The backlash to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ assault on Black history and the release of the Florida Board of Education’s new teaching standards has been swift — but with the new school year starting this month, enraged parents and educators may not have much of a choice in the classroom. The requirement that middle school […]
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Posted inEducation, K-12
GOP States Are Targeting AP Black Studies. Here’s How Kids Can Learn It Outside of School.
This story has been updated. At least four Republican-led states are considering whether a new African American Studies course is in compliance with its laws that restrict lessons on race, following Florida’s ban on the proposed course last month. Officials in education departments in Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Virginia are reviewing the advanced placement […]
Posted inHealth, Reproductive Health
The Reading List: Maternal and Reproductive Health in America
As racial disparities in maternal health complications rise and unequal access to comprehensive care continues, American women face potentially life-threatening health outcomes — and the outlook is particularly frightening for Black women. They are three times more likely to die due to pregnancy related causes than white women. In the United States, Black maternal mortality […]
Posted inHealth, Mental Health
The Reading List: The Mental Health Crisis Affecting Black America
Editor’s note: This story contains discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, free resources are available. Please see our list below. The mental health crisis in the United States is growing, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which isolated Americans from friends and family and spiked feelings of anxiety. More Black […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
The Reading List: The Voting Rights Issues Black People Should Care About
The fight for the basic right to vote has been among the most enduring struggles of Black people in America. From poll taxes to literacy tests and grandfather clauses, the methods used to bar Black voters from the ballot box goes back over a century. Even progress toward the goal for other once-disenfranchised groups has […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
The Reading List: Black Lives Matter and Policing in America
Ten years ago, in February 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman while walking home in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal sparked outrage, protests, and catalyzed the Black Lives Matter movement. BLM was founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, who describe the organization and its work as “an ideological and […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
The Reading List: The Policy Discussions Black Americans Should Be Following
In that past decade or so, Black Americans have been particularly hard hit. There was the massive recession that hiked unemployment and decimated homeownership and personal finances—ruining the economic safety of Black people in particular. Then a rise in white nationalism during the Trump presidency. A seemingly never ending wave of police shootings of Black […]
Posted inCOVID-19, Health
The Reading List: Black Communities and COVID-19
Not long after the first COVID-19 case was detected in the United States, the virus began to devastate Black families. Black Americans are nearly three times as likely to be hospitalized due to the virus than white Americans, and twice as likely to die, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control […]