Islam’s Connection to Black America, U.S. Slavery Explored in Mississippi Conferences

Islam’s Connection to Black America, U.S. Slavery Explored in Mississippi Conferences: While Mississippi’s racial politics loomed awkwardly as much as the state flags incorporating the Confederate Battle emblem flying on nearby buildings, scholars gathered in the state capital this past weekend for two conferences, one on the legacy of Islamic West Africa, another on slavery.

Dr. Sylviane Diouf, a writer at New York’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, discussed Islamic scholars who were captured and enslaved, most notably Omar ibn Said, who penned an autobiography.

“Muslims used literacy to maintain their identity, to plan revolts … literacy was subversive in the Americas,” Diouf said. She said their writings “tell us about the triumph of the human spirit … that the transatlantic slave trade did not obliterate it.”

Blacks, Hispanics hold few investments, poll shows

Blacks, Hispanics hold few investments, poll shows: As the economy emerges from the recession and the national debate turns to limiting the cost of the social safety net, only one in four African Americans and one in six Hispanics reported owning stocks, bonds or mutual funds, a new poll shows.

In addition, only 46 percent of blacks and 32 percent of Hispanics said they had an individual retirement account or any similar retirement arrangement, according to a new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation-Harvard University poll. Half of whites said they had stocks, bonds or mutual funds, and two in three said they had IRAs, 401(k)s or similar holdings.

The relative paucity of investments held by blacks and Hispanics tracks with previous studies, something that experts call an outgrowth of the gaping wealth disparities separating the races.

Race Unknown

Race Unknown: Bryan Lee, a senior at the University of California, Irvine, has noticed that some of his classmates adamantly declare their multiracial heritage while others choose not to identify themselves as being any particular ethnicity.

The half-Korean, half-White biomedical engineering major is co-president of the university’s Mixed Students Organization and says many of the group’s members “absolutely refuse to check any box when they’re filling out forms that ask you to describe your race.” Lee himself has occasionally checked the “other” box in the list of racial identifiers.

It’s an exercise in choice that is driving a gradual but steady uptick in the “race unknown” category of enrollment stats at some colleges and universities. The shift results, in part, from a continuing rise in the number of interracial couples and the children born to those unions. But observers say it also hints at efforts by some current college students to be less fixated on skin color.

Washington: The 'Blackest Name' In America

Washington: The 'Blackest Name' In America: George Washington's name is inseparable from America, and not only from the nation's history. It identifies countless streets, buildings, mountains, bridges, monuments, cities – and people.

In a puzzling twist, most of these people are black. The 2000 U.S. Census counted 163,036 people with the surname Washington. Ninety percent of them were African-American, a far higher black percentage than for any other common name.

The story of how Washington became the 'blackest name' begins with slavery and takes a sharp turn after the Civil War, when all blacks were allowed the dignity of a surname.

Uncovering the hidden archives of the civil rights movement - CNN.com

Uncovering the hidden archives of the civil rights movement - CNN.com: The hard-won fight for civil rights could go down as one of the most thoroughly archived periods in American history, largely because participants kept photos and objects that would later tell their stories.

The revolution demanded it, even if the keepers of history at the time didn't.

At the height of the movement, there was no market for historic African-American artifacts. Mainstream museums weren't interested in documenting it, and 'if you look at how museums and scholars had interpreted African-American history up until the '60s, it had been very biased and one-sided,' said John Fleming, director of the International African-American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.

'The civil rights movement itself sparked a consciousness on the part of black people that they needed to preserve their documents and culture.'

Civil rights-era cold cases put back in spotlight

Civil rights-era cold cases put back in spotlight: Some cases of racial violence during the civil rights era are recorded in history books and burned into the nation's memory. The 1964 death of Frank Morris is not one of them.

Morris, a black man who owned a successful shoe repair shop in Ferriday, La., was wounded and later died after his store was set afire in the middle of the night. According to FBI documents, Morris was targeted by the Ku Klux Klan.

Now, decades later, a break in his case has attracted the attention of law enforcement officials and a dogged newspaper editor.

Since 2007, when Morris's name was placed on an FBI list of civil rights-era cold cases, Stanley Nelson, the editor of a weekly newspaper in Ferriday, has been searching for the answer to one question: Who killed Frank Morris?

In rough economic times, black Americans hold on to their optimism

In rough economic times, black Americans hold on to their optimism: When asked recently how they feel about their future, 85 percent of blacks said they are optimistic, with 65 percent indicating they specifically feel secure about their financial situation, according to a new poll conducted by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.

Fifty-six percent of blacks, compared with 44 percent of whites, said the current economic situation is not causing stress in their lives.

The confidence level of blacks in the race and recession survey is in stark contrast to the depressing economic data showing that the economic crisis is still plaguing the African American community.

The black unemployment rate is 15.7 percent compared with 9 percent for the country overall. More than half of older blacks (59.1 percent) depend on Social Security for more than 80 percent of their family income, as compared with 46 percent of whites, according to the eighth annual "State of the Dream" report from the Boston-based nonprofit United for a Fair Economy.

That nonpartisan group also pointed out that four decades after the civil rights movement, blacks still earn only 57 cents for each dollar of white median family income. Blacks hold only 10 cents of net wealth for every dollar that whites hold. Blacks are almost three times as likely as whites to have zero or negative net worth.

Economy poll: African Americans, Hispanics were hit hardest but are most optimistic

Economy poll: African Americans, Hispanics were hit hardest but are most optimistic: Despite severe losses during the recession, the majority of African Americans see the economy improving and are confident that their financial prospects will improve soon.

That optimism, shared to a lesser degree by Hispanics, stands in stark contrast to the deeper pessimism expressed by a majority of whites. In general, whites are more satisfied with their personal financial situations but also more sour about the nation's economic prospects.

Those are among the findings of a new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation-Harvard University poll that probed attitudes in the wake of a downturn that more than doubled unemployment and wiped away nearly a fifth of Americans' net worth.

African Americans and Hispanics were more likely to be left broke, jobless and concerned that they lack the skills needed to shape their economic futures. But they also remained the most hopeful that the economy would soon right itself and allow them to prosper.

Lower Maryland College Tuition Sought for Undocumented Immigrant Children

Lower Maryland College Tuition Sought for Undocumented Immigrant Children: Children of undocumented immigrants would pay in-state tuition rates for college under a bill state lawmakers weighed Wednesday.

Freshman Sen. Victor Ramirez, D-Prince George's, testified in favor his proposal to allow the children of undocumented immigrants attend Maryland universities at the same rate paid by residents.

“If your parents have been paying income taxes in the state of Maryland it would allow the benefit of receiving in-state tuition, not free tuition,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez, who immigrated as a child from El Salvador, told lawmakers that children should not be kept from attending college because of the choices of their parents.

But opponents said the bill would create a break for people in the country illegally.

Racial flaps dog 'Bama despite progress

Racial flaps dog 'Bama despite progress: Months after the University of Alabama dedicated a plaza and clock tower to its earliest black students, the school has been swamped with unwelcome attention over the past two weeks because of racial slurs used on campus.

First, a white student was disciplined for yelling epithets at a black student early this month. Days after that incident, insulting messages about several racial and ethnic groups were written on campus sidewalks in chalk.

The flaps fit a pattern that's dogged the state's flagship school since it was integrated: Missteps along the path to greater diversity and inclusion often make more of an impression than positive strides do.

School president Robert Witt has drawn praise for instituting programs to increase diversity. But it's student foibles that garner the national headlines, such as when a parade of white students in Confederate uniforms stopped in front of a black sorority house in 2009 and angered alumnae gathered for a party.

Being bilingual may delay Alzheimer's and boost brain power | Science | The Guardian

Being bilingual may delay Alzheimer's and boost brain power | Science | The Guardian: Learning a second language and speaking it regularly can improve your cognitive skills and delay the onset of dementia, according to researchers who compared bilingual individuals with people who spoke only one language.

Their study suggests that bilingual speakers hold Alzheimer's disease at bay for an extra four years on average compared with monoglots. School-level language skills that you use on holiday may even improve brain function to some extent.

In addition, bilingual children who use their second language regularly are better at prioritising tasks and multitasking compared with monolingual children, said Ellen Bialystok, a psychologist at York University in Toronto.

NBA All-Star Game: White Men Can't Root - The Daily Beast

NBA All-Star Game: White Men Can't Root - The Daily Beast: No one wants to acknowledge why the NBA is losing popularity. Buzz Bissinger on why white fans have trouble getting excited about African-American athletes.

My editor thinks I should write something about professional basketball. The timing is certainly right—the National Basketball Association’s All-Star extravaganza starts today in Los Angeles, culminating in the All-Star game on Sunday night.

The problem is, I don’t really know what to say about the NBA other than I almost never watch it anymore.

...The game is in trouble and I don’t think there is much dispute about that. Attendance was down last year and is slightly down so far this season. Although basketball is supposed to be a team game, it has become more one-on-one in the NBA than a boxing match. The style has changed and it is a definite turnoff.

Mark Wattier, Murray State Prof, Resigns After Insulting Black Student Arlene Johnson

Mark Wattier, Murray State Prof, Resigns After Insulting Black Student Arlene Johnson: A Murray State University professor has resigned after allegedly making racial remarks to a black student.

Mark Wattier, a political science professor, told freshman Arlene Johnson last August that he wasn't surprised that she didn't show up on time to a film he started 15 minutes before class began.

The Murray Ledger and Times has more:

Arlene Johnson, a freshman from Sikeston, Mo., told the Ledger & Times in a telephone interview that one day in August, she came to class early to find that a film was already in progress. She said that after class, she and another student asked professor Mark Wattier why the film had started before the official start time of the class, and she said he told them that when screening films, he typically started them 10-15 minutes before class.

'We said, 'Well, we didn't know that. It wasn't on the syllabus, so we were unaware,'' Johnson said. 'And then he said, 'Well, it's OK, I expect it of you guys anyway.' We asked him, 'What did that mean?' And he said the slaves never showed up on time, so their owners often lashed them for it. He just didn't have the right.'

Segregation In America: 'Dragging On And On' : NPR

Segregation In America: 'Dragging On And On' : NPR: Racial segregation in the U.S. housing market has ebbed since its peak, around 1960. But it can be hard to find a truly integrated American neighborhood, according to demographer John Logan of Brown University, who has been has been parsing the latest census data.

'Black-white segregation is a phenomenon that is dragging on and on,' Logan tells NPR's Steve Inskeep.

And instead of gaining momentum, the rate of integration seems to be slowing down, in Logan's view. Asked about the reason for that slowdown, Logan said that he sees one important factor.

There is, he says, 'a significant part of the white population that is unwilling to live in neighborhoods where minorities are 40, 50, 60 percent of the population. That is, [they're] uncomfortable with being a minority in their neighborhood.'

The result is a continuation of the 'white flight' that made headlines in the 1960s and '70s.

Thurgood Marshall blazed a path for civil rights - USATODAY.com

Thurgood Marshall blazed a path for civil rights - USATODAY.com: Justice Thurgood Marshall is without a doubt one of history's champions of civil rights, even though his role has often been eclipsed by the brilliant Martin Luther King Jr. Yet as we mark not only Black History Month but also the 75th anniversary of Marshall's time as an attorney for the NAACP, a new book —Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall — allows us to see more clearly the trail this legendary litigator blazed for civil rights.

Census shows huge Hispanic growth in Texas

Census shows huge Hispanic growth in Texas: Ethnic minorities accounted for 89 percent of the staggering growth in Texas over the past decade, according to figures released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau that support projections putting Hispanics on pace to soon outnumber whites in the nation's second-largest state.

The explosive Latino growth, confirmed by the long-awaited release of the local 2010 Census numbers for Texas, immediately sparked calls from Hispanic leaders for the creation of new Hispanic-dominated seats in Congress and the Legislature.

Texas is picking up four seats in Congress this year, twice as many as Florida, the next highest. Latino politicians say it's time their demographic strength translated into political power.

Urban Prep: 100 Percent Of Graduates College-Bound For Second Straight Year

Urban Prep: 100 Percent Of Graduates College-Bound For Second Straight Year: For the second year in a row, an all-male charter school with students from the city's worst neighborhoods is sending its entire senior class to college.

Urban Prep Charter Academy was founded in 2006, and its goal from the start was for every one of its graduates to be attending college when they left. It was an unlikely mission, given that only four percent of the school's first freshman class was reading at grade level when they entered.

Last year, the school, founded by educator and nonprofit leader Tim King, did just that -- all 107 graduating seniors were accepted at the end of the year. And this year, Urban Prep has repeated its success.

'No other public [school] in the country has done this,' King said, according to NBC.

Georgia Tech Sees ‘Room for Progress’ After Half Century of Integration

Georgia Tech Sees ‘Room for Progress’ After Half Century of Integration: Half a century ago, 17-year-old Ralph A. Long Jr. made history as one of the first Black students to integrate the Atlanta-based Georgia Institute of Technology.

Today, the technology specialist, now 68, can’t help but reflect on the 125-year-old school’s evolution from being one of the last bastions of White privilege to becoming an institutional leader in the number of engineering degrees conferred upon Black students.

“Georgia Tech was non-existent,” Long recalls of the school’s former inaccessibility to Black students. Faced with numerous obstacles at the school, Long transferred. “But now,” he says, “you have thousands of students who have graduated from there. Georgia Tech has proven for Black kids to become part of their educational mainstream.”

Civil Right Groups Urge Congress to Protect ‘Gainful Employment’ Rule

Civil Right Groups Urge Congress to Protect ‘Gainful Employment’ Rule: Citing the need to protect students of color, a group of civil rights organizations Wednesday called on Congress to reject a House Republican plan that would prevent the Obama administration from issuing new rules on the operation of for-profit career colleges.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and other groups said the administration’s proposed “gainful employment” rules would take significant steps to rein in unsavory practices at some private career colleges. But they said a GOP amendment now pending in the House of Representatives would gut the gainful employment rule, leaving many at-risk students vulnerable to high levels of debt in low-quality education programs.

Washington DC Celebrates Black History Month

Washington DC Celebrates Black History Month: Washington, DC celebrates Black History Month and remembers the contributions of African Americans in the United States with numerous events and cultural programs. Here are some special events and relevant places to visit in Washington, DC to remember and recognize the history of Black Americans.

Haley Barbour Won't Denounce Confederate License Plate

Haley Barbour Won't Denounce Confederate License Plate: JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Tuesday he won't denounce a Southern heritage group's proposal for a state-issued license plate that would honor Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Barbour is a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate.

Questioned by reporters Tuesday after an energy speech in Jackson, Barbour said he doesn't think Mississippi legislators will approve the Forrest license plate proposed by the Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The group wants to sponsor a series of state-issued license plates over the next few years to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War – or in its words, the 'War Between the States.' The Forrest license plate would be slated for 2014.

Ohio Universities Defend Affirmative Action Strategies in Their Admissions

Ohio Universities Defend Affirmative Action Strategies in Their Admissions: Two universities that are accused in a new report of giving minority students an unfair edge in the admissions process defended their practices Tuesday as being legitimate strategies to expand access and enhance diversity on campus.

The report – titled ‘Racial and Ethnic Preferences in Undergraduate Admissions at Two Ohio Public Universities’ – was released this week by the Falls Church, Va.-based Center for Equal Opportunity, which opposes race-conscious affirmative action in higher education.

The report charges that Miami University admitted Blacks over Whites at a ratio of 8 to 1 and 10.2 to 1 using SAT and ACT, respectively, as well as other factors, such as grades, gender, residency and year of admission, and that Ohio State University admitted Blacks over Whites at a ratio of 3.3 to 1 and 7.9 to 1 using the SAT and ACT, respectively.

The report also claims that MU admitted Hispanics over Whites at a ratio of 2.2 to 1 using either the SAT or ACT, and that OSU admitted Hispanic over White students at a ratio of 4.3 to 1 and 6.5 to 1 using the SAT and ACT, respectively.

Census estimates show more U.S. blacks moving South - USATODAY.com

Census estimates show more U.S. blacks moving South - USATODAY.com: The nation's blacks are leaving big cities in the Northeast and Midwest at the highest levels in decades, returning to fast-growing states in the once-segregated South in search of better job opportunities and quality of life.

The Southern U.S. region— primarily metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami and Charlotte, N.C. — accounted for roughly 75% of the population gains among blacks since 2000, up from 65% in the 1990s, according to the latest census estimates. The gains came primarily at the expense of Northern metro areas such as New York and Chicago, which posted their first declines in black population since at least 1980.

The figures are based on 2009 census population estimates. The recent census figures for blacks refer to non-Hispanic blacks, which the Census Bureau began calculating separately in 1980.

In all, about 57% of U.S. blacks now live in the South, a jump from the 53% share in the 1970s, according to an analysis of census data by William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. It was the surest sign yet of a sustained reverse migration to the South following the exodus of millions of blacks to the Midwest, Northeast and West in the Great Migration from 1910 to 1970.

Population loss in Chicago slows Illinois' growth - USATODAY.com

Population loss in Chicago slows Illinois' growth - USATODAY.com: Hispanics have become Illinois' largest minority group, 2010 Census data released Tuesday show, and the city of Chicago lost almost 7% of its residents over the past decade.

The state's black population has dwindled. Of the state's 12.8 million residents, 14.3% are black, down from 14.9% in 2000. Hispanics comprise 15.8% of Illinois' population. In 2000, Hispanic residents were 12.3% of the population.

Since 2000, the Hispanic population has grown by 497,316 to 2.03 million, a trend that could portend shifts in political clout. Over the same time span, the black population fell by 23,228 to 1.83 million.

Urban areas drawing young whites - USATODAY.com

Urban areas drawing young whites - USATODAY.com: The number of white children is growing in several large urban centers where the cost of living is high, a trend that runs counter to the decline in white youths in much of the USA.

And although the overall child population is declining in pricey cities such as San Francisco and New York's Manhattan, the areas are seeing an uptick in young whites. Other urban centers such as Denver, Washington, Arlington, Va., and Brooklyn, N.Y., also are seeing increases.

"It's a new magnet for white families with children — cities that are expensive to live in but are attracting people who want to be in an urban setting and are having children," says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution.

Slaves Hid African Charms in Maryland Greenhouse

Slaves Hid African Charms in Maryland Greenhouse: The greenhouse on the Maryland-based Wye House plantation where famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass spent part of his childhood was not as uniquely European as once thought: Its furnace was built by slaves, who hid distinctly African touches within it to ward off bad spirits, researchers said.

A stone pestle to control spirits was concealed in brick ductwork used to heat the orangery a type of greenhouse used to shield citrus and other trees from chilly winters and University of Maryland archaeologists found charms buried at the structure's entrance, said excavation leader Mark Leone. The greenhouse was long considered a mark of European sophistication and was a status symbol of the era.

Douglass described the cruelty of his enslavement after he was freed, though he didn't realize the slaves were helping create a unique agricultural practice, Leone said.

A Proud Heritage

A Proud Heritage: When Reavis L. Mitchell Jr. was plowing his way toward a doctoral degree in the 1960s and 1970s, hardly a word was taught about Black soldiers in the Civil War.

“The perception was the Black man didn’t participate in the war, that they (Black men) were passive in wars, not participators,” says Mitchell, a dean and professor of history at Fisk University and a member of the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission of Tennessee. “Participation suggests ownership in something. If you start presenting people as soldier, you give them manhood.”

Mitchell’s educational experience on the topic mirrors that of most American students in the 150 years since the war began in 1861. The big headline — that the Civil War freed the slaves and ended the Southern rebellion — overshadowed many of the rich details about Black contributions. Even now, little is taught about the estimated 200,000 Black men (many of them runaway slaves) who suited up as Union soldiers. Federal records show that Blacks represented nearly 10 percent of the Union army by the time the war ended. Even less is said of the thousands of Black women who supported them.

D.C., Long 'Chocolate City,' Becoming More Vanilla : NPR

D.C., Long 'Chocolate City,' Becoming More Vanilla : NPR: For decades Washington, D.C., was known affectionately as 'Chocolate City' to many black Americans, because it was predominantly African-American.

Most big U.S. cities are getting browner as more blacks, Hispanics and Asians move in. Washington, by contrast, fell to just 53 percent black in 2009, down from a peak of 71 percent in 1970. That's partly because D.C. has quickly become one of the most expensive cities in America, and one of the only cities in the U.S. where property values continue to rise despite the economic downturn.

The change is a long time coming, but new Census data expected in the coming weeks will likely show a further drop in the District's black population, despite its multigenerational roots here. In fact, demographers predict that if current trends continue, the city could lose its majority-black status in the next few years.

Evidence of slave life found at Eastern Shore estate

Evidence of slave life found at Eastern Shore estate: One day more than two centuries ago, a Maryland slave of West African descent took a smooth stone he had probably found in a plowed field and slid it between the bricks of a furnace he was building.

The slave might have believed, as West Africa's Yoruba culture held, that such stones had connections to Eshu-Elegba, the deity of fortune, and were left behind like mystical calling cards after a lightning strike.

The bond servant sealed the stone into the brickwork, where it would stay for generations, an artifact of the enslaved man as much as the god whose favor he sought.

On Monday, the University of Maryland unveiled, among other things, details of the stone's discovery at the Wye House 'orangery' - a jewel of European architecture, now found to have imprints of the slaves who built it.

Very Few Blacks, Hispanics Admitted To Top Public Schools

Very Few Blacks, Hispanics Admitted To Top Public Schools: They're public schools, but not everyone can get in.

Increasingly, fewer and fewer African-American and Hispanic students are being admitted to New York City's best public schools.

Only 4 percent of students accepted to the city's seven specialized high schools were African American and only 6 percent were Hispanic. 35 percent of accepted students identified as Asian and 30 percent were white.

At the Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School and Stuyvesant High School, often touted as the best of the public schools, the percentage of African-American and Hispanic students attending has been declining since the mid-1990s.

Mississippi governor asked to denounce attempts to honor KKK leader - CNN.com

Mississippi governor asked to denounce attempts to honor KKK leader - CNN.com: The Mississippi NAACP has called on Governor Haley Barbour to publicly denounce an attempt by a Confederacy group to honor a Ku Klux Klan leader, the organization said Monday.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans has launched the campaign to recognize Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest on a specialty license plate.

Forrest, a popular and controversial figure, is best known as a leader of the KKK, the white supremacist group known for terrorizing blacks in the South after the Civil War.

He is also praised and criticized for an 1864 raid at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, where hundreds of black Union Army members were killed during the war. The controversy over whether Forrest conducted or condoned the massacre is still a matter for heated debate.

Mississippi NAACP leaders feel a state-sanctioned license plate honoring a man with ties to the KKK sends the wrong message to people in the state and across the country.

Behind a Mighty Civil Rights Icon, a Public and Private Prayer Life

Behind a Mighty Civil Rights Icon, a Public and Private Prayer Life: The late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has long been hailed as a civil rights leader, but religious studies professor Lewis Baldwin said one aspect of his life has often been overlooked: the role of prayer.

'In order to understand him, you must begin, I think, with this idea of King as a spiritual leader,' said Baldwin, author of the recent book, Never to Leave Us Alone: The Prayer Life of Martin Luther King Jr.

'Dr. King always made it clear that his civil rights and political activities were an extension of his ministry.'

As the nation marks the 25th anniversary of Monday's (Jan. 17) federal holiday honoring King, the scholar who has spent a quarter century chronicling King's cultural influences has focused on King's prayer life.

For King, personal prayer and public prayer were equally significant, the scholar said.

'Dr. King's personal devotional life was very, very important in giving him the courage and the determination to fight for justice,' said Baldwin, who teaches at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Ronald Ferguson Works to Close Educational Achievement Gap - NYTimes.com

Ronald Ferguson Works to Close Educational Achievement Gap - NYTimes.com: ALEXANDRIA, Va. — There is no more pressing topic in education today than closing the achievement gap, and there is no one in America who knows more about the gap than Ronald Ferguson.

Although he is a Harvard professor based in Cambridge, Mass., Dr. Ferguson, 60, spends lots of time flying around the country visiting racially mixed public high schools. Part of what he does is academic, measuring the causes of the gap by annually surveying the performance, behaviors and attitudes of up to 100,000 students. And part is serving as a de facto educational social worker, meeting with students, faculty members and parents to explain what steps their schools can take to narrow the gap.

The gap is about race, of course, and it inevitably inflames passions. But there is something about Dr. Ferguson’s bearing — he is both big (6-foot-3) and soft-spoken — that gets people to listen.

New Federal Data Show Rising Student Loan Default Rates

New Federal Data Show Rising Student Loan Default Rates: The federal government’s new system to calculate student loan default rates – while highlighting the problems of many for-profit colleges – also may pose risks for some minority-serving institutions (MSIs) that are seeing their rates increase as well.

The 2008 renewal of the Higher Education Act changed the way the government measures defaults by calculating the number of students who fail to repay loans in the first three years of repayment period. Prior to that law, the rates were based solely on those who default during the first two years of repayment.

While supporters say the new system provides a better snapshot of the default problem, new U.S. Education Department data show dramatic increases in default rates for many schools. Colleges will not face sanctions under the new system until 2014, but the latest data – listing the default rates of individual colleges under both systems – are drawing attention.

Revolution in Understanding

Revolution in Understanding: To Dr. Edward Ayers, a recognized expert on Southern history and president of the University of Richmond, 2011 marks the start of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War and the emancipation of African-Americans. It’s an important distinction based on the evolution of Civil War scholarship that has produced a fuller understanding of history, one that puts the role African-Americans played in the transformative conflict front and center.

The Yale University-educated scholar has written and edited 10 books including In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America, which won the Bancroft Prize for distinguished American history. He now leads a consortium of 15 institutions, including Virginia Union University, that is coordinating Civil War sesquicentennial events in Virginia.

Ayers spoke with Diverse about the role Blacks played in their own freedom, the context of the Civil War’s legacy in today’s equality struggles and the war’s global significance.

Ziebach County, South Dakota: America's Poorest County

Ziebach County, South Dakota: America's Poorest County: ZIEBACH COUNTY, S.D. — In the barren grasslands of Ziebach County, there's almost nothing harder to find in winter than a job. This is America's poorest county, where more than 60 percent of people live at or below the poverty line.

At a time when the weak economy is squeezing communities across the nation, recently released census figures show that nowhere are the numbers as bad as here – a county with 2,500 residents, most of them Cheyenne River Sioux Indians living on a reservation.

In the coldest months of the year, when seasonal construction work disappears and the South Dakota prairie freezes, unemployment among the Sioux can hit 90 percent.

Poverty has loomed over this land for generations. Repeated attempts to create jobs have run into stubborn obstacles: the isolated location, the area's crumbling infrastructure, a poorly trained population and a tribe that struggles to work with businesses or attract investors.

HBCU President Brings Sex and Health Education to the Campus

HBCU President Brings Sex and Health Education to the Campus: ...Dr. Walter Kimbrough knew that there was nothing normal about the spate of recent statistics erupting in the headlines about Blacks and the consequences of their sexual activity. In fact, he said, the numbers were “mind boggling,” especially knowing that African-Americans are the most religious group in the U.S., according to a 2009 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

In disbelief, Kimbrough, president of the historically Black Philander Smith College, called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when he learned that African-Americans account for nearly half of all new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Although only 12 percent of the population, Blacks surpass Whites in the number of abortions they have. About 72 percent of Black children are born out of wedlock. And young African-Americans are more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases, especially chlamydia and syphilis, compared to their White or Hispanic counterparts.

The Unending Civil War

The Unending Civil War: America is a nation in love with its myths. And this is especially true when it comes to the way Americans remember, celebrate and revere the Civil War, a bloody and transformative contest that has been called the “War Between the States,” the “Recent Unpleasantness,” the “War of Northern Aggression” and the more historically accurate “War of the Rebellion.” As a young boy in the 1960s, during the centennial of the war, I remember how myths often trumped truth in the public expression of this national celebration. At the very moment when a movement for civil rights was changing America and a cold war was changing the world, many Americans looked back with nostalgia for a simpler, less complex time when heroic White men fought honorably, found a binding peace and laid the foundation for America’s rise to global super power. The hundreds of books, movies, television shows, board games and blue and gray toy soldiers that were created during the centennial all presented an incomplete picture that obscured as much as it illuminated America’s past. Rarely, for example, was the issue of race raised except to confirm that “Lincoln freed the slaves.”

Muslim Students Face Criminal Charges at Irvine - NYTimes.com

Muslim Students Face Criminal Charges at Irvine - NYTimes.com: When administrators at the University of California, Irvine, decided to suspend the Muslim Student Union for a quarter over the disruption of a speech last year by the Israeli ambassador to the United States, most thought the latest controversy on campus had ended.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas of Orange County, however, disagreed — and filed misdemeanor criminal charges last week against the 11 student protesters, accusing them of disturbing a public meeting and engaging in a conspiracy to do so.

The charges have not only reignited campus debate about the event but have also prompted a feisty argument about the role of free speech on a college campus, in this case one whose politics can seem as complicated as peace negotiations in the Middle East.

Harriett Ball dies: Teacher who inspired KIPP charter schools was 64

Harriett Ball dies: Teacher who inspired KIPP charter schools was 64: Harriett Ball, a well-known teacher trainer who inspired the most successful charter school network in the country, died Feb. 2 at a Houston Northwest Medical Center after a heart attack. She was 64.

A lively classroom performer with a rich sense of humor, the elementary school teacher stood 6 feet 1 inch tall and had a deep, vibrant alto voice. Most of her fame stemmed from the role she played in the creation of the Knowledge Is Power Program, now known as KIPP, which has grown to 99 schools in 20 states and the District.

She trained the KIPP co-founders, Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg, when they were novice members of the Teach For America program. She gave them a host of original songs, chants and games to encourage learning. They took the name of their network from her most popular chant:

'You gotta read, baby, read.

You gotta read, baby read.

The more you read, the more you know,

'Cause knowledge is power,

Power is money, and

I want it.'

Greenbelt school honored for closing achievement gap on AP tests

Greenbelt school honored for closing achievement gap on AP tests: Maryland and Prince George's County officials gathered today at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt to celebrate the school's high performance among black students on last year's Advanced Placement tests.

The College Board — the New York-based company that administers the AP and SAT — recognized the school as one of the nation's best at producing successful black AP test-takers. The organization released a report today stating the school's success helped black students comprise 9.9 percent of the state's successful AP test-takers, the fifth-highest such rate in the nation.

'This is a team effort, and all of us sit down and we plan to make this happen,' said Roosevelt principal Reginald McNeill. 'This is a great place to work, a great group of students and a great staff.'

AP classes are offered in 33 subjects nationwide to mostly 11th- and 12th-grade students, and culminate with an AP exam. Exams are graded on a scale of 1 to 5, and students typically earn college credit by scoring 3 or better.

Md. leads in improvement for black AP test-takers - Baltimore Sun

Md. leads in improvement for black AP test-takers - Baltimore Sun: Maryland leads the nation in improvement for African-American high school graduates who passed Advanced Placement exams, but the achievement gaps between black achievers and their peers still remain vast.

Overall, the state ranked No. 1 in the nation for the third year in a row in graduates who received a passing grade of 3 or higher on the tests, the result of a decade-long push to have more students prepared and taking the rigorous college-level exams.

But African-Americans in the state still represent a small percentage of those who pass the tests.

Despite AP Access Limited Among Minorities, Exam-Taking on the Rise

Despite AP Access Limited Among Minorities, Exam-Taking on the Rise: The number of high school seniors taking Advanced Placement exams is steadily rising, but a significant gap persists with lack of exam-taking among African-American students, according to a report released Wednesday by the College Board.

The report, “7th Annual AP Report to the Nation,” shows that the raw numbers of students taking at least one AP exam has grown from 432,343 for the Class of 2001 to 853,314 for the Class of 2010.

The number of students who scored a 3 or better on the exam has also grown, from 277,865 to 508,818 during the same years, although the overall percentage has dropped from just over 64 percent to just under 60 percent. A score of 3 means a student is “qualified” to receive college credit in that subject, although experts say colleges are increasingly requiring a score of 4 or better in order to earn college credit.

Census survey shows fast growth for black-owned firms - Feb. 10, 2011

Census survey shows fast growth for black-owned firms - Feb. 10, 2011: Black-owned firms grew faster -- both in number and sales -- than U.S. firms did as a whole over a five-year period, according to the latest data available from the Census Bureau.

The number of black-owned businesses increased 60% between 2002 and 2007, more than three times the growth seen among all firms, according to the Census Bureau's business owners survey. Meanwhile, sales jumped 55%, vs. 34% for all businesses.

"Black-owned businesses continued to be one of the fastest-growing segments of our economy," said Thomas Mesenbourg, deputy director of the Census Bureau, in a written statement.

Despite the growth, black-owned businesses in 2007 make up just 7% of U.S. businesses. Yet African-Americans comprise about 13% of the population.

Black-owned businesses tend to be smaller too: 87% of black-owned firms had sales less than $50,000, compared to 65% of all firms. And most black-owned firms have fewer than five employees.

Maryland ranks No. 1 in the nation for students passing Advanced Placement exams

Maryland ranks No. 1 in the nation for students passing Advanced Placement exams: ...Across the state, 26.4 percent of 2010 graduates received a 3 or better on at least one AP exam during their high school careers, higher than New York, with 24.6 percent, or Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts, all with a 23 percent pass rate. Mississippi had a pass rate of 4.4 percent, the lowest in the nation.


'I think Maryland has done better because we have really focused on preparing teachers and ensuring that we have AP offerings in our schools,' state school Superintendent Nancy Grasmick said.

The College Board highlighted the state's effort to prepare more students, starting as early as middle school, to take courses that push them to think more critically.

Maryland also leads the nation in improvement for African American high school graduates who passed Advanced Placement exams, but the achievement gaps between black achievers and their peers remain vast. African Americans in the state still represent a small percentage of those who pass the tests.

One in 10 students who had passed an AP test were African American, in a state where blacks represent more than one-third of the graduates each year.

Hispanic population in Prince George's doubles, fueling much of county's growth

Hispanic population in Prince George's doubles, fueling much of county's growth: The Hispanic population in Prince George's County nearly doubled over the past 10 years, fueling much of the locality's growth and matching the number of whites for the first time, according to new census figures released Wednesday.

The percentage of African Americans remained steady in the majority-black county, and the percentage of whites continued to tumble, although at a slightly slower pace than in the previous decade.

Although its population grew more slowly than those of neighboring counties, Prince George's holds firm to its position as the second-largest jurisdiction in Maryland, with more than 863,000 residents.

The growth in the county's Hispanic population, which increased from about 57,000 in 2000 to nearly 129,000 last year, could have broad implications for the county government and the school system, which is majority African American.

Minorities are majority population in Montgomery County

Minorities are majority population in Montgomery County: Minorities have become a majority over the past decade in affluent Montgomery County as the number of whites has plummeted, according to census figures released Wednesday.
In Montgomery and Prince George's counties, whites were largely replaced by Hispanics, a Washington Post analysis of the detailed census statistics shows. Hispanics outnumber blacks in Montgomery and just edge past whites in Prince George's County.

Barely 49 percent of Montgomery's 972,000 residents are non-Hispanic whites, down from almost 60 percent in 2000 and 72 percent a decade before that. Hispanics rose by two-thirds and make up about 17 percent of the county's population.

The census figures surprised some residents but reinforced what's readily evident.

Minority Students and A.P. Program, a Mixed Report Card - NYTimes.com

Minority Students and A.P. Program, a Mixed Report Card - NYTimes.com: More minority high school students are achieving success on Advanced Placement exams that can get them college credit, but they are still underrepresented in the nation’s A.P. classrooms, according to a report just released by the College Board, which administers the program.

More than 853,000 public high school seniors in last May’s graduating class, or 28 percent of the class, took at least one A.P. exam, and 59 percent of them earned a grade of 3, 4, or 5, which are required for college credit.

Trevor Packer, vice president of the Advanced Placement program, said that while the report shows that more students across the country enroll each year in classes to prepare them for the exams, there are some signs that improvement is not consistent among some groups and in some subject areas.

National Geographic Events - America I AM: The African American Imprint

National Geographic Events - America I AM: The African American Imprint: Take a journey through trials and triumphs while exploring nearly 500 years of African American contributions to the economic, political, cultural, and spiritual development of the United States. Bear witness to more than 200 poignant artifacts from the dungeon doors of the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana to Prince’s guitar.
Learn more on the official exhibition website.

Checking Up On Michelle Obama's Anti-Obesity Effort : NPR

Checking Up On Michelle Obama's Anti-Obesity Effort : NPR: First lady Michelle Obama is spending the week promoting the first anniversary of her Let's Move! initiative. Her goal is to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.

The idea of a sustained project for the first lady started in the early 1960s.

'It was Jacqueline Kennedy's work on refurbishing the White House, and that sort of set a bar early on,' says Myra Gutin of Rider University in New Jersey, who studies the history of first ladies. 'First ladies generally are dealing with less controversial or uncontroversial issues, but those which tend to benefit many people in the country.'

Lady Bird Johnson focused on highway beautification. Rosalynn Carter addressed mental health. Barbara Bush took on literacy. And in that respect, Gutin says, the Let's Move! initiative is right in line with what others have done.

But Gutin says Michelle Obama goes further than her predecessors: 'She has partners from Major League Baseball to Wal-Mart, and no other first lady initiative that I can think of had that kind of support from the corporate world.'

Illegal Immigrant Students Worry After Dream Act Loss - NYTimes.com

Illegal Immigrant Students Worry After Dream Act Loss - NYTimes.com: It was exhilarating for Maricela Aguilar to stand on the steps of the federal courthouse here one day last summer and reveal for the first time in public that she is an illegal immigrant.

“It’s all about losing that shame of who you are,” Ms. Aguilar, a college student who was born in Mexico but has lived in the United States without legal documents since she was 3 years old, said of her “coming out” at a rally in June.
Those were heady times for thousands of immigrant students who declared their illegal status during a nationwide campaign for a bill in Congress that would have put them on a path to legal residence. In December that bill, known as the Dream Act, passed the House, then failed in the Senate.

President Obama insisted in his State of the Union address and in interviews that he wanted to try again on the bill this year. But with Republicans who vehemently oppose the legislation holding crucial committee positions in the new House, even optimists like Ms. Aguilar believe its chances are poor to none in the next two years.

Diversity Officer Charged With Broadening Agency’s Outreach and Hiring

Diversity Officer Charged With Broadening Agency’s Outreach and Hiring: Diverse recently sat down with Elaine Ho, who, as director of Diversity and Inclusion at the Internal Revenue Service, is charged with implementing the agency’s diversity strategies. At first glance it may appear that diversity issues would take a back seat to the heavy financial and monetary issues associated with federal taxation issues. Not so, explains Ho, whose background as an Asian American lawyer and military officer puts her in a unique position to manage diversity at the IRS.

Church of England backs ban on racial bigotry

Church of England backs ban on racial bigotry: The Church of England's governing body has moved closer to barring priests from belonging to political parties that disagree with the church's teaching on racial equality.

Tuesday's vote in support of draft legislation targets membership in anti-immigrant groups including the English Defense League and the British National Party. The proposed change in church rules would give bishops the authority to designate organizations that priests may not join.

The measure was proposed two years ago, and church officials say it will be at least another year before it can be put into effect.

Undocumented immigrants in JROTC programs wait for the next battle over the DREAM Act

Undocumented immigrants in JROTC programs wait for the next battle over the DREAM Act: When Noheli Carrasco takes charge of her teenage battalion at South Lakes High School - their rifles pointing toward the ceiling, green uniforms crisply ironed - she looks much like the military officer she wants to be.

But Carrasco, 18, is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. And although she wants to join the Air Force after graduation and has been courted by recruiters, she is barred from enlisting.

The Obama administration, trying to bolster enlistment rates while fighting two overseas wars, is seeking to lift the restriction on undocumented immigrants like Carrasco through its DREAM Act. The Senate rejected it in December, but administration officials have called for its reintroduction and passage

"It's the one thing I want to do. I want to serve this country," said Carrasco, who came here with her family from Bolivia when she was 11. "I had no idea how hard it would be."

Most likely to torment? The almost-Queen Bees - Parenting - TODAYshow.com

Most likely to torment? The almost-Queen Bees - Parenting - TODAYshow.com: High school can be hell, filled with cruel cliques bent on tormenting their peers. But the queen bees at top of their social heap aren’t the most abusive against their classmates, according to a study published in the February issue of the American Sociological Review. The most popular kids in school — the top 2 percent of a school’s social hierarchy — are actually the least aggressive, along with those at the bottom.

It's the teens just slightly down from the pinnacle of popularity that give their peers a hard time. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, found that adolescents in the top 98th percentile of the school's social pecking order have an average aggression rate that is 40 percent greater than kids at the top. They also have an aggression rate that is about 30 percent greater than kids at the bottom of the popularity pack.

Civil Rights Groups Express Support for Gainful Employment Rules

Civil Rights Groups Express Support for Gainful Employment Rules: The Obama administration’s efforts to step up oversight of for-profit colleges picked up a key endorsement last week when a group of civil rights leaders announced support for the proposed rules.

In a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said the proposed regulations “are particularly important for students of color, who represent about half of the undergraduate students in for-profit programs.” While Black and Hispanic students represent 28 percent of all undergraduates nationwide, they account for nearly 46 percent of those attending for-profit colleges.

While the organization said many of its individual members have previously expressed support for the plan, the group thought it was important now to speak as one voice on the topic.

UNCF Breaks Ground in D.C. on New National Headquarters

UNCF Breaks Ground in D.C. on New National Headquarters: In a strategic move to get closer to both the students it serves as well as the focal point for the nation’s education policy, United Negro College Fund President Michael Lomax formally announced plans Monday to relocate the organization in the heart of one the most historic Black neighborhoods in the nation’s capital.

“We been out in the suburbs way, way too long,” Lomax said at the historic Lincoln Theatre, where he shared the stage with D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, District Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, developers and a host of other key players in the approximately $150 million project known as Progression Place.

Lomax told the audience of hundreds that when UNCF moved from New York City to its current site in Fairfax, Va., 17 years ago, it was to position the organization closer to the “hub of the national education policy conversation.”

Among Nation’s Youngest, Analysis Finds Fewer Whites - NYTimes.com

Among Nation’s Youngest, Analysis Finds Fewer Whites - NYTimes.com: Whites continued to decline as a share of the American population in 2009, and they now represent less than half of all 3-year-olds, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of census data released Monday.

The country’s young population is more diverse than ever, with whites now in the minority in nursery schools, preschools and kindergartens in eight states — Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas — and the District of Columbia, according to William H. Frey, a demographer at Brookings. That was up from six states in 2000.

“We are on our way to having a majority of minority students in U.S. schools,” Mr. Frey said.

Catching Up With Walter Bumphus

Catching Up With Walter Bumphus: Former Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Walter G. Bumphus earned many plaudits for his tireless efforts to keep the college system afloat in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. After a stint as chairman of the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Texas at Austin, Bumphus now faces a new set of challenges as president/CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges — the first African-American to hold the position.

Emory University Hosts Conference on Slavery

Emory University Hosts Conference on Slavery: More than 30 schools from across the country met this weekend at Emory University to discuss the history and legacy of slavery’s role in higher education.

“Slavery and the University” conference organizer Leslie Harris says many of the country’s colleges were built and maintained for decades by slave labor. Those institutions, she says, were the places where arguments for and arguments against slavery were developed, discussed and debated.

“It is vital to recognize the foundational role of slavery and slave labor in the creation of institutions in the United States and around the world,” she says.

Last month, Emory declared its regret for the university’s involvement in slavery.

Burden of HIV highest for blacks, CDC reports - USATODAY.com

Burden of HIV highest for blacks, CDC reports - USATODAY.com: Although blacks make up only 13.6% of the U.S. population, they account for 50.3% of all diagnosed cases of HIV, federal health officials reported.

The rate of HIV diagnosis among black men is eight times that of whites, and the rate for black women is 19 times that of whites, finds a new analysis of data from 37 states by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

'What this study confirms is the severe and disproportionate burden of disease borne by African Americans when it comes to HIV,' said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.

Compared to Hispanic men, black men have twice the rate of HIV infection, and black women are four times as likely as Hispanic women to have an HIV diagnosis, according to the Feb. 4 edition of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Elite Institutions Are Tested on Diversity - NYTimes.com

Elite Institutions Are Tested on Diversity - NYTimes.com: LONDON — David Lammy is still mad. In December, Mr. Lammy, a former British higher education minister, currently serving as a Labour Party member of Parliament, released figures showing vastly different success rates for white and black applicants to the country’s two oldest universities. Oxford, he claimed, admitted only a single black student of Caribbean origin last year, while Cambridge, which admitted one in three white applicants, admitted just one in six black applicants.

Justice Department Focuses On Civil Rights : NPR

Justice Department Focuses On Civil Rights : NPR: The Obama Justice Department wants to make protecting civil rights one of its legacies. So several U.S. attorneys across the country have started special units to devote more attention to building those cases.

For the announcement of one such effort, Justice Department leaders traveled to Pittsburgh late last year. At the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, named after the prominent black playwright, civil rights division chief Tom Perez told a crowd filled with dozens of activists for racial and gender equality that they'd soon have another place to turn with their concerns.

'There are roughly a dozen U.S. attorneys offices now that have established … dedicated civil rights units and we're working to raise that number substantially because this is about sustainability,' Perez said.

The Obama civil rights division prosecuted 237 criminal cases over the last two years — what officials call a record. But numbers aren't the only measure that prosecutors are using for success.

No Race Mixing for You, Alabama Father Tells Daughter - BV Black Spin

No Race Mixing for You, Alabama Father Tells Daughter - BV Black Spin: The father of a white girl in rural Alabama is blamed for stirring up racial tensions in the town of Millry for threatening to kill the black players on the local basketball team if they continued to contact his daughter.

Latisha Mitchell, the stepmother of one of the boys who was threatened, said her stepson and the girl were only friends and had exchanged text messages. But it seems that wasn't good enough for the father, who has not been identified.

His clear message to his daughter is no race mixing for you.

Maryland Lawsuit Targets Undocumented Students’ Local Tuition Break

Maryland Lawsuit Targets Undocumented Students’ Local Tuition Break: A Maryland community college is facing a lawsuit over its policy to provide low “in-county” tuition rates to any recent graduate of a local high school regardless of immigration status.

Judicial Watch claims the Montgomery College policy violates federal and state law and says the policy has cost Montgomery County, Md., taxpayers $5.8 million in lost revenue since 2006.

... Montgomery College called the lawsuit “unwarranted” and vowed to contest it. In a statement, the college’s board of trustees said the legal challenge “contains various misrepresentations about college operations and misapplications of law.”

The college policy offers the lowest tuition rate to any graduate of a Montgomery County public high school within the past three years, regardless of where these graduates currently reside. If students graduated from a county public high school more than three years ago, they must provide proof of county residency to receive this discount.

Census estimates show big gains for US minorities

Census estimates show big gains for US minorities: Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for roughly 85 percent of the nation's population growth over the last decade - one of the largest shares ever - with Hispanics accounting for much of the gain in many of the states picking up new House seats.

Preliminary census estimates also suggest the number of multiracial Americans jumped roughly 20 percent since 2000, to over 5 million.

The findings, based on fresh government survey data, offer a glimpse into 2010 census results that are being released on a state-by-state basis beginning this week. New Jersey, Mississippi, Virginia and Louisiana were the first to receive the census redistricting data, which will be used in the often contentious process of redrawing political districts based on population and racial makeup.

Sociologist Investigates Minority Exclusion in Medical Research

Sociologist Investigates Minority Exclusion in Medical Research: As a medical sociologist, Dr. Shawna V. Hudson is like a detective seeking clues as to how the health care system functions for people of different ethnic groups. She became interested in health care inequities as a Rutgers University doctoral student assisting a sociologist and a psychologist who were studying health issues among elderly African-Americans in the New Brunswick, N.J., area.

“I was really starting out with a focus on disparities — who has access, who doesn’t and how do we make sure we equalize the playing field — and trying to figure that out from a social approach,” she says. “As opposed to looking at it in terms of what do the big numbers say, what is going on at the local level? Why aren’t people getting access?”

A Look Inside a Successful Charter School Culture

A Look Inside a Successful Charter School Culture: ...At Pritzker College Prep , a charter high school located in a blue-collar neighborhood in northwestern Chicago, every class has a designated greeter.

The duty rotates from one student to another. Whoever has the job is expected to be able to explain at any moment what the class is working on and where in the lesson plan they are.

Designating a greeter is just one of many ways that Pritzker reinforces its main message to students: They will engage, excel and go on to graduate from college. No excuses, no exceptions.

Most charters that have had remarkable success closing the racial achievement gap share that same aggressive culture of high expectations.

At Pritzker, the culture has paid off.

Fully 95 percent of the African-American and Latino students are poor. Very few of them have parents who went to college, yet every member of last year’s senior class was accepted at one or more four-year colleges; an eye-popping 90 percent matriculated.

How Segregated Is Your Community? Find Out Here

How Segregated Is Your Community? Find Out Here: As the minority population in the United States continues to grow, the nation is, in aggregate, getting more diverse. But at the street level, it's often a different story.

Now, a new web-based tool offers members of the general public a visually dramatic, incredibly granular look at the racial composition of their communities, almost at the block by block level. (Note: We are advised that the tremendous interest in the maps has caused intermittent site difficulties. So if it doesn't work, try again later.)

The tool is a creation of Remapping Debate, a relatively new online journal, and the research site Social Explorer. The data comes from the latest five-year American Community Survey, and allows users to zoom down to the census 'block groups' level, a smaller geographic unit than a census tract. The tool has been set up to make it easy to highlight areas that remain ultra-white, as well as areas that are disproportionately African-American or Latino or both.

The Checkup - Teen birth rate hits historic low

The Checkup - Teen birth rate hits historic low: The long decline in teen births, which had stalled for two years, seems to be back on track, federal health officials announced Wednesday.

The teen birth rate declined 8 percent between 2007 and 2009, hitting a historic low of 39.1 births per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19, according to a new analysis from the National Center for Health Statistics.

 National Center for Health Statistics/CDC
 
Moreover, the rates fell significantly for teens in all age groups and all racial and ethnic groups, pushing the rate for each age group and for nearly all race and ethnic groups to the lowest levels ever reported, according to the analysis.
The new statistics confirm the government's preliminary analysis of the national data that was released in December. That showed the birth rate had dropped 6 percent between 2008 and 2009--the second year in a row that the birthrate among teens fell. The 8 percent two-year decline bolstered hopes that an alarming 5 percent increase over the two previous years was an aberration.

The birth rate for young teens ages 15 to 17 fell 6 percent between 2008 and 2009, the largest single-year drop since 2001. The rate for older teens, ages 18 and 19, also fell 6 percent, which was the largest single-year decline since 1972. The number of births to teenagers in 2009 fell to 409,840, which is the fewest since 1946 and 36 percent fewer than in 1970, which was the highest in history.

Black men steamed by Brooklyn nun Mary Turcotte's fake rape claim

Black men steamed by Brooklyn nun Mary Turcotte's fake rape claim: A nun's bogus claim that she was choked and raped by a black man has angered - but not surprised - African-American men in her Brooklyn neighborhood.

Detectives combed through East Flatbush investigating the 'rape' of Sister Mary Turcotte, a member of the rogue Christian sect Apostles of Infinite Love, which has no affiliation with the Catholic Church.

Turcotte, who is white, claimed she was attacked on the street Thursday by a 6-foot-4, 250-pound black man.

'I don't know why they must accuse falsely like that. I think it must be prejudice,' said Isaac Dennis, 56, an advertising worker who lives across from the convent.

Turcotte, 26, told detectives the assailant choked her, dragged her through the streets and left her unconscious in a snowbank with her underwear down and her breasts exposed.

Middle Class Children Increasingly Relying On Public Programs, Report Finds

Middle Class Children Increasingly Relying On Public Programs, Report Finds: Since the income gap between middle-class and wealthy families in the United States has grown by more than 50 percent since 1985, middle-class parents are increasingly relying on government-provided health and education programs to support their children, according to a new study by the Foundation for Child Development.

The FCD report finds that even prior to the recession that began in 2007, the gap in real family income separating a middle-class family -- one with an annual income between $22,758 and $110,000 -- from a high-income one expanded from $59,800 in 1985 to $93,100 by 2008. Between 2000 and 2008, middle-class families experienced a drop in real family income of more than $4,000, compared to a dip of just $139 for the top 20 percent of earners.

Dr. Cornel West's Extraordinary Conversation With Craig Ferguson : Monkey See : NPR

Dr. Cornel West's Extraordinary Conversation With Craig Ferguson : Monkey See : NPR: Last night on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Dr. Cornel West, a professor at Princeton and the author of several books (he appeared on Talk Of The Nation here a couple of weeks ago with Tavis Smiley) sat down with Ferguson to mark the beginning of Black History Month. Their discussion took up the lion's share of the show, which then closed with a performance by George Clinton.

Group releases photos of uncontacted tribe to raise awareness - CNN.com

Group releases photos of uncontacted tribe to raise awareness - CNN.com: In an effort to ramp up pressure for Peru to crack down on illegal loggers in its region of the Amazon, an indigenous rights organization has released what it says are photos of an uncontacted tribe in Brazil that is threatened by the logging across the border.

Survival International says the previously unpublished aerial photos, which it released Monday, show members of an uncontacted Brazilian tribe that is likely to get drawn into conflicts with Peruvian tribes who are fleeing their homes because of the logging.

One photo shows five tribe members, some in red tribal paint, standing in front of a hut and looking upward. One man is holding a bow, and another, younger person, holds a machete. Foods including bananas, papayas and cassava can be identified near the tribe members.

The photos were taken by Brazil's National Indian Foundation and were given to Survival International, it said.

Report: Americans Overemphasize College as Key to Upward Mobility

Report: Americans Overemphasize College as Key to Upward Mobility: ...“In this unforgiving economy, successfully completing a post-secondary degree offers adults the best insurance that they will find work,” the report states. “Because the majority of young adults do not earn even an associate’s degree, we face an ever-rising population of less educated teens and young adults who are persistently disconnected from both education and employment.”

Currently, 70 percent of high school graduates enter college within two years but only 4 in 10 earn an associate’s or bachelor’s degree by their mid-twenties. Only 56 percent earn a bachelor’s degree within six years and less than 30 percent of community college students finish their two-year degree within three years. Just 30 percent of African-Americans and fewer than 20 percent of Latinos earn an associate’s degree or higher by their mid-twenties. In addition, the nation has an extremely high high-school dropout rate with one million students leaving school each year before earning a diploma.

Tenure Controversy Trips Up DePaul

Tenure Controversy Trips Up DePaul: Faculty members at DePaul University are calling for an external investigation into the university’s tenure process after a round of tenure votes in which all of the White applicants were approved but none of the minority candidates were.

The university, at the center of a national firestorm in 2007 over the tenure denial of a high-profile Israeli-Palestinian scholar, once again finds itself embroiled in controversy over its tenure process. The university is now facing claims of racism and racial bias after it denied tenure to six professors — two Blacks, two Asian-Americans and two Latinos — but accepted all of the White tenure applicants.

Faculty and students have rallied in recent months on behalf of two of the minority tenure candidates, both of whom appealed their denial decisions: Dr. Namita Goswami, an Indian-born philosopher, and Dr. Quinetta Shelby, an award-winning African-American chemist. In both cases, a faculty appeals board recommended the decisions be reversed.

Arne Duncan, Spike Lee Urge Black Men To Become Teachers

Arne Duncan, Spike Lee Urge Black Men To Become Teachers: Filmmaker Spike Lee joined Education Secretary Arne Duncan in issuing a call Monday for more black men to become teachers, making their plea at the country's only all-male historically black college.

The two took part in a town hall meeting at Atlanta's private Morehouse College just a week after President Barack Obama urged more people nationwide to become teachers.

Duncan told an audience that more than 1 million educators are expected to retire in the coming decade and that federal officials are hoping to harness that opportunity to create a more diverse teaching work force, noting that less than 2 percent of the nation's 3 million teachers are black men.

National Black Theater in Harlem Is Threatened by Debt - NYTimes.com

National Black Theater in Harlem Is Threatened by Debt - NYTimes.com: Theirs was a partnership built on vision and pride and rooted in a building at the very heart of black America.

In 2002 the National Black Theater, a cultural anchor of Harlem, invited the owners of Nubian Heritage, a growing beauty-care company with an African pedigree, to invest in its sprawling building at Fifth Avenue and 125th Street.

The theater, created in the turmoil of the civil rights movement, had owned the building for 19 years. But now it faced foreclosure, as large construction loans remained unpaid.

For the theater, its new partners held the promise of revenue and revival. For the businessmen, two former street vendors from Liberia, the building provided a flagship store in a historic neighborhood.

Nine years later, though, the store is closed; the partnership owes nearly $1.8 million in unpaid property taxes; and the theater is facing foreclosure yet again, a plight it blames on its partners, men it once embraced as kindred spirits and now in court accuses of mismanagement and fraud.

After Egyptian Sojourn, Former Fulbright Fellow Watches Revolt from Afar

After Egyptian Sojourn, Former Fulbright Fellow Watches Revolt from Afar: When Wendell Hassan Marsh boarded his flight from Cairo back to the U.S. two days before Christmas, he didn’t expect that a month later the friends he left behind would be caught in the middle of a historic protest to topple the 30-year regime of President Hosni Mubarak.

Marsh, a 2009 Morehouse College graduate, spent 15 months at the American University in Cairo on a Fulbright Fellowship studying Arabic and researching Arab-African relations.

“This has been a long time coming. There has been contained popular unrest for a long time and a lot of frustration,” said Marsh, who is now in Washington, D.C., working as a freelance journalist. “But no one expected it to come this soon; everyone seemed to think it would be more related to the elections in the fall.”