At the rally, Dr. Reginald Hawkins warned city leaders that if something wasn’t done to end segregation, future marches might not be so peaceful

Nearly two weeks later, civil rights and white business leaders quietly joined forces to desegregate the city’s upscale restaurants and hotels. In a simple but powerful gesture, they ate lunch together in the restaurants, peacefully opening the door to integration.

The May 29, 1963, lunch was a turning point in Charlotte’s emergence as a leading New South city. It contrasted sharply with the massive resistance seen in other Southern cities, such as Birmingham, Alabama, where the police chief that same month turned fire hoses and police dogs on young civil rights protesters.

“The city’s leadership recognized that there was a need to make necessary changes, but they did not want the violence that happened in other communities to happen here,” said Willie Ratchford, executive director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee.

That lunch is being remembered this month with a series of events. On May 29, African-Americans and white civic leaders will discuss race relations at a Charlotte lunch event. The city’s community relations board is urging residents to invite someone of a different race to lunch the same day.

Ratchford said while race relations have improved, it’s important to honestly discuss the issue.

“Many of us think that the racism of the past is no longer here,” he said. “We think that way because we don’t see it. Back in those days, it was more overt. What we don’t realize is it still does happen — but not to the degree that it used to.”

____

Charlotte has long considered itself a major business community. In the years after the Civil War ended in 1865, the city’s banks provided capital to help the region’s then-flourishing textile industry expand. Today, Charlotte — with 760,000 people — is the largest city in North Carolina and one of the fastest growing in the U.S. The city is home to Bank of America Corp., the second largest U.S. bank by assets, and Duke Energy, the country’s largest energy company. In 2012, Charlotte hosted the Democratic National Convention.

But in the aftermath of the Civil War, Charlotte — like most Southern cities — was deeply segregated. African-Americans were forced to attend segregated schools. They were barred from mingling with whites in movie theaters, hotels and restaurants.

After World War II, African-Americans returning home from military service began challenging the status quo.

One of the leaders in Charlotte’s civil rights movement was Hawkins, a Korean War veteran, dentist and Presbyterian preacher. For years, he led successful sit-ins and protests.

He helped escort Dorothy Counts — the first African-American to integrate a Charlotte school — to Harding High in 1957. Scores of white teenagers and adults surrounded her as she walked into the school, spitting and yelling racial slurs.

The stories and photos made national news, and some leaders, including Mayor Stan Brookshire, believed it cast Charlotte in a negative light. They decided to work behind the scenes for change.

But change was slow, as it was throughout the South.

Many Southern communities were resisting desegregation. In the early 1960s, civil rights activists — many of them college students — began dramatic sit-ins against segregated lunch counters. They boycotted retail establishments that maintained segregated facilities.

Hawkins led many of those protests in Charlotte and was successful in ending segregated lunch counters.

But in early 1963, racial discrimination was still widespread for African-Americans in Charlotte, Hawkins’ son, Abdullah Salim Jr., an attorney, said Thursday.

And a showdown came in the spring of 1963.

____

A major international trade show was headed to Charlotte in April 1963, but Hawkins threatened a massive protest unless hotels and “white-tablecloth eateries” were desegregated.

Brookshire brokered the desegregation of key restaurants and hotels with business leaders, and Hawkins called off the protest. But when the trade show left, businesses reverted to segregation.

Hawkins wrote Brookshire to condemn the action.

“Unless we come to a full realization and act, we shall continue to have demonstrations led by me or someone else,” he wrote.

Hawkins then organized a march for May 20 – the same day North Carolina officials in 1775 signed the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence declaring freedom from England.

“The sole purpose of the march was to address the ills and conditions that were going on at the time,” Salim said. Hawkins ad-libbed a speech. “He declared independence from segregation,” Salim said.

In response, Brookshire called a meeting of Chamber of Commerce leaders and urged them to coordinate a voluntary desegregation of hotels and restaurants. The chamber approved a resolution asking that all businesses serving the general public be open to people of all races, creeds and color.

But some white restaurant operators were concerned that serving African-Americans might drive away white customers.

James “Slug” Claiborne, a 30-year-old cafeteria operator, suggested the chamber use sit-in tactics: Let every chamber director invite a black counterpart to lunch, disperse themselves across the city, and do it all on the same day. That would leave no place for offended whites to flee.

Claiborne’s proposal was adopted, and white and African American leaders lunched at hotels and restaurants throughout the city.

Jack Claiborne said his brother was a problem solver.

“He had some appreciation for what black people went through and sensitivity to them,” he said. “I don’t think he did this out of any ideological idea. He was just, ‘Let’s solve the problem.’”

The successful desegregation pushed Charlotte in the national spotlight.

“There was a lot of one-on-one personal lobbying behind the scenes to get restaurant owners to agree to this,” said Tom Hanchett, historian of the Levine Museum of the New South. “It was a success and made national headlines.”

But Hawkins — considered the public face of Charlotte’s civil rights movement, a man at the center of every protest — wasn’t invited to the “eat-in,” his son said.

“They considered him a troublemaker,” Salim said. “Here you have a man who has a master’s degree in divinity, and they considered him a troublemaker,” Salim said. “He never advocated violence in any way.”

Hanchett said Hawkins wasn’t invited because he believes white business owners wanted to avoid controversy — and the appearance that they were giving in to the civil rights leader.

___

Over the next few years, Hawkins and other local civil rights leaders continued to fight against racial discrimination. Most of the battles were peaceful.

But the calm was shattered Nov. 22, 1965, when the homes of four Charlotte civil rights leaders — including Hawkins’ — were bombed. No one was hurt, and no one was ever charged.

Salim said it didn’t stop his father, who ran for governor in 1968 and 1972. He said his father continued to fight for racial equality until his death in 2007.

“He battled his entire life for equality,” he said.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

A fan of vibrant and comfortable socks, Burress, 35, has spent the last two years designing a collection that reflects his taste in fashion and provides great-fitting socks to those who consider them hard to find.

“I’ve always been crazy about my socks, my socks have always been loud,” Burress told theGrio at his launch event on Friday.

“It’s all about comfort and style, I want to wear a sock that’s comfortable for me because I have a size 12 shoe, I put on a lot of these socks on and the heel box doesn’t even go over my heel,” he admits.

As a result, Burress took it upon himself to craft a line that provides these necessities for men – but he isn’t the only celeb to launch this venture.

Reality TV star Rob Kardashian has also recently entered the market for footwear and released his own line of designer socks, known as Arthur George. However, Burress says his collection “isn’t like anyone else’s, it’s a little different over here” and reassures that “it’s all about comfort and style.”

Many more surprises to come

According to The Plaxico Burress Collection website, the line “offers just the right combination of quality craftsmanship, unique designs, and a great fit.”

“The collection caters to the fashion conscious man. With colorful, Modern Art inspired designs, that can be mixed and matched in seemingly unlimited combinations.”

It has only been days since the former Giants receiver officially launched the release of his new line, and he says although he is kicking things off with his luxury sock line, fans can expect many more male accessories to come.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg!” the stylish star says. “I’m going to reach out and do bow ties, pocket squares, cufflinks, belts, I’m doing a whole accessories line. This is just open[ing] the door for the socks but it’s only the beginning of a whole project.  It’s a whole movement.”

The Spring/Summer 2013 collection range in price from $24 – $30. It is currently available online and will be in stores nationwide soon.

Follow Lilly Workneh @Lilly_Works

CHICAGO (AP) — Visitors to the nation’s third-largest city are usually spotted wandering the Magnificent Mile, snapping pictures of the Willis Tower and sampling Chicago-style deep dish pizza, but if some persistent Illinois lawmakers and Mayor Rahm Emanuel get their way, a glitzy casino would be on their agenda, too.

Trying to land a Chicago casino has become an annual sticking point, despite political gusto from mayors and legislators who want to expand gambling in Illinois. Gov. Pat Quinn has axed two gambling bills and invoked images of infiltrating “mobsters.” Along that same theme, the head of the Illinois Gaming Board said the pending plan is inherently problematic because of the way a Chicago casino will be managed.

Still, the latest bill — which recently cleared the Illinois Senate and also would allow slot machines located in lounges at O’Hare and Midway — appears to have the best chance yet.

For the first time, Quinn signaled his support for gaming in a major speech, saying this year that he’d be open to a gaming bill if the revenue benefits schools, a stance that comes as Illinois faces mountainous money problems.

Meanwhile, Emanuel is pushing hard for the proposal, lawmakers are eager to rework it and business leaders would love the chance to plant a casino in Chicago — the largest American city to date — with thousands of noisy slots, an entertainment venue and a continuous flow of money-spending tourists.

“It’s not just another riverboat casino, it has the potential to be a destination in its own right,” said Jack Johnson, head of the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau. “Anytime you can add another destination to Chicago, it’s one more reason to come.”

The bill calls for five new Illinois casinos, including one in Chicago, and airport slots. If airports want them, Chicago would be unique among U.S. airports outside Las Vegas. The plan would establish aChicago Casino Development Authority, a board of mayoral appointees. The Illinois Gaming Board would have regulatory oversight, but most everything else, including contracts and day-to-day operations, falls to the city board.

And there’s the potential rub.

Some experts raised concerns at the Chicago setup when compared with urban casinos — in Philadelphia, Detroit and New Orleans — where the state board oversees everything.

“That is a rare situation,” said Doug Walker, an economics professor at the College of Charleston. “Anytime you have a new group of regulators, there’s another potential area for corruption.”

That very issue prompted state gaming board head Aaron Jaffe to question why Chicago needed its own board and resulted in a spat with lawmakers during a hearing on the bill last month. That followed similar questions from Quinn, who vetoed gambling bills over lack of ethical standards. It’s a theme he often brings up in a state where four of the last seven governors have gone to prison, including his predecessor Rod Blagojevich.

Even opponents who typically raise concerns about potential social costs — including increases in problem gambling — are also talking about ethical concerns. Partly that’s because it’s not hard to find corruption headlines in a city that’s been under a court order to root out political patronage or where federal data shows more than 1,500 public corruption convictions since the mid-1970s.

“They’ve had scandals … all kinds of scandals,” said Anita Bedell, head of the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems. “You think it’s going to be different now?”

Lawmakers acknowledged some of those concerns in the proposal, adding a ban on political contributions from the industry, an inspector general and, most recently, stating explicitly that the state board has final say over all regulation.

But the Chicago board remains in place.

“They’re like the business manager,” explained Democratic Sen. Terry Link, a bill sponsor. He says it’s not unlike other Chicago entities. The state created the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns McCormick Place, a convention center. Both the mayor and governor appoint members.

Emanuel, who said he supports Quinn’s ethical oversight concerns, also defended a city board, saying it’s needed to protect Chicago taxpayers’ interests.

The mayor boosted his support for the casino this week by pledging 100 percent of revenue will go to schools. The move comes as he proceeds with a controversial plan to close 54 schools and follows last year’s teachers strike.

Quinn has said he’d support gambling after lawmakers address the state’s nearly $100 billion unfunded pension liability, the worst nationwide. The plan is expected to bring in roughly $1.2 billion in one-time revenue and about $270 million annually. But Quinn has been noncommittal on whether he’d sign the bill if House lawmakers approve it. He’s also reticent on specifics, like what he thinks of the Chicago board.

Meanwhile, urban planners and tourism officials hope a Chicago casino boosts business. No specifics on a location have been publicly discussed, but some potential sites have been mentioned.

Urban planner Kim Goluska, who for nearly two decades did casino research for former Mayor Richard Daley, said possible sites include the glass-paneled James R. Thompson Center downtown, a state building with an enormous atrium; the Congress Plaza Hotel on Michigan Avenue; and Chicago’s former main post office, a dingy building straddling a freeway.

Others include a former hospital site on the South Side and McCormick.

Johnson said that any site could work, depending on transportation. He pointed to the success of Wrigley Field and the Steppenwolf Theatre as tourists destinations, which aren’t downtown.

Goluska said any casino should be incorporated into the city’s urban core to buttress other businesses. His top pick would be the Thompson Center, which is walking distance to Chicago’s Theater District, shopping and hotels.

“The spinoff benefit of doing this right should make the gaming revenue pale by comparison,” said Goluska, president of Chicago Consultants Studio, Inc. “It’s important that this is done right.”

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Published in 1987, the autobiography chronicles Shakur’s emergence as an activist at the center of America’s racial conflict. She ultimately affiliated with the Black Panther Party and the black liberation movement in the 1960s. Her case and her bouts with the criminal justice system recall all of the angst and murkiness within which the battles for black freedom were fought in the mid-20th century: brutal prison conditions, falsified evidence, conflicting statements, frenzied media panic, and violent racists posing as officers of the law.

In spite of these at times unlawful and regularly dehumanizing experiences, Assata Shakur has been living in exile with asylum in Cuba since 1984.

‘She Who Struggles’

Assata – whose name means “she who struggles,” was implicated in the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper on May 2 1973. Today marks 40 years since that day.

While little detail is available as to how Ms. Shakur was ferreted away to freedom from the maximum security wing of the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey in 1979, the “facts” of her case, or rather, the state’s case against her are shaky at best. By her supporters’ accounts they are institutionally designed to falsely prosecute and imprison her.

For more info on her case and details of her experiences go here: http://www.assatashakur.org.

As recently as 2005, the U.S. government issued a one million dollar bounty for information leading to her capture and/or extradition from Cuba. Her name, as well as her government name, Joanne Chesimard, has been on the FBI’s most wanted list since before most Americans had ever heard of Osama Bin Laden.

’20th Century Escaped Slave’

Assata refers to herself as “a 20th century escaped slave” and her experiences with the criminal justice system and the verve with which the U.S. government prosecuted and persecuted her suggest that this reference is not exaggerated in the slightest.

She has occasionally given interviews and or written from somewhere inside of Cuba, but it is unlikely that our government will ever be able to come to terms with its own role in the violent racial conflicts of its immediate past, and thus unlikely that Assata will ever be able to live freely in her country of origin – these United States.

Assata’s status, the government’s case against, her and the moment out which all of this emerged, are signal reminders to many of us that not so long ago, members of the Black Panther Party were considered the greatest threat to the United States government; that revolutionary activists like Assata Shakur, were considered this nation’s most feared terrorists.

We can only hope that as the fight against terror creeps through the beginnings of a new century, that this nation will fight to uphold the tenets of justice above and beyond its xenophobic and racialized history.

James Braxton Peterson is the Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University. He is also the founder of Hip Hop Scholars LLC, an association of hip-hop generation scholars dedicated to researching and developing the cultural and educational potential of hip-hop, urban and youth cultures. You can follow him on Twitter @DrJamesPeterson

They are celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, the architect of “Project C” also known as the Birmingham  Movement.

The event will feature Rev. Dr. James  A. Forbes, Jr., Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson and professor Jonathan  Rieder,  Barnard College, author of Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s  Letter from Birmingham Jail and the  Struggle that Changed a Nation as panel guests.

A rare audio recording

During the event, never-before-heard audio of Dr. King will be played.  The audio is a speech Dr. King gave at a mass meeting in a Birmingham church to an all-black audience shortly after his release from Birmingham City Jail on April 20, 1963.

The civil rights leader spoke at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.  That same church would later be the site of a bombing on September 15, 1963 by Ku Klux Klan members, resulting in the death of four young African-American girls.

Professor Rieder told theGrio that in the recording you can “hear his frustration not only with whites but with black dissidence.”

“In the mass meetings he was talking to ‘my people’ about leading a race up out of bondage.”

‘The ultimate cross-over artist’

Rieder said that King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and this rare recording are similar, but that there are differences in his delivery depending on the race of his audience.

“He would alter the style of his performance but not the message,” Rieder said.  ”He was the ultimate cross-over artist.”

The audio of King at a mass meeting in Birmingham is “more direct.”  Rieder suggests that during meetings like this King could be angry and “cuts loose.”

However King is “cautious when speaking to whites,” Rieder said.  ”He still needs to win them over.”

“He was trying to get blacks to overcome the fear,” Rieder said.  ”That’s the part of him that was raising black consciousness.  This puts him closer to Malcolm X.”

The meeting was an effort to join African-Americans in Birmingham together.

“There is this loving black solidarity in these meetings.”

At the May 2 event, this never-before-heard audio of Dr. King will be played, as well as discussions by panelists and performances by the Canaan choir.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals. 

DETROIT (AP) — When Eva Nelson-McClendon first moved to Detroit’s Birwood Street in 1959, she didn’t know much about the wall across the street. At 6 feet tall and a foot thick, it wasn’t so imposing, running as it did between houses on her street and one over. Then she started to hear the talk.

Neighbors told her the wall was built two decades earlier with a simple aim: to separate homes planned for middle-class whites from blacks who had already built small houses or owned land with plans to build.

“That was the division line,” Nelson-McClendon, now, 79, says from the kitchen of her tidy, one-story home on the city’s northwest side. “Blacks lived on this side, whites was living on the other side. … That was the way it was.”

That’s not the way it is anymore. But the wall remains, a physical embodiment of racial attitudes that the country long ago started trying to move beyond.

And slowly, in subtle ways, it is evolving into something else in its community, something unexpected: an inspiration.

___

To those in the know, it goes by different names. For some, it’s simply “The Wall.” Others call it “Detroit’s Wailing Wall.” Many like “Birwood Wall,” because it refers to the street and sounds like the “Berlin Wall.”

It’s still a half-mile long, interrupted only by two streets, much as a developer envisioned it in the early 1940s. It couldn’t separate people on its own — people and policies would see to that — but it was enough to satisfy the Federal Housing Administration to approve and back loans.

Aside from the mural that appears at the wall’s midpoint, much of it is easy to miss. In fact, it’s impossible to follow it completely as the wall disappears behind homes and in spots is overgrown by vegetation. Where it’s exposed, it’s whitewashed or a drab earth tone — and sometimes marred by gang graffiti. On one corner it says, “Only 8 Mile,” referring to the divisive road just yards to the north.

The wall never fell, but it didn’t really have to. The area became primarily African-American in the decades to come, as most whites and even many blacks left. The pattern was replicated across much of the 139-square-mile city that was built for two million people but fell to about 700,000 in the 2010 Census.

The story of the wall has been largely lost in larger narratives, such as the 1943 and 1967 race riots and Eight Mile Road. The wall ends, almost invisible, just shy of the thoroughfare that serves as the boundary between Detroit and its suburbs and symbolically represents the divide between black and white.

Race remains a flashpoint in a city beset by an interrelated stew of crime, corruption and high unemployment. And some accuse the state of further disenfranchising Detroit’s majority black population as Michigan’s governor recently declared a financial emergency in the city and the state took financial control.

Still, the wall is not forgotten. An artist descended on it several years ago with an army of about 100 fellow artists and community volunteers to create a vast, eye-popping mural with images and messages of equality and justice on a section overlooking a playground. And now, a faith-based nonprofit is giving work to men who have struggled to keep a job or a home, having them make sets of coasters that incorporate images from the wall and use materials from abandoned homes that were razed in the city. Every sale of a $20 set of coasters helps to make something good out of something bad.

“It’s recycling, giving jobs to people who are having a tough time with unemployment and, at the same time, creating a very nice piece of art that could and should lead to some great discussions about race in the city of Detroit and in our country,” says Faith Fowler, director of Cass Community Social Services and its Green Industries program.

Tightly clustered one-story homes dominate the neighborhood around the wall, which still has well-kept houses like Nelson-McClendon’s but also suffers from a rising number of vacant, gutted structures. More tear-downs in the making. And, perhaps, more wood for the coasters.

The homes on Birwood end at Alfonso Wells Memorial Playground, where the eye is immediately drawn to the massive mural.

It’s impossible to take it all in at once, but certain images pop out in a slow pan: Rosa Parks boarding the bus that would make her a household name in the civil rights struggle, followed by a man carrying a sign that says, “Fair Housing.” Houses and more houses of all colors. A group of men singing a capella under a streetlight. Children blowing bubbles that pop up throughout the wall and contain various things, including an auto plant and words like “peace” and “flowers.”

“Bubbles are a form of creation. Children’s imaginations create the future,” says Chazz Miller, the artist who designed the mural and teamed up with the Motor City Blight Busters in 2006 on the community project. “Also, bubbles capture images and distort them and give you a new perspective.”

Creating a new perspective was part of Miller’s goal with the mural, but he knew the wall had to delve into the past for those who didn’t know history. He took them back to the early migration of blacks in Detroit, including to the Sojourner Truth Housing Project, which had been nearby and was named after the 19th century abolitionist and women’s suffragist. When the project opened, blacks moving in were harassed and assaulted, and many view the event as a catalyst for deadly riots the following year.

“Sojourner Truth is coming out of the underground railroad at the very beginning of the wall,” Miller says, pointing to the picture that’s now behind a fence on private property. “And in the very tiny corner there’s a Ku Klux Klansman that’s pissed because she got away, and he has a burning cross.

“Of course, she has a light — and the light symbolizes leading the way,” Miller says.

Not that the path forward would be bright and easy. Competition for housing and jobs between white and blacks was widespread in the city’s boom years. Many blacks had moved into the area in the 1920s and 1930s because there was so much vacant land — a far cry from the overcrowded, unpleasant conditions in the two black enclaves near the city center. But a lot of white housing developments started spreading north as well and “pushing up against this black enclave on the far edge of the city,” says Jeff Horner, a lecturer in Wayne State University’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

By 1940, the gap had closed. A developer of a proposed all-white subdivision managed to hammer out a compromise with federal housing officials: The loans and mortgage guarantees would come in exchange for constructing a wall. “This is the closest thing Detroit has to the segregated fountains or to the white-only swimming pools of the Deep South,” Horner says.

Nobody had to tell Nelson-McClendon, who moved to Michigan from Alabama in 1951. “It was the same thing,” she says. “Separation.”

In an old warehouse a few miles to the southeast, several men are busy working at Green Industries. Among them is Jason Garland, who says he does “mostly everything” related to making the coaster sets. On this particular day, he’s trying his hand at some of the final touches: spreading glue on the square pieces of paper containing images from the mural and affixing them to a small block of glass donated by a local windshield manufacturer.

Garland, 26, had been out of work for a year before coming to work for Green Industries in January. He says he had “gotten lazy at one point,” but in his new job he often comes in early and on days off. The former automotive worker says he and his co-workers look out for each other, and he never wants to leave.

Garland is also learning history. He used to live near the wall but had no idea about why it was built or the meaning of the mural. “I used to always say, ‘What is that?’” he says.

Cass launched Green Industries in 2007, after some clients couldn’t get jobs anymore because of the worsening economy and lack of reliable mass transportation. The nonprofit started with welcome mats made from illegally dumped tires, then added a paper-shredding operation employing people with developmental disabilities.

The coaster idea grew out of collaboration between Cass and the University of Michigan. A class for business, art, design and engineering students called “Integrated Product Development” was challenged to come up with a new product for Cass that could be launched quickly and cheaply, and made with materials that would otherwise go to waste.

After months of near-miss attempts, class professor William Lovejoy devised the idea of the Detroit-branded coasters and fashioned prototypes. He presented the idea to Fowler, who says the men have made about 200 four-coaster sets and sold about 100 so far. Anytime she takes a boxful to a speaking engagement or event, she usually sells out — and gets people talking about the wall and, sometimes, their experiences with it. For most, it’s a revelation.

“It gives them permission to have that kind of discussion — both black and white, young and old,” Fowler says.

For muralist Miller, who sees the vacant and trashed homes behind the concrete canvas he painted, the promise of a “new Detroit” is still possible. But it won’t happen, he says, without a continued push by those who remain in the neighborhood and others like it across the shrinking, struggling city.

“It’s really up to us to not cry on what’s gone,” Miller says. “Let’s focus on what we have. … We need to get people out do these kinds of projects so they can have conversations and get to know each other and find out who their neighbors are.”

A metaphor from his mural is within arm’s reach: A depiction of the city’s famous Spirit of Detroit statue is on a cut-out board that extended above the wall but since has fallen off and is propped against the wall. The original Spirit of Detroit is lifting up a family; Miller’s Spirit emerges from flames and rubble and holds up a migrant family to symbolize the migration of workers from the South to Detroit to fill its burgeoning factories.

“What is the Spirit of Detroit, and what does it motivate us to do? It motivates us to work hard and to persevere, and to keep going,” he says.

___

When it comes to the wall, Eva Nelson-McClendon knows about perseverance. For her, it was and remains the only option.

“Did it make me angry to see that wall up there? It was something you grow accustomed to seeing, you know, although you don’t like it. Getting angry over it is not going to solve anything,” McClendon says. “What was important to me was bringing up my kids and getting them to get an education so they wouldn’t have to be bothered with things like that in the future.”

She thinks about progress, and acknowledges some. But she knows there are still neighborhoods, mostly in the suburbs now, where African-Americans can move but they aren’t welcomed with open arms.

But on this day, she takes solace that people didn’t stay in place. Even if the wall did.

“It all depends on the people, the individual, the heart,” she says. “You’re not going to stop progress, don’t care how hard you try.”

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Branton died of natural causes on April 19 in Los Angeles, his son, Tony Nicholas, told the Los Angeles Times.

Branton, the only 1948 black graduate of the Northwestern University law school, already had decades of civil rights law when he became co-lead defense counsel at Davis’ trial.

Davis gained national attention in 1969 when the University of California, Los Angeles professor was fired for being a member of the Communist party.

The next year, she was charged in a 1970 armed takeover of a Marine County courtroom. A 17-year-old boy smuggled guns into the San Rafael courtroom and armed three black convicts. They tried to drive away with a judge, prosecutor and three women jurors as hostages. Police opened fire and in the melee the judge, the teenager and two of the convicts died.

Davis was charged with murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy because she had bought the smuggled guns — including a shotgun that had been taped to the judge during the escape attempt.

She fled and was placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.

After her arrest, the case became a cause celebre among progressives. She claimed the guns had been stolen from her, and eventually was acquitted by an all-white jury.

Branton was instrumental in the decision, Davis told the Times on Thursday.

On the trial’s closing day, he showed the jury a drawing of his client wrapped in chains, then ripped it away to reveal another of Davis unbound and urged jurors to “pull away these chains as I have pulled away that piece of paper.” He then attacked the prosecution case and asked jurors to “understand what it means to be black.”

“Certainly his brilliant closing argument had a profound impact on the jury,” Davis said.

Branton had been involved in civil rights cases dating to the late 1940s. He helped singer Nat King Cole integrate the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood of Hancock Park, defended Communists in the McCarthy era and won police misconduct cases decades before Rodney King.

“He was a hero of mine,” said Connie Rice, a Los Angeles civil rights attorney who helped lead efforts to reform the LAPD after the King beating.

“All the things I’ve done, Leo Branton did 50 years before I even thought about going to law school,” she told the Times. “He saw himself not as a private practitioner out to make money for himself but as a lawyer with the skills to be a champion for black liberation.”

Branton also was an entertainment lawyer who represented the Platters, Miles Davis and Richard Pryor.

Branton practiced law until early this year, and won his last case involving a dispute with a credit card company, his son said.

In addition to Tony, Branton is survived by two other sons, Leo Branton and Paul Nicholas, a brother, sister and five grandchildren.

___

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Mulberry Row, the community where slaves lived on the Monticello plantation in Virginia, will be reconstructed. Monticello officials plan to rebuild at least two log buildings where slaves worked and lived and will restore Jefferson’s original road scheme on the plantation. The gift will also fund the restoration of the second and third floors of Jefferson’s home that are now mostly empty and will replace aging infrastructure.

David Rubenstein, the co-CEO of The Carlyle Group private equity firm, announced his gift Friday night. It is one of the largest ever to the Monticello estate.

Archaeologists and historians designing the project will follow a drawing Jefferson made in 1796, describing the material and dimensions of the log structures along Mulberry Row. Over the next two years, they plan to rebuild a structure described as being among “servants’ houses of wood, with wooden chimneys and earth floors.”

It’s believed to have housed members of the extended Hemings family, who held important positions at Monticello. Most historians believe Sally Hemings, a slave, had a relationship with the third president and that he was the father of her six children.

“By bringing back the place, we bring back the people, and we’re able to put a face on slavery,” said senior curator Susan Stein. “It’s actually the lives of people.”

Rubenstein told The Associated Press he has become a student of Jefferson in recent years since purchasing several copies of the Declaration of Independence and came to admire the man who wrote that “all men are created equal.”

“I think it’s important to tell people the good and the bad of American history, not only the things that we might like to hear,” Rubenstein said. “And the bad of it is that as great as Jefferson was, nobody can deny that he was a slave owner.

“I think if Jefferson were around today, he would say ‘I would like to see Monticello restored as it was.’”

The gift follows major donations Rubenstein has made to preserve U.S. history at former President George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, at the earthquake-damaged Washington Monument in the nation’s capital and elsewhere.

He said he’s driven, in part, by concern that Americans don’t know enough about their history.

Leslie Green Bowman, the president and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, called Rubenstein’s gift “transformational.” It ranks among the top five gifts in the foundation’s history since it purchased the estate in 1923 and began restoring Monticello for historical tours.

Monticello has been studying slavery for decades and has provided descriptions of slave life since 1993. Rebuilding sites where slaves lived and worked on Mulberry Row, though, represents a change to include even more African-American history.

“It’s a huge step forward that we’re including that story as an essential part of Monticello’s history,” Bowman said. “Jefferson did not live here in a vacuum.”

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Fifty years later, these eight simple, yet powerful words are what many remember from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s’ Letter from Birmingham Jail.

They have become a sound bite, a snippet, of King’s clarion call to clergy in and around Birmingham to bring an end to the unethical practices of segregation and economical injustice.

However, while many remember the letter simply by those eight words, those familiar with the letter want to clarity there is much more to the writing missing on society today.

Addressing a crisis of Christian faith

King’s letter reflected the religious challenges of his time, addressing the crisis of Christian faith for southern Christians at the time, said Billy Michael Honor, pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

“As I understand it, the initial purpose of King’s letter from the Birmingham jail was to respond to the criticism of certain white and black clergy who claimed that King’s protests were unhelpful to the peace and unity of the segregated south,” Honor told theGrio by email.

In the letter, dated the 16th of April 1963, King responds to critiques from those he identifies as “white, moderate” clergymen. They have questioned not only his “present activities” in Birmingham, but also his presence in their city. For them, he is an outsider, bringing unnecessary ruckus to their city, and has no business in their affairs.

MLK’s responsibility as a religious leader

But for King, it is his responsibility as a religious leader to be there.

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny,” he writes.

Dr. Clayborne Carson, professor of history at Stanford University, said King’s writing to white clergy defends the idea of non-violent demonstration on religious grounds. As director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, Carson is the consummate historian and authoritarian on King.

What Carson wants to highlight, he told theGrio by phone, is that King’s entire argument is from memory alone.

“It’s from what he knows. He is in jail and trying to defend himself without access to consultation and a library,” Carson said. “He called upon every rhetorical device he could use to make that case. I get the impression that being in jail focused his mind.”

This, for Honor, is perhaps the most significant impact the letter had for King and cements his legacy.

“His writing of such a phenomenal letter without the use of notes or reference materials cemented King’s legacy as a public theologian and theological ethicist,” he said. “In particular, the charges against King’s academic credentials due to allegations of cheating and plagiarism were also quelled by the impressive intellectual quality of King’s missive.”

King was at a crossroads

Today, we look back and remember King as a great leader who changed the course of history, Carson points out. However, at the time King’s leadership was being questioned.

“He was under severe pressure,” Carson told theGrio. “Over the course of the six years he does not do very much. Other groups have started taking the initiative to bring about change, Malcolm X is gaining in publicity, and grassroots leaders in the community are saying, ‘We admire you, but what have you done recently. What have you done since Montgomery?’”

So King’s entire reputation of whether he can properly lead a campaign is at stake.

“If King had failed in Birmingham, there would not have been the March on Washington; there would not have been the ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. There would not have been any of that other stuff we know him for if he had not succeeded in Birmingham,” said Carson.

His decision to go to jail represents his deeply religious roots, Carson adds.

“Some were saying, ‘If you go to jail, all is lost.’ And others were saying, ‘If you don’t go to jail, all is lost.’ In the end, he makes a decision based on faith.”

These are facts, realities that are lost upon the larger society today. Part of this can be attributed, said Honor, to a lack of knowledge overall about the actual content and details of Dr. King’s life.

We must remember MLK the theologian

“For example, much is said about Dr. King as a civil rights leader but very little is said about King as a theologian, public theologian and social ethicist; which makes his letter all the more important,” Honor said adding, “It is also important to understanding the ideological and intellectual mind of Dr. King; this point is very important as the King legacy continues to be co-opted by forces that would like to sanitize, conflate and misappropriate it.”

Carson compares this lack of knowledge to the realities of most Christians across the world. He calls it intellectual laziness.

“It is a problem we have with a lot of people who profess to believe in something who really do not have an idea of what they believe,” he said. “Not many Christians, if you asked them to summarize the Sermon on the Mount and what it means, could fulfill the task. I’m not even sure many people of a certain generation have even read King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail.”

So how do we rectify this problem? Honor has some thoughts.

“In order to ensure that the legacy of the King letter is understood, individuals with knowledge of its history, context and content must continue to share the story,” he said. “In addition, religious practitioners, like myself, must continue the legacy in our work and ministry.”

Follow Mashaun D Simon on Twitter at @memadosi, or follow his blog, http://theparkinglotblog.wordpress.com.

This weekend, 42, a biopic starring Chadwick Boseman as Robinson, will hit theaters.

To commemorate the occasion theGrio put together a list of 10 things you may not know about Jackie Robinson.

Major League Baseball’s Jackie Robinson Day will be celebrated this Monday, April 15th.

Every player will don Robinson’s number, 42, marking the 64th anniversary of the Hall of Famer breaking baseball’s color barrier.

Click through the slideshow to see some of the lesser known facts about Robinson.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals. 

Robinson’s story will be told in the movie 42, opening today. Early reviews of the movie are promising, and a new generation of sports fans will get the opportunity to learn about Robinson’s journey of struggle, adversity, and ultimately success in breaking baseball’s color barrier.

Robinson remains an inspiration for today’s African-American players, who still hold the man and his accomplishments in complete reverence (Adam Jones is even taking children in Baltimore to see 42 on Monday, which is also Jackie Robinson Day). Most talk about Robinson for his non-baseball accomplishments – affecting change in baseball, but also in society as a whole. And rightfully so, as he was critical in advancing civil rights. But we also need to remember what we oftentimes forget when talking about Robinson.

He was one hell of a baseball player.

It’s difficult enough to succeed in baseball, but to think that Robinson did this with such considerable pressure makes his on-field exploits even more impressive.

There was the obvious pressure to succeed for other African-Americans. Had Robinson failed – and by “fail” I mean being anything less than a star – it would’ve hurt all other talented black players trying to break into the major leagues.

Incredible pressure to perform

There was also the pressure of having to succeed in the face of extreme criticism, anger and racism from white fans and players who didn’t want him there. Imagine trying to hit a 98-mile-per-hour fastball. Then imagine trying to hit that same fastball while the other team is yelling racial slurs at you when you’re in the batter’s box.

In his rookie season in 1947, while he was dodging pitches at his head and trying to ignore death threats, he was also racking up hits and was a terror on the basepaths. He won Rookie of the Year (which is even more impressive when you consider he won it for the whole league; now baseball gives out a National League and American League Rookie of the Year). That year he hit .297 and led the National League in stolen bases with 29, while never getting caught.

TheGrio: 42 shows why Jackie Robinson still matters

Robinson’s breakout year came two seasons later, when he batted .342, stole 37 bases, and had 124 runs batted in. He was the batting champion and again the National League stolen base champion. For fans of advanced analytics, he also fared well in wins above replacement, with a dominant 9.3.

Robinson was a marvel to watch, as Roger Kahn wrote in “The Boys of Summer”:

“Robinson could hit and bunt and steal and run,” Roger Kahn wrote in The Boys of Summer. “He had intimidation skills, and he burned with a dark fire. He wanted passionately to win. He bore the burden of a pioneer and the weight made him stronger. If one can be certain of anything in baseball, it is that we shall not look upon his like again.”

Remember when everyone made a fuss last year about reigning National League Rookie of the Year Bryce Harper stealing home? Robinson made the feat look easy, succeeding in swiping home 19 times.

He was selected to six All-Star games in his 10-year career, with a lifetime average of .311 and 197 total stolen bases. He led the Brooklyn Dodgers to six pennants and one World Series title in 1955. He was also selected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1962.

TheGrio: The Obamas embrace history with enthusiasm for 42

Setting the bar for other black athletes

His play on the field was instrumental in helping other black players – in all sports – get opportunities to play on the biggest stages. As Dave Anderson noted in his obituary of Robinson:

“As the first black player in major-league baseball, he was a pioneer. His skill and accomplishments resulted in the acceptance of blacks in other major sports, notably professional football and professional basketball.”

With 42 opening today, the story of Jackie Robinson will once again be told. It’s a story that needs to continue to be told to celebrate the most important baseball player ever. And while it’s critical we remember Robinson for all that he’s done for African-Americans – both in sports and in life – lets also remember him for being one of the best baseball players ever, too.

Follow Stefen Lovelace on Twitter @StefenLovelace

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The lone survivor of a notorious 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four black girls is seeking millions in compensation and says she won’t accept a top congressional award to honor the victims.

Sarah Collins Rudolph tells The Associated Press she feels forgotten 50 years after the Sept. 16, 1963 blast at Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Rudolph lost an eye in the bombing and says she never got restitution.

Congress is considering whether to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Rudolph and four girls who died: 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, and 11-year-old Denise McNair.

The brother of Wesley, Fate Morris, says he’s also not interested in the award, which is Congress’ highest honor.

Juries convicted three Ku Klux Klansmen years later in the bombing.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell, the winner of five MVP trophies, 11 championship rings and the first African-American to coach a team in the NBA, appeared on a recent taping of Melissa Harris-Perry to talk about Jackie Robinson and the influence of the trailblazing baseball player.

In light of Robinson’s biopic 42, which arives in theaters on Friday, Russell – who the late player’s widow Rachel Robinson claims was “Jackie’s favorite athlete” — opens up about his relationship with the baseball player and how Robinson helped pave his own path to success.

“I had so much respect and regard for him,” Russell says. “I was 13 when he broke into the major leagues…he was the hero because he conducted himself as a man and a professional.”

Follow Lilly Workneh @Lilly_Works

America’s civil rights history evokes a sense of pride and accomplishment, given the hard-fought battles waged in the courtroom and in the streets, and those who were maimed and martyred in the process.  And yet there is unfinished business, including other wrongful convictions of African-Americans, unsolved murders of civil rights leaders, and other violations for which no perpetrators were ever held to account, and the victims never received so much as an apology.  The Scottsboro Boys have been vindicated, but there are many more waiting in the wings—waiting for justice.

Like the Scottsboro Boys, Recy Taylor received justice from the Alabama Senate, however symbolic.  In 1991, state legislators apologized to Ms. Taylor, then 91, who had been abducted and gang raped by seven white men in 1944.  Her plight came to symbolize the sexual violence visited upon black women by white men in the Jim Crow South.

And justice also came for the Wilmington Ten in January, when Beverly Purdue, then-governor of North Carolina, pardoned the group for their wrongful conviction four decades ago.  Widely regarded as political prisoners, the Wilmington Ten—which included nine black men and one white woman—were sentenced to a total of 300 years for the 1971 firebombing of a white-owned grocery store on the night a black teenager was killed by police.  Further, they were convicted of conspiracy to assault emergency responders who came to the scene of the fire.  One of the surviving members of the group is Benjamin Chavis, former president and CEO of the NAACP.

Jack Johnson, Marcus Garvey and more in need of exoneration

Meanwhile, relief has not come for the family of Jack Johnson, the nation’s first black heavyweight champion who was railroaded by an all-white jury in 1913.  The boxer was convicted and sent to prison for a year under a law making it illegal to transport a white woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.”  Johnson became a star athlete at a time of deep racial hostilities and Jim Crow lynchings, and his victory precipitated race riots across America.

Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, was a Pan-Africanist and a black nationalist who was an important part of the “Back to Africa” movement, and had an influence on groups such as the Nation of Islam and the Rastafarians.  In order to realize his goal of returning the people of the black diaspora back to their ancestral homeland, Garvey created the Black Star Line, a transportation company.

Once described by W.E.B. DuBois as “the most dangerous enemy of the Negro race in America” for his separatism, Garvey was arrested in 1922 for mail fraud related to a stock sale in the business, a politically-motivated federal prosecution.  He was sentenced to five years behind bars, and was later deported after his release from prison.  A petition urges Congress to grant a pardon to the civil rights leader.

Over 40 years ago, Albert Woodfox, Herman Wallace and Robert King—known as the Angola 3—were convicted of murdering a prison guard at Angola Prison in Louisiana.  Woodfox and Wallace—who have maintained their innocence and claim they were framed due to their membership in the Black Panther Party—have been in solitary confinement since 1972.

Civil rights activists caught fighting for freedom

King was released in 2001 after 29 years in solitary confinement, after entering into a lease bargain for an unrelated crime for which he was never charged.  This past February, for the third time, a federal judge has overturned Woodfox’s sentence, ordering his release due to racial discrimination in jury selection at his trial.

In 1978 in West Philadelphia, hundreds of police officers raided the homes of the black liberation group known as the MOVE organization.  One officer, James Ramp, was killed with a single bullet, and 12 MOVE members were arrested.  Nine were convicted of third degree murder and conspiracy, always maintaining the officer was killed by friendly fire.  Eight of the MOVE 9 members are still alive and remain in prison, denied parole because they would not take responsibility for the crime.  Police had demolished the crime scene, and all of the evidence with it, within hours of the incident.

The MOVE 9 arrests were a prelude to the deadly 1985 police bombing of the MOVE compound on Osage Avenue, which resulted in the deaths of 11 people, including five children, and the leveling of 61 homes over several city blocks.  There were only two survivors in the MOVE house, a woman named Ramona Africa and a 13-year-old boy. In 1996, a jury awarded Africa $1.5 million in damages, which was overturned by a federal judge.

The youngest person ever executed in the United States, George Stinney, was electrocuted by the state of South Carolina in 1944 at the age of 14.  A frail black boy who was 5-foot-1 and 95 pounds, Stinney was accused of the unlikely crime of murdering two white girls.  There was no evidence he committed the crime and no evidence of a confession other than the announcement of a deputy.

He was interrogated for hours without his parents or an attorney present, and was coerced into a confession with an ice cream cone.  Further, his court-appointed lawyer called no witnesses.  When he was strapped to the electric chair, Stinney was so short in stature that he was propped up on a stack of dictionaries.

Civil rights era cold cases

In 2006, the FBI embarked on a Cold Case Initiative to identify and investigate racially-motivated murders of the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s.  Under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2008—named after the 14-year-old black boy who was lynched by two white men in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman—the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI are working together to address “violations of criminal civil rights statutes . . . result[ing] in death” that “occurred not later than December 31, 1969.”  112 cold cases involving 125 victims were reopened, and 92 cases have been closed, with 20 cases and 27 victims remaining.  These underwhelming results have disappointed the families of the victims, as the years have passed, witnesses and suspects have died, and memories of events have been erased.

One of those open cases includes the deaths of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney in 1964 in Philadelphia, Mississippi.  The three civil rights workers, working with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) were killed by a mob of white Klansmen at the height of the civil rights movement.  Outrage from their deaths helped with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Only one man, Edgar Ray Killen, was convicted in the killings.  He was found guilty of three counts of manslaughter and sentenced to three 20-year sentences in 2005.

The first black deputy sheriff in Washington Parish, Louisiana, O’Neal Moore, was fatally shot on June 2, 1965, in an ambush by a group of white men in a truck with a Confederate flag.  Moore had served in his position for a year and a day.  His partner, also black, was wounded in the shoulder and lost an eye.  A white supremacist was arrested for the crime, but charges were dropped and he died in 2003.

Another of the unsolved murders was of Wharlest Jackson, the treasurer of the Natchez, Mississippi branch of the NAACP, and a Korean War veteran whose Chevy pickup truck blew up on the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge in 1967.  A bomb had been planted under his car and was triggered by the turn signal.  An African-American worker at a tire factory, Jackson had just accepted a promotion to supervisor, a position reserved for whites.  An FBI investigation into the Jackson murder produced 10,000 pages of documents, yet all suspects have evaded prosecution.

Finally, Clifton Walker was surrounded and ambushed by a white mob as he drove from his job at International Paper in Natchez on February 28, 1964.  The mob unloaded their guns into his 1961 Chevy Impala.  The killing took place less than two weeks after a meeting of 200 members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in southwest Mississippi, after which they committed to the extermination of blacks in response to the civil rights “threat.”  FBI records showed that law enforcement were among the Klan members.  No suspects were charged—although the federal authorities presented local prosecutors with the names of two suspects—and no arrests were made.     

It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied.  Many years have passed in so many unresolved civil rights crimes and injustices.  And if no one is prepared to step up and pursue these cases, we must wonder if justice will ever come.

Follow David A. Love on Twitter at @davidalove

MIAMI (AP) — Thieves made off with an estimated $340,000 in jewelry from Miami Heat star Chris Bosh’s home while he was out celebrating his birthday.

Miami Beach police say Bosh called them about 12:30 a.m. Thursday after he and his wife returned from his well-publicized party at South Beach’s Bamboo nightclub. The couple noticed a jewelry drawer was open and numerous watches, rings and purses were missing.

Police say there was no sign of forced entry at the Bosh home. Also some easily recognizable items such as Bosh’s Heat championship ring were left behind.

Authorities are interviewing housekeepers and checking anyone else who may have had recent access to Bosh’s home.

Bosh was celebrating his 29th birthday.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

On Thursday, the state House voted 103-0 in favor of legislation setting up a procedure to pardon the teens, who were falsely accused of rape by two white women in 1931. The Senate had passed the bill earlier, 29-0. Gov. Robert Bentley has indicated he will sign it.

“This is great for Alabama. It was long overdue,” said Democratic state Rep. Laura Hall of Huntsville, who sponsored the bill in the House.

The Senate sponsor, Republican Arthur Orr, said it was unfortunate that the pardons are coming after all the Scottsboro Boys have died — but the bill lets Alabama write a “better final chapter.”

“Their lives were ruined by the convictions,” he said. “By doing this, it sends a very positive message nationally and internationally that this is a different state than we were many years ago.”

All but the youngest member of the group, whose ages ranged from 13 to 19, were imprisoned on death row after convictions by all-white juries. All were eventually freed without executions, although several suffered for many years in prison.

The last of the men died in 1989.

Their celebrated case has been memorialized in songs, books, museums, films and a 2010 Broadway play. Their twisting legal saga set important precedents, including Supreme Court decisions outlawing the practice of systematically excluding black people from juries and guaranteeing the right to effective counsel.

“You can’t change history,” said House Speaker Mike Hubbard, a Republican. “But you can take steps to right the wrongs of the past. The fact that this passed unanimously shows that today’s 21st century Alabama is far removed from the one that caused such pain for so many so long ago.”

That distance is still being measured.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, applauded the correction of “an historic miscarriage of justice.” But he noted that Alabama is involved in a Supreme Court case over the Voting Rights Act and has passed laws that critics say are discriminatory against immigrants in the country illegally.

“Like so many communities that have had tried to move beyond their ugliest chapters, Alabama has learned you can only move forward if you are honest about your past,” Jealous said. “It’s heartening that this was a unanimous vote.”

“Unfortunately,” he continued, “Alabama still needs to confront its present.”

Susan Glisson, executive director of the Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi, also was gladdened by the measure. “It is an opportunity for us to understand that period, especially the ways in which blacks were deemed inferior and therefore not worthy of equal treatment before the law,” she said.

But she found it ironic that it happened while Alabama is challenging its requirements under the Voting Rights Act, and said that the amount of time it took to pass may lead some to consider it an “empty gesture.”

“For those of us who care about where our country’s headed, I would hope we would take the opportunity to ask difficult questions about what reconciliation really means and also to understand the critical role that education and justice plays in its accomplishment,” Glisson said.

The episode began on a freight train traveling through Alabama during the Great Depression.

During that time, many people would sneak aboard for free rides between cities. There was a fight between whites and blacks on the train, and the two women made the false rape accusations in hopes of avoiding arrest.

Lynch mobs gathered outside the jail, but were warned off by the white sheriff and rebuffed by National Guardsmen called in by the governor.

After the defendants were convicted, the Communist Party seized on the case as an opportunity to make inroads among black people and liberals. It got one of its lawyers named as defense counsel, and also secured the services of famed defense attorney Samuel Liebowitz.

There were years of appeals — some successful, as one of the women recanted and said their claim was a lie.

Decades later, when the idea of pardons was raised, the governor and parole board said they didn’t have the legal authority to pardon the deceased. But Sheila Washington, founder of the Scottsboro Boys Museum, which opened in 2010, pursued the legislation.

Washington said Thursday that the pardons would finally shine a light on “this dark injustice.”

If the governor signs the bill as expected, a petition would need to be filed for each of the men, said Eddie Cook, executive director of the state parole board. The parole board would then decide whether to grant each pardon.

Previously, there had not been a procedure for pardoning someone who is dead.

___

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Two years after their re-discovery, restored video footage of Dr. King’s convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, in custody in Memphis as well as on trial, have been released just in time for the 45^th anniversary of Dr. King’s murder.

Reportedly, the Shelby County Sherriff Department purchased a Sony video recorder and video camera back then for the sole purpose of documenting Ray upon extradition, while in custody and during the 1969 trial.

Did James Earl Ray act alone?

Although some hail the tapes as a major addition to the historical archives for one of the most horrific events of the last half of the 20^th century, others have once again raised questions about whether Ray acted alone.

Investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi is one of them.

In his April 3 blog post “Former Justice official to FBI: Run MLK prints” for the paper, Mitchell spotlights G. Robert Blakey, who served as Chief Counsel and Staff Director to the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations from 1977 to 1979, which investigated the assassinations of both John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Apparently there are “many unidentified fingerprints through the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System” that have never been run, that might prove that James Earl Ray did not act alone. According to Blakey, who advocates running the prints as well as pursuing further investigation as long as the cost is reasonable, “thoughtful people today, not just nuts, think that more people than James Earl Ray were involved.”

The King family and friends have doubts

In March 1997, Dr. King’s son, Dexter, publicly met with Ray and said, “I want to ask for the record: did you kill my father?” to which Ray responded “No, I didn’t, no, no.” To the surprise of many, Dexter King accepted that, stating, “I believe you, and my family believes you, and we will do everything in our power to see you prevail.” The fact that the rifle Ray admitted to buying and bringing to Memphis was never test-fired and that its bullets were never compared to the bullet that killed King also fed the doubts.

King’s close associates are also among the many who believe that either Ray did not kill King or he, at the very least, did not do so alone. “I have always believed that the government was part of a conspiracy, either directly or indirectly, to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson wrote in the forward to second edition of James Earl Ray’s autobiography, “Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr.?“ in 1997.

Five years ago, Andrew Young, who was with King in Memphis, seemed to surprise Soledad O’Brien in her investigative report for CNN, “Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination,” which launched the network’s controversial Black in America series, when she pushed for his thoughts on James Earl Ray killing Dr. King. “I don’t think he had anything to do with the killing,” he told her.

In the April 12, 2008 post “Was James Earl Ray Martin Luther King’s Killer? Doubts Remain,” Young is quoted as saying, “I’ve always thought the FBI might be involved in some way.”

“You have to remember this was a time when the politics of assassination was acceptable in this country. It was during the period just before Allende’s murder. I think it’s naïve to assume these institutions were not capable of doing the same thing at home or to say each of these deaths (King and the two Kennedys) was an isolated incident by ‘a single assassin.’ It was government policy,” he added.

A case of reasonable doubt

And there is more than reasonable doubt. Born in Alton, Illinois in 1928, Ray did serve in the Army at the close of World War II in Germany. Once back in the U.S., he became a career criminal. He was convicted of burglary in California in 1949, armed robbery in Illinois in 1952, mail fraud in Missouri in 1955 and then armed robbery of $120 in a St. Louis grocery store for which he received a 20-year sentence in 1959. In 1967, however, he escaped the Missouri prison, reportedly traveling to several cities outside the country in Canada and Mexico before deciding to assassinate Dr. King.

According to FBI reports, Ray’s plan was well executed, with him spending time in Atlanta, King’s hometown, purchasing a weapon in Birmingham and then traveling to Memphis where he allegedly assassinated Dr. King. Before being apprehended in London in June 1968, Ray — who had interestingly found time to volunteer with the George Wallace presidential campaign in California before heading south to kill Dr. King — reportedly had plans to flee to the African nation of Rhodesia where a white minority regime reigned.

Then there are the questions about one of the men in the King entourage in Memphis being on the government’s payroll as well as the absence of sufficient black security for King in Memphis. Of course it is no secret that infamous FBI head J. Edgar Hoover targeted King relentlessly.

On top of all of this, nothing in Ray’s background suggests that he was ever the sophisticated criminal his later travels to London imply, plus his criminal past never included murder.

New tapes don’t dispel doubts

Then there’s Loyd Jowers, a restaurant owner near the Lorraine Motel, who detailed a conspiracy to kill King involving the Mafia and the U.S. government, to ABC’s Prime Time Live in December 1993.

So the tapes of Ray, while interesting, do little to dispel such doubts.

If anything, the virtually all-white everything, from the sheriff’s department to the judges and prosecutors to the reporters and, yes, jurors, show and prove just how incredibly unbalanced the scales of the 1960s criminal justice system truly were, making it very impossible to believe that true justice could even emerge under such duress.

Follow Ronda Racha Penrice on Twitter at @rondaracha

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A dealer of rare historic documents is selling a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. to a Philadelphia police officer who was assigned to protect him, expressing gratitude for the officer’s concerns and minimizing his own worries for his personal safety.

In the May 21, 1965, note to Sgt. James Adair, a white Philadelphia police officer on security detail for a Law Day visit on May 1 to the University of Pennsylvania, King conveyed his appreciation for “the time and effort which you spent in providing both protection and traffic accompaniment for myself and the members of my party.”

“While I hardly feel this necessary most of the time,” the civil rights leader wrote, “it is both comforting and humbling to know that there are persons who are so concerned about my welfare.”

Less than three years later, on April 4, 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis.

The Raab Collection in Philadelphia has set the price at $10,500 for the one-page typewritten letter, which was passed down through the police sergeant’s family until descendants who wish to remain anonymous decided to put it up for sale. The note is on letterhead stationery of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights organization led by King, and is signed by him at the bottom.

Raab Collection Vice President Nathan Raab said King was aware of the near-constant death threats but chose to put them out of his mind, recognizing that many were baseless, so he could continue with his work.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Last week investors saw the DOW reach a new all time high. There was also quite a bit of economic data. The fed left its key interest rate, which affects mortgage, credit card and student loan rates unchanged, and vowed to keep rates low until the unemployment rate improves.

Housing starts rose eight tenths of one percent in February, while building permits, a gauge of future building activity, rose 4.6 percent, to its highest level since 2008. New claims for jobless benefits increased by 2,000 to 360,000, signaling a stronger labor market. In the week ahead, we expect data on GDP, housing and income.

We’ll gain insight on the economy with the final estimate of fourth quarter GDP, which looks at all the goods and services produced from October through December. The second estimate showed the economy grew by .1 percent, the slowest pace of growth since early 2011.

We’ll get a read on housing with the January Case-Shiller Home Price Index report, which tracks price changes in twenty metro areas. In December home prices rose nearly 1 percent, helping to make 2012 the best year for home price gains since 2006.

We’ll check on consumer finances with the February personal income report. In January wages declined by 3.6%, much more than expected as payroll taxes increased, however, consumer spending edged up slightly.

So this week it was sad to see Douglass’s legacy cheapened as members of the right wing sought to use his name as some kind of political racial shield. This week, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference hosted a breakout session entitled “Trump the Race Card: Are You Sick and Tired of Being Called a Racist When You Know You’re Not One?” Yes, that’s really the title.

The session, hosted by K. Carl Smith, founder of The Conservative Messenger, right-wing pundit, and self-described “Frederick Douglass Republican,” taught attendees how to deflect racism, using their handy-dandy Frederick Douglass shield.

Smith uses Douglass’ historic alliance with the Republican Party of the 1860s and 1870s to try and make claims about the party’s racial bona fides today. Its fine to admire Douglass or want to use his life as a model for advocacy, but it seems that Smith has decided that Douglass’ name alone is enough to silence critics concerned about questions of race in the Republican Party of today.

Born into slavery in 1818 in Maryland, separated from his mother as an infant, never knowing — but believing — that his father was probably his white master, Douglass found his way to freedom and literacy despite tremendous odds stacked against him. Once free, he became an abolitionist and a brilliant orator, speaking throughout the North and abroad. He risked his own freedom as an escaped slave to advocate publicly for the freedom of millions of enslaved African-Americans throughout the American South. But Douglass was more than an abolitionist. He used his platform to become an author, speaker, and advocate for not only the rights of black Americans, but also women’s rights, and the rights of people of color abroad. He became black America’s first statesman; a tireless advocate for justice until his death in 1895.

At his session last Friday, Smith tried to frame Douglass in terms of today’s politics. According to the Washington Post, Smith claimed that Douglass was “born below poverty” and suffered at the hands of slave masters, who were Democrats. Smith then tried to draw comparisons between Douglass’ life and today’s political debates by saying that Douglass suffered under “slavemaster-run health care” and “slavemaster entitlements.”

The historical record shows that the enslaved did not receive any “entitlements” in exchange for their free labor, nor were they enslaved because they were members of the Republican Party. They weren’t recognized as citizens at all, so they certainly weren’t suffering because of any supposed political affiliation. Also, slavery wasn’t an anti-poverty program. In fact, the wealth generated by inter-generational chattel slavery made thousands of slaveholders obscenely wealthy in both land and property.  So I’m pretty sure this comparison doesn’t work.

Smith’s presentation also skips over the dramatic shifts in both the Democratic and Republican Parties since Douglass’s death in the 1890s.

Although the emancipated slaves did initially vote for the Republican Party that worked diligently to ensure citizenship and voting rights during the Reconstruction, the majority of black southerners were stripped of their right to vote in the decades before and after the turn of the twentieth century. Southern Democrats ushered in an age of terror, disfranchising African American voters, passing segregation laws in state legislatures, and enforcing these changes through the threat of lynching.

In the effort to attract white voters, the southern Republicans began the Lily-White Republican movement in the 1880s and 1890s in order to oust black politicians and appointees from the party. By the early 1920s, black voters in the South had no viable political alternatives in either party even if they managed to overcome the poll taxes, literacy tests, and all-white primaries in order to register to vote.

Black voters voting outside of the South in the wake of the Great Migration began to shift toward the Democratic Party. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal policies that tried to remedy the crisis of the Great Depression were the first real opportunities for fair employment and civil rights in decades.  However, this political shift made southern segregationists increasingly uncomfortable within the national Democratic Party.

Angered by Present Harry Truman’s establishment of the President’s Committee on Civil Rights and the addition of a civil rights plank to the Democratic Party Platform, a group of southern Democrats walked out of the 1948 convention and formed the State’s Rights Democratic Party, commonly known as the Dixiecrats. This segregationist party nominated South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond as its candidate for president. While the Dixiecrats won only four southern states and failed to effectively split the vote, their campaign cemented white southerners’ discontent with the national Democratic Party.

The campaign of Republicans like Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1968 attracted many former segregationist “State’s Rights Democrats” to the national Republican Party and repelled the majority of the few remaining black Republican voters. Many southern Democrats like former Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond switched to the Republican Party while the Republican “Southern Strategy” stoked racial resentment for electoral gain.

So a great deal has changed since Frederick Douglass voted Republican.

However, if there has ever been a moment when it would be good for the Republican Party to remember Frederick Douglass, this would be it. Perhaps these Douglass Republicans might fight for voting rights and women’s rights to contest recent moves to limit both.  Perhaps a contingent of Frederick Douglass Republicans can contest the recent wave of state laws limiting access to the polls. Perhaps the Frederick Douglass Republicans can censure those who are passing new laws attacking  women’s reproductive health care.  A real Frederick Douglass Republican would seek to change today’s Republican party from one that seeks to limit rights, to one that is expanding them. But the conclusion of the “Trump the Race Card” session leaves me doubting.

During the question and answer period, an attendee asked why the Republican Party couldn’t embrace Booker T. Washington, who spoke in support of southern segregation, rather than Douglass. While Smith was responding to the question by citing a letter in which Douglass forgave his master for enslaving him, the attendee shouted out a comment wondering why the slaveholder needed forgiveness for “feeding and housing” Douglass for all those years.

This was the moment when Smith’s “inner Frederick Douglass” should have awakened. Douglass condemned slavery as a “gross injustice” that caused children to be “snatched from the arms of [their] mother[s]” and decried the institution as a “blasphemy” against the teachings of the Christian church. Douglass, also an avid opponent of racial segregation and a leader in the movement to contest the segregation of trains in the North, once nearly destroyed the seat of a train car as he held on to his seat in an effort to stop conductors who forcibly ejected him from the first class car and threw him in with the baggage.

Douglass was no friend to those who made excuses for slavery or segregation. He risked his life for justice and equality for all Americans. I hope that somehow the real spirit of Douglass can be revived. Given today’s political landscape, we definitely need it.

Blair L. M. Kelley is an associate professor at North Carolina State University. Follow her on Twitter at @ProfBLMKelley

WACO, Texas (AP) — Brittney Griner arrived at Baylor known as the girl who could dunk.

The 6-foot-8 Griner has obliged over the years with some rim-rattling highlights. Even in her last regular-season home game, she made a quick spin move around a Kansas State defender on the baseline for a one-handed slam.

While the 14 career dunks are impressive — fun, too — Griner always wanted to be known for more than just slamming the ball. Add in all the blocks, points and championships, and she has indeed proven to be so much more in four seasons with the Lady Bears.

“A lot of people come up to me all the time and just tell me, just compliment me on my game, other than the dunks and the scoring,” she said. “Just how I find my teammates and just everything, how I move on the court. That let me know right there that, hey, I’m kind of getting away from the YouTube dunker girl.”

Going into her final NCAA tournament, the defending national champion Lady Bears (32-1) are again the No. 1 overall seed. They have a nation’s-best 55-game winning streak at home, where they play their tourney opener Sunday night against SWAC champion Prairie View (17-14).

Griner is the Big 12 career scoring leader with 3,203 points, 190 short of the NCAA record with no more than six games left. She has a nearly 7 1/2-foot wingspan that contributes greatly to the record she really cherishes: 736 blocked shots, more than any other man or woman ever in the NCAA.

“She’s one of a kind,” Kansas State coach Deb Patterson said. “Look at the great run that Baylorhas made with the Final Four and national championship, and really, a second potential national championship on the line, her impact is hard to measure with words.”

The dunk against Kansas State was part of Griner’s Big 12-record 50 points in a game. Five days later in the Big 12 tournament, Griner had 19 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high nine assists in another game against the Wildcats.

“No matter what anybody says, she’s not great because of her size,” Patterson said. “She’s great because she continued to improve her repertoire and compete extraordinarily well.”

Her high school dunks made Griner a YouTube sensation, with as many as seven per game for Houston Nimitz. They even caught the attention of the likes of NBA superstar LeBron James, who met Griner when she was still in high school and has kept up with her since.

“She’s awesome,” James said. “It’s not like she’s just catching and laying it or dunking every time either. She’s shooting turnaround jumpers. She’s drop-stepping over her left shoulder, right shoulder, shooting jumpers. She’s got a fade-away jumper. And she’s dunking the ball, too. She’s great.”

Griner still hears plenty of jeers and taunts from opposing fans during games. And there is no shortage of insults and insinuations about her on social media.

Griner used to be bothered and angered by some of the things said and written about her. She shrugs it off now.

“I went on Twitter and typed in my name just to see what people were saying, and it was pretty funny,” Griner said. “They don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re mad, (I) probably beat their team. They’re jealous. … In one ear, out the other, and I use it kind of as entertainment really,just to see some of the ignorant stuff that they will say.”

Or what will be made up, like the fake Twitter account somebody created representing the New Orleans Pelicans (the future name of the NBA’s Hornets) to congratulate Anthony Davis, the first overall pick in last year’s NBA draft, for “becoming engaged to Brittney Griner.”

That obviously wasn’t true, but it even surprised Griner, certain to be the WNBA’s first overall pick in the April 15 draft.

“It sounded legit how they said it and worded it,” she said. “I was like, ‘Wow!’ Kind of made me believe. … I looked at my hand.”

The only ring she had on was the one signifying the Lady Bears’ national championship last year, going undefeated in the NCAA’s first 40-win season.

“Brittney Griner, after winning the national championship last year, should have erased any doubt in people’s minds as the greatest to ever play the game,” coach Kim Mulkey said.

It’s hard to believe that Griner was like any other freshman when she arrived, nervous and unsure what to expect. The Lady Bears went 27-10 her first season, and made it to the NCAA Final Four before a national semifinal loss to Connecticut. They are 106-4 since.

There was also that punch late in her freshman season after tangling under the basket with a Texas Tech player. After being slung back and lunging toward the baseline, Griner stopped, took two steps and delivered a roundabout right to Jordan Barncastle’s face.

Like so many of Griner’s dunks, the video of that punch went viral. She got an automatic one-game NCAA suspension, and Mulkey added a second. It’s something Griner still regrets.

But Griner is constantly pushed and shoved during games with opposing teams often putting two, three and sometimes even more defenders on her.

As fierce as Griner can be during games, including occasional scowls and chest pounding, she is fun-loving and often goofy off the court.

After her 50-point game on senior night, Griner pedaled around the court on a tricycle used for student races during timeouts of Baylor games. She rides an elongated skateboard on campus, where other students find out she’s just another college kid.

“She’s a great person. She talks to everybody. She’s always laughing and joking around,” saidBaylor men’s point guard Pierre Jackson, the Big 12′s leading scorer. “She just makes everybody smile.”

Jackson was a junior college transfer and admittedly “kind of star-struck” by her when he first got toBaylor two years ago. She introduced herself to Jackson to break the ice.

There are less than three weeks left in her college career that Griner realizes “just went so quick.” She will leave an indelible mark on the women’s game, even though she cringes when asked about her impact on the game.

“I just feel like I’m adding on,” she said. “I guess you can say I’m changing the defensive end … justbecause I’m so big and I move. I’m not stationary.

“I want people to look back and be like, ‘Dang, I remember when I played her back in college, she was a game-changer on the defensive end,” Griner added. “I want that to be my mark on the defensive end.”

Well, that’s a slam dunk.

___

AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report from Miami.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — President Barack Obama is picking Florida, Indiana, Louisville, Ohio State to reach the Final Four.

President Obama filled out an NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN for the fifth straight year. On the women’s side, he selected Baylor, California, UConn and Notre Dame to advance to New Orleans.

ESPN will reveal his full men’s and women’s brackets Wednesday morning.

Indiana and Louisville are each No. 1 seeds. Ohio State is a No. 2 seed and Florida is a No. 3 seed

Baylor, UConn and Notre Dame are all No. 1 seeds and California is a No. 2 seed.

In 2012, President Obama’s men’s bracket ranked 2,347,421 out of 6.45 million entries, placing him in the 63.6th percentile.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Burrage died Friday at a hospital, the McClain-Hays Funeral Home Chapel said. The funeral home did not release a cause of death.

Burrage owned land in Neshoba County in central Mississippi where the three civil rights workers were buried under an earthen dam after members of the white supremacist KKK killed them in 1964. He said he knew nothing about the killings and was acquitted of conspiracy in 1967.

The FBI called its investigation “Mississippi Burning” — which was later used as the title for a 1988 film loosely based on the case.

Among the others charged with conspiracy in 1967, seven were convicted. None served more than six years in prison. The jury deadlocked on charges against a local minister, Edgar Ray “Preacher” Killen.

Killen was accused of orchestrating the killings. He was charged again in 2005 with killing Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney and convicted on three counts of manslaughter. Killen is serving a 60-year prison sentence.

Ben Chaney, the younger brother of James Chaney, met with Justice Department officials in 2009 and asked them to pursue charges against Burrage and other suspects before they died, but Burrage was never charged again.

After learning of Burrage’s death, Ben Chaney told the Clarion-Ledger newspaper, “I am disappointed. Wow! I’m very disappointed.”

Burrage’s funeral was set for Sunday. His death was first reported by the Clarion-Ledger newspaper.

In a 1964 confession, Klansman Horace Doyle Barnette talked of meeting Burrage after the bodies were buried in the dam. His confession was read to the jury by an FBI agent during the trial.

“Burrage got a glass gallon jug and filled it with gasoline to be used to burn the 1963 Ford car owned by the three civil rights workers,” Barnette said. “Burrage took one of the diesel trucks from under a trailer and said, ‘I will use this to pick you up, no one will suspect a truck on the road this time at night.’ It was then about 1 to 1:30 in the morning.”

Norma Bourdeaux, who was on the federal grand jury that indicted Burrage in the 1960s, told the Clarion-Ledger she believed Burrage was guilty.

“A man who has a piece of property doesn’t generally have people come in, take a bulldozer and bury three bodies under a dam unless he knows about it,” she said.

U.S. Attorney Doug Jones of Birmingham, Alabama, who successfully prosecuted the 1963 church bombing that killed four girls there, told the newspaper that authorities need to quickly assess this case and other civil rights cold cases.

“The window to true justice in these cases is closing,” he said. “Today is just another example of one who escaped justice, and we’ll just have to rely on a higher power now to bring justice.”

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Even as a slave, Elizabeth Freeman, known as Mum Bett most of her life, had the audacity to sue for her freedom. Born into slavery in Claverack, New York around 1742, Freeman, at a reported six months old, was sold, along with her sister, to John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts, a judge in the Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas. Enslaved to Ashley until she was almost 40, Freeman was spurred to action when the mistress of the house Hannah Ashley tried to hit her sister with a heated kitchen shovel. Freeman intervened and was hit instead, leaving the house, vowing to never come back.

Aware of the 1780 Massachusetts state constitution and its declaration of all men being free and equal from Sheffield’s many conversations, Freeman sought the services of Theodore Sedgwick, an attorney with anti-slavery sentiments. In 1781, a Massachusetts court awarded Freeman and another of Ashley’s slaves named Brom their freedom in Brom and Bett v. J. Ashley, Esq., even requiring Ashley to pay damages.

This set a major civil rights precedent. W.E.B. DuBois even claimed Freeman, who adopted the name after her legal victory, as his maternal great-grandmother – even though this connection was by marriage – as she was such an important figure to him. Freeman passed away in 1829.

Born into privilege in Boston in 1842, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin used her education and background to uplift black women. Married at age sixteen to George Lewis Ruffin (who would later become Harvard Law School’s first black male graduate, the first African-American elected to the Massachusetts state legislature and to the Boston City Council, and the first African-American municipal judge in Boston), Ruffin, a suffragist, helped Julia Ward Howe and Lucy Stone form the American Woman Suffrage Association in Boston in 1869. After her husband’s death in 1884, Ruffin, also a journalist and early member of the New England Women’s Press Association, became even more active, launching Women’s Era, believed to be the nation’s first newspaper published by and for black women, serving as editor and publisher from 1890 to 1897.

With her daughter, Florida Ruffin Ridley, and Boston principal, Maria Baldwin, she launched the New Era Club for black women in either 1893 or 1894 depending on the source. In 1895, Ruffin helped organize the National Federation of Afro-American Women, convening its first national conference in Boston attended by 100 women representing 20 clubs in 10 states. A year later, in 1896, the organization merged with the Colored Women’s League to form the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.

Although a member of several white women’s clubs, Ruffin advocated for black women as a suffragist. She rejected recognition as a delegate at a major conference in 1900, for example, because organizers only sought to confer the role due to her membership in several prominent white women’s clubs. Instead, Ruffin chose to stand up for the validity of black women’s clubs like her own New Era.

Active in other areas, Ruffin was also a founding member of the Boston branch of the NAACP. She passed away in 1924 at age 81.

Callie House, born Callie Guy in slaveholding Rutherford County, Tennessee in 1861, is still relatively unknown, despite the book about her life My Face Is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations by Mary Frances Berry. But House, a laundress operating out of Nashville in the 1890s, is an important figure in the reparations movement.

In 1894, House, along with Isaiah Dickerson, who had worked with white political activist William Vaughn around reparations in Omaha, Nebraska, organized the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association. Open to all, the Ex-Slave Pension Association, working nationally and locally, filled the void of the Freedmen’s Bureau, providing burial services as well as care for the sick and disabled to its membership in addition to advocating for legislation for ex-slave pensions.

Because of her success, House became a target. In 1899, the U.S. Post Office, emboldened by the Comstock Act of 1873, issued a fraud order against House and the Ex-Slave Pension Association. Continued federal intimidation forced House to step down as assistant secretary of the Ex-Slave Pension Association in 1902 but did not stop her from organizing more local chapters throughout the South. The wind left her sail, however, when Alabama Congressman Edmund Petus’s reparations legislation failed in 1903.

Pressing on, however, House worked with attorney Cornelius Jones and sued the Treasury Department for just over $68 million in cotton taxes tied to slave labor in Texas, but the case they filed in 1915 was ultimately dismissed. In 1916, House and other Ex-Slave Pension Association officers were indicted for allegedly using the postal service to defraud ex-slaves by promising that pensions and reparations were forthcoming. Convicted by an all-white, all-male jury, House was sentenced to a year and one day which she served in a Missouri penitentiary from November 1917 to August 1918, obtaining an early release for good behavior. Returning to Nashville as a laundress, House died ten years later, but her pioneering and early contributions to the reparations movement should not be forgotten.

Born the daughter of an Arkansas sharecropper in 1926, Johnnie Tillmon never let lack stop her. Leaving her first husband in Arkansas for California, with her children in tow, Tillmon, who did not have a high school education, found herself on welfare where she learned first-hand of indignities — such as welfare inspectors rummaging through refrigerators and showing up at midnight to catch male company — that women suffered. Through anonymous letters, Tillmon organized more than 300 of her Watts housing project neighbors in protest in 1963, leading to the formation of the Aid to Needy Children-Mothers Anonymous shortly thereafter, which later inspired the creation of the National Welfare Rights Organization—an organization that one-time boasted over 25,000 members, mostly black women. Tillmon Blackston served as Executive Director starting in 1972 until the organization’s demise in 1974.

Tillmon injected the particular rights and concerns of poor black women into the national feminist and civil rights dialogue. In the pivotal essay “Welfare is a Women’s Issue,” published in Ms. magazine in 1972, Tillmon argued that because 99 percent of families on Aid to Families with Dependent Children were headed by women, welfare was indeed a women’s issue. In addition, she brought attention to issues of birth control and the sterilization of poor black women, as well as the economic exploitation of poorly educated women. She even called then-California Governor Ronald Reagan out for referring to welfare recipients as “lazy parasites.”

In a time when it was posh to bash the so-called black welfare queen, Tillmon, who passed away in 1995 at age 69, pushed back, dedicating her life in various capacities to bringing much-needed awareness to the struggles of poor black women.

Tillmon’s contributions, as well as those of Elizabeth Freeman, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin and Callie House, may be unsung today — but there is no denying that each of these women played more than their part in uplifting their race and their gender, as well as in elevating the moral standard by which all human beings cooperating in a humane society should be measured.

Follow Ronda Racha Penrice on Twitter at @rondaracha

Originally hailing from Ethiopia, 21-year-old Yityish Aynaw was awarded the title and was the first Ethiopian-born Israeli to claim the pageant win.

“It’s important that a member of the Ethiopian community win the competition for the first time,” she was recorded answering to judges during the pageant. “There are many different communities of many different colors in Israel, and it’s important to show that to the world.”

Following her victory, Aynaw received a special invitation to meet and dine with President Obama and Israeli President Shimon Peres during Obama’s upcoming trip to the Middle Eastern country.

When asked why she was given the distinct honor to attend, Aynaw said in a Jerusalem Post piece that she is “the first black Miss Israel to be chosen and [Obama] is the first black American president. These go together.”

After moving to Israel at the age of 12, working as a clothing store sales assistant and joining the army, the opportunity once seemed like a far-fetched idea and Aynaw “didn’t think that such a thing could happen to her.”

It will be a memorable experience for the young pageant winner, who credited civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. for having a large influence on who she has become.

“He fought for justice and equality, and that’s one of the reasons I’m here,” she said. “I want to show that my community has many beautiful qualities that aren’t always represented in the media.”

Follow Lilly Workneh @Lilly_Works

JERUSALEM (AP) — A week before President Barack Obama is set to arrive in the region, Middle Eastpolitics are already casting a cloud over the visit as Israeli and Palestinian officials plan a series of events to promote their agendas.

Jerusalem city officials are offering visiting journalists a free tour of Israel’s most contentious archaeological excavation, a sprawling dig in the heart of contested east Jerusalem. Israel has also suggested that journalists could avoid going to the West Bank with Obama when he meets with Palestinian leaders.

On the other side of the divide, Palestinian officials hope to introduce the U.S. president to the family of a prisoner held by Israel. Activists say they will also greet Obama with posters and demonstrations meant to draw attention to life under Israeli military occupation.

These events offer a glimpse of the political minefield Obama will have to navigate when hevisits Israel and the West Bank next week, the first time he has come to the area as president. Each side will be trying to win his support for some of the most contentious issues between them.

Israel will be looking for assurances that the U.S. is serious about stopping Iran’s suspect nuclear program. Obama will also be seeking to repair a strained relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While he has said he will not present any grand peace plan, Obama will also be under pressure to convince the Palestinians that he is serious about getting peace efforts restarted — and presumably pressing Israel to make new concessions.

With so much at stake, Israelis and Palestinians are hoping to capitalize on their moment in the spotlight.

In a statement to reporters, Jerusalem municipal officials said they would be “taking advantage” of the visit to put the holy city’s best face forward. Crews have been pulling up weeds along the roadsObama’s motorcade will take. Decorative lights will be illuminated all night long on the ancient walls of the Old City, opposite Obama’s hotel, “to allow the president to view them from his room and for the hundreds of journalists broadcasting throughout the night to the U.S. to see the city’s beauty.”

City officials are also promising to escort journalists to “important and famous historical sites.” Among the spots are the “City of David,” a politically sensitive archaeological site in an Arab neighborhood just outside the Old City.

The dig, named for the biblical King David thought to have ruled from the spot 3,000 years ago, was conducted by Israeli government archaeologists. The project has generated controversy because it was funded by a nationalist Jewish group that buys up properties in Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, then moves Jewish settlers into the homes — which critics say is meant to make it impossible to divide the city in a future peace deal.

Palestinians and some Israeli archaeologists have also criticized the City of David dig for what they say is an excessive focus on Jewish remains, and have called into question some of the dig’s claims that attribute ruins to the King David.

East Jerusalem, home to the Old City and its sensitive holy sites, was captured by Israel in 1967 and subsequently annexed in a move that has never been internationally recognized. The Palestinians also claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Resolving the competing claims to the area is the most explosive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Brachie Sprung, an adviser to the mayor, said the City of David is one of Jerusalem’s most popular attractions. She rejected suggestions that the free tours were politically motivated.

“In 2012 the city of Jerusalem experienced record breaking tourism which boosted economic growth, benefitting all segments of the population,” Sprung said in an email.

After spending the first day of his visit next Wednesday with Israeli officials, Obama is scheduled to journey to the West Bank the following day for talks with the Palestinians.

But Israel’s Government Press Office says journalists need not make the trip, which involves crossing through a military checkpoint. It said a special media center in Jerusalem will provide a live feed of Obama’s meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “in order to obviate the need to travel back-and-forth to the Palestinian Authority areas.”

GPO Director Nitzan Chen said the live feed was meant solely for convenience. “We are not encouraging people to go or not” to go to the West Bank, Chen said.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, are intent on showing the president what life is like under Israeli occupation. Abbas leads a self-rule government that enjoys limited autonomy in the West Bank. ButIsrael wields overall control of the area, which the Palestinians claim as the heartland of their future state.

Palestinian officials said they have notified American officials that they want Obama to meet the family of a Palestinian prisoner held in Israel. The Palestinians said the U.S. hasn’t replied.

The subject of prisoners is emotional for the Palestinians. Most Palestinians have a relative who served time in Israeli jails, and prisoners are widely seen as heroes battling Israeli occupation.Israel sees many of the prisoners as terrorists.

Upon reaching Ramallah, just a short distance from Jerusalem, Obama will be greeted by large posters with his headshot that read, “President Obama: Don’t bring your smartphone to Ramallah … We have no 3G in Palestine.”

Israeli authorities, who control cellular networks in the West Bank, have not granted Palestinian telecommunication companies 3G frequencies. A spokesman for the Israeli Communications Ministry said those frequencies are not available for Palestinian use.

Palestinian officials said unknown private activists hung the banners.

Another private group, calling itself “Palestinians for Dignity,” said it will greet Obama by raising black flags and launching thousands of black balloons into the sky to protest American policy. The Palestinians have long accused the U.S. of being biased toward Israel.

Israeli students at a university in the West Bank settlement of Ariel are also accusing Obama of bias, saying they were not invited to an Obama speech in Jerusalem planned for college students. Students from other Israeli universities have been invited.

“We are shocked and very surprised at the discrimination and the inequality,” said Shay Shahaf, chairman of the student association at Ariel University, in a text message. The U.S. Embassy and Ariel University had no comment.

The international community, including the U.S., strongly opposes Israeli settlement construction in occupied territories where the Palestinians hope to build their state.

Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah contributed reporting.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

“Running for the next presidential elections #InCaseYouDidntKnowAlready,” tweeted Waka yesterday. He also asked his followers: “Who finna [sic] be my VP?”

Although the rapper has yet to receive support from any politicians or parties, he has been showered with tweets from fans who support the rapper in his new venture.

And while a lack of endorsements may pose one issue, the 26-year-old hip-hop star also fails to meet the age minimum requiring all candidates running for presidency to be at least 35 years of age.

One can only imagine what it would be like to see the “No Hands” rapper sharing the stage with potential president hopefuls Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie.

The location is one of 13 new sites to receive federal recognition, including the home of Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Harrier Beecher Stowe and Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson N.J., which once served as a home-field to Negro League baseball teams.

The special designation of the Edmund Pettis Bridge, however, is especially significant since there is an ongoing debate within the Supreme Court and by extension the U.S. Congress about whether or not to uphold key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, legislation that was an indirect result of the protesters’ efforts on the bridge back in 1965.

Vice President Joe Biden recently participated in a recreation of that civil-rights-era march and he was accompanied by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who was also present during the 1965 sojourn.

“We will never give up or give in,” Lewis told marchers this month.

Lewis, alongside his fellow activists, were infamously beaten by state troopers who violently disrupted their peaceful demonstration.

“President Johnson signed that act, but it was written by the people of Selma,” Lewis once said.

“These national historic landmark designations span more than two centuries of our country’s history, from 17^th century architecture to a Civil War battlefield to a 19^th century-Kentucky whiskey distillery that continued to operate through the Prohibition era,” Secretary Salazar said. “Today’s designations include significant sites that help tell the story of America and the contributions that all people from all walks of life have made as we strive for a more perfect union.”

“From the Civil War to civil rights, to the struggles and accomplishments of women, African-Americans and Latinos, these sites highlight the mosaic of our nation’s historic past,” said Director Jarvis. “We are proud to administer the National Historic Landmarks Program to educate and inspire Americans through their country’s rich and complex history.”

Woullard Lett of the Manchester chapter of the NAACP testified at a Wednesday hearing that he hopes passage of the bill will mean the Legislature doesn’t plan to wait another 200 years to address the concerns of the black community today.

The bill is sponsored by state Sen. Martha Fuller Clarke, D-Portsmouth. It also would bring attention to Portsmouth’s plan for a memorial park at the site of a once forgotten colonial-era African-American burial ground on the edge of downtown. The park will feature engravings of lines written in the freedom petition.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Simply put, Johnson was done in because he was a black athlete who defeated his white competitors.  Johnson beating a white man in the ring was enough to spark deadly race riots.

And that fact upset and angered many whites back in early 1900s Jim Crow America.  And just to add to that, he spent a lot of money, and kept company with white women, which was even worse.  That was enough to get a black man lynched.  In Johnson’s case, it landed him behind bars doing federal time.  And by the way, an angry mob did threaten to lynch him.

In 1912 Johnson was indicted by a federal grand jury under the Mann Act of 1910 as a form of racial retaliation, one of the earliest prosecutions—or persecutions—under the law.  The act, also known as the White Slave Traffic Act, made it a crime to transport women across state lines “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.”  Although it was purportedly an anti-prostitution law, the act was used to criminalize consensual sex in general.  The overtones of the legislation were both sexist and racist, designed as a response to the increased independence of women in the Industrial Revolution.  Moreover, the law was used for blackmail and political witch hunts.

And the “prostitute” that Johnson allegedly transported across state lines was his white girlfriend Lucille Cameron, whom he later married after his arrest.  The key witness in the case was Belle Schreiber, a white former prostitute who claimed Johnson paid for her travel from Pittsburgh to Chicago for sexual purposes.

In 1913, the boxer was sentenced by an all-white jury to one year in federal prison, plus a $1,000 fine.  Johnson jumped bail and the couple fled the country to Paris.  Johnson returned to the U.S. in 1920 and served his sentence in Leavenworth penitentiary.  At the height of segregation, this was what justice looked like for black men.

The push to pardon Jack Johnson due to a racially-motivated conviction enjoys bipartisan support, including backing from some of the most conservative members of Congress.

A resolution passed both houses in 2009, but the president failed to act on it.  Senators Harry Reid (D-Nevada), John McCain (R-Arizona), and William “Mo” Cowan (D-Massachusetts), and Rep. Peter King (R-New York) recently reintroduced the resolution.

“Jack Johnson was one of the great African-American athletes. His skill and perseverance to get back up every time he was knocked down made him a champion in the eyes of the sports world and for those who, like him, pursued their dreams despite racial intolerance,” Senator Cowan said in a written statement.

“In past years, both chambers of Congress unanimously passed this resolution, but unfortunately, it still awaits executive action and no pardon has been issued,” said Senator McCain.  “We can never completely right the wrong perpetrated against Jack Johnson during his lifetime, but this pardon is a small, meaningful step toward acknowledging his mistreatment before the law and celebrating his legacy of athletic greatness and historical significance.”

If Republicans and Democrats are on board, what is stopping President Obama?  This is a no-brainer, and most of all there is no risk involved for the relatively popular lame duck president.

Some presidents made far bolder moves when it came to the pardons process.  After all, Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for his Watergate dirty tricks while in the White House, and Robert E. Lee for being a Confederate traitor.  Jimmy Carter even pardoned Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, while Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger for cocaine possession.

Meanwhile, several days ago, Obama pardoned 17 people, but for minor offenses such as stealing food stamps, selling stolen goods, altering a money order, and possession of an unregistered firearm.

Once again, this president is playing it safe, particularly where race plays a factor.  He has pardoned turkeys in the past, but now the first black president appears too chicken to pardon the first black heavyweight champion, despite the zero consequences for doing so.

President Obama can do this.  More importantly, and ironically as the child of an interracial relationship, he must make it right.

Follow David A. Love on Twitter at @davidalove

Who is Amar’e Stoudemire?

Amar’e Stoudemire, 30, is a professional basketball player, author, motivational speaker and dedicated philanthropist. The six-time NBA All Star is an admired player who has not only left his mark on the game, but also on the community through his outreach work and grassroots involvement.

He is a member of the West African country of Mali’s basketball commission and he was named Good Will Ambassador to Sierra Leone. Through his Foundation, Stoudemire has been able to provide much-needed resources for students, basketball tournaments and overseas projects.

Stoudemire overcame a challenging childhood to reach NBA stardom with the Phoenix Suns. Then after eight seasons with the team, he joined the New York Kicks in 2010. In New York he turned around a struggling team and led the Kicks into playoffs.

Why is he in theGrio’s 100?

The New York Knicks captain is on a mission to use his high-profile status to help-at-risk youth using the power of education. Through his charitable foundation, thousands of children have been helped to achieve goals well beyond their expectations.

Just over a year ago, Stoudemire signed a deal with Scholastic Press to write a series of middle-grade chapter books called STAT: Standing Tall and Talented. The first book in the series, STAT: Home Court, which Stoudemire describes as partially autobiographical, was published in August 2012. Since then, two more books have followed.

The series is about his life as a towering 6’10″middle school student who overcame many obstacles to eventually achieve personal and professional success. He has said the books are part of his ongoing efforts to promote child literacy.

When asked why he chose to tell his stories through novels targeted at children, Stoudemire said, “I decided to write for children because although I am an avid reader now, I wish I had read more as a child. I hope that together with Scholastic, we can creatively inspire a new generation to read.”

What next for Stoudemire?

Last year was a big year for Stoudemire. In December, he married his long-term partner and mother of his three children, Alexis Welch. Last month the couple announced they are expecting their fourth child.

Follow Amar’e Stoudemire on Twitter at @Amareisreal

Parks becomes the first black woman to be honored with a full-length statue in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. A bust of another black woman, abolitionist Sojourner Truth, sits in the Capitol Visitors Center.

Obama said that with the installation of the statue, Parks, who died in 2005, has taken her rightful place among those who have shaped the course of U.S. history. He said her presence in Capitol would serve to “remind us no matter how humble or lofty our positions, just what it is that leadership requires.”

Obama and House Speaker John Boehner jointly led the unveiling, standing with the statue between them as they grasped and pulled in opposite directions on the braided cord that held the covering. Congressional leaders in the House and Senate joined Parks’ niece in tugging on the cord.

“We do well by placing a statue of her here,” Obama said, “but we can do no greater honor to her memory than to carry forward the power of her principle and a courage born of conviction.”

The statue portrays Parks seated, wearing a hat and clutching her trademark purse — “a permanent reminder of the cause she embodied,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The several hundred lawmakers, family and congressional staff who gathered for the ceremony in the vaulted hall rose to their feet and whooped as Boehner opened the ceremony.

“Here in the hall, she casts an unlikely silhouette — unassuming in a lineup of proud stares, challenging all of us once more to look up and to draw strength from stillness,” said Boehner, R-Ohio.

Parks is famous for her 1955 refusal to give up her seat on a city bus in Alabama to a white man, but there’s plenty about the rest of her experiences that she deliberately withheld from her family.

While Parks and her husband, Raymond, were childless, her brother, the late Sylvester McCauley, had 13 children. They decided Parks’ nieces and nephews didn’t need to know the horrible details surrounding her civil rights activism, said Rhea McCauley, Parks’ niece.

“They didn’t talk about the lynchings and the Jim Crow laws,” said McCauley, 61, of Orlando, Fla. “They didn’t talk about that stuff to us kids. Everyone wanted to forget about it and sweep it under the rug.”

He said more than 50 of Parks’ relatives traveled to Washington for the ceremony.

In a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus in segregated Montgomery, Ala. She was arrested, touching off a bus boycott that stretched over a year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Parks had “moved the world when she refused to move her seat.”

Jeanne Theoharis, author of the new biography “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” said Parks was very much a full-fledged civil rights activist, yet her contributions have not been treated like those of other movement leaders, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Rosa Parks is typically honored as a woman of courage, but that honor focuses on the one act she made on the bus on Dec. 5, 1955,” said Theoharis, a political science professor at Brooklyn College-City University of New York.

“That courage, that night was the product of decades of political work before that and continued … decades after” in Detroit, she said.

Parks died Oct. 24, 2005, at age 92. The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor on Feb. 4, which would have been her 100th birthday.

Parks was raised by her mother and grandparents who taught her that part of being respected was to demand respect, said Theoharis, who spent six years researching and writing the Parks biography.

She was an educated woman who recalled seeing her grandfather sitting on the porch steps with a gun during the height of white violence against blacks in post-World War I Alabama.

After she married Raymond Parks, she joined him in his work in trying to help nine young black men, ages 12 to 19, who were accused of raping two white women in 1931. The nine were later convicted by an all-white jury in Scottsboro, Ala., part of a long legal odyssey for the so-called Scottsboro Boys.

In the 1940s, Parks joined the NAACP and was elected secretary of its Montgomery, Ala., branch, working with civil rights activist Edgar Nixon to fight barriers to voting for blacks and investigate sexual violence against women, Theoharis said.

Just five months before refusing to give up her seat, Parks attended Highlander Folk School, which trained community organizers on issues of poverty but had begun turning its attention to civil rights.

After the bus boycott, Parks and her husband lost their jobs and were threatened. They left for Detroit, where Parks was an activist against the war in Vietnam and worked on poverty, housing and racial justice issues, Theoharis said.

Theoharis said that while she considers the 9-foot-statue of Parks in the Capitol an “incredible honor” for Parks, “I worry about putting this history in the past when the actual Rosa Parks was working on and calling on us to continue to work on racial injustice.”

Parks has been honored previously in Washington with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, both during the Clinton administration.

But McCauley said the Statuary Hall honor is different.

“The medal you could take it, put it on a mantel,” McCauley said. “But her being in the hall itself is permanent and children will be able to tour the (Capitol) and look up and see my aunt’s face.”

___

Associated Press writer Mark S. Smith contributed to this report.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Terrie M. Williams, 58, is founder of The Terrie Williams Agency, a public relations and communications firm representing some of the biggest names in entertainment, sports, business and politics.

Prior to her public relations career, she earned a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University and worked as a licensed clinical social worker at New York Hospital.

Pulling from those experiences and some of her own, the New York native has now gained notoriety as a national advocate for mental health awareness in the African-American community — having appeared on CNN, NPR and PBS.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

Williams first brought light to the issue of depression in the African-American community in 2005 when she shared her own personal story in Essence Magazine. Her candid story of crippling depression brought in over 10,000 responses, sparking her desire to further explore the topic . Williams’ fourth book, Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting, was a culmination of those efforts.

“The conversation about mental illness and depression in the black community was a taboo topic,” she recalls.

Through her foundation, the Stay Strong Foundation, Williams launched a national mental health advocacy campaign, “Healing Starts With Us.” Both the campaign and Black Pain garnered a huge amount of support and endorsements, including some from celebrities such as Danny Glover, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Mary J. Blige and Patti LaBelle.

The campaign has since teamed up with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the website Stories that Heal, complete with videos and resources surrounding mental illness among African-Americans.

What’s next for Williams?

She wants to switch gears slightly and use her advocacy skills to shed light on Alzheimer’s dementia and its impact on both those with the disease and the loved ones who feel powerless.

Williams will also continue her work with mental health, promoting emotional and mental healing.

“When someone approaches me and says that the book not only transformed, but saved their life — I know that I’m serving God,” she says.

Follow Terrie M. Williams on twitter at @TerrieWilliams.

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

Who is Carolyn McCaskill?

Dr. Carolyn McCaskill, 60, is a deaf but her disability has never held her back. Her life is testimony to overcoming discrimination and achieving academic excellence. Born and raised in the deep south in the 1950s, the Alabama native lost her hearing at the age of five.

In 1977, McCaskill graduated from Gallaudet University with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a minor in Social Work. Two years later, she graduated from the same university with a Master’s in Counseling of the Deaf

She later worked as a counselor in various educational establishments before doing the unthinkable, in the eyes of many. Despite her disadvantage, McCaskill had the self-assurance to pursue a Doctorate degree at Gallaudet, which she received in 2005.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

McCaskill, a professor at Gallaudet University’s Deaf Studies department, researched and co-wrote a groundbreaking book that explores the differences between how African-Americans and mainstream groups sign.

In the first empirical study of its kind, McCaskill and a team of researchers explore in The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL and its accompanying DVD, how Black American Sign Language (Black ASL) has evolved and continues to co-exist with American Sign Language (ASL).

What McCaskill and her team unearthed is that Black ASL is a rich signing system that reflects the history of segregation and the influence of spoken black English. African-Americans, for instance, use distinct signs, bigger hand gestures, with more body language.

In interviews, McCaskill said some of her motivation to publish this volume she took from her own personal experiences.

In 1968, when she was 15-years-old, she enrolled in an integrated school for the deaf in Talledega, Alabama. She was shocked to discover the students made hand movements for everyday words that were completely alien to her and the handful of other black deaf students who had joined the program.

McCaskill was forced to learn the new signs. When she went home she switched back to her old way of communicating.

What’s next for McCaskill?

Her next project is to work on a book/DVD focusing on black deaf families in the United States, which will most likely be published in 2014-2015.

Who are Anthony McGill and Demarre McGill?

Anthony McGill and Demarre McGill are brothers who, although born and raised on Chicago’s tough South Side, have both achieved stellar levels of success in the world of classical music. While Anthony currently serves as the principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City, his older brother Demarre serves as principle flute of the Seattle Symphony. Both brothers have famously played as members of prominent orchestras across America, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony between them. They got their start as part of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Why are they on theGrio’s 100?

As major stars in the world of classical music, the achievements of Anthony McGill and Demarre McGill are mind-blowing. Anthony, “was a winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and in March of 2012 was one of the first three artists to receive the Sphinx Organization’s Medal of Excellence, which were presented at the U.S. Supreme Court,” according to his web site.

Demarre, a 2003 winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, also holds a Masters of Music degree from the Juilliard School. These brothers are the only siblings to ever win the Avery Fisher grant.

Anthony also performed the piece “Air and Simple Gifts” by John Williams during the 2009 inauguration of President Obama with classical music superstars Yo-Yo Ma (cell0), Itzhak Perlman (violin) and Gabriela Montero (piano).

Part of a tiny cadre of African-American musicians holding principal positions in major orchestras, these men are ambassadors of classical music exposing new audiences to this centuries-old tradition.

What’s next for the McGill brothers?

Their various pursuits include teaching at prestigious schools of music, performing around the world, collaborating with leading classical artists, and working with organizations that promote classical music.

Follow Anthony McGill on Twitter at @mcgillab

Who is Franchesca Ramsey?

Franchesca Ramsey, 27, describes herself as a “designer, blogger, comedian,” but “not necessarily in that order.”

More practically, with a degree in Graphic Design from Miami International University of Art and Design, she is part of a vanguard of 21st century media personalities. She has established herself as a comedic force to reckoned with in the increasingly ambitious world of viral videos.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

Ramsey struck gold with her web video response to a popular (and some have argued sexist) video called “Sh*t Black Girls Say”. Ramsey’s edition “Sh*t White Girls Say to Black Girls”, in which she mocked some white people’s cultural ignorance, became an even bigger sensation, spawned numerous imitators and made its creator a sought-after commodity.

“It was pretty fast. I uploaded it at 8 am before leaving for work and by lunch time it had 1.5 million views and I had emails from MTV, NBC, NPR and Anderson Cooper among others. It was insane,” Ramsey said in an interview with For Harriet.

The video was not without its share of detractors, but Ramsey effectively shut down critics who decried her spoof of stereotypes as racist.

“This video is not about racism, nor is it racist. This video is about cultural insensitivity and is based on things that have been said to me. It is not about all white girls or all white people. It is about some white people that have said inappropriate things. Highlighting ignorance is not racist. I’m sorry you’re unable to see that,” Ramsey said in an interview with NBC News.

The video currently has over 9 million views and counting.

What’s next for Ramsey?

After the viral success of her video, Ramsey was contacted by “a TV producer, two major talents agents, numerous filmmakers, a national TV show and even a literary agent.”

In her November 2012 interview with For Harriet, Ramsey said, “My goal is just to keep using my creative talents and making people laugh and think. I’ve been working on two original show pitches, going on auditions, performing, making videos, doing freelance work and kinda sorta trying to plan a wedding.”

Click here to subscribe to Franchesca Ramsey’s YouTube channel.

Click here to follow Franchesca Ramsey on Twitter.

Video profile on Franchesca Ramsey shot, edited and produced by Alex Presha

Terrence Jenkins, better known as Terrence J, 30, became a household name hosting BET’s popular music video countdown show 106 & Park from 2006 until 2012. Originally from Queens, New York, Terrence spent most of his childhood growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and graduated from North Carolina A&T State University in 2004 with a degree in Mass Communications.

After leaving  his seven-year stint at 106 & Park in June 2012, E! Network announced Terrence J would be the new co-anchor of E! News.

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

Terrence J is a talented and ambitious TV personality who brings  his personality and original style of storytelling to any news program he is a part of. But he is not just a TV personality; In 2012 the 30-year-old entertainer appeared in his second film, “Sparkle.”

During an interview with theGrio, Terrence J revealed how he got into the acting business. “It’s been something that I’ve always wanted do,” Terrance J said. “I get a role and I’m very grateful and I try to take it seriously and I’ve just been really blessed to be a part of some amazing projects like “Sparkle.””

Terrence J says the biggest thing he learned over the seven years he was a host on 106 & Park was to have patience. “With patience and belief in God, luckily by the grace of God we’ve now been on for seven years, at a time when people thought the show would just disappear or get beat by ratings. To be able to have that type of longevity on [a] show like 106 & Park, it’s just remarkable. So patience is the biggest thing I’ve learned from this journey.”

What’s next for Terrence J?

Terence J can be seen hosting E! News weeknights on the E! Network. He also will appear in the new film “Baggage Claim,” a new comedy starring Paula Patton, Taye Diggs, Trey Songz, and Christina Milian, due to hit theaters later this year. During his interview with theGrio, Terrence J revealed some of Hollywood’s leading ladies that he hopes to appear on the big screen with in years to come. “I’ve always loved Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts and I’ve seen Selita Ebanks in some good movies, ” he said. I also love Halle Berry, Jennifer Hudson and Charlize Theron.”

Follow Terrence J on Twitter at @TerrenceJ

Beverly Bond is a former top model and DJ, who in recent years, has turned her attention toward activism. The 42-year-old Maryland native moved to New York at age 17 and was soon tearing up the runways for agencies like Elite New Faces and Wilhemina. She gave up the catwalk to become a DJ in 2000, and never looked back.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

In 2006, Bond founded Black Girls Rock Inc., an organization that mentors teenage girls of color. In recent years, Black Girls Rock teamed up with BET to put on an annual, star-studded awards show that honors accomplished black women. In a November 2011 interview with theGrio, Bond called “Black Girls Rock!” an “affirmation that our mothers and grandmothers never heard, but that our young women need to hear today.”

What’s next for Beverly Bond?

The 7th annual Black Girls Rock! awards gala took place in November, and the organization is gearing up for the 8th, while continuing to run its youth enrichment program in New York.

Follow Beverly Bond on Twitter at @BEVERLYBOND

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are both former members of MADtv, but are best known as the stars of Comedy Central’s Key and Peele show, which features a wide variety of sketches starring the two actors, performed in front of a live studio audience.

Keegan-Michael Key got his start in comedy at Second City Detroit, and later moved on to their Chicago company where he received acclaim for his writing and performance. While still in Chicago, Key made several TV appearances, starring in Fox’s MADtv for six seasons, and scoring reoccurring roles on shows like RENO 911! and Gary Unmarried.

Originally hailing from New York, Jordan Peele later moved to Chicago, where he performed at both Second City Chicago and iO Chicago (formerly known as ImprovOlympic). Peele then crossed the pond to Amsterdam to work with Boom Chicago Theater, but was lured back to the States by a starring role on five seasons of MADtv.

The Key and Peele show debuted January 2012 on Comedy Central, and was renewed for a second season which premiered in September 2012.

Why are Key and Peele on theGrio’s 100?

Key and Peele’s show examines life in a provocative and unapologetic way. Whether they’re spoofing the president, satirizing Nazis, or ordering up some soul food, Key & Peele showcases their chemistry, camaraderie and unique point of view.

During an interview with theGrio only days prior to President Obama’s re-election, Key and Peele put their improvisation skills to the test when asked to predict how the majority of African-Americans would respond to an Obama loss.

“It would be a disheartening thing,” Peele said. “It would be like ‘Really? Ya’ll chose [Romney] who you don’t even know what he represents over [Obama] who’s been working very very hard and made so much progress?’”

What’s next for Key and Peele?

In November 2012, Comedy Central announced that the duo would return for a third season of their hit show. “Since Obama won re-election, it only seems fair that we would give Key & Peele another season,” Comedy Central head of original programming and production Kent Alterman said.

Follow Keegan-Michael Key on Twitter @KeeganMKey

Follow Jodan Peele on Twitter @JordanPeele

Drs. Vincent and Vance Moss, 41, are twin surgeons who share a passion for helping others. This passion can be traced as far back as their years in the Boy Scouts of America, during which they both earned the highest honor of Eagle Scout — an honor each considers one of their biggest accomplishments.

After attending Pennsylvania State University for undergrad and Temple University for medical school, Vincent went on to become a urologist and kidney transplant surgeon, while Vance became a cardiothoracic — heart and lung — surgeon.

In addition to serving in the United States Army Reserves Medical Corps, they currently run a joint surgical practice in New Jersey.

Why are they on theGrio’s 100?

After hearing stories told by soliders returning from Afghanistan about the lack of surgical and medical care given to the civilians — including children — the Moss brothers decided to act. They arranged medical missions to Kabul through a non-profit medical group, Northwest Medical Team International.

Vance recalls one unforgettable experience: “I performed surgery on an Afghanistan elder in the middle of a rural, war torn village in Afghanistan. During the surgery, his bodyguards had AK-47 assault rifles in the operating room to protect him.”

Despite being warned that these were dangerous, “suicide missions,” Vince and Vance continued, and managed to care for over 6,000 civilians, performing surgery on 2,000 of them.

Vince’s unforgettable moment is the first time he and Vance ever performed surgery together. It happened to be on a badly wounded child in a small Afghanistan village.

The key to their success was the ability to relate to those who live in the village and, ultimately, win their trust. This trust allowed them to negotiate access to areas that were blocked by the Taliban.

In addition to the missions, the brothers have also served active duty tours in Operation Enduring Freedom.

What’s next for the Moss brothers?

The Maryland-natives would like to co-author a book about their experiences.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Peter Ramsey has been called the “Obama of Animation.” The first African-American to direct an animated feature, his first film Rise of the Guardians has earned the former storyboard artist several nominations and accolades. This success was built upon many years in Hollywood working his way up, step-by-step, in lesser roles on films such as Poetic Justice.

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

Ramsey’s success at a time when it would seem that there are no significant African-American “firsts” left is a tremendous accomplishment. He attributes his success to hard work and being ready to execute a long-range plan when the timing is right.

“It’s just like any other part of the industry, or any other part of the working world,” Ramsey told theGrio in a recent interview. “It’s just part of the evolution. Why’d it take so long to have a black president? Same kind of thing, but I think it’s one of those things – there were a lot of people’s shoulders that I stood on… It was all based on work, and being ready when the right opportunity came along. It really wasn’t anything more special than me doing what you should do anyway, which is work as hard as you can, do as good a job as you can, and be prepared when luck knocks on the door.”

What’s next for Ramsey?

Ramsey hopes to continue to use animation to teach children “how to use imagination and creativity as ‘power against fear,’” he told theGrio. He also hopes to direct a live action film as a follow up to his Rise of the Guardians debut. Could a franchise of that film be in his future? While it depends on Rise of the Guardians’s ultimate success, Ramsey told us he is very open to expanding on its concepts.

There was Jesus, who represented unconditional hope, strength and love. There was Martin Luther King Jr., who personified the moral crusade that ended legal segregation. And then there was President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy’s inclusion may seem puzzling, considering that his civil rights legacy has undergone substantial reassessment since his Nov. 22, 1963, assassination. But a look at why so many black people revered him then — and why younger generations have largely forgotten his civil rights work — shows that even 50 years later, Kennedy holds an important but complicated place in black history.

“We’re still trying to figure it out,” says John Mack, a longtime civil rights activist who was fighting segregation in Atlanta when Kennedy was elected president in 1960.

Mack says that we can only speculate on what Kennedy might have done for civil rights had he not been killed.

“It’s a question we’re wrestling with and cannot answer,” Mack says.

___

For many older African-Americans, Kennedy was a president who sympathized with black struggle like no other before him.

They recall him speaking eloquently against segregation despite resistance from Southern racists in his own Democratic party. Some even feel that his support for civil rights was one reason he was killed, even though racial motives are not prominent among the many theories about Kennedy’s death.

Yes, these black folks say, Kennedy may have moved reluctantly on civil rights. Yes, he may have been motivated by the need for votes more than racial justice — but they speak of the effort he made.

“People say he should have moved faster, but he’s dead because of the pace that he did move,” says Rev. Shirley Jordan, a pastor and community activist in her native Richmond, Va.

She was 13 when Kennedy was shot in Dallas. She heard the news in school, she recalls, but especially felt the impact when she got home: “My mother cried as though it was her child who had died.”

“That was just the tone, the aura. There was a big cloud over the whole black community,” Jordan says. “When you look at the pictures of the funeral, you see so many black people out there.”

Later, Jordan’s parents hung Kennedy’s portrait next to King’s in their housing project apartment.

Such portraits also were a common sight in black homes for Rev. Charles Booth, who grew up in Baltimore.

“You always saw pictures of Jesus Christ, John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King,” says Booth, now a pastor in Columbus, Ohio. “You could go in an average home and see a picture of JFK on the wall. In the minds of most black people at the time, he was a friend to the African-American community.”

One reason why, Booth says, was Kennedy’s relationship with King — though that, too, was complicated.

They first met in June 1960. Kennedy, then a senator from Massachusetts, would soon win the Democratic presidential nomination. King had become a national figure for leading the victorious bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., that ignited the civil rights movement.

As a Democrat, running against Republican Richard Nixon (at the time, many influential blacks, including Jackie Robinson, were Republicans), Kennedy faced some difficult racial calculus.

The South, where Jim Crow kept black people in a second-class status, was ruled by Democrats. To win the presidency, Kennedy needed white Southern Democrats, and many of them hated King, whom they saw as a threat to their way of life.

In a speech soon after meeting King, Kennedy spoke of the “moving examples of moral courage” shown by civil rights protesters. Their peaceful demonstrations, he said, were not “to be lamented, but a great sign of responsibility, of good citizenship, of the American spirit.”

Referencing the growing “sit-in” movement, in which black customers demanded service at white-only restaurants, Kennedy said: “It is in the American tradition to stand up for one’s rights — even if the new way to stand up for one’s rights is to sit down.”

But there was another side to Kennedy’s stance.

Behind the scenes, his aides were urging King to end his nonviolent protests, according to historian Taylor Branch in his authoritative civil rights chronicle “Parting the Waters.”

Since the protests were being suppressed by Democrats, they made it harder for Kennedy to get black votes in the North. But if Kennedy criticized the suppression, he would lose white votes in the South.

Declining to heed Kennedy’s men and curtail protests, King was arrested with a group of students at an Atlanta sit-in on Oct. 19, 1960, scant weeks before the excruciatingly close election. King refused to post bail. He remained behind bars as the Ku Klux Klan marched through Atlanta streets and Kennedy and Nixon held their final televised debate.

Authorities produced a 5-month-old traffic ticket from a neighboring county, and King was sentenced to four months’ hard labor. By the next morning King was in a maximum-security prison. Many feared he would soon be killed.

Over the objections of Kennedy’s brother and campaign manager, Robert Kennedy, who wanted to steer clear of the matter, an aide managed to convince the candidate to place a sympathetic call to King’s pregnant wife, Coretta.

News of Kennedy’s call was leaked to reporters. Yet King was still in jail — until Robert Kennedy called the judge. Suddenly, bail was granted and King was freed.

The story of the Kennedys’ involvement made headlines in black newspapers nationwide. King issued a statement saying he was “deeply indebted to Senator Kennedy,” although he remained nonpartisan. The Kennedy campaign printed tens of thousands of pamphlets describing the episode, and distributed them in black churches across the country on the Sunday before the election.

Kennedy, who got 78 percent of the black vote, won the election by one of the narrowest margins in U.S. history.

“In an election that close,” says Villanova University professor David Barrett, “you could make a case that Kennedy’s call to Coretta mattered enough to win.”

Booth, the Ohio pastor, has pondered Kennedy’s motivations.

“I don’t know if a large number of African-Americans thought critically about Kennedy’s shrewdness,” Booth says. “He was very much courting that Southern vote. Politicians do what politicians do. The political reality may not always be the ethical reality.”

___

As president, Kennedy’s top priority was foreign policy. There were enormous Cold War challenges — from the Soviet Union and Vietnam to Cuba, site of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and of a crisis over Soviet missiles that threatened to trigger nuclear war.

Meanwhile, at home, the boiling civil rights movement could not be ignored.

“Freedom Riders” seeking to integrate Southern bus lines were mercilessly beaten. Whites rioted to prevent the black student James Meredith from enrolling at the University of Mississippi; two people were killed after Kennedy sent in Army forces to ensure Meredith’s admission.

In Birmingham, Ala., police loosed clubs, dogs and fire hoses on peaceful protesters, and a church bombing killed four black girls. Images of the violence shamed America before the world.

As blood flowed, Kennedy moved cautiously toward civil rights legislation.

Publicly, Kennedy’s administration was reluctant to intervene in the Southern violence unless federal law was being flouted. Privately, Kennedy’s men urged protest leaders to slow down and avoid confrontation.

Many saw the administration’s stance as aloof or even helpless. Earlier, after Kennedy had disowned proposals that were part of the Democrats’ 1960 campaign platform, NAACP president Roy Wilkins said Kennedy was offering “a cactus bouquet.”

Mack, the civil rights activist, was at the Democratic convention where those promises were made. He recalls being highly frustrated with Kennedy’s pace once he became president.

“We were deeply committed young people who were out to change the system. Down in the South we were fighting segregation in all its original ugliness,” Mack says.

But amid the frustration, Mack says, there was recognition among movement leaders that Kennedy was politically constrained.

“He had to deal with some segregationists,” Mack says.

Kennedy needed some of those segregationists to advance his foreign policy agenda, says Barrett, the Villanova professor. He also had to think about reelection, and not alienating white Southern voters.

“Civil rights simply was not a top priority,” says Barrett, who studies the Kennedy administration and teaches a course on the civil rights movement.

“He was busy with so many other issues, especially foreign policy issues, he didn’t give it the kind of energy and attention that we might wish in retrospect,” he says.

Civil rights was a top priority — in a different way — for J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI.

Hoover believed the growing civil rights movement was under Communist influence and a threat to national security. He closely monitored King and others in the movement with surveillance, informants and wiretaps.

In 1963, “the FBI assigned full enemy status to King,” Branch wrote, noting that even “after receiving intelligence that someone was trying to kill him, the Bureau would refuse to warn King as it routinely warned other potential targets.”

Yet Kennedy still worked with King, even as his FBI tried to tear King down.

In June 1963, King had a private meeting with Kennedy at the White House. During a stroll through the Rose Garden, the president told King that he was under surveillance.

“He was playing both sides of the issue,” Barrett says.

A few minutes after Kennedy’s warning, he and King joined a meeting with other civil rights leaders. The March on Washington had been announced, and Kennedy had hinted publicly that he was against it. Someone in the meeting asked if that was true.

“We want success in the Congress, not a big show on the Capitol,” Kennedy replied, according to “Parting the Waters.”

In the end, the peaceful mass march made headlines around the world.

Kennedy watched it on television. Immediately afterward, he met with march leaders in the White House, where they discussed civil rights legislation that was finally inching through Congress. The leaders pressed Kennedy to strengthen the legislation; the president listed many obstacles.

Some believe Kennedy preferred to wait until after the 1964 election to push the issue. Yet in his public speeches, he spoke more and more about justice for all.

La Trice Washington, a professor at Otterbein College in Ohio, says some of Kennedy’s rhetoric went “well beyond sympathetic.” As an example, she cites a graduation speech at San Diego State College on June 11, 1963.

“Our goal must be an educational system in the spirit of the declaration of independence — a system in which all are created equal,” Kennedy said. “A system in which every child, whether born a banker’s son in a Long Island mansion, or a Negro sharecropper’s son in an Alabama cotton field, has every opportunity for an education that his abilities and character deserve.”

Those were dangerous words, Washington says.

“That was not acceptable language by the dominant culture,” she says. “That puts you on the front lines. It puts you on the line not only for political retribution, but for death.”

___

Fifty years later, except for the aging few who recall the portraits on the walls, Kennedy is not widely remembered as a civil rights icon. During this Black History Month, his name has been seldom mentioned.

His successor, President Lyndon Johnson, receives credit for hammering through the monumental Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, which ensured full citizenship for African-Americans.

“Kennedy was sort of remade after his death,” says Allan Saxe, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who has researched Kennedy and civil rights. “He did speak on civil rights, he talked about it, but he never got much legislation through.”

Barrett, the Villanova professor, says Kennedy was moving, however slowly, toward a “full steam ahead” approach to civil rights — and then he was killed.

“I don’t think he ever developed an emotional or gut level commitment on this issue. He’s memorialized that way, but I don’t think he got there,” Barrett says.

Today, the hard facts of history can be unforgiving. But for black people who lived that history, a cautious hand extended can feel like an embrace.

“When I think about his compassion for people, I also think about Martin Luther King,” says Jordan, the Richmond pastor. She believes Kennedy is a martyr for black people, “because a martyr is someone who died for what they believed.”

Mack, the civil rights activist, admires him still.

Whether Kennedy might have achieved anything substantial on civil rights — “that’s the unknown,” he acknowledges.

Still, he adds, “Being as young as I was, I saw him as a breath of fresh air. Youthful, dynamic, a new visionary type of leader. I felt a lot of optimism and hope. I felt that in time, if we kept up our advocacy, he would deal with issues important to our people.”

___

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Quvenzhané Wallis, 9, is best known for her leading role as Hushpuppy in the critically-acclaimed drama Beasts of the Southern Wild. Wallis was born in Houma, Louisiana in 2003. Her mother, Qulyndreia Wallis, is a teacher and her father, Venjie Wallis, works as a truck driver. “Quven,” the first part of her name, combines her parents’ first names, while her mother says that zhané means “fairy” in Swahili.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

Wallis received an Oscar nomination for her leading role in Beasts of the Southern Wild, making her the youngest performer to ever be nominated in the leading actress category. She auditioned for the lead role when she was only 5 years old, and was 6 when she began filming the movie in Pointe-aux-Chenes and Isle de Jean Charles, not too far from her hometown of Houma, Louisiana.

Beasts of the Southern Wild was Quvenzhané’s first time acting.  In the moving role, she plays a “little girl with a wild imagination struggling to survive in the southern Delta with her ailing father as a storm approaches.”

What’s next for Wallis?

The 9-year-old starlet currently attends Honduras Elementary School in Houma, Louisiana. She will next appear in Steve McQueen’s drama Twelve Years a Slave, which centers on a man living in New York City during the mid-1800s who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the deep South. The film is set to be released later this year.

Will Packer was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. He started making films when he was in college at Florida A&M University, where he graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. While attending college he met Rob Hardy, who would become his future business partner. In 1993 Packer and Hardy produced their first film, Chocolate City. The film did relatively well and earned them a small distribution deal. Since then Packer co-founded Rainforest Films, a production and distribution company based in Atlanta, GA, and has produced several multi-million dollar box office smashes.

“I come out of what I call the Spike Lee generation of African-American filmmakers. So Spike is who got me started, but John Singleton is also very inspiring. Also Scorsese and David Fincher, because they’ve got vision,” Packer said during a 2007 interview with Variety.

Why is Packer on theGrio’s 100?

In 2012, Packer produced the romantic comedy Think Like A Man, starring a primarily African-American cast, including Taraji P. Henson, Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Regina Hall, Gabrielle Union, and Meagan Good. Well before the film was released, critics predicted that it would do well at the box office, but the opening weekend success of the film surpassed the expectations of film critics and has created a swell of positive press for primarily African-American cast movies. The film made back its entire production budget of $12 million in its first day in theaters, and grossed a total of $91.5 million at the domestic box office.

Think Like a Man was not Packer’s only box office Triumph. He also is the mastermind behind 2007’s Stomp the Yard, the film about a step-dancer at a black college, which marched its way to $61 million at the U.S. box office and launched and established Packer as a power player in Hollywood.

What’s next for Packer?

Right now is a very exciting time for Packer.  He has two films scheduled to come out next year:  the thriller No Good Deed, starring Idris Elba and Tarji P. Henson and Ride Along, which features Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, Tika Sumpter, and John Leguizamo. During a recent interview with Black Enterprise Packer said, “I am looking forward to making projects that I feel passionately about and look forward to continuing to do that.”

You can follow Will Packer on Twitter @WillPowerPacker

For Black History Month, theGrio decided to track down the descendants of well-known African-American historical figures to find out what it is like being descended from some of most the influential people in American history. Here is what Pauline Copes Johnson and Deirdre Stanford, the great-grandniece and great-great grandniece of Harriet Tubman, had to say about the joys and burdens of bearing a  famous ancestor’s legacy.

Pauline Copes-Johnson,85, is the great-grandniece, and her daughter Deirdre Stanford, 64, is the great-great grandniece of Harriet Tubman. Copes-Johnson has been giving presentations about Harriet Tubman’s life for over ten years. Tubman is recognized as one of the  ”conductors” of the Underground Railroad, freeing more than 70 slaves during the Civil War.

How did you find out you were related to Harriet Tubman?

Pauline:  I was 25 years old before I knew that I was related to Aunt Harriett and ever since then I’ve been researching her… I didn’t know a thing about [Aunt Harriet]. The only thing I could attribute [why they did not tell me] was she was trying to keep the secret that Aunt Harriet was in Auburn. It was a secret because the confederates wanted her and although she was dead, they would come after the relatives. They thought I’d give it away because I was very young then… I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe I was so lucky to be a relative of Aunt Harriet and then I started my research.

Deirdre: I found out from my mother. I thought it was just an honor to be a part of the family. [I heard] stories from my mom and sometimes we’d all be together at a family reunion or picnic and they’d be telling us the stories they learned about Aunt Harriet.

What is something people don’t know about Harriet Tubman? Any funny stories or anecdotes?

Deirdre: All I know, Aunt Harriet didn’t take no stuff – if she said you were going to freedom she said you were going to go. She would get that old gun and tell you and that you were not turning back. [Aunt Harriet said] “I’ve never lost a passenger and I’m not going to start now.”

Is having her legacy a burden or an inspiration?

Pauline: I don’t think it was a terrible thing to live up to her legacy. I think that was meant for us to do. I don’t think they do enough [in schools]. I think black history should be celebrated every day of the year, every single day because on my part I’m trying to establish that. Otherwise I think people should know about ancestors, where they come, how they were treated.

Deirdre: It’s an inspiration I think, but it can also be a burden because it’s responsibility too. I think it’s a responsibility that if you know things you should tell people about it so they’ll know about that’s going on or about her life and how things were back then and how we can make things better for everybody.

How are you or your family keeping Harriet Tubman’ legacy alive?

Pauline: I give presentations just like I did today for schools here in New York and schools in Auburn. I was awarded the citation for the civil war people because of Aunt Harriet. I was chosen and featured in USA Today newspaper…I love it, I love doing [speeches], I’ve been to hospitals, senior citizen homes, agencies. I’ve been to far west as Albuquerque New Mexico and the far south and Florida.

Deirdre: When we have the Harriet Tubman pilgrimage, that’s when all the relatives are there.  We’re all around telling stories about Aunt Harriet. It’s just a great time for me to learn more about her legacy.

How would you hope Harriet Tubman would be remembered today?

Pauline: That she was a great woman. That she was compassionate and she did her best to help free her friends and neighbors and her own race and I think she was wonderful. She was the woman who helped change the United States.

Deirdre: I hope they remember that she was a woman of God trying to bring the people out to freedom. She was very strong and courageous and she just wanted everyone should be free. She didn’t believe that a human being should own another human being.  I think it brings a message of freedom, I think she wanted everyone to be free. I don’t think we should have anyone in bondage. We should all be free.

To read more profiles from The Descendants Project, click here.

Follow Brittany Tom on Twitter @brittanyrtom

Obama is to speak at next Wednesday’s ceremony.

Parks’ refusal in December 1955 to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger led to a citywide bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., and encouraged nationwide efforts to end segregation. Parks died in October 2005.

Obama said Thursday in a radio interview with Al Sharpton that the statue will put a seamstress who helped bring about a “more just America” in her rightful place among some of the titans of U.S. government.

Officials say the statue will be the first full-length one of an African-American woman in the Capitol.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Instead of only focusing on the heroes from history, theGrio decided to  track down some of the living descendants of well-known African-American historical figures to find out what it is like being related to some of most the influential people in history.

TheGrio was able to locate ten different descendants who come from the lineages of some America’s important black historical figures’ families.

Click on the links below to read more about each ancestor’s living descendants:

Madam C.J. Walker - great-great granddaughter left family business to pursue journalism

Robert Smalls - great-great grandson says he’s the unsung hero of the Civil War

Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass – descendant with dual lineage reveals funny family stories about both men

Ida B. Wells - great-grandchildren says she was a ‘crusader’ for all injustices

Harriet Tubman - great-great grandniece believe schools do not care enough about Black History Month

W.E.B. Du Bois - great grandson says the pressure of the legacy helped him understand own identity

Follow Brittany Tom on Twitter @brittanyrtom

Rick Kittles, PhD, 47, has traced the ancestry of over 100,000 African-Americans, including Oprah Winfrey, Isaiah Washington, Spike Lee and India Arie in his role as  co-founder and scientific director of African Ancestry, Inc. He’s also an associate professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he runs the UIC Institute of Human Genetics.

Outside of ancestry, his other research projects focus on how a person’s genetic makeup can be linked to certain diseases.

“Ever since middle school, I was always interested in how and why people looked different and why some got sick while others didn’t,” he explains. “I knew that the study of DNA would be helpful.”

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in biology, he received his PhD in biological anthropology and subsequently spent a year at the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

Kittles was ahead of his time. Less than a decade ago, Kittles’ work of using specific genetic markers to decipher ancestry was rejected by his colleagues. Now, using these markers has become a standard in biomedical research.

He has used international collaborations to recruit individuals of African descent from Washington, D.C. and Chicago, as well as indigenous West Africans from rural Nigeria and the Caribbean for his genetic studies on disease. And, he continues to utilize genetic research to investigate diseases that affect the African-American community, such as sickle cell disease, colon cancer and prostate cancer.

His extensive research on the genetics of prostate cancer among African-Americans and West Africans has garnered several grants and awards. Now, he’s looking into the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and prostate cancer.

What’s next for Dr. Kittles?

His DNA research will soon branch out to include uterine fibroids. Fibroids affect African-American women three times more often than other women, yet the reasons for this disparity are unknown. Kittles and his team plan to examine the genetic and environmental factors that factor into who ultimately develops these tumors.

Kittles is also working to develop a research center dedicated to the study of black men’s health.

Ava DuVernay describes herself as “a writer, producer, director and distributor of independent film.” She originally made national headlines by self-distributing her first feature film, I Will Follow, in 2010. This narrative about a woman struggling with the loss of a loved one was praised by film critic Roger Ebert among many others for its storytelling technique. DuVernay also circumvented the notoriously choosy mainstream distribution system by getting this work into theaters herself, a feat praised by The New York Times and other major publications.

DuVernay’s recent successes as a narrative filmmaker follow on the heels of great critical praise for her work as a documentary filmmaker. Her documentaries on African-American subjects ranging from hip-hop to female Hurricane Katrina survivors have been featured on BET and TV One, and have won audience awards at major film festivals.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

In 2012 DuVernay made history by becoming the first black woman to win the Best Director accolade at the Sundance Film Festival for her second feature, Middle of Nowhere. The seldom-told story of a black woman struggling to support her incarcerated husband, Middle of Nowhere depicts African-American women with a subtle humanity. This film was also distributed nationally in major theater chains, a rare accomplishment for a black, female director.

What’s next for DuVernay?

DuVernay will continue to promote an independent model of film creation and distribution for her films, taking her do-it-yourself approach further to find new audiences.

She has stressed in several interviews the need for filmmakers to seize power in the entertainment business. “I’ve been told there is no audience for our films. If the stories I’m telling are firmly rooted in characters that are not part of the dominant culture,” DuVernay told the Los Angeles Times, “it’s a question as to can I create an audience, and can I create interest, and can I create a sense of value around the stories of the people I’m interested in.”

Follow Ava DuVernay on Twitter at @AVAETC

Who is Kerry Washington?

Kerry Washington, 35, is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actresses.

Washington grew up in the New York City borough of the Bronx. After the sixth grade, Washington left public school to attend junior high and high school at the prestigious Spence School for Girls in Manhattan. She later attended the theater program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1998 as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa academic society with a double major in Anthropology and Sociology. Kerry likes to joke that she is a “twin of hip-hop,” because they were both born in 1977 in the Bronx. “Part of hip-hop culture is who I am,” she said during an interview with theGrio.

Washington says she didn’t initially grow up wanting to be an actor professionally. “I grew up doing local community art programs, ballet, and [performing in a] children’s theatre company. I was a very energetic and precocious child. Thank goodness my parents did not see my hyperactivity and my desire to talk as problematic, and instead encouraged me to channel it in positive ways.”

The Bronx, New York native paid her dues appearing small indie films before breaking into big-budget Hollywood productions. In her first major film, Save the Last Dance (2001), Washington gave another breakthrough performance as a street-smart teenage mom who takes in a suburban white girl (Julia Stiles) who has just transferred to an inner-city school.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

Washington received critical acclaim for her role as Broomhilda in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-nominated slave revenge epic Django Unchained. Although the actress didn’t receive a Golden Globe or Award nomination for her role in the film, she says she does not take on films roles in hopes of winning an award for her work. “I feel really grateful to have a job and to be able to do what I love for a living and to work with people who I respect and admire. I do this because I love to do it, not because I have a desire to have attention,” said Washington.

The Ray star also revealed that she was extremely honored to play a slave on the big screen. “I’ve never had shame in playing somebody who is a slave or a prostitute, or anybody who may be looked down upon in society,” Washington said. “Because I think we all deserve to have our stories told no matter who we are.”

The actress also stars as Olivia Pope on ABC’s hit drama Scandal. Washington is one of the only two African-American actresses starring in a leading role on prime-time network drama.

What’s next for Washington?

Washington can been seen on season 2 of Scandal on ABC, and also will be featured in the upcoming comedy We the Peeples, starring alongside Diahann Caroll, Craig Robinson, Tyler James Williams, and David Alan Grier. The film centers around a psychologist who realizes his professional help is needed after he arrives unannounced at his girlfriend’s family’s annual end-of-the-summer party.

Follow Kerry Washington on Twitter at @KerryWashington

Nick Cave, 53, is a Chicago-based visual artist whose “Soundsuits” are bringing the fine art world a new appreciation of performance and movement. Crafted of found materials ranging from synthetic hair to twigs, these mammoth garments create a symphony of color, texture and sound around the wearer. Always sewn by hand, Cave’s Soundsuits are often donned by dancers – very often Cave himself, who is Alvin Ailey-trained – who transform within the masked costumes into otherworldly creatures.

The net result is an aesthetic epitomizing the modern pastiche of the “re-mix” through the use of found objects while paying homage to African tribal costumes. Cave’s work has been praised by The New York Times, The Washington Post and many other outlets for his unique creative vision that melds fashion, art, performance and social meaning.

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

Cave has made a tremendous impact in the rarified world of fine art, in which African-American artists are still struggling to receive equal recognition. His Soundsuits have created a sonic boom in this arena, drawing attention for their beautiful colors, startling array of designs — and the thrill of hearing the suits rustle musically when they are donned by dancers.

In addition to the sensory impressions of his Soundsuits, Cave’s work has made an impact through the intellectual statements of his creations. He made his very first Soundsuit in 1992 out of twigs in reaction to the Rodney King beating. Through the suit, Cave took something many find insignificant – twigs – and transformed this refuse into metaphorical armor. Cave’s twig Soundsuit drew a parallel between its materials and how many see the lives of black men like King – and Cave himself. It, like the hundreds of Soundsuits that followed, became a form of protection against a world that would deem one insignificant.

Cave’s suits now sell for $45,000 each through fine art galleries and are shown in museums internationally.

What’s next for Cave?

Cave will continue to produce his hand-sewn expressions of rhythym and beauty from discarded objects working with his team of assistants to stitch together flea market finds and unlikely materials. You can find his work through his main outlet, the Jack Shainman Gallery. Upcoming exhibitions in 2013 include solo shows at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts and the Denver Art Museum in Colorado.

Follow the work of Nick Cave on Twitter at @SoundSuitShop

Robert Smalls is recognized as one of Civil War heroes who commandeered a confederate ship, the CSS Planter, freeing himself along with his enslaved crew and their families in 1862. He was also noted as one of the first black congressmen for South Carolina serving for five terms.

Both Michael and Helen Boulware-Moore run “The Life and Times of Congressman Robert Smalls: Travelling Exhibit.” Michael,50, says he is the “talking head” of the organization while his mother,76, runs the business side of the exhibit.

How did you find out you were related to him?

Helen: I’ve always known that. It’s like saying how did I know to breathe? Having lived with my grandmother, who is Robert Smalls’ daughter, she would talk about her mother and father and about their life.  For the first 22 years of my life, she would tell me who was on the planter, when the planter was commandeered from the confederate army…I lived with [my grandmother] and I heard so many stories about ‘grandpa’ and the trip because she  was on the planter at three years old.

Michael: It’s just been a part of my DNA for as long as remember. For us, when I think about the Civil War abstractly for our family, it’s Robert Smalls’ mission that’s very tangible for me. I have pictures of [Smalls’ daughter] ‘Mama Lizzie’ with my grandparents as I knew them. I slept in [Mama Lizzie's] bed. My clothes would be her in dresser. All of this stuff sort of brings back this history; it just makes it much more real and tangible.

Even though Robert Smalls died long before I was born, his legacy, his story, the history is something that is really real and alive and it’s my job to keep it alive and pass it along to my children.

What is something people don’t know about Robert Smalls?

Helen: [People] don’t know the degree to which his work in this country was very much like the work of Martin Luther King. He was a person who was very interested in helping everyone. Clearly helping the formerly enslaved people who were in the low country of South Carolina but also helping others as well. [Smalls] and Harriet Tubman helping to establish schools for the formerly enslaved people after the emancipation proclamation.

Michael: What a brave and confident man he was. To commandeer a confederate ship, that took an enormous amount of audacity frankly and even he came back. He was one of the first real heroes of the Civil War, he could have gone north and lived out the rest of his days as a civil war hero…He was the first African-American to captain the U.S. military ship.

How are you or your family keeping Robert Smalls legacy alive?

Helen: I think the greatest thing I’m doing is the creation of the travelling exhibit. I have been working with the South Carolina State Museum, the largest museum in South Carolina to create this exhibit which has been travelling all around [the country] since Aug of 2008. Over 100,000 have visited so far!

Michael: I do lots of speaking engagements where I try to bring the story to life. For me, in terms of my family, obviously, my kids all know about Robert Smalls. They know their connection. They’re familiar with the story and his achievements. I try to make the story as real for them as it can be. It’s obviously more challenging with each successive generation. But it’s a gift for us to be connected to Robert and his legacy. As a parent, it’s my job to pass that gift along to them.

Is having his legacy a burden or an inspiration?

Helen: Absolutely an inspiration! If you look at the descendants you can see it because of what we have done educationally. Many of us are involved with education ourselves – gotten doctorate degrees, been physicians and ministers. I don’t feel that its pressure, it’s what expected…When you know who you are, and what your history has been then you have a sense of what is expected of you.

Michael: I think [that burden] is a great problem to have. The blessings of being attached to that legacy are so over-matched… I always kind of look back and compare my career with what Robert Smalls did. Have I really lived up to that legacy? And that can be burdensome at times and can be the source of some pressure. But I think that’s good pressure…having a connection to someone like Robert Smalls for me has given me confidence because I come from a legacy. I share the DNA of somebody who achieved extraordinary things against remarkable odds.

How would you hope Robert Smalls would be remembered today?

Helen: I think he is an unsung hero. Once again, it’s getting the story of Robert Smalls out to the public. I want [young people] to remember him as a ‘yes you can’ person. When we tell the story of Robert Smalls, we want [children] to be able to really understand that they have an opportunity. When they see a child who grew up enslaved, but ended his life as a five term United States congressman. If he can do it, than they can do it.

Michael: My ultimate message for young people is that Robert Smalls shows that in this country you can do a lot with a little… For young African-American youth who are faced with all kinds of challenges and obstacles, I think it’s important for them to know stories like Robert Smalls and they should feel proud that the role of their ancestors and people like them in history. It shows that if you can dare dream big dreams, but actually then gather yourself and go after them. Enormous things can happen.

I think Robert Smalls has for sure been under-served; his legacy has been under-reported or under-shared for a variety for reasons. Robert Smalls, I would put his resume up to anyone’s in history.

To read more profiles from The Descendants Project, click here.

Follow Brittany Tom on Twitter @brittanyrtom

Olympians like Claressa Shields have a special place in the hearts and minds of sports fans all over the world. After the London Games, Shields also has a place in the history books. The 17-year-old boxer and Flint, Michigan native earned a gold medal in London in the middleweight division.

London marked the first time in Olympic history women were competing in boxing and Shields was the only U.S. boxer to earn a gold medal. (no U.S. men medaled)

Shields began boxing at age 11 and has been inspiring her hometown of Flint ever since.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

Competing in the boxing ring seems marginal when compared to the struggles Shields has faced outside of the gym.

Her father, Clarence, who first introduced her to the sport, has spent much of Shields life serving prison time. Her older brother is currently incarcerated. Shields had to grow up fast and boxing was her saving grace.

Her gold medal achievement in London meant more than just individual glory or representing her country – it was an opportunity to put the sport of women’s boxing on the map for good.

Shields told the Detroit Free-Press:

“I really wanted to represent the women now,” she said. “I think I did a great job. I think I showed the best display of women’s boxing. I don’t think there’s going to be anybody watching these Olympics saying that women can’t box, because they seen me. … I think more women are going to come into the sport.

When the U.S. boxing men’s team was shut out of any medals in London, Shields success became even more important. The woman’s team doesn’t just need her – her sport does.

What’s next for Shields?

One gold was great, but how about two?

In an interview shortly after her first Olympics, Shields told theGrio’s Jay Scott Smith she’s going to remain an amateur and finish high school. The money would be nice, but Shields admits she’s more concerned about setting a good example for her younger brother:

“My little brother is why I want to get out of Flint,” she added.  “Young boys get killed here, no matter what age. Even though he’s not a bad kid, you can still run into trouble hanging around the wrong people.”

Shields told Smith she is leaning towards attending either Michigan State University or University of Michigan’s Flint campus for a year before leaving home. She is the pride of her hometown and could become women’s boxing first back-to-back gold medalist in the middleweight division.

Look out 2016.

Follow Claressa Shields on Twitter @Claressashields

A’Lelia Bundles, 60, was a Emmy-award winning television news producer at major television networks such as NBC and ABC, and has written several books about Madam C.J. Walker. Walker is credited with being the first female self-made millionaire through her successful beauty and hair product line targeted toward black women throughout the early 1900s.

How did you find out you were related to Madam C.J. Walker?

A’Lelia Bundles: I just knew! I grew up in a household where the silverware we used every day belonged to Madam Walker and the china that we used on special occasions had been her china…In my grandfather’s house, the books had belonged to her, her clothing, her mother of pearl opera glasses, photographs!

There are all kinds of things I saw that I was surrounded by, but it was really my research and using my skills as a journalist to dig and dig that I started to learn so much more about her.

What is something people don’t know about Madam C.J. Walker?

If [people] know anything, they knew she made hair care products and then they mistakenly said she invented the hot comb. We are trying to get rid of that myth. Now, I think we look at her in a multidimensional way. In addition to being a pioneer of the modern hair care cosmetics industry, she was a philanthropist, a patron of the arts, a political activist who contributed large sums of money to institutions and to the anti-lynching movement.

It’s not just hair care products – Madam Walker made a lot money and saw an opportunity to use that money to make a difference in the community to provide jobs for women and to contribute to the arts and political units.

Is having her legacy a burden or an inspiration?

I think having a very famous and very accomplished ancestor can put a burden on the descendants, but I’m very lucky that I had a very smart and wise mother who understood that each generation had to find their own interest.

My mother encouraged me to follow my own interests, and my own interests were to be a journalist. Because I did this on my own terms I was able to approach Madam Walker’s story that I could make the most important contribution. Because I had a successful as a network television news journalist, I gained the skills of how to make Madam Walker’s story appealing to a wider audience and I would say… I don’t mean to take all the credit, but my training as a journalist has helped Madam Walker’s legacy better known.

I think if I had gone to work  for a company [Madame C.J. Walker's cosmetic and beauty line] that was kind of failing at that point… [By the time I was growing up], it wasn’t really an important company. It had had its heyday from Madam Walker founding it in 1906 and until early 1960s. When I was coming of age, the company was no longer a big player. I was able to bring my skills as journalist and my passion for history to the telling of Madam Walker’s story.  I think that my contribution to her legacy as the biographer is a greater contribution than if I had sold several jars of hair products.

How are you or your family keeping Madam C.J. Walker’s legacy alive?

The way that our family keeps Madam’s legacy alive is through the Madam Walker family archives which is the largest collection of Walker letters photographs, furniture, silver, clothing and other memorabilia.

We keep the legacy through two national historic landmarks. I write books, I do lots of speeches, I am on a number of boards that have to do Madam Walker’s legacy.  I love to tell her story whether I’m talking to future CEOS or whether I’m talking to women who are incarcerated. I think they all can find something inspirational in Madam Walker’s life.

How would you hope Madam C.J. Walker would be remembered today?

It’s fabulous that she is known as the first African-American woman who became a millionaire, but what I especially would like for [people] to realize is that when she made all this money, she used that money to make a difference in her community in 1917.

So in some ways the sale of her hair care products became a means to an end. It wasn’t just about the hair care products, that wasn’t her main mission. Her main mission became empowering other women and changing her community.

To read more profiles from The Descendants Project, click here.

Follow Brittany Tom on Twitter @brittanyrtom

W.E.B. Du Bois was a prominent scholar and civil-rights activist who co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

His great-great grandson, Arthur McFarlane II, 55, is currently an evaluator of public health programs for the State Department of Public Health and Environment in Colorado and he gives speeches regularly on Du Bois legacy during Black History Month.

How did you find out you were related to W.E.B Du Bois?

Arthur McFarlane II: When I was three months old and Du Bois was 90 years old, I was at his birthday party in New York City and I was the guest of honor at the event. I met him and knew him when I was young child growing up all the way until he left to go to Ghana. My mother would tell stories about him because she grew up with him and actually lived in his house with him.

 What is something people don’t know about W.E.B Du Bois? 

One story that I had always found interesting was that he used to give talks around the country and would stay with folks in NAACP chapters or churches.

One of the churches invited him to talk in Colorado Springs and the pastor that invited him was actually the father of his second wife [Shirley Graham]. Typically black people had to stay in the host’s home because they couldn’t stay in hotels, so Grandpa had to sleep in Shirley’s bedroom because that was the next best bedroom besides the pastor’s bedroom.

Grandpa ended up sleeping in Shirley’s bed when she was only a teenager. It seems like a crazy story if you don’t tell the rest of it, but kind of a funny family story.  Two of them got married on Valentine’s Day in 1952.

Is having his legacy a burden or an inspiration?

There was definitely a lot of pressure, I think for me when I was young. It didn’t start to build until I got to junior high school, then high school and then undergraduate school and then I really started to feel it.  Here’s this huge set of expectations about who I was supposed to be and how smart I was supposed to be, what I was supposed to do in the world, how I was supposed to change things, how I was supposed to lead… There were a lot of times when I didn’t even talk about it.

I didn’t want people to have those sorts of expectations, and I wanted them to view me in the light that here’s who I am and I just wanted to be myself. I struggled for a long time and I just wanted to be both. Then I finally came to a better understanding, of who I was, that gave me a better sense of what my role was and what I wanted to do and how I was going to live up to people’s expectations.

How are you or your family keeping W.E.B Du Bois’ legacy alive?

Grandpa’s theory called “The Talented Tenth” where he put forth that there would be a tenth of the African American race that would act in a leadership roles. I think a lot of what he said has been misunderstood and I would like to see us re-conceptualized [the theory] in a way. I took away that those ‘ten’ were supposed to be of service to the people and to the world in general, and I think that piece of the puzzle is what I’ve taken as being my part keeping grandpa’s legacy alive.

All of the things my grandpa stood for, I stand for in many ways. I think that’s a big part of how I became myself. In regard to The Talented Tenth theory that was so misunderstood, I’d like us to really revive that sense of service, that sense of we have a job to do to make sure the world is a better place.

 How would you hope W.E.B Du Bois would be remembered today?

I think one of the ways a lot of people relate to Grandpa is his concept of double consciousness… People struggle at different times to be something and something else – whether it’s a woman or American, black and American, or gay and American. We see these American values that are put out there of what America is about. Then, we as African-Americans, gays, Latinos are treated differently. We’re not treated as equal.

It’s hard to be American because there’s so much going on in America that says I’m not equal or I’m not the same. I feel a lot of people struggling with that… When we think about those issues we can relate to what Grandpa says, even though he says that almost a hundred years ago.

I just hope people will look at Grandpa’s legacy that he had a lot to say and a lot of it still applies today and get to the point where we really do reach across racial lines and seek understanding and seek to bring understanding through a lot of very contentious issues.

To read more profiles from The Descendants Project, click here.

Follow Brittany Tom on Twitter @brittanyrtom

Ida B. Wells was one of the most prominent black journalists and newspaper editors at the time and an active member of the women’s suffrage movement in the early 1900s.

Four of Wells’ grandchildren currently run the Ida B. Wells Foundation that helps preserve Wells’ legacy by awarding youth scholarships and supporting the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum.

Michelle Duster, 49, one of Ida B. Wells’ great grandchildren, helped produce a PBS documentary about her great grandmother and has since joined other black historical descendants on panels discussing Wells’ impact on American history.

How did you find out you were related to Ida B. Wells?

Michelle: I knew from an early age that we were related to her just as anyone else learns about their grandparents and great-grandparents. I didn’t understand the magnitude of her accomplishments until I was an adolescent.

Daniel: I knew the importance more so from others that I was related to Ida B. Wells and the significance rather than my parents/family. I was held to a high family standard as the son of Donald Duster and Maxine Porter Duster rather than being a descendant of Ida B. Wells.

David: I found out when I was a young child. My grandmother (Ida’s daughter) was our baby sitter. She used to tell us about Ida. She often talked about our responsibility to excel in school and try to make a positive impact.

What is something people don’t know about Ida B. Wells? Any funny stories or anecdotes?

Daniel: Comparable to Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus, in 1884 when Ida was riding the ladies coach on the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad the conductor decided to force her into the “Colored” car.  When he grabbed her and tried to remove her from her seat, she bit him enough to draw blood.

Michelle: She didn’t like to do housework.  She originally wanted to write fiction.

David: Ida went to England in 1893 and in 1894. She took this trip from New York well before there were airplanes. The trip was by boat which took more than five days.

Is having her legacy a burden or an inspiration?

Michelle: Having her legacy is an inspiration because she provided an example of someone who lived by her convictions… As much of an honor it is to be related to Ida B. Wells, I do appreciate being recognized for my own accomplishments rather than referred to only by how I’m related to her.

Daniel: It’s not a burden, but an anchor/responsibility. When I consider her struggles and accomplishments, I know that I can endure and accomplish anything…period!

David: I feel it is an inspiration. For many people it is impossible to understand what it means to be born a slave, and live in a time period where black people were property.

How are you or your family keeping Ida B. Wells’ legacy alive?

(Michelle, David and Daniel via email): Our parents’ generation founded the Ida B. Wells Memorial Foundation in 1988.  The Foundation has supported the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum in Holly Springs, MS.

Michelle has written and edited two books that include the original writings of Ida B. Wells – Ida In Her Own Words (2008) and Ida From Abroad (2010).  Michelle is also the Co-Chair of the Ida B. Wells Commemorative Art Committee that is raising $300,000 to have a monument created by world-renowned sculptor, Richard Hunt, to honor Ida B. Wells in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.

How would you hope Ida B. Wells would be remembered today?

Michelle:  I think Ida B. Wells should be remembered as an African-American woman who battled both racism and sexism at a time when it was extremely dangerous to speak out… She used her gift of writing, speaking and organizing to help shed light on injustice.  She was extremely brave and held steadfast to her convictions despite being criticized, ostracized and marginalized by her contemporaries.

Daniel: Ida tends to be known as a crusader against lynching.  She was actually a crusader for justice.  It so happens that the biggest injustice in America at the time was lynching.

David: I would like her to be remembered as a crusader for justice and education.  She started her career as a school teacher but continued to grow professionally and gave herself no limits to what she could achieve.  After all, she was born a slave, but that didn’t stop her from making an impact on this country and traveling internationally.

To read more profiles from The Descendants Project, click here.

Follow Brittany Tom on Twitter @brittanyrtom

Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, 39, advocates for those with the least access to health care in her dual roles as deputy assistant secretary for minority health and director of the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

As the newly appointed director of the Office of Minority Health, she is dedicated to creating health policy and programs to improve the health of underserved communities. She is continuing the work she began as the acting director for the past year, including being instrumental in the outreach of the Affordable Care Act to underserved communities.

A pediatrician by training, Gracia has gone from caring for her individual pediatric patients to caring for the health of the nation’s underserved in just a few years.

She started her career in government in 2008 as one of 14 White House Fellows. From there, she became chief medical officer for HHS where she worked on projects regarding the health of children and teens, the Haiti recovery and the White House Council on Women and Girls.

A first generation Haitian-American, Gracia says she pulls from the strength of her parents who emigrated to the United States and overcame great obstacles. This work ethic and commitment pushed her as she completed a bachelor’s in french from Stanford University, a master of science in clinical epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania and a medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

She subsequently completed pediatrics residency and served as chief pediatrics resident at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Yet, with all of those accomplishments, she’s most proud of those she’s had the ability to mentor during her time in medicine and public service.

“It has been a joy and a privilege to work with young doctors and emerging leaders – to watch as they grow, find paths of their own and begin to give back too,” Gracia says.

What’s next for Dr. Gracia?

She has a lot on her plate with the upcoming implementation of the health care law. In October, the health insurance marketplaces open for enrollment, and in January 2014, health plan coverage for consumers and small business will begin in every state.

Gracia and her colleagues are admittedly “rolling up their sleeves,” because, as she says, “2013 will undoubtedly be a year of hard work, but also a year of great opportunity.”

Who is Gabby Douglas?

For many, watching gymnast Gabby Douglas lead her team to gold and then earning an individual all-around gold medal was the highlight of the 2012 Olympics Games in London. Douglas, who turned 17 in December, trained in West Des Moines, Iowa by way of Virginia Beach. She is the undisputed star of gymnastics and nearly doubled Michael Phelps in popularity and hits online during the Olympics.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

Douglas’ star power is clear. Her passionate floor routines and high-flying aerial displays on the uneven bars proved she was the best in the world. Her accomplishments in London led to a presidential congrats, an interview with Oprah, several magazine covers and late night talk show appearances. She was inspiration to young athletes of all colors – something theGrio wrote about extensively last summer:

“Given Gabby’s global success, her inspiration is much more broad than just African-American girls,” wrote Dwayne McClary for theGrio last August. “After winning the first gold medal, Douglas attributed the victory to ‘a lot of hard work, a lot of passion, and a lot of sacrifices and termination,’ advice that is valuable to all of us.”

TheGrio:

• Gabby Douglas wins Olympic gold in individual all-around
• Oprah interviews Gabby Douglas, gymnast reveals how she overcame adversity
• Gabby Douglas wins AP female athlete of the year honors

What’s next for Douglas?

Douglas told theGrio’s Todd Johnson in December she would begin training in late spring for the 2016 Games in Rio. (something her coach recently wouldn’t confirm) No American gymnast has ever won the individual all-around gold medal twice – but Gabby could be the first. She will certainly have a busy schedule between now and then – with a 40-city gymnastics tour, public appearances and speaking engagements.

She will also continue to promote her book Grace, Gold & Glory: My Leap of Faith which has already brought her fans closer to the pint-sized sensation.

Follow Gabby Douglas on Twitter @gabrielledoug

Houston native Ty Hunter has been styling his superstar client Beyoncé for 16 years. The celebrity fashion expert’s keen eye is behind the red carpet looks and stunning video presentations that have made jaws drop for over a decade. His most notable work in recent weeks was the creation of the sumptuous ensemble Beyoncé wore to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the second inauguration of President Obama. Hunter also helps the singer develop enticing moods through clothing for acclaimed videos, including “Run The World (Girls)” and “Diva.” 

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

Hunter is not only a fashion visionary picking the best of haute couture designs and small up-and-coming labels for his clients; he also creates pieces himself for his star mannequins. Hunter’s blend of personal creativity and exquisite taste has raised the bar of styling to a high art and enhanced the perception of people of color in the mainstream fashion world. His achievements have been recognized by Harlem’s Fashion Row, an organization dedicated to promoting people of color in fashion, which named Hunter a 2012 honoree.

Hunter’s success proves “that fashion and art are intertwined,” as a recent profile of a Harlem’s Fashion Row event described this evolution of the indusrty. Hunter’s work has contributed to this evolution. There are few stylists who have the most exclusive of fashion’s creators on speed dial to create and loan rare and custom pieces for clients as Hunter does. This demonstrates his industry cachet and significant cultural capital.

What’s next for Hunter?

We can expect Hunter to continue dressing the Knowles sisters, as Beyoncé’s sister Solange also ranks among the high-profile people he works with. Credited with creating her looks for the video “Losing You,” the younger Knowles sister openly acknowledges Hunter’s extensive knowledge of high fashion. “Ty is really good at what he does,” Solange told InStyle.com. You can also look out for his continuing work with House of Deréon and Beyoncé on her national tours.

Follow Ty Hunter on Twitter at @tytryone.

Dr. Ranjan Batra, associate professor of neurobiology and anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, saw Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed film Lincoln last November and was moved to search into Mississippi’s past, according to the Clarion Ledger.

The 13th Amendment received the three-fourth’s vote it needed to pass from Congress in January 1864.

In the following years, the states who voted against ratifying the amendment took measures to pass it.

While researching, Batra noted an asterisk beside Mississippi that represented the state having ratified the amendment in 1995, but it was never made official by a U.S. archivist.

Drawing inspiration from Lincoln, Batra contacted the office of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.

Hosemann agreed to file the paperwork, and the ratification became official on February 7, 2013.

Click here to read the full story on the Clarion Ledger.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals. 

How did a guy who has averaged 1,400 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns a year the last three seasons ever go undrafted? Well that’s the story of Houston Texans running back Arian Foster, who was not among the 20 running backs selected in the 2009 NFL Draft. Fortunately, the Texans signed him as an undrafted free agent and Foster has breathed new life into the young franchise ever since.

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

The 26-year-old Albuquerque, New Mexico native is one of the best all-around running backs in the NFL and has been lauded for both his humility and professionalism since he entered the league. His touchdown celebration? A bow to show respect to the game he loves:

“I feel like every running back should have their own stamp on the game,” Foster told ESPN‘s Jim McCurdy in 2010. “Mine stems from the core or what I believe. It’s a Namaste. It means respect. It just means, ‘I see the God in you.’ It’s me paying my respect to the game of football.”

The Texans rewarded Foster in May of last year to the tune of $43.5 million over five years.

Last summer, Foster got the attention of his teammates and many in the sports world when he announced his new commitment to a vegan diet. It’s served Foster well and could act as a blueprint for more running backs to follow.

What’s next for Foster?

Foster’s Texans have won back-to-back division titles and will certainly be a force in the talent-heavy AFC conference for years to come. His endorsement deals range from Under Armour to Verizon and he’ll remain heavily involved in charities such as the Boys and Girls Club and American Cancer Society.

Don’t expect Foster to dodge his zen-like behavior after football – he majored in philosophy in college.

Follow Arian Foster on Twitter @ArianFoster

As a civil rights activist and prison abolitionist, Davis has spent decades fighting for a fair society, and in the process, circumventing the systematic prejudices she so fervently denounces. In the new documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, filmmaker Shola Lynch explores the moment 41 years ago that Davis became an international political icon, a woman both exalted and vilified as she fought for the right to assert her beliefs, her speech and consequently her liberty.

“In the landscape of that period, when you think about political figures, when you think about mass media figures, there are very few examples, if any, of strong women,” Lynch tells theGrio. “Let alone strong black women.”

The movie centers on Davis’ implication in a courthouse murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy effort on August 7, 1970 in Marin County, California, the trial that ensued thereafter and Davis’ eventual acquittal. Though only 26 years old at the time, it was the culmination of a riotous period in Davis’ life, where she had already been labeled a terrorist by the government, and fired from her job as a professor at UCLA.

“Angela Davis is associated with [the Black Panthers] and she stands up for her rights and her beliefs,” Lynch explains. “It starts with UCLA and standing up for her job. It went against the school policy and the law, I’m pretty sure, for the school to try and fire her for being a Communist…That’s what democracy is all about, that we have freedom of speech, and academic freedom, within the context of the university, to discuss ideas that may or may not be popular. So, the idea that she was standing up for her rights unequivocally is very attractive.”

After receiving death threats for her socialist ties, Davis was linked to George Jackson, a Panther and member of the Soledad Brothers trio, when a gun she’d purchased for defense was used during his courthouse ambush. Several people were killed, and Davis was indicted for her connection to the crime. She went into hiding following the incident, becoming the third woman ever to appear on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List, and was eventually captured and detained without bail as she went on trial.

Lynch spent eight years researching Davis’ story and bringing the film project to fruition. It serves as a recounting of a significant moment in Davis’ life that would influence her future work, and inspire a faction of constituents backing her cause.

“When I started [making the film], it was post 9-11, and there was all this talk about what was a terrorist, and who was a terrorist,” the filmmakers recalls. “What attracted me about this story was that this was a way of discussing it without having the raw emotion of discussing 9-11…It also resonates in the present with prisoners’ rights…In the 70’s, [Davis] was starting to articulate a prisoners’ rights kind of activism that was very new at the time. Talking about prisoners – young men, primarily black and Latino – that had been caught up in petty crimes and now been in prison for extended periods of time.”

“She wanted to call them political prisoners,” Lynch continues. “There were a lot of people on the political side of protesting, and revolution and anti-war that had real discomfort with that because it’s like, ‘Well these people are criminals.’ And so the whole George Jackson story really relates to the situation with prisoners’ rights today, and the increasing prisoner industrial complex.”

As the film shows, Davis became aware of what she felt were discriminatory and inhumane practices infiltrating the criminal justice system during her own detainment. These experiences would provide a framework for her later theories on abolition democracy, camouflaged racism, penal servitude and the extension of slavery through incarceration.

Furthermore, it was this period in Davis’ life that would inspire her organization, Critical Resistance, a crusade to replace prisons with social institutions that remedy conditions dooming many men and women to a life behind bars.

“Her relationship with George Jackson and the Soledad brothers is what started it, and then her own incarceration – those two experiences are pivotal to the direction that her life takes after that,” Lynch observes. “She’s about justice issues, and for her they’re all intertwined. You can’t talk about one justice issue without another… Free Angela is a way to narrow that, and to give Angela a fair trial. That really was the point of the movement.”

The film pulls together images, letters and video clips from Davis’ supporters around the world at the time of her trial, all of whom rallied together for her liberation. Those advocates included Nina Simone, who visited Davis in prison; Aretha Franklin, who offered to pay her bond; John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who wrote a song in her honor; and the countless men, women and children of all ages and races who organized a movement demanding her release. Lynch additionally interviews Davis and her family, her lawyers and old friends, as well as those countering her struggle to fill in details of the historical outline.

Not surprisingly, Davis’ involvement took convincing.

“Her attitude was skeptical,” Lynch remembers. “She doesn’t seem like the kind of person that revisits the past. She’s not living in the past, believe it or not. People have ideas of her from the past, but she lives in the present. She’s a retired professor now; she’s an activist speaking all over the world about, ironically, the same kinds of issues that ‘got her in trouble’ in the 70’s. So, it just took a moment to get her attention.”

Lynch also points to the fact that, from Davis’ point of view, the story was limited. Thus, the documentary was a way for the activist to revisit her narrative from several vantages.

Lynch adds, “There was all this stuff going on around her, whether it’s the government, whether it’s her old lawyers, whether it’s the protests and the Free Angela movement – she never experienced it. She was the beneficiary.”

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012 to critical praise, and opens at select theaters in the U.S. on April 5. It was executive-produced by Overbrook Entertainment partners Will Smith, James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Roc Nation, and is being distributed by Codeblack Films and Lionsgate. In addition to its focus on Davis’ exoneration, the production also touches on issues of American civil liberties, gun violence, and the dynamism of a cause célèbre. Though decades past, many of the concerns addressed in the movie still resonate in today’s sociopolitical climate, particularly relating to the national debate on gun control.

“What I couldn’t have anticipated is the amount of gun violence that’s happened in the last few years with lone gun people walking into certain situations, either for political reasons or personal reasons, and initiating a similar kind of gun battle or massacre that happened on August 7,” Lynch admits. “I don’t think there’s any correlation in the sense that this was such a political period…People were motivated by the idea that the revolution was right around the corner, and so it’s not so individualistic. It’s not about crazy, deranged people, but there is a question of guns and how to control them, and how law enforcement responds.”

Nevertheless, the movie, as Lynch notes, is not about the Second Amendment, but primarily the First, and Davis’ momentous, ongoing journey in defending it.

“She doesn’t hesitate,” Lynch remarks. “Just seeing her set that example, seeing her make those choices – to stand up – they are really powerful.”

Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @CourtGarcia.

A sports blogger and columnist called Brittney Griner the “best women’s basketball player since, since ever.” And that really sums it up – Griner led her team last season to an undefeated 40-0 record and a national championship. The 6’8 senior plays all over the court – dunking, blocking shots, rebounding and dominating women’s college basketball in a way not seen perhaps in history.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

Mark Lewis, an ESPN HoopGurlz analyst may have said it best when Griner was a standout athlete at Nimitz High School in 2009:

“Brittney just brings something to the game that, honestly, I don’t think we’ve seen,” Lewis told the Houston Chronicle’s Steve Campbell. “You can go back and look at a Candace Parker or go even further back and look at a Cheryl Miller. They changed the game, but there’s been another Cheryl Miller. I think Brittney Griner may come and go without there being another Brittney Griner for a long time.” 

Griner has been all that and more since she arrived at Baylor in the fall of 2009. Her dominance has even led to speculative online conversations and forums about whether she could be drafted in the NBA. After Griner led her Baylor Lady Bears to the championship by defeating Notre Dame last year, the opposing coach commented: “I think she’s like a guy playing with women.”

Griner’s been that dominant in women’s college basketball.

On February 18th she hit a major milestone when she scored her 3,000 point in a win (her team’s 23rd straight) against Baylor’s bitter rival UConn,

What’s next for Griner?

Several leading women’s basketball analysts praised Griner’s decision to stay at Baylor for her senior season, passing up a guaranteed spot in the WNBA in 2012. That opportunity wasn’t going anywhere – it will just be delayed a year. Whichever WNBA team lucky enough to get the number one pick in this year’s draft will undoubtedly select Griner.

Griner’s decision gives her a chance to finish out her education and continue to receive exposure – exposure some would argue is better when compared to the WNBA. So it’s a win-win for Griner. She will pursue another college championship, go number one overall and become a force in the WNBA.

Follow Brittney Griner on Twitter @Brittney4Griner

Who is Keija Minor?

A Howard University Law School graduate, Keija Minor has been breaking barriers in the magazine world for years. After walking away from a 4-year career in the corporate world, she served as editor-in-chief of the upscale magazines Gotham (from 2005 to 2007) and Uptown (2008 to 2011), all before achieving her biggest success to date in 2012.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

This past fall, Minor made history when she became the first African-American editor-in-chief in Condé Nast’s 103-year history when she took the lead of Brides magazine, one of 18 publications the esteemed media company produces.

“I am tremendously excited by this opportunity. It’s an honor to take the reins of such an iconic brand and to lead this extraordinarily talented team in bringing inspiring, innovative ideas to women at this pivotal and joyous moment in their lives,” Minor said in a statement.

“Keija’s contribution to Brides over the past several months has been invaluable and will enable her to step seamlessly into the role of editor-in-chief.  She is a gifted editor. Brides will benefit from both her energy and her passion,” Tom Wallace, Condé Nast’s editorial director, told Media Bistro.

According to Huffington Post, “Her journey from a black publication to the pinnacle of a mainstream title is one that is commendable and will no doubt be looked at as a shining example that black editors can ascend in publishing–and particularly after spending time at a niche publication.”

What’s next for Minor?

Shortly after taking the reins, Minor said, ““I’m going to continue focusing on giving readers a lot of ideas and inspiration.”

“The goal is to find the best in beauty, fashion and style to give our readers the best [wedding] day they can have,” she added.

According to the New York Times, “Brides currently has 5.1 million readers, and 38 percent of its audience is non-white.”

Two weeks after Minor’s ascension, news broke that another African-American woman, Elaine Welteroth, would become the Health & Beauty editor at Condé Nast’s Teen Vogue magazine. It appears that Ms. Minor has some incredibly invaluable coattails.

Follow Keija Minor on Twitter at @KeijaMinor

Dr. Robert J. Gore, 36, is an emergency room physician and clinical assistant professor at Kings County Hospital/SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, NY.

A self-described “avid wanderer,” his work has frequently taken him beyond the American borders. He has worked in East Africa, Haiti and South America. And, since 2008, he has worked on a project set in north and northeast Haiti, where he works with local leadership to develop a regional health care system.

When he’s not on the clock, he’s known as a “boarder” — snowboarder, skateboarder and surfer — and studies the Afro-Brazilian martial art called capoeira.

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

In addition to training future physicians and practicing medicine — where he treats victims of violence from a medical standpoint — Gore dedicates his time to youth and violence prevention. He also shares his expertise as he lectures across the United States, South America and Asia on the topic.

He is the executive director of the Kings Against Violence Initiative, or KAVI, a hospital- and school-based initiative focused on preventing youth violence and empowering teens at risk for violent injury.

Gore helped form this program after years of witnessing violence among young men and women — growing up in Brooklyn in the 1980s, living in Atlanta while attending college at Morehouse, in Buffalo for medical school and as a resident physician in Chicago.

He saw that many of these patients came back as repeat victims, and after seeing the same at Kings County Hospital as a practicing physician, he decided something needed to be done. Through KAVI, Gore hopes to improve opportunities for these at-risk teens.

However, this passion is not new. Gore has been a mentor and worked with youth since he was a high school student, and he’s finally able to combine that with his work as a physician.

He recently joined the board of Inner City Foundation of New York, which is dedicated to developing school and educational opportunities for urban New York City youth.

What’s next for Dr. Gore?

The New York native hopes to expand his work in violence prevention outside of Brooklyn and New York City. He is also working on bridging that work with his international efforts.

Who is Neil deGrasse Tyson?

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an accomplished astrophysicist from the Bronx, New York.  He is currently the first occupant of the Frederick P. Rose Directorship of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, part of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.  Tyson is also a research associate for the museum’s Department of Astrophysics.

Tyson graduated high school from the Bronx High School of Science and attended Harvard University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Physics.  He continued his education, earning his doctorate in Astrophysics from Columbia.

With a strong interest in star and galaxy formation, Tyson uses telescopes around the world to conduct his work, as well as NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits the Earth.

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

Often called the “nation’s expert on space,” Tyson makes frequent television appearances on shows such as Jeopardy!, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  Tyson also hosts a radio show, Star Talk, which is says is for “all the people who never knew how much they’d love learning about space and science.”

From 2006 to 2011, Tyson hosted the PBS show Nova ScienceNOW.  The hour-long show uses humor and pop culture references to discuss several related current science topics.  A published author, Tyson continues to write both for the public and professionally.  Several of his books, including The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet, have become New York Times best-sellers.

What’s next for Tyson?

Tyson has several lecture dates at different universities across the U.S. lined up for 2013.  He will also to continue his work on Star Talk, which is now a podcast available on iTunes.

In addition to his current positions at the Hayden Planetarium and the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History, according to his personal profile, Tyson is currently working on a “21^st century reboot of Carl Sagan’s landmark television series COSMOS.”  The upcoming series is anticipated to contain 13 episodes and air in the spring of 2014 on the FOX network.

Checkout Neil deGrasse Tyson’s profile here.

In 2005, the Chicago White Sox won their first World Series title in nearly 90 years. General Manager Ken Williams was a big reason why. Williams played center field for the White Sox in the late 80s, before joining the team later as a scout in 1992.

His playing career was short-lived, but Williams’ impact as a member of the Sox front office has been remarkable. Williams is regarded as a “baseball mastermind” for turning  the White Sox around in the 2000s.

Williams grew up in San Jose, California and was a two-sport star in baseball and football at Stanford. His football coach maintains he could have been a defensive back in the NFL, but Williams left school when the White Sox drafted him in 1982.

Williams’ father Jerry ran track at San Jose State with famous Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos. His son, Kyle, plays wide-receiver for the San Francisco 49ers.

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

He became the White Sox’s first African-American general manager in 2000, after previously serving as the team’s vice-president of player personnel. Williams, 49, has the best winning percentage as general manager in White Sox history.

“You cannot say enough about Ken Williams’ value to the Chicago White Sox, his contributions to our success and the passion he brings to the ballpark each and every day,” White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf told ESPNChicago.com.

Williams made a big gamble hiring former White Sox shortstop and controversy magnet Ozzie Guillen in 2003. The move paid off handsomely for the team, however, as Guillen guided the Sox to one of the best seasons in franchise history less than two years later.

Williams was one of two African-American general managers in Major League Baseball as of the 2012 season.

What’s next for Williams?

In October, Williams was promoted to executive vice president for the White Sox. He will oversee all aspects of the team, according to WBEZ’s Cheryl Raye Stout. He will also be responsible for generating more buzz about the team and increasing ticket sales for the White Sox.

The Sox finished second in the AL Central in 2012 and will continue to rebuild under Williams’ watchful eye. The Sox have a long way to go to get back to their winning ways of 2005, but expect Williams’ role to expand in the years to come.

Follow news on Ken Williams’ White Sox on Twitter @whitesox

Tripoli Patterson is an East Coast champion surfer who uses the skills he learned in his sport to successfully navigate the world of fine art. Need proof? The free-spirited art lover is the curator of over 30 shows. Owning his own gallery was a natural evolution. “Surfing taught me that you can’t fight the ocean, and it’s kind of the same thing running a business,” Patterson told The New York Times. “You have to know that there are always going to be forces that are way bigger than you are.”

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

Overcoming such challenges as an entrepreneur, Patterson has produced over 20 shows at his namesake art space since he opened it in 2009 — all the while rocking an afro-and-jeans personal aesthetic. The laid-back owner of the Tripoli Gallery of Contemporary Art in the wealthy town of Southampton, Long Island might seem out of place among the manicured Hamptons set. Yet, Patterson is well-connected with a fine art pedigree that includes marquee names such as de Kooning and Schnabel — art world demigods — among his connections.

Patterson collaborates with those contacts to sell art while promoting a uniquely vibrant vibe in a field known to be seriously stuffy. His cool persona and love of an international mix of artists was honed by a childhood spent in Bali and an adulthood surfing in exotic locales. Through his various influences, Tripoli Patterson is bringing freshness and diversity to a typically homogeneous fine art community.

What’s next for Patterson?

His latest exhibition, “Within Reach,” featuring the works of Lola Montes Schnabel, will be shown through February 11, 2013 at his Southampton location. Patterson also displayed her work at an innovative pop-up shop in New York City on January 16, 2013, demonstrating how he brings new life to an exclusive creative scene. 

Follow Tripoli Patterson on Twitter at @TripoliGallery

Who is Dr. Naeemah Ghafur?

Affectionately known to her patients as “Dr. G,” Dr. Naeemah Ghafur, 41, is a family medicine physician at Central Neighborhood Health Foundation in South Central Los Angeles and the Saban Free Clinic, in West Los Angeles, Calif.

She’s a proud wife and mom to two teenagers who were both born during her medical school training. And in her spare time, she’s an avid reader. She recently finished Common’s autobiography One Day It Will All Make Sense and is currently reading Tupac’s biography.

“I think it’s important to stay culturally grounded and be able to identify with my patient population,” Ghafur says.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

Her dedication to the underserved has earned accolades from her peers and colleagues.

She works hard to serve her patients through the clinics and is spearheading an outreach project to obtain better health care for her homeless patients.

Her colleagues commend her on the extra time she spends directing her patients to organizations and community resources for help with jobs, psychiatric care and counseling services. She fights to get them medications at little to no cost, which is lifesaving for patients who cannot afford them.

A Brooklyn native, she grew up in a socioeconomically depressed area and understands the struggle to obtain adequate health care. She can’t remember being treated by a doctor of color as a child, so it is important to her that young children, teens and young adults see doctors of color who look like them and genuinely care about their wellbeing.

As part of this dedication, she is one of three original members of the “We Are Doc McStuffins” movement, a spinoff of Disney Junior’s Doc McStuffins. The cartoon, about a young African-American girl who plays doctor to her stuffed animals in the backyard, will air short videos about each of the three African-American doctors throughout the season.

Her generosity also expands the borders of the United States. In 2005, after the earthquake in Pakistan, she procured large donations of supplies and medications and brought them, along with a team of health care providers, on a medical mission to the stricken country. While there, she worked in the burn unit of the government hospital.

What’s next for Dr. Ghafur?

She plans to continue her efforts to improve health care for homeless patients at her clinic.

Ghafur is also very active with Artemis Medical Society, of which she is a founding member and executive board member. Artemis represents over 2,500 female physicians who identify as African-American, creating a “global sisterhood,” and involves mentoring, networking and advocacy.

In the future, she wants to start a foundation that funds young women from underdeveloped countries to come to the United States for secondary education and medical school, with the goal of returning to their countries to provide quality medical care.

“We have all been given some blessing. Some have more than others. I try to give of myself what I can to improve the lives of others because I feel I owe it to society to so,” Ghafur says.

A longtime crisis communications consultant in Washington, Judy Smith, became a huge star last year because of the ABC hit show Scandal, which cast Kerry Washington as a character named Olivia Pope, based on Smith.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

Even before Scandal aired, Smith, 54, played a powerful but largely-secret role in Washington. A lawyer, Smith worked as an assistant United States attorney before shifting to communications and crisis management. She was deputy press secretary for George H.W. Bush before leaving the White House and later started her own firm, called Smith and Co. In this role, Smith has dubbed herself “America’s #1 Crisis Management Expert.”

She has in the past advised figures such as Monica Lewinsky and  Michael Vick, and for some time last year was aiding General David Petraeus.  She counsels her clients on how to handle the intense glare that comes with controversies and when and how to explain their conduct.

What’s next for Smith?

Washington constantly has scandals and people who need help resolving them, so Smith is likely to remain on the scene.

“I like to believe in the good in people. But we’re all going to screw up from time to time. It just happens. It really is how our best growth occurs. A lot of times, the flip side of a crisis can be an opportunity,” she told Washingtonian earlier this year.

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

A University of Texas at Arlington graduate student recently found a piece of American history that offers more insight on U.S. slavery.

Julie McCown, a doctoral student, discovered one of the earliest poems by Jupiter Hammon, the nation’s first African-American writer.

“He is the first black person, period, that we know of to publish in America,” said Cedrick May, a UTA professor and expert on African-American literature.

McCown found the poem while researching the writer, who was born into slavery on Long Island in New York in 1711, for May’s Electronic Text Design and Web Publishing class.

She was looking for a specific Hammon writing, but kept falling short.

“[Librarians] kept emailing me: ‘No, we don’t have what you want. We don’t have what you want.’ And then finally someone said, ‘We don’t have what you want, but here’s this other poem,’” she said.

NBC Dallas: Fort Worth Police Department helps homeless

The poem was buried in documents at the Manuscripts and Archives at Yale University Library in Connecticut.

“For a 200-plus-year-old manuscript, it was in perfect condition,” May said. “I took one look at it and I said, ‘This looks pretty authentic. It’s either a great hoax or this is the real deal.’ This is a poem that we’ve never seen before.”

The poem is dated 1786. Hammon’s first work was published in 1760.

“It’s both really exciting, but then it’s also hard to believe. Who am I to happen across this?” McCown said.

“We get to see what he thought, written by his own words in his own hand, and that’s a very rare thing,” May said.

Click here to read the full story.

The 1894 Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Cleveland’s Public Square is one of the most visible sites in the city and attracts around 40,000 visitors inside the memorial building every year.

The breathtaking monument consists of an imposing 125-foot column topped with a statue of the Goddess of Freedom.

Inside, the names of 9,000 Civil War veterans who served with Cuyahoga County regiments or were from that same area are engraved in the marble tablets that line the walls.

It was in 2010 that researchers first heard that the service of around 140 black soldiers from the area who fought in the Civil War but were omitted from the tablets. The commission overseeing the monument said it will honor these men, mostly like by inscribing their names on the tablets, and others they uncover through additional research.

“It is important to honor their service to their community and country,” Ted Prasse, president of the commission, told theGrio. “Our mandate is to pay tribute to all those who fought in the Civil War; the fact that they’re African-American is less relevant than their omission.”

“By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men (10 percent of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died over the course of the war-30,000 of infection or disease,” according to National Archives.

Follow Kunbi Tinuoye on Twitter at @Kunbiti

Isis King is a 27-year-old model and fashion designer. The Prince Georges County, Maryland native came out as gay in high school, but later revealed that she is transgender. She appeared in the MSNBC special Born in the Wrong Body, which documented the lives of transgender teens. King began the sex reassignment process in 2007.

In college at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, King took home the award for Best Women’s Evening Wear, and began runway modeling in New York after college. While living at the Ali Forney Transitional Living Program, King attended a photo shoot for the tenth cycle of America’s Next Top Model which focused on homeless youth, where she met ANTM photo director Jay Manuel. That led to Tyra Banks and her staff setting up an audition for cycle 11 of the popular show.

As a result of her appearance on the show, King was introduced to a renowned sex reassignment surgeon who helped her complete her transition to being anatomically female in 2009.

Why is she on theGrio’s 100?

King was the first transgender woman to compete on America’s Next Top Model. (She came in tenth.) And while she didn’t win, King served as an example to LGBT and transgender youth that they can find acceptance, and pursue their dreams fearlessly. King returned for an all-star cycle of ANTM in 2011, and placed seventeenth.

In 2012, King became the first transgender model to appear in American Apparel’s ad campaigns, and has also appeared in US Weekly and Seventeen magazine.

What’s next for Isis King?

King has become an icon and inspiration for LGBT youth and for transgender people of all ages. She continues to model and will participate in Fashion Week in February. See more of her photos from ANTM and beyond here.

Follow Isis King on Twitter at @MsIsisKing

Dr. Kafui Dzirasa, 34, is the first African-American to complete a PhD in neurobiology at Duke University. In 2009, he also received an MD from the same institution. He is now an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science while completing his residency training in psychiatry.

As principal investigator for Duke’s Laboratory for Psychiatric Engineering, Dzirasa’s work has been recognized and featured nationally.

Why is he on theGrio’s 100?

Dzirasa is laying down the foundation to ultimately combine his research background, medical training and community experience to help those dealing with neurological and psychiatric illnesses.

“Every year, nearly one in four American adults is affected by a neuropsychiatric illness,” he says. “My work aims to alleviate the personal and societal suffering that results from these illnesses.”

His current research focuses on understanding how changes in the brain lead to neurological and mental illness. One project in particular looks at the mind’s response to stress and how two individuals experiencing the same traumatic event react differently. For example, one person’s reaction may be to become tougher and stronger, while the other is devastated, depressed and suicidal.

He is inspired and driven by the ability science has to improve people’s lives.

What’s next for Dr. Dzirasa?

“More science,” he says with a smile.

He and his team will continue to study how the brain works, and develop new tools to treat neuropsychiatric illnesses.