Percy L. Julian - Documentary - TV - New York Times

Percy L. Julian - Documentary - TV - New York Times: On the day that Percy L. Julian graduated at the top of his class at DePauw University, his great-grandmother bared her shoulders and, for the first time, showed him the deep scars that remained from a beating she had received as a slave during the last days of the Civil War. She then clutched his Phi Beta Kappa key in her hand and said, “This is worth all the scars.”"

Every February, when the curtain lifts on Black History Month, the cast of highlighted lives is often familiar: a Martin Luther King Jr., a Katherine Dunham. But the documentary “Forgotten Genius,” to be broadcast tonight as part of the “Nova” science series on PBS, dramatizes the story of Mr. Julian, a largely neglected black chemist who was nonetheless one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. He is played by the Tony Award-winning actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and the moment with his great-grandmother is but one in a film full of the echoes of the country’s painful racial history.

Young blacks feel the sting

Many young black Americans think the government treats most immigrants better than it treats most black people in the USA, according to a national study being released Thursday. It asked 15- to 25-year-olds about issues from politics and government to sex, marriage, health and hip-hop.

Researchers at the University of Chicago's Black Youth Project compared the views of 1,590 young people of different racial and ethnic groups and found that the black experience — and the perception of blacks' experience by others — suggests a demographic group that sees a lot of obstacles.

Among the findings:

•48% of blacks, compared with 18% of Hispanics and 29% of whites, believe the government treats immigrants better than it does blacks.

•68% of blacks believe the government would do more to find a cure for AIDS cure if more whites were infected, compared with 34% of whites and 50% of Hispanics.

•61% of blacks say it is hard for young black people to get ahead because of discrimination; 45% of Hispanics and 43% of whites agree.

•54% of blacks say blacks receive a poorer education on average than whites; 40% of Hispanics and 31% of whites agree.

•79% of blacks, 73% of Hispanics and 63% of whites believe the police discriminate "much more" against blacks than whites.

•14% of blacks say they grew up in a very good neighborhood, vs. 16% of Hispanics and 30% of whites.

Cathy Cohen, a University of Chicago political science professor who heads the project, says the focus on this age group is particularly important as the country looks to the 2008 election and the likely candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who is black and exploring a presidential run.

"I thought it important to put these young black people into that discussion because they suggest that — far from being a completely open society even in this post-civil rights moment — they still face discrimination, limited opportunities and feelings of secondary status," Cohen says.

Though the study suggests that discrimination is a fact of life for blacks, 49% of blacks said they were "rarely or never" discriminated against because of their race.

Researchers asked 240 questions during 45-minute telephone interviews in 2005 with 635 blacks, 567 whites and 314 Hispanics. The remaining interviewees were either Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American or didn't claim a group. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Although larger studies of black Americans have been conducted for 30 years by researchers at the University of Michigan, those 18 and older were the focus of the research until 1999, when the studies included adolescents ages 13-17.

Cohen calls her study a more generational approach.

Rebecca Bigler of the Gender and Racial Attitudes Lab at the University of Texas-Austin, who is not part of the Chicago study, says the topic needs academic attention because young blacks are a group that academics have "ignored and understudied."

Va. moves to apologize for slavery - USATODAY.com

Va. moves to apologize for slavery - USATODAY.com: Virginia moved forward on Wednesday to apologize for slavery, something no president or legislature has done.

The Virginia House Rules Committee unanimously approved a measure that expresses 'profound regret' for the state's role in the slave trade and other injustices against African-Americans and Native Americans.

The original proposal by Del. Donald McEachin, a Democrat, called for 'atonement.'

'This is a good first step,' says McEachin, whose great-grandfather Archie was a slave.

He says the wording was changed because some lawmakers said an apology could lead to reparations, or cash payments, to slave descendants.

He says the bill, though softened, is important as Virginia celebrates the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, America's first permanent English settlement and an entry point for African slaves.

A proposal in the state Senate expressing 'profound contrition' won unanimous approval from a subcommittee Monday.

House Speaker William Howell expects both chambers to pass the measure, says his spokesman, G. Paul Nardo. The legislature is scheduled to adjourn Feb. 24.

Congress has apologized to Japanese-Americans held in camps during World War II. President Clinton, in Uganda in 1998, said U.S. participation in the slave trade was 'wrong.'

An apology alone does not heal wounds, says Bruce Gordon, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He says it's important to recognize past wrongs, but it's more essential to fix lingering racial inequities.

The Virginia effort to apologize for slavery stirred controversy last month. Del. Frank Hargrove Sr., a white Republican, told The Daily Progress in Charlottesville that blacks 'should get over' slavery instead of seeking a formal apology from the state.

He asked, 'Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ?'

Hargrove voted for the revised measure because, he said, it expresses regret 'without apologizing for anything.'

The Virginia Legislature expressed 'profound regret' in 2001 for its role in eugenics, a discredited science that led to the sterilization of more than 7,000 Virginians in the name of purifying the white race between 1924 and 1979.

Recent college parties mocking black stereotypes spark outrage

... James Johnson, a black psychology professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington who has researched racial attitudes and teaches a seminar on race and prejudice, said he is more discouraged by the rap performers who perpetuate stereotypes than by the "clueless kids" who imitate them.

"In the civil rights movement, you didn't have blacks who called themselves 'niggers' and who called their women 'bitches' and 'whores' and who glorified being violent and being thugs," he said. "Now these white kids are kind of confused."

These incidents come at a time racial tolerance on college campuses is perceived to be steadily improving. But the truth may be more complicated.

A University of Dayton sociologist who analyzed journals kept by 626 white college students found the students behaved substantially differently when they were in the company of other whites than when they were with other races.

When the students, who were asked to record their interactions with other people, were alone with other white students, racial stereotypes and racist language were surprisingly common, researcher Leslie Picca found. One student reported hearing the "n-word" among white students 27 times in a single day.

The results suggest white students have little sense of shame about racial insults and stereotyping and treat them as simply a part of the culture.

"This is a new generation who grew up watching 'The Cosby Show,"' Picca said. "They have the belief that racism isn't a problem anymore so the words they use and the jokes they tell aren't racist."

Picca said she found it "heartbreaking" to see so many well-educated students perpetuating the stereotypes.

Slavery and the Making of America . About the Series | PBS

Slavery and the Making of America . About the Series | PBS: SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA is a four-part series documenting the history of American slavery from its beginnings in the British colonies to its end in the Southern states and the years of post-Civil War Reconstruction. Drawing on a wealth of recent scholarship, it looks at slavery as an integral part of a developing nation, challenging the long held notion that slavery was exclusively a Southern enterprise. At the same time, by focusing on the remarkable stories of individual slaves, it offers new perspectives on the slave experience and testifies to the active role that Africans and African Americans took in surviving their bondage and shaping their own lives.

This program will premiere nationally on February 9, 2005.

A Very Good Place to Grow Up, for Almost Everyone - washingtonpost.com

A Very Good Place to Grow Up, for Almost Everyone - washingtonpost.com: The Washington region is one of the nation's best metropolitan areas for Hispanic, Asian and non-Hispanic white children, based on a study of health, housing, economic, crime and education data released last week by the Harvard School of Public Health. For black children, the D.C. area ranks about average on most factors, according to the study, titled 'Children Left Behind: How Metropolitan Areas Are Failing America's Children.'

The report, which compares living conditions for children in the country's 100 largest metropolitan areas, draws on a broad range of data that the authors spent five years compiling, with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; the data are available at http://www.diversitydata.org.

Same-sex classes a growing trend in public schools

HARTLAND, Wisconsin (AP) -- Lauren Panos was surprised when she walked into her ninth-grade English class in the fall and saw there were no boys.

Her parents had not told her they had enrolled her in a new all-girls class at Arrowhead High School in Hartland, about 25 miles west of Milwaukee. A semester into classes, Panos still isn't sold on the idea.

"All the girls there, they can talk out of turn," the 14-year-old said. "We get really off task and it's really annoying."

More public school systems are looking at separating boys and girls, whether for certain classes or by entire schools, after the federal government opened the door last fall. Supporters say splitting students by sex minimizes distractions, helps them learn better and allows boys and girls to explore subjects they may not otherwise take.

Panos' classmate, Alyson Douglas, 15, said she likes not worrying about boys causing disruptions.

"Guys just make a bigger nuisance in the class," she said.

Panos' and Douglas' school is one of just three public schools in Wisconsin that offers classes for either boys or girls only. But Thursday night, the Milwaukee School Board approved a committee report calling for opening a school with all same-sex classes, perhaps by 2008.

Milwaukee would join several other large cities where public schools already offer single-sex classes. They include New York City -- where there are nine single-sex public schools -- as well as Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Plans to open same-sex schools have been announced in Miami, Atlanta and Cleveland.

Nationwide, at least 253 public schools offer single-sex classes and 51 schools are entirely single sex, according to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. In 1995, just three public schools offered single-sex classes.

Critics of same-sex classrooms argue that proven methods of improving education should be pursued instead of one that divides boys and girls. Separating boys and girls is tantamount to "separate but equal" segregation-era classrooms, they say.

"Too many schools feel they can carry out a social experiment with students' education with really the flimsiest of theories," said Emily Martin, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project.

Single-sex schools are an "illusionary silver bullet," said Lisa Maatz, director of public policy and government relations for the American Association of University Women. They distract from real problems and do not offer proven solutions such as lower class sizes and sufficient funding, she said.

Many classrooms and schools could make the switch thanks to a change made by the U.S. Department of Education in November.

NPR : Rafe Esquith Offers His Fiery Teaching Methods

NPR : Rafe Esquith Offers His Fiery Teaching Methods
All Things Considered, January 22, 2007 · Rafe Esquith is a trail-blazing, fast-talking, fifth-grade teacher who has racked up a slew of awards for his work at a public school in Los Angeles. Ninety-two percent of the children at the school live in households below the poverty level, but Esquith's students have reached the pinnacle of academic and artistic success. His fifth-graders are already tackling high-school fare: algebra, philosophy and Shakespeare.

Esquith's methods have been so successful that he has been encouraged to leave the classroom to help other instructors. But he has no interest in abandoning his kids. Instead, he wrote Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56, which Esquith likens to a cookbook for teaching in an urban classroom. The title of the book comes from an incident that occurred while he was helping a student in class with a chemistry experiment.

"In trying to get her alcohol burner to light, I set my hair on fire and didn't even know it until the kids started screaming," he says. "But as ridiculous as that was, I actually thought, if I could care so much I didn't even know my hair was on fire, I was moving in the right direction as a teacher — when I realized that you have to ignore all the crap, and the children are the only thing that matter."

He says his teaching tactics, however incendiary, apply to both teachers and parents.

Dairy could doom historic California town, group says - USATODAY.com

Dairy could doom historic California town, group says - USATODAY.com

Dairy could doom historic California town, group says
By John Ritter, USA TODAY
ALLENSWORTH, Calif. — A few restored buildings among sprawling flat acres of farmland are all that's left of an ambitious experiment a century ago — one doomed to fail but still an enduring symbol of African-American self-sufficiency.

Allen Allensworth, a former slave who rose to Army colonel, brought a colony of blacks here to a sparsely settled corner of the Central Valley in 1908. His vision was a discrimination-free town where blacks, through hard work and education, could compete in white America.

Unforeseen events killed the dream, but in the 1970s, the state preserved the town as a historical park. Today, Allensworth, an icon of black history, is threatened by a herd of cows, its patrons say.

Tulare County, the USA's top milk producer, has tentatively approved plans for a large dairy outside the 240-acre park. The Friends of Allensworth, a group with members across the state, fears odor and flies from 9,000 cows and their manure will drive visitors away. The group wants the dairy located somewhere else.

"Allensworth is one of a kind. It can't be replaced," says Victor Carter, president of the Friends of Allensworth. "It should be there for our youth, to see what we can accomplish given a chance." The park had 7,843 visitors in fiscal year 2006, according to the state parks department.

Ed Pope's family settled in Allensworth in the 1930s. He returned in retirement "to become a preservation activist on the scene." The park is on the National Register of Historic Places. If the dairy comes, Pope says, he could stand on railroad tracks next to the park "and throw a rock and hit a cow."

"If people stop coming, the state can't justify spending money to keep the park open. And if the park dies, Allensworth dies," says Pope, 77.

NPR : Black Power on Display in New Congress

NPR : Black Power on Display in New Congress

The 110th session of Congress has an unprecedented number of African-American lawmakers in key positions of power. Black lawmakers with long seniority are taking over committees with influence on such fundamental issues as taxes, homeland security, trade and Social Security.

Some of these representatives – such as Charles Rangel and John Coyners – have been in Washington for decades. Coyners, who was first elected in 1964, helped establish the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969.

The Black Caucus gradually accumulated considerable influence on Capitol Hill, until the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994. Since then, Caucus members have seen their influence wane, rarely winning the ear of the Bush White House.

But last November's election brought a massive reversal of fortune for the Caucus. Now six of its members are poised to have a considerable impact on what happens in the House in the next two years.

Use the link to access more information about individual Caucus members.

Hispanics and Education - Hispanic Achievement

Hispanics and Education - Hispanic Achievement

Nowhere has the impact of the rapid growth of America’s Hispanic population been more apparent than in our elementary and high schools. The number of Hispanic K-12 students increased by almost 6 percent between 1993 and 2003, with Hispanics now accounting for 19 percent of public school students. Blacks make up 17.2 percent of the population while Whites posted a decrease, from 66 percent to 58 percent.

A report from The National Council of La Raza called “Hispanic Education in the United States” provides a more detailed account of how Hispanics compared to their peers in all levels of education.

The jump in the number of Hispanic K-12 students was most significant in the Western United States, where they rose from 15 percent in 1972 to 39 percent in 2003, surpassing Whites in the process. More than half of all immigrant youth are Hispanic (58 percent), with a larger portion in upper grades than lower grades.

Compared to other groups, dropout rates among Hispanics remains high and educational achievement relatively low. Barriers such as English language acquisition, immigration, insufficient financial aid and inadequate access to educational resources can explain the gaps between Hispanics and other students, say La Raza researchers.

The first issue to address is that of poverty. Roughly 49 percent of Hispanic and 48 percent of Black 4th-graders attend the public schools with the highest levels of poverty. Only 5 percent of White and 16 percent of Asian students are enrolled in similar schools. There are large state funding gaps between low- and high-poverty districts as well, especially in states with large minority populations, including California, Illinois and New York.

In 2004, Hispanics represented approximately 17 percent of all public high school students but graduated at a rate below the national average. Almost three-fourths of all Whites completed high school, compared to 53.2 percent of Hispanic students and only 50.2 percent of Blacks.

Jefferson, Blair Lead Nation In Intel Search Semifinalists - washingtonpost.com

Jefferson, Blair Lead Nation In Intel Search Semifinalists - washingtonpost.com: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria and Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring together produced 26 of 300 semifinalists nationwide in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search for 2007, the technology company announced yesterday.

The schools, which draw students with conspicuous math and science abilities from Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, respectively, ranked first and second for the number of semifinalists from a single campus in the annual contest. Jefferson had 14; Blair had 12.

The D.C. region yielded 31 semifinalists in all, 10 percent of the nation's total, with one each from Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Walt Whitman and Thomas Wootton high schools in Montgomery, Eleanor Roosevelt in Prince George's County and the private Sidwell Friends School in the District. Jefferson and Blair are perennial contenders because of their math-science magnet programs.

A "prize patrol" from the talent search visited Blair yesterday to present the school's semifinalists with $1,000 checks; schools receive a matching sum for each honoree. A similar ceremony for Jefferson's 14 semifinalists was canceled because of a power outage at the school.

Forty finalists will be announced Jan. 31. On March 8, finalists will travel to Washington for a week-long event, culminating with 10 students receiving scholarships totaling $500,000. The top winner will receive a $100,000 scholarship.

The talent search, founded in 1942, is the nation's oldest and most highly regarded pre-collegiate science contest.

Overall cancer deaths decline again, but statistics not as rosy for blacks - USATODAY.com

Overall cancer deaths decline again, but statistics not as rosy for blacks - USATODAY.com: The number of Americans dying of cancer declined for second year in a row, this time by a much greater number, the American Cancer Society reports, a signal that decades of advances in prevention and treatment are paying off, experts say.

Although black women have a 9% lower cancer rate than their white peers, black women have an 18% higher death rate for all forms of cancer. Black men have a 15% higher rate of cancer and a 38% higher death rate than white men, a trend that extends from 1999 to 2003.

Whatever happened to Ruby Bridges? - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com

Whatever happened to Ruby Bridges? - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com: NEW ORLEANS - Ruby Bridges didn't ask to be an icon of the civil rights movement; others made that happen.

She was, after all, just six in 1960 when the NAACP selected her to integrate a New Orleans elementary school.

An angry mob tried to keep her out, but federal marshals got her in.

And Norman Rockwell made the moment famous in a 1964 painting.

Forty-six years later, after Katrina flooded the city, devastated the school and triggered a new round of racial upheaval, Ruby Bridges is back, this time on her own accord — to save the school.

Even before Katrina, William Frantz Elementary in the Lower Ninth Ward was in danger of closing.

“I used to go to the back to sharpen my pencil, there,” says Bridges as she takes us on a tour. “I see this school being filled with kids.”

But there's more. Bridges wants to integrate the school — again.

King's own words on display for his holiday - USATODAY.com

King's own words on display for his holiday - USATODAY.com: The handwritten personal papers of Martin Luther King Jr., including his sermons and the 'I Have a Dream' speech, will be on display in Atlanta today, one of many tributes planned for the late civil rights leader.

Schools, banks, federal offices and post offices are closed today as the nation observes the 21st annual King holiday.

In Washington, D.C., the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation is announcing $3 million in new contributions from corporations. That will bring the total raised to $76 million toward a goal of $100 million. The memorial will be built along the Tidal Basin, between the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials.

King, who was assassinated in 1968, would be 78 years old today.

'He was the irresistible force that made the immovable object of segregation move,' Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said Sunday. 'We who admired him so much can honor him the most by carrying on his work. Civil rights is still the unfinished business of America.'

The memorial is scheduled for completion in 2008. It will be the first memorial on the National Mall for a non-president and the first for an African-American.

The Atlanta History Center opens an exhibit today of King's handwritten papers. One is his 'I Have a Dream' speech, delivered to 200,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington in August 1963. Also being displayed is King's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail,' in which he laid out his opposition to segregation and said citizens had an obligation to disobey unjust laws.

The papers are from the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection.

Legislation signed into law by President Reagan in 1983 designated the third Monday in January as Martin Luther King Day. The holiday, first observed in 1986, is timed to fall on or around King's birthday, Jan. 15.

Despite Lessons on King, Some Unaware of His Dream - washingtonpost.com

Despite Lessons on King, Some Unaware of His Dream - washingtonpost.com: In a recent survey of college students on U.S. civic literacy, more than 81 percent knew that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was expressing hope for 'racial justice and brotherhood' in his historic 'I Have a Dream' speech.

That's the good news.

Most of the rest surveyed thought King was advocating the abolition of slavery.

The findings indicate that years of efforts by primary and secondary schools to steep young people in the basics of the civil rights leader's life and activities have resulted in a mixed bag. Most college students know who he is -- even if they're not quite clear on what he worked to achieve.

Students and teachers say today's federal holiday marking King's birthday is the one that receives the most attention in schools, in part because the events surrounding the man it commemorates are the most recent.

"I think if there is one holiday on the calendar that is really reflective and thoughtful and has historical content, it is the King holiday," said Cynthia Mosteller, a history teacher at Deal Junior High School in the District. "It is a topic about which literally every student knows something."

How long students will continue to learn it, however, is open to question, students and educators say.

The recent survey of college students, conducted by the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy for the nonprofit Intercollegiate Studies Institute, suggests that schools are not doing as much as they could to go beyond a cursory history lesson. More than 14,000 college freshmen and seniors at 50 colleges and universities earned an average score of 53.2 percent in the survey.

Memorial honoring MLK to receive funding boost - USATODAY.com

Memorial honoring MLK to receive funding boost - USATODAY.com: WASHINGTON — Alfred C. Bailey, too, had a dream.

About 20 years ago, the retired engineer and his Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers sat around a dining room table, talking about the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Memorials to King had been erected around the country, but there was nothing in Washington, D.C., where he made his famous 'I have a dream' speech about a future of racial harmony on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the summer of 1963.

'We knew he deserved it, so we dedicated ourselves to getting it done,' said Bailey, 82, of Silver Spring, Md.

Today, 21 years after the first federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., the dream King's fraternity set in motion is almost realized.

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation Inc., has raised $72.9 million in mostly private donations to fund a memorial on the National Mall and will announce Monday that corporate donors will be contributing at least $2 million.

The foundation is asking churches over the next year to sponsor a collection for the memorial, which is expected to cost $100 million.

Scheduled for completion in late 2008, the memorial will be located on a four-acre site along the Tidal Basin, surrounded by memorials to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

It will be the first memorial on the mall for a non-president and African American.

'I don't have any question that we're on track,' said Harry Johnson, the foundation president.

The memorial will include waterfalls, a wall of quotes, and boulders, including one with a carving of King's image and words.

Bailey helped pick the design. He was among the more than 200,000 people who heard King's 1963 speech during the March on Washington, and he was inspired.

Bailey remembers, as a young soldier in 1943, having to travel through small Southern towns with the curtains drawn on his train car because the residents 'didn't want to see black people.' And 10 years later, he and his wife slept in their car when they ran out of gas after the local gas station closed and no hotel would take them.

'That's why I could feel so good when Martin spoke about freedom for all because I had experienced segregation,' Bailey said. The memorial, he said, 'will be so worthwhile to many generations to come.'

Equal Cheers for Boys and Girls Draw Some Boos - New York Times

Equal Cheers for Boys and Girls Draw Some Boos - New York Times: WHITNEY POINT, N.Y. — Thirty girls signed up for the cheerleading squad this winter at Whitney Point High School in upstate New York. But upon learning they would be waving their pompoms for the girls’ basketball team as well as the boys’, more than half of the aspiring cheerleaders dropped out.

The eight remaining cheerleaders now awkwardly adjust their routines for whichever team is playing here on the home court — “Hands Up You Guys” becomes “Hands Up You Girls”— to comply with a new ruling from federal education officials interpreting Title IX, the law intended to guarantee gender equality in student sports.

“It feels funny when we do it,” said Amanda Cummings, 15, the cheerleading co-captain, who forgot the name of a female basketball player mid-cheer last month.

Whitney Point is one of 14 high schools in the Binghamton area that began sending cheerleaders to girls’ games in late November, after the mother of a female basketball player in Johnson City, N.Y., filed a discrimination complaint with the United States Department of Education. She said the lack of official sideline support made the girls seem like second-string, and violated Title IX’s promise of equal playing fields for both sexes.

But the ruling has left many people here and across the New York region booing, as dozens of schools have chosen to stop sending cheerleaders to away games, as part of an effort to squeeze all the home girls’ games into the cheerleading schedule.

Boys’ basketball boosters say something is missing in the stands at away games, cheerleaders resent not being able to meet their rivals on the road, and even female basketball players being hurrahed are unhappy.

In Johnson City, students and parents say they have accepted the change even as they question the need for it.

NPR : 'Until the Building Falls Down': A Fight to Vote

NPR : 'Until the Building Falls Down': A Fight to Vote: Theresa Burroughs was 18 years old and ready to vote. But in her Alabama town, it took two years of effort just for her to register.

Accompanied by J.J. Simmons, a minister who would not let her back down, Burroughs went down to the Hale County Courthouse on the first and third Monday of each month.

'The white men,' Burroughs says, 'they would not let us register to vote.'

The chairman of the board of registrars, remembered by Burroughs only as 'Mr. Cox,' posed questions meant to disqualify black voters, such as 'How many black jelly beans in a jar? How many red ones in there?'

When Burroughs responded that Cox didn't know how many jelly beans were in the jar any more than she did, the answer was quick: 'Shut your black mouth.'

But Burroughs, with Simmons' support, kept on going, despite the embarrassment.

'We're going to go until the building falls down,' Simmons said.

On the day that Cox finally relented, he asked Burroughs and Simmons a simpler question — to recite part of the preamble of the Constitution — and also gave her a final insult.

'You're going to pass today. Because we are tired of looking at your black faces,' Burroughs recalls him saying. Then he handed over the slip of paper that meant Burroughs was a registered voter.

Burroughs voted in the next election. And she hasn't stopped since.

'It shouldn't have been this hard,' she says. 'I knew it shouldn't have been this hard.'

Emerging Scholars: The Class of 2007

Emerging Scholars: The Class of 2007: Just 10. Each year it becomes increasingly difficult to select just 10 Emerging Scholars. There are so many outstanding scholars of color in the academy who are breaking new ground in research, applying scholarship to public policy and grooming the next generation of leaders and professionals.

Diverse’s 2007 Emerging Scholars are doing all of that while setting records and earning the distinction of being the “first” or the “youngest” to win tenure or merit some impressive accolade.

This year’s crop of award-winning academicians was chosen by Diverse staff and, in some cases, nominated by colleagues. The scholars include a scientist who uses GIS technology to map racial health disparities; a first-generation college graduate and doctorate who is a highly sought-after computer expert; and a math prodigy who was studying college-level calculus at age 9 and earned his doctorate at age 20.

Some of our scholars benefited from the encouragement of mentors or pipeline programs like The PhD Project. Some, destined for stellar private industry careers, came to the academy by happenstance. All are driven and exceptional.
See for yourself.

Perspectives: King Holiday Opportunity For Change

Perspectives: King Holiday Opportunity For Change: Recently, I drove by a place of worship and read “new year, new hope.” I thought there was something quite prophetic in that short message. As we know, America will celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 15th. On that day, we will pause to reflect on the greatness of the man and to re-commit ourselves to his principles of fairness and justice. Many of us have found his philosophy to be quite simple. He wanted all of us to treat one another with great dignity and respect. Turning talk into action, however, causes us the trouble.

“Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear; only love can do that,” King said. “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” On Jan. 15th, there will be wonderful speeches, personal testimonies and great singing. On this day, I would like to believe we will all be on the same page. We will talk passionately about our love for one another. There is something truly special about the activities on this day. Places of worship, auditoriums and other edifices will be filled with people singing, “We shall overcome some day.” I enjoy the spirit that comes with this great song. I believe with all of us working together that we can capture this spirit year round.

Coretta Scott King honored in Atlanta - Race in America - MSNBC.com

Coretta Scott King honored in Atlanta - Race in America - MSNBC.com

ATLANTA - It’s been a year since Coretta Scott King received thunderous applause when she surprised guests at the annual Salute to Greatness Dinner and appeared on stage, smiling and waving with her children.

On Saturday, guests again applauded the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., as she was honored posthumously for her human rights contributions and work to preserve her husband’s legacy in the decades after his death.

King suffered a stroke and heart attack in August 2005 and battled ovarian cancer before she died in January 2006.

Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners - McREL

Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners - McREL

Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners applies the strategies from the best-selling book Classroom Instruction that Works to reaching English language learners (ELLs). It describes ways for mainstream K–6 teachers to adapt the strategies to meet the needs of ELLs at different stages of language acquisition. Teachers also will learn how to use culturally appropriate methods to increase parents' involvement in the education process.

Tolerance.org: Teaching Tolerance: IN THE NEWS: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; No Name-Calling Week

Tolerance.org: Teaching Tolerance: IN THE NEWS: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; No Name-Calling Week: IN THE NEWS: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; No Name-Calling Week

Jan. 10, 2007 -- Tolerance-related news events, with discussion questions and resources for classroom use
by Carrie Kilman

Professors Offer Realistic Look at King
Next Monday, the United States will observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. How will your classroom celebrate?

Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Four days later, U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich) introduced a bill to create a national holiday in King's honor. But the bill stalled. For 15 years, members of Congress reintroduced the bill, but Congress steadfastly refused to pass it.

By November 1980, the bill lost by only 5 votes. Public support for a national holiday was growing. In 1982, more than 6 million people signed petitions urging Congress to pass the legislation. In August 1983, after continued public pressure, the King Holiday Bill passed the House by a vote of 338 to 90. But the fight wasn't over. In the Senate, the bill's fate was uncertain.

Later that month, 750,000 protesters marched to the Lincoln Memorial for the 20th Anniversary March on Washington, demanding the Senate and President Reagan take action. Two months later, the bill cleared the Senate. In November 1983, President Reagan ceremoniously signed it into law, while Coretta Scott King, Dr. King's widow, looked on.

Many states objected to the new holiday and refused to recognize it. In protest of the new law, several Southern states created holidays for Confederate generals on the same day as King's holiday. It wasn't until 1999 that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was celebrated in all 50 states. Today, the holiday is celebrated, in some form, in more than 100 countries.

Explore King's influence and the history of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in your state.

Tolerance.org: Speak Up!

Tolerance.org: Speak Up!

Your brother routinely makes anti-Semitic comments. Your neighbor uses the N-word in casual conversation. Your co-worker ribs you about your Italian surname, asking if you're in the mafia. Your classmate insults something by saying, "That's so gay."

And you stand there, in silence, thinking, "What can I say in response to that?" Or you laugh along, uncomfortably. Or, frustrated or angry, you walk away without saying anything, thinking later, "I should have said something."

In the spring of 2004, the Southern Poverty Law Center gathered hundreds of stories of everyday bigotry like these from people across the United States. They told their stories through e-mail, personal interviews and at roundtable discussions in four cities: Baltimore, Md.; Columbia, S.C.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Vancouver, Wash.

People spoke about encounters in stores and restaurants, on streets and in schools. They spoke about family, friends, classmates and co-workers. They told us what they did or didn't say — and what they wished they did or didn't say.

And no matter the location or relationship, the stories echo each other.

When a Native American man at one roundtable discussion spoke of feeling ostracized at work, a Jewish woman nodded in support. When an African American woman told of daily indignities of racism at school, a white man leaned forward and asked what he could do to help. When an elderly lesbian spoke of finally feeling brave enough to wear a rainbow pin in public, those around the table applauded her courage.

Speak Up! echoes that applause, encouraging everyone to take a stand against everyday bigotry.

Tolerance.org: Teaching Tolerance: IVORY TOWER: Lessons for a Teacher

Tolerance.org: Teaching Tolerance: IVORY TOWER: Lessons for a Teacher: IVORY TOWER: Lessons for a Teacher

Veteran teacher Dottie Blais writes openly about a question that too often is left unspoken and unanswered: How does a teacher's whiteness get in the way of successful multicultural education?

by Dottie Blais

Only one student ever told me to my face that she hated me and meant it. It happened more than 20 years ago, and I'll never forget the moment.

Shonda and I were seated across from each other in the shabby chairs of the teachers' lounge at the public high school of a small town in the Deep South. It was the only place I'd been able to find for our impromptu conference, and the matter at hand was urgent. Shonda wanted to drop out of the gifted program; in fact, she had already stopped coming to class. She had been vague with the counselor about her reasons, and she had not discussed the decision with me.

In our conference, I bombarded her with well-intentioned questions: What's going on? Is anything wrong at home? Why didn't you tell me you were having problems?

Her quiet answer shocked me: "I hate you."

"What?" I asked, even though I had heard quite clearly what she said.

"I hate you," she repeated without embellishment.

"Wh . . . Why?" I asked. But the conference was over because Shonda ran out of the room. Stunned, I couldn't even get out of my chair to go after her.

So Shonda dropped out of the program. Her parents didn't argue with her about her decision because they knew how strong-willed she was, and they wanted her to be happy. She simply stopped talking to me. For nearly a year I was left with unanswered questions. What had I done to elicit such hatred from her? How could I have failed her so miserably?

Stamp honors Fitzgerald, First Lady of Song - MUSIC - MSNBC.com

Stamp honors Fitzgerald, First Lady of Song - MUSIC - MSNBC.com

Ella Fitzgerald — the First Lady of Song — is being honored on a new postage stamp.

The 39-cent stamp will be released Wednesday at ceremonies at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, and will be on sale across the country. It’s the 30th stamp in the agency’s Black Heritage series.

“She would be very honored, very pleased and a little surprised,” said Ray Brown Jr., Fitzgerald’s son. “She didn’t go through life expecting all the accolades that she got. She was just happy to do her thing and be the best that she could be.”

An Educator's Stirring Coda - washingtonpost.com

An Educator's Stirring Coda - washingtonpost.com: More than 200 musicians came dressed in their concert black, toting trumpets, saxophones and violins that many had first picked up at age 11. Now with some in high school or college and others in their 20s and 30s, many had barely met before performing yesterday for about 1,200 people at Bethesda's Walt Whitman High School auditorium.

But they all wanted to please Frankie Ball, the tall, sharply dressed man in the front row bobbing his head to the beat.

Ball, 61, instrumental music teacher at nearby Thomas W. Pyle Middle School for 26 years, is retiring this month to focus on his cancer treatments. In a concert featuring a band, a string orchestra and two jazz ensembles, Ball's former students gathered to honor the beloved teacher credited with instilling musical appreciation in thousands of Bethesda children. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit cancer research.

U.S. Education Officials Question Diversity Standard - washingtonpost.com

U.S. Education Officials Question Diversity Standard - washingtonpost.com: The Education Department's general counsel is challenging the American Bar Association's new standard on diversity in enrollment and hiring, which calls for the law schools it accredits to take 'concrete action' to attract more minority students, faculty and staff.

The 400,000-member law association, which has accredited nearly 200 law schools nationwide, said it updated its standards last year after a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that said law schools could use race and ethnicity as factors in admissions with certain restrictions.

NCCRESt - National Forum 2007

NCCRESt - National Forum 2007

This year’s conference, Leadership for Equity and Excellence: Transforming Education, will be held in Washington D.C. at the Crystal Gateway Marriott on February 7th, 8th, and 9th, 2007. Educators, policy makers, advocacy groups, parents, and community members from across the United States will gather to explore how educational systems can assure equity in educational outcomes for all students through school improvement, leadership, family and community partnerships, policy, and teaching.

The focus for the three days will be to share current research, best practices, and tools for transforming educational systems. Last years conference drew over 500 of the nation’s top education experts, leading educators, policy makers, advocacy groups, parents, and community members. Comments from conference participants were…

This is the best conference I’ve attended in 10 years!

General education leaders need to attend this conference!

The sessions were outstanding!

NCCRESt will have more information posted as soon as it is available. Check the site often for information on call for proposals, online registration and keynote speakers.

Minorities and Science and Engineering Degrees: Attainment Statistics

Minorities and Science and Engineering Degrees: Attainment Statistics: Women have made significant progress in science and engineering, having earned half of bachelor’s degrees, 44 percent of master’s degrees and 37 percent of doctorates in science and engineering in 2003-2004. African Americans, Hispanics and American Indians continue to be under-represented, collectively earning 16 percent of bachelor’s degrees, 11 percent of master’s and barely 6 percent of doctorates for the same period, according to a report released Wednesday.

Other key highlights of the 16th edition of Professional Women and Minorities from the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology include:

· Since 1966, the percentage of bachelor’s degrees earned by women in science and engineering doubled from 24.8 percent to 50.4 percent in 2004.

· In 1966, women only earned 13.3 percent S&E master’s, but that figure tripled to 43.6 percent in 2004.

· Women earning doctorates showed the most growth; 37.4 percent of doctorates went to women in 2004, compared to 8.0 percent in 1966.

Despite their gains in degree attainment, women represented 25 percent of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics labor force in 2005. Women were mostly represented in social sciences, biological sciences, and psychology related occupations, but least represented in mechanical and civil engineering occupations.

No-loan Financial Aid, Diversity, and Ivy League Universities - Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth

No-loan Financial Aid, Diversity, and Ivy League Universities - Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth: "

Just the Stats: Does No-Loan Financial Aid Really Improve Diversity?
By Olivia Majesky-Pullmann


In an effort to increase racial and economic diversity, many Ivy League institutions are implementing very generous financial aid policies that guarantee that low-income students will graduate without incurring debt. But are these aggressive new policies really working?

To find out, Diverse took a look at some of the top Ivy League universities, including Dartmouth College, Princeton University and Harvard University. "

Hispanic Teenagers Join Southern Mainstream - New York Times

Hispanic Teenagers Join Southern Mainstream - New York Times: While Hispanics now account for more than 20 percent of the population here, they still live mostly on the margins of society, largely invisible in local politics and the upper echelons of business. As adults, Hispanics, blacks and whites rarely mix socially.

But in the bustling classrooms of Atkinson High, Hispanic teenagers are slowly but steadily integrating into student life. The transition is sometimes awkward and painful, but young people here are casually challenging the traditional social hierarchy in ways once unimaginable.

BEING A BLACK MAN - series: In or Out Of the Game? - washingtonpost.com

In or Out Of the Game? - washingtonpost.com: "A guy once told him something he still finds profound: The reason the guy smoked drugs, he said, was because he was afraid his life wouldn't turn out well. 'You go to Georgetown, and see white people all chipper,' James says. 'And then you go to the neighborhood and our people are all mad. And the question you have to ask yourself is: Why?'

Study Links Obesity and Bottle-Fed Child - New York Times

Study Links Obesity and Bottle-Fed Child - New York Times: WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (AP) — Far too many children are fat by preschool, and Hispanic youngsters are most at risk, according to research that is among the first to focus on children growing up in poverty.

One important predictor of a pudgy preschooler was whether the child was still using a bottle at the age of 3, said the study, which was published online Thursday by the American Journal of Public Health.

“These children are already disadvantaged because their families are poor, and by age 3 they are on track for a lifetime of health problems related to obesity,” said the lead researcher, Rachel Kimbro of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Seventeen percent of American youngsters are obese, and millions more are overweight. Dr. Kimbro focused on poverty, culling data on more than 2,000 3-year-olds from a study that tracks from birth children who were born to low-income families in 20 large American cities.

Thirty-two percent of the white and black children studied were overweight or obese, as were 44 percent of the Hispanic children.

Why were the Hispanic children at higher risk? Dr. Kimbro checked a long list of factors, but nothing could fully explain the difference. Children were particularly at risk if their mothers were obese. So were those who still took a bottle to bed at age 3, as did 14 percent of the Hispanic youngsters, 6 percent of the white children and 4 percent of the black children.

The Old Kinship - washingtonpost.com

The Old Kinship - washingtonpost.com: Once, they were young men, living in the South, raised by a black community that provided love and sustained attention. They folded into a fraternity of men who preached self-reliance and offered protection, humor and support during their shared struggles. In white places, where a black boy could be jailed or beaten, the world was fraught and perilous. And they might be the last generation of black men who share the memory of being deliberately taught how to walk in the world.

'When we were in the South, that's all we had was each other. We were still competing in school or athletics or whatever, being the best we could be, but we still had the community,' Hodges said. And community held you up. Black people have lost that, the bowler said. 'We're separate now. Now, we're fragile.'

NPR : Covert, Michigan: A History in Black and White

NPR : Covert, Michigan: A History in Black and White: On the Midwestern frontier in the 1860s, the settlers of Covert, Mich., lived as peers, friends and sometimes even kin. What makes the story unusual is that they were both black and white.

The graveyard is eloquent testimony to their remarkable lives. There are hardscrabble pioneers and a lumberman whose tombstone has been cast from a tree trunk. The cemetery is one of very few in the country where black and white Civil War veterans lie together.

It's the sense of shared fate that attracted historian Anna-Lisa Cox to Covert. For more than a decade, she traced the tales of the town's pioneers. Earlier this year, she published a book on the subject.

The Roods -- Mayflower descendants -- came to Covert in the 1860s. So did the Pompeys, who were farmers and black soldiers.

'And they're actually about as close in the graveyard as they were in life,' Cox says.

Covert was not one of the abolitionist colonies established in the Midwest at the time, following an anti-slavery philosophy. Nor was it a free African-American settlement protected by the Quakers. It wasn't a utopian social experiment. It was, quite simply, tough frontier, and somehow it was a place where individuals laid the foundation for a culture of trust in one another.

And it endured.

Nanny Hunt Can Be a ‘Slap in the Face’ for Blacks - New York Times

Nanny Hunt Can Be a ‘Slap in the Face’ for Blacks - New York Times: Numerous black parents successfully employ nannies, and many sitters say they pay no regard to race. But interviews with dozens of nannies and agencies that employ them in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Houston turned up many nannies — often of African-American or Caribbean descent themselves — who avoid working for families of those backgrounds. Their reasons included accusations of low pay and extra work, fears that employers would look down at them, and suspicion that any neighborhood inhabited by blacks had to be unsafe.

The result is that many black parents do not have the same child care options as their colleagues and neighbors. They must settle for illegal immigrants or non-English speakers instead of more experienced or credentialed nannies, rely on day care or scale back their professional aspirations to spend more time at home.

“Very rarely will an African-American woman work for an African-American boss,” said Pat Cascio, the owner of Morningside Nannies in Houston and the president of the International Nanny Association.

Many of the African-American nannies who make up 40 percent of her work force fear that people of their own color will be “uppity and demanding,” said Ms. Cascio, who is white. After interviews, she said, those nannies “will call us and say, ‘Why didn’t you tell me’ ” the family is black?

Special Agent - washingtonpost.com

Special Agent - washingtonpost.com:... Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, he had known guys like the one he was pretending to be, but he had avoided them. He was the Boy Scout who never used drugs or smoked, the kid who worked his way through Catholic school and college, who had gone on to command a platoon in the Marines.

'I wanted to stand up and tell everybody, 'Yes, I'm a black man,' ' he said. 'But I'm an FBI agent. I was in the Marines. I'm a college graduate.

'People were looking at me like I was dirt. Like I was trash.'

And there it was. For his entire life, Mason had been determined to not be defined by race. But race was a formidable foe. Even though he knew the arrest was fake and he probably would never see the onlookers again, the feelings had cornered him there on the ground -- and they cut deep.

NPR : A Close Bond Sheds Light on Race Relations

NPR : A Close Bond Sheds Light on Race Relations: When Amanda Fernandez met Sarah Luzietti three years ago, she knew right away that there was something special about her fellow ninth grader.

She saw Luzietti under a tree, listening to jazz music. 'I knew that white people listened to jazz, but I didn't know that kids my age could appreciate the original black music. She was listening to Ella and she had Miles in there. It was just like, 'Wow, there's something different about her.''

It was a difference that felt familiar to the girls, who are now both 17 and seniors at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Educators want to reopen 'Brown v. Board' school - USATODAY.com

Educators want to reopen 'Brown v. Board' school - USATODAY.com: Fifty-six years ago, the Rev. Oliver Brown and 12 other black parents helped kick-start the civil rights movement when they tried to enroll their children in all-white schools in Topeka, Kan. The schools' refusal helped give rise to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case, which led to school desegregation nationwide.

Brown's old neighborhood school, Sumner Elementary, has been shuttered for years. Now two black Kansas educators want to turn it into a charter school for at-risk students, most of whom, they say, will be black or Hispanic. Their bid, which goes before the Topeka school board next month, has a certain symbolic importance: Not only would it reopen the landmark building, potentially to children of all races — it illustrates just how far the discussion on race and schooling has moved since Brown.

The proposal is backed by Cheryl Brown Henderson, one of Brown's daughters, who heads the Brown family foundation. She is on the governing board, whose plan includes a proposal to buy Sumner from the city and raise up to $5.5 million to renovate it.

ESL Magazine - the leading magazine for American English language teachers for ESL EFL ESOL and TEFL - U.S. Language Demographics Online

ESL Magazine - the leading magazine for American English language teachers for ESL EFL ESOL and TEFL - U.S. Language Demographics Online: The Modern Languages Association (MLA) has launched a new online, interactive map profiling the multilingual demographics of the U.S. The map is derived from the results of the vast U.S. Census 2000 which collected detailed data on people living in the U.S. The huge database of results has been analysed and published and provides, amongst many other findings, a record of the languages spoken at home, as well as information about English proficiency. The MLA has used this data, together with state and zip information, to provide a accurate profile every region of the U.S. To view the map, visit www.mla.org/census_map

Despite Modest Increase, GED Test-Taking Still Hovering Near All-Time Low

Despite Modest Increase, GED Test-Taking Still Hovering Near All-Time Low: Given recent statistics that indicate that at least half of all Black and Hispanic high school students dropped out this year, the General Educational Development test, or GED, remains a critical second option. However, since 2002, when the test was revamped to address complaints that GED-holders lacked basic writing skills, the number of test-takers has fallen drastically, from 800,000 before 2002 to 665,927 in 2004.

However, a report issued by the GED Testing Service today entitled, “Who Passed the GED Tests? 2005 Statistical Report,” shows a modest 2.2 percent increase in the number of GED test-takers for 2005, to 680,874. Also, the total number of GED candidates who passed the test rose 4.4 percent to 423,714 from 405,724 in 2004.

All of this is good news for GED Testing Service Executive Director Sylvia E. Robinson who, after assuming her post in April, has been charged with boosting sagging GED test-taking numbers while steering the GED toward another redesign, scheduled for 2011. She says, however, that the GED has a long way to go.

Women in Science: The Battle Moves to the Trenches - New York Times

Women in Science: The Battle Moves to the Trenches - New York Times: HOUSTON — Since the 1970s, women have surged into science and engineering classes in larger and larger numbers, even at top-tier institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where half the undergraduate science majors and more than a third of the engineering students are women. Half of the nation’s medical students are women, and for decades the numbers have been rising similarly in disciplines like biology and mathematics.
Yet studies show that women in science still routinely receive less research support than their male colleagues, and they have not reached the top academic ranks in numbers anything like their growing presence would suggest.

For example, at top-tier institutions only about 15 percent of full professors in social, behavioral or life sciences are women, “and these are the only fields in science and engineering where the proportion of women reaches into the double digits,” an expert panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences reported in September. And at each step on the academic ladder, more women than men leave science and engineering.

Escaping 'Average' - washingtonpost.com

Escaping 'Average' - washingtonpost.com: The focus on helping average students also boosted minority enrollment in the most rigorous classes. The district has about 3,400 students, 40 percent black and slightly more than half white. Through the initiative, administrators found more black students doing well and going on to college.

Julius Mullen, who directs a Saturday program for young African American males in Seaford, said the students discovered they could advance if given more time and the assurance that they had their friends with them. 'When expectations are raised, I think students will grab for them if they have the support programs in place,' Mullen said. 'They have to see their friends achieving success.'

Ideas to aid black youths - baltimoresun.com

Ideas to aid black youths - baltimoresun.com: State schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick, chairwoman of the task force, said the next step is to define what body in Maryland is responsible for each of the recommendations in the report.

The report calls for school systems to stop placing large numbers of black males in special-education classes, where they are over-represented, and stop sending them home when they are suspended instead of providing constructive punishment inside the school.

The report also endorses the use of more single-sex classes inside regular schools, saying research points to a rise in academic achievement among boys segregated by gender.

African-American males also need to be challenged in higher-level courses and need to understand what it takes to get into college, the report says. So it recommends increasing the number of students who take PSATs and Advanced Placement classes.

The disparity in academic achievement for African-American males has remained a persistent problem.

In 2003, 76 percent of white males graduated from high school, compared with 53 percent of black males in Maryland.

For every four black men in college, there are three behind bars.

Only a small percentage of black men get to college, and fewer still graduate. In Maryland, black men earn 15 percent of master's degrees and 7 percent of doctorates.

Special-Ed Changes To Get Trial Run - washingtonpost.com

Special-Ed Changes To Get Trial Run - washingtonpost.com: Ten Montgomery County middle schools plan a new approach to special education next year that stresses academic progress and includes special-needs students in mainstream classrooms as a means to jump-start lagging performance under the federal No Child Left Behind initiative.

The pilot program, called hours-based staffing, is part of an urgent effort around the region to rethink special education, or risk widespread failure under the federal mandate. Poor performance by special education students is the leading reason Maryland schools have not made 'adequate yearly progress' toward proficiency levels all students are supposed to meet by 2014. Special education was the sole factor for half of the 38 Montgomery schools that missed the targets this year.

Program Widens School Funding Gap, Report Says - washingtonpost.com

Program Widens School Funding Gap, Report Says - washingtonpost.com: Rich States Are Found to Get More Than Poor Ones in $13 Billion Effort to Aid Low-Income Students

By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 21, 2006; Page A04

A $13 billion federal program to help students from low-income families has actually widened an education funding gap between rich and poor states, according to a study released yesterday.

The program, known as Title I, is part of a slew of federal, state and local policies that direct more resources to the nation's wealthiest children than to its poorest, the study concluded. It found that the highest-poverty school districts receive an average of $825 less each year per student in state and local funding than the wealthiest districts. It also found that state and local money often flows disproportionately to wealthy students within districts.

Study Warns of Hunger Problem Among Hispanics - washingtonpost.com

Study Warns of Hunger Problem Among Hispanics - washingtonpost.com: Nearly one in five Hispanics lacks sufficient access to nutritious food and one in 20 regularly goes hungry, posing serious health and economic risks to the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group, according to a new study.

The National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group, noted in its study that the 'food insecurity' rate of Hispanics is nearly as high as that of non-Hispanic blacks and substantially greater than that of non-Hispanic whites, of whom only about 5 percent suffer from limited access to nutritious food, according to U.S. government statistics.

Dad, Redefined - washingtonpost.com

Dad, Redefined - washingtonpost.com: ... In many ways, this is a new norm. Single black mothers almost outnumber black two-parent families, and absentee black fathers have become a staple of conversations, sermons and stand-up comics. Some 48 percent of all black children live without their fathers in the home, nearly double the rate of any other ethnic group in the United States. On his block, Tim Wagoner knows more guys his age who have been shot than who are married with kids.

Many single women make it work. But according to the census, children in mother-only families, regardless of race, are more likely to live in poverty, be arrested as juveniles or have children in their teenage years -- all things that lead to a lifetime of difficulty.

But what defines 'absentee'? If you see your child once a month, does that make you a nonexistent father? Once a week?

Study: Top college sports jobs lack diversity - Other Sports - MSNBC.com

Study: Top college sports jobs lack diversity - Other Sports - MSNBC.com: ORLANDO, Fla. - White men dominate the leadership positions in college sports, a new study says, with women and minorities making only slow progress moving into the top jobs.

Athletic directors, conference commissioners and university presidents overwhelmingly are white, the study released Wednesday by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found.

“There’s a gradual movement toward positive change both in terms of race and gender, but it’s been very slow,” Richard Lapchick, the institute’s director, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The situation still remains that people who lead college sports in America are still white, which doesn’t reflect the student athletes on the teams they represent.”

Museum examines black Vietnam experience - Race in America - MSNBC.com

Museum examines black Vietnam experience - Race in America - MSNBC.com: PITTSBURGH - A pair of combat boots. A wristband woven from boot laces with several bullets dangling. A photo of black servicemen standing outside a makeshift African temple.

The items are part of 'Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era,' a new exhibit at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center that examines the black experience in Vietnam in the context of the era's domestic social fabric.

Samuel W. Black, curator of the center's African American Collections, conceived the exhibit, in part because his older brother, Jimmy McNeil, served two years in Vietnam.

Poll: Most Americans see lingering racism -- in others - CNN.com

Poll: Most Americans see lingering racism -- in others - CNN.com: (CNN) -- Most Americans, white and black, see racism as a lingering problem in the United States, and many say they know people who are racist, according to a new poll.

But few Americans of either race -- about one out of eight -- consider themselves racist.

And experts say racism has evolved from the days of Jim Crow to the point that people may not even recognize it in themselves. (Watch how many blacks are still afraid to stop in a Texas town Video)

A poll conducted last week by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN indicates that whites and blacks disagree on how serious a problem racial bias is in the United States.

Almost half of black respondents -- 49 percent -- said racism is a 'very serious' problem, while 18 percent of whites shared that view. Forty-eight percent of whites and 35 percent of blacks chose the description 'somewhat serious.' (See the poll results)

Asked if they know someone they consider racist, 43 percent of whites and 48 percent of blacks said yes.

But just 13 percent of whites and 12 percent of blacks consider themselves racially biased.

The poll was based on phone interviews conducted December 5 through Thursday with 1,207 Americans, including 328 blacks and 703 non-Hispanic whites.

With Subtle Reminders, Stereotypes Can Become Self-Fulfilling - washingtonpost.com

With Subtle Reminders, Stereotypes Can Become Self-Fulfilling - washingtonpost.com: ... Ambady said that drawing attention to the girls' individuality -- by asking about their favorite book or movie, for example, or asking them to list a few things about themselves that they liked and disliked -- caused them to do much better on math tests compared with girls primed with a negative gender stereotype that subtly reminded the girls of their group identity.

In another intriguing study, David Butz, a psychology graduate student at Florida State University, found that displaying the American flag in a room when students are asked to solve math problems or anagrams can influence performance. As with other experiments, the students themselves were not aware that the subtle cue made a difference -- in fact, most said they did not even notice the flag.

Butz designed the study after Florida law mandated that an American flag be hung in public classrooms. He found that the flag boosted the performance of white students but not minorities. White students given a math test in a room without a flag solved 44 percent of the problems. Those shown the flag solved 51 percent. Minorities solved 42 percent of the problems without the flag and 41 percent with it -- no difference.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the hidden power that lies in the ordinary things around you?

"Colorism" Still Thrives

"Colorism" Still Thrives
Over the summer, Matthew Harrison, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, released the results of a study showing dark-skinned blacks at a significant disadvantage for employment.

Harrison studied 240 psychology students and found that even if they possessed higher educational achievement and had more qualified resumes, dark-skinned blacks were less likely to get the job than their light-skinned counterparts.

'The findings in this study are, tragically, not too surprising,' Harrison said when the study was released. 'We found that a light-skinned black male can have only a bachelor's degree and typical work experience and still be preferred over a dark- skinned black male with an MBA and past managerial positions, simply because expectations of the light-skinned black male are much higher, and he doesn't appear as 'menacing' as the darker-skinned male applicant.'

In September, 'A Girl Like Me,' an eight-minute documentary produced by 17-year-old film student Kiri Davis, showed Davis duplicating the 'doll test' used in the Brown vs. Board of Education case that outlawed legal segregation in the schools.

Among children in a Harlem, N.Y., day care center, 15 of the 21 children surveyed in 2005 preferred the white doll over the black one.

History tells us that during slavery, the tone of a black person's skin ultimately affected his or her status.

A Gadget to Acclimate Immigrants - washingtonpost.com

A Gadget to Acclimate Immigrants - washingtonpost.com: ... They were acclimating themselves to a new world of high-tech academic tools. For many of the students in the program, Dominion High offers more than a meal and additional help with geometry assignments. It also offers Palm handheld computers.

The devices act as music players, pocket translators, alarm clocks, planners, word processors and, for some, their first personal computer. In Loudoun County, where the high-tech corridor gives way to rolling hills studded with the homes of affluent families, many students leave well-equipped computer labs at school to find bedrooms stocked with video games and laptops.

But that is not true for everyone.

Report -More students getting free breakfast - CNN.com

Report:�More students getting free breakfast - CNN.com: WASHINGTON (AP) -- Students from low-income families are eating more free and reduced-price breakfasts at school, an anti-hunger group said Thursday.

The federal breakfast program feeds only two in five who need it. Still, it reached a record 7.7 million low-income children in the 2005-2006 school year, according to a report from the Food Research and Action Center.

New Mexico posted the biggest increase, with 58 children getting breakfast for every 100 getting free and reduced-price lunches, up from 53 a year earlier.

State officials there spent nearly half a million dollars to boost breakfast participation in schools struggling to meet standards under President Bush's No Child Left Behind program, said James Weill, the center's president.

Kids learn better when they're not hungry, Weill said.

'It's not a solution to the problems in America's schools, but it's the fastest, easiest, cheapest way of boosting school performance that we have,' he said. 'It's the closest thing schools have to a magic bullet.'

New Mexico moved to second place in the rate of participation, behind West Virginia and ahead of South Carolina, Kentucky, Oregon, Vermont, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi.

States with the lowest participation rates were Pennsylvania, Nebraska, New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Alaska, Utah, Illinois and Wisconsin.

World Bank Reports Poverty Programs Ineffective - washingtonpost.com

World Bank Reports Poverty Programs Ineffective - washingtonpost.com: NEW YORK, Dec. 7 -- Despite an intensified campaign against poverty, World Bank programs have failed to lift incomes in many poor countries over the past decade, leaving tens of millions of people suffering stagnating and even declining living standards, according to a report released Thursday by the bank's autonomous assessment arm.

Among 25 poor countries probed in detail by the bank's Independent Evaluation Group, only 11 saw reductions in poverty between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, while the other 14 suffered the same or worse rates over that term. The group said the sample was representative of the global picture.

"Achievement of sustained increases in per capita income, essential for poverty reduction, continues to elude a considerable number of countries," the report declared, singling out as particularly ineffective programs aimed at the rural poor. Roughly half of such efforts from 2001 to 2005 "did not lead to satisfactory results." During that period, new World Bank loans and credits aimed directly at rural development totaled $9.6 billion, or about one-tenth of total bank lending, according to the group.

Poverty shifts to the suburbs - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com

Poverty shifts to the suburbs - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com: WASHINGTON - As Americans flee the cities for the suburbs, many are failing to leave poverty behind.

The suburban poor outnumbered their inner-city counterparts for the first time last year, with more than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty, according to a study of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas released Thursday.

“Economies are regional now,” said Alan Berube, who co-wrote the report for the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “Where you see increases in city poverty, in almost every metropolitan area, you also see increases in suburban poverty.”

Systems Struggling to Address Student Health - washingtonpost.com

Systems Struggling to Address Student Health - washingtonpost.com: In urban school systems across the country, children who live in poverty suffer from higher rates of health problems -- asthma, malnutrition, obesity and mental disorders -- than the more affluent, and the academic consequences are very real, according to researchers who have studied how health affects academic achievement.

'Good dental care doesn't make you a good student, but if your tooth hurts, it's hard to be a good student,' said Geoffrey Canada, president and chief executive of the Harlem Children's Zone, a large-scale initiative designed to improve the social, health and educational conditions in entire neighborhoods of Harlem.

Asian-American Teens More Likely Than Whites, Latinos To Learn Healthier Lifestyles

Asian-American Teens More Likely Than Whites, Latinos To Learn Healthier Lifestyles: Adolescents whose families emigrated from Asia improve their health habits with every generation born in the United States, more than their white and Latino peers, new research suggests.

'We were pleased by the marked improvement in physical activity and use of bicycle helmets, seat belts and sunscreen for Asian adolescents across the generations,' said lead author Michele Allen, M.D. 'This suggests that public health messages are reaching this population,' said Allen, currently an investigator in the health disparities research program at the University of Minnesota.

Allen and former colleagues at the UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion examined data from a 2001 California-wide survey and included responses from 5,801 adolescents, age 12 to 17, who were asked about their preventive health habits including wearing bicycle helmets, using seat belts, physical activity and nutrition.

United Press International - Consumer Health - More mental-health risk for immigrant children

United Press International - Consumer Health - More mental-health risk for immigrant children: SEATTLE, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Recent studies have shown that immigrants to the United States may experience lower rates of mental-health problems, but their children may be at higher risk.

The children and grandchildren of immigrants may actually be more likely than their parents to suffer such mental-health woes, according to a study published in The American Journal of Public Health.

The study looked at the prevalence of depressive, anxiety and substance disorders in relation to ethnicity, nativity, generational status, English proficiency, length of time in the United States and age at migration to the United States for Latinos.

The researchers found the lifetime prevalence estimate for any psychiatric disorders was 28.1 percent for Latino men and 30.2 percent for Latina women. Puerto Ricans had the highest overall prevalence rate among the Latino ethnic groups for any disorder. There were higher rates of psychiatric disorders among U.S.-born, English proficient and third-generation Latinos, according to David T. Takeuchi of the University of Washington.

abc7news.com: Literacy Program Showing Strong Results

abc7news.com: Literacy Program Showing Strong Results: Dec. 4 - KGO - Studies show that for every 100 Latino students entering Kindergarten, fewer than eight will graduate from college. In this ABC7 Focus On Solutions, Karina Rusk reports on a program that's changing those odds in San Jose.

Ninety-seven percent of the students at McKinley Elementary School in San Jose are learning English as a second language. But just listen as Mario Morales tells us about his reading skills.

Mario Morales, sixth grade student: 'If I'm finished with a book I will get up and get another one and keep on reading because I know it will be easy because I can read.'

Study: Racial graduation divide at BCS schools - CNN.com

Study: Racial graduation divide at BCS schools - CNN.com: ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- College football teams headed for the five major bowls this year performed better academically on the whole than the national average, according to a study released Monday.

At these top programs, however, the disparity between black and white graduation rates grows by nearly double.

The nation's best football teams are generally improving in the classroom, according to an analysis by Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

Of the 64 teams invited to bowls this year, 86 percent graduated at least half their players. And 40 of this year's top programs -- 62 percent -- matched or beat the NCAA's new Academic Progress Rate standard, which is intended to more accurately gauge grades and graduation rates.

The statistics Lapchick used are preliminary and don't include the most recent school year.

Perhaps most strikingly, white athletes in the Bowl Championship Series -- the top five bowls, including the BCS title game -- beat their counterparts among the 119 NCAA Division I-A schools by graduating 81 percent of the time, compared with 62 percent division-wide. The black athlete graduation rate was 56 percent among those schools, also better than the 49 percent overall rate.

But the discrepancy between white and black players' graduation rates for top bowl teams -- a 25 percentage point difference -- was nearly twice the 13-point divide within the NCAA average.

Supreme Court Weighs Race in Public School Admissions - washingtonpost.com

Supreme Court Weighs Race in Public School Admissions - washingtonpost.com: Several hundred demonstrators, many of them college or high school students, gathered on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court early this morning to proclaim support for using skin color as a factor in admissions in order to maintain racially diverse public schools.

The court is hearing arguments today in two high-stakes school desegregation cases-- the first test on the issue Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. since they were appointed to the court last term. Both justices in the past have been skeptical about the use of racial classifications.