Civil Rights Activist

Aug 18 2011

Minding the store

Civil Rights Activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Wednesday lent his support to Southern California grocery workers who staged a protest action at a Ralphs store on the Crenshaw strip.

Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), who have been working without a new contract since March 6, may be asked to authorize a strike during meetings Friday, if their negotiators cannot reach an agreement with executives from the grocery chains.

Jul 14 2011

Discusses his life, civil rights

Iconic civil rights activist Julian Bond comes to the Petersen Automotive Museum on July 25 at 7:30 p.m. He will talk about his life’s work and the evolution of the Civil Rights Movement during the past six decades. The talk is free, but parking is $8. Reservations are required and can be made online at www.Zocalopublicsquare.org

Jan 20 2011

Democratic presidential nomination

On January 25, 1972, Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm became both the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination Black major-party candidate to run for president of the United States.

Dec 9 2010

Civil Rights activist

Ella Baker, born Dec. 13, 1903, in Norfolk, Va., was a prominent, behind-the-scenes figure in the Civil Rights Movement. Known most for her work alongside more famous leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr., Baker inspired, mentored, and groomed some of the most up-front civil rights leaders and liberationists of the 20th century.

Her journey to leadership began as a child, when she listened to the stories her formerly-enslaved grandmother told her about slave revolts and the need to fight for justice.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.