Tagged With "Black"

Above is U.S. Coast Guard photo of Emlen Tunnell, who served in the Coast Guard during and after World War II, was the first Black player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Before he became the first Black player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Emlen Tunnell served in the U.S. Coast Guard during and after World War II, where he was credited with saving the lives of two shipmates. Now, a Coast Guard cutter and an athletic building on the Coast Guard Academy campus are...

By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist By Hamid Shaaban Black History Month is often observed by commemorating Black excellence and honoring the remarkable achievements and contributions of Black people in the United States and around the world. This month, I propose to all my colleagues in healthcare and medicine to promote and advance education about the history of medical racism. That history is Black history and it is often neglected and remains largely unacknowledged. It’s important to...

On January 31st, 1988 Doug Williams made history. But before that historic day, Williams was already a history-maker. One of the greatest HBCU athletes of all time, Doug Williams career started as a Freshman at Grambling State University under legendary head coach Eddie Robinson. Williams was a four-year starter for GSU, leading the Tigers to a 36-7 record, three Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) titles and was awarded the Black College Player of the Year twice. 1977 Williams finished...

I'm from Jersey City and was completely unaware.

Lawnside, New Jersey The Peter Mott House is the oldest known house to serve as a station on the Underground Railroad in New Jersey. Elizabeth and Newark New Jersey Jersey City - The last stop Before the Civil War, Jersey City was the last stop on the New Jersey Underground Railroad route for many runaway slaves seeking freedom. The quest for freedom prompted an estimated 100,000 19th century black slaves to make the dangerous journey along the Underground Railroad. That term refers to the...

PLEASE CHECK THE CALENDAR FOR DETAILS.

If you’re like me, you remember watching the popular television show, The Lone Ranger, where it depicted a white man who wore a disguise on a white horse and had a Native American counterpart with him named Tonto. The story we are most familiar with started out as a radio show, then a popular television show that ran from 1949 to 1957, then comic books, and several cartoons and big-budget movies. But like many things during slavery, history may have been obscured and the actual “Lone Ranger”...

Jersey Joe Walcott Arnold Raymond Cream, aka Jersey Joe Walcott, was born in Merchantville, NJ, on Jan. 31, 1914. He held the record for the oldest heavyweight champion for more than four decades. His father, an immigrant from Barbados, died when Walcott was 15, which forced him to go to work to provide for his mother and younger siblings. At 16-years-old, he began boxing professionally and adopted Jersey Joe Walcott as his moniker… Carla Harris Montclair resident Carla Harris is an author,...

Kathleen Neal Cleaver In the '60s, Kathleen Neal Cleaver was a prominent member of the Black Panther Party, in which she created the position of communications secretary. In 1998, she said , "I think it is important to place the women who fought oppression as Black Panthers within the longer tradition of freedom fighters like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida Wells-Barnett, who took on an entirely oppressive world and insisted that their race, their gender, and their humanity be respected...

A discussion on racial equity in housing and an inclusive economy One in three households — nearly 100 million people across the U.S. — struggle with housing costs that jeopardize their financial security, according to the Aspen Institute. As one of the biggest determinants of financial and physical health, housing can influence a person’s access to education, health care and job opportunities, and has the ability to transform entire communities and strengthen the economy. And yet, while the...

22 Co-sponsors in the Senate and over 47 in the House join resolution to raise national awareness of the state of Black maternal health in the United States. WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representatives Alma Adams (NC-12) and Lauren Underwood (IL-14) introduced a resolution recognizing Black Maternal Health Week, “to bring national attention to the maternal health crisis in the United States and the importance of reducing maternal mortality and morbidity among Black...

Black Maternal Health Week takes place each year from April 11-17. Learn more about this year’s goals, which are to: Deepen the national conversation about Black maternal health in the US; Amplify community-driven policy, research, and care solutions; Center the voices of Black Mamas, women, families, and stakeholders; Provide a national platform for Black-led entities and efforts on maternal health, birth and reproductive justice; and Enhance community organizing on Black maternal health.

Viola Ford Fletcher is also still waiting for justice. By TONY NORMAN • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette America has been telling Viola Ford Fletcher to wait for justice ever since she was 7 years old. Now a spry 107, Fletcher is running out of patience with America. Delivered by midwife on a farm in Lawton, Okla., on May 10, 1914, Fletcher was born 138 years after the American experiment commenced in 1776. As a Black daughter of Oklahoma, she had no more reason to believe in America’s promises than...

The Polynesian Panthers were a liberation activist group that fought for Polynesian and Māori empowerment in New Zealand. Inspired by the Black Power movement in the United States, along with Māori protests within the country, inner city youth in Auckland were emboldened to stand against capitalism and to fight for visibility. Auckland’s urban areas were filled with Pacific Islander immigrants, and their Kiwi-born children, who were subjected to police brutality, faced harsh discrimination,...

In the 1920s, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as Black Wall Street, was one of the most prosperous African American communities in the United States. Filled with booming businesses and thriving entrepreneurs, the district served as a mecca of Black ingenuity and promise, until the evening of May 31, 1921, which marked the start of the devastating Tulsa Race Massacre. More than thirty-five city blocks were burned to the ground and hundreds of Black city dwellers were...

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment. The secret sale of Henrietta Lacks cancer research cells. Jim Crow laws affecting African Americans' ability to receive medical treatment. For weeks, it’s been hard to hear over the clamor of millions of Americans lining up for COVID-19 vaccines. But not everyone has been enthused — namely, large swaths of minority communities, which comprise the populations disproportionately impacted by the virus, but whose hesitance is largely fueled by the country’s...

Black cavalry unit taught horsemanship to white cadets, suffered racism. By SARAHMASLIN NIR and PRECIOUS FONDREN New York Times WEST POINT, N.Y. – A large crowd watched expectantly as a soldier tugged at a black cloth spread over a monumental statue on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Friday. As it fell away, it revealed a bronze statue of a Black soldier sitting astride a stallion, a tribute to the U.S. Army’s famed Black cavalry — the Buffalo Soldiers — who for...

By Elizabeth Llorente | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Cesarean deliveries declined slightly in New Jersey, but Black and Hispanic mothers again experienced more childbirth complications than white women, continuing a long pattern in the state, according to a newly released report. Black women for years have had a maternal mortality rate seven times higher than white women in the state. The New Jersey Report Card of Hospital Maternity Care, released Monday by the state Health Department and...

Meet African War Hero Who Sank A German Ship With Bomb Made From Milk-Can But Was Refused Highest Decoration During World War II, Job Maseko , a South African war hero, sunk an enemy ship with an improvised bomb hidden in a milk container. Maseko, a member of the South African Native Military Corps (NMC), was awarded the Military Medal for his “meritorious and courageous” action, which he described as demonstrating “ingenuity, resolve, and full disregard for personal safety.” The Military...

A new podcast series beginning Wednesday, Feb. 23 will explore the unique issues of Black girls who experience foster care in America. Diaries of A Black Girl in Foster Care (which uses @BlkGrlDiariesFC on social media platforms) will begin with three episodes that address cultural issues, racial disparities and stereotypes that organizers argue have contributed to poor outcomes for Black girls in America’s various foster care systems. “Everybody can get something out of this, not just Black...

By Vashti Harris | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com and Matthew Stanmyre | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com For Tionni Kennedy, Bridgewater Commons mall is a place she frequently visits to hang out with friends, browse through stores, and gab over meals in the food court. It’s also where Kennedy, who is Black, said she often encounters racism. The 17-year-old from Piscataway feels the glare of store workers when she walks into shops and notices how they always seem to follow her as she looks at...