four years, two events took place that could define how world history will view America during the early part of the 21st century. The first was 9/11 and the other, Hurricane Katrina...
January 05, 2009
Sermons on Obama to go into archive
Years from now, historians researching the presidency of Barack Obama will be able to see and hear how his Jan. 20, 2009, inauguration played in pulpits across the nation.