Jeanette Taylor, the alderwoman of Chicago’s 20th Ward, first met the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 2012. At the time, she was an organizer with the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, and her executive director insisted that she meet him. Taylor was nervous: She knew his national stature, his speeches, his mystique — and “sometimes when you […]
Civil Rights Movement
Posted inCulture, History, Politics & Policy
Remembering the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Impact and Civil Rights Leadership
The Rev. Jesse Jackson — a grandfather, husband, and storied civil rights icon — has passed away. Jackson died peacefully Tuesday morning, surrounded by family, according to a statement issued by the Rainbow People United to Save Humanity (PUSH) Coalition. Last fall, Jackson was hospitalized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where he received “good […]
Posted inHealth Equity, Partner Content, Transportation, Voices of Change
How Rosa Parks’ Legacy Inspired a New Fight Over Who Could Ride the Bus
Originally published by The 19th Decades after her act of defiance, Rosa Parks galvanized a cadre of activists to protest their own conditions and, though the scope of her legacy for them is still coming into focus, it remains just as powerful. They were fighting for disability access, and, like Parks, they used public transportation […]
Posted inHistory
The Long Journey to Preserve Emmett Till’s Story, 70 Years After His Lynching
At about 9 a.m. local time on Thursday, the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. arrived by train in Greenwood, Mississippi. He traveled for nearly 13 hours from Chicago aboard the Amtrak City of New Orleans. This first-of-its-kind commemorative ride was done to honor the life of his cousin and best friend, Emmett Till. Parker and Till […]
Posted inFederal Overhaul, Politics & Policy
DEI Didn’t Start With ‘Wokeness’ — What Trump Gets Wrong
Federal Overhaul is a multipart series that explores the impact of the Trump administration’s restructuring of the federal government on Black communities. President Donald Trump and his allies have turned diversity, equity, and inclusion into a catchall slur. The administration claims to be eliminating DEI, but what it’s doing is conflating issues, attacking long-established civil rights […]
Posted inHistory
With Inauguration Day on MLK Day, King’s Family Reflect on His Legacy
Sitting in his Atlanta home office with his wife and fellow civil rights activist Arndrea Waters King, Martin Luther King III can’t help but reflect on a deep irony: Martin Luther King Jr. Day coincides with the second presidential inauguration of Donald Trump on Jan. 20. He worries about the fact that his father’s only […]
Posted inHistory
The Renewed Urgency of Preserving Black History
Black Voters and the Fight for Democracy is a multipart series that explores the stakes of the 2024 election for our communities. This project was produced as part of the Advancing Democracy Fellowship. Bold. Assertive. Unafraid of questioning people or circumstances. That’s how 82-year-old Rosita Stevens-Holsey describes her “Aunt Pauli.” “Even if she was talking […]
Posted inHistory, Policing, Politics & Policy
Gaza, Student Protest, and the Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement
Looking at the images might make you feel as if you’ve stepped back in time. Late on Tuesday, New York City police clad in riot gear entered Columbia University and removed dozens of peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstrators, leading them away with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Over the past week, hundreds of college students calling […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
The Case That Could Destroy the Voting Rights Act
A new federal court opinion in an Arkansas case that would restrict who can sue under the 1965 Voting Rights Act is one of the most alarming attacks on the law in recent years. It would effectively prohibit most efforts to protect Black people’s access to the ballot box and continue the long assault on […]
Posted inCulture, History
The Man Behind the March on Washington
When Bayard Rustin is remembered at all, he’s remembered as the architect of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. But the gay, pacifist radical — the subject of a new biographical drama that’s out on Netflix this week — was more than “Mr. March on Washington,” as he was affectionately called. His […]