Our nation, for far too long, has remained silent about open and notorious acts of racial violence experienced by African Americans. As a teenager reading, The Black Book edited by Middleton A. Harris and Toni Morrison, I became aware of the countless atrocities experienced by African Americans that were ignored…
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A few days ago a jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of killing George Floyd—a murder that feels simultaneously as if it happened yesterday and as if it happened years ago.
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The work of creating a just society for all does not happen by accident. The work of a just society requires all of us to play a part in advancing the cause of justice.
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I grew up in the Rondo community. It was a village of community educators. As I reflect, I am grateful to the women of that village who helped to guide and shape my life. I remember being told by my mother, “There is nothing that you cannot do if you…
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In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Minnesota Humanities Center has asked some of our friends to write essays to share with you their thoughts on diverse women’s achievements and challenges over time, in Minnesota and elsewhere. These thoughts and reflections display a variety of perspectives to encourage healthy dialogue,…
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March has been National Women’s History Month since 1987. It is amazing to realize that just two decades before that, the profession of history did not recognize women’s history as a valid field of inquiry.
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St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter shares a special video message with his thoughts on thoughts on Black History Month.
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In celebration of Black History Month, the Minnesota Humanities Center has asked some of our friends to write essays to share with you their thoughts on black history and culture, as well as on broad issues of racial and social justice. Like a good conversation with friends after a good…
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“Slavery is not African and Black history, it’s an interruption of African and Black history. Let’s be clear, slavery and colonialism is European history!”
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I managed to meet prize-winning Macalester College novelist/professor Marlon James last year following the publication of his epic fantasy saga "Black Leopard, Red Wolf." It's the first of a planned trilogy in the Afrofuturist orbit: the multidisciplinary movement to imagine or reimagine human technological, social, and political futures and pasts through black speculative cultural lenses.
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