Jimmy Carter

Julianne Malveaux  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Aug 30 2012

Counting the Cost

When I was all of 16 years old, I went to get a passport. Why? Richard Nixon had been elected president, and I was sure that he would impose such oppression that I might need to get out of the country.

Never mind that I had not two quarters to rub together and was under such parental supervision that I might not have made it to the corner without being hit upside the head.

I used my own little baby-sitting money to obtain that passport, because I felt that our nation was changing.

Dec 8 2011

‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’

The Blind Boys of Alabama will be gracing the Lancaster Performing Arts Center Stage on Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. with their “Go Tell It on the Mountain” Christmas show, just in time for the holidays.  

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
Mar 17 2011

Ties to Africa and Farrakhan cited

  On Saturday, March 12, an American naval battle group anchored around the aircraft carrier Enterprise gathered in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of civil-war-torn Libya, ready to provide either humanitarian aid or military intervention as the drama in that polarizing nation unfolds.

Gregg Reese  |   OW Staff Writer
Jan 13 2011

Understanding how the church became a focal point

Marching ’round Selma like Jericho,
Jericho, Jericho
Marching ’round Selma like Jericho
For segregation wall must fall
Look at people answering
To the Freedom Fighters call
Black, Brown and White American say
Segregation must fall

www.negrospirituals.com

Oct 7 2010

Grammy Award winning African American opera singer Leona Mitchell was born Oct. 13, 1949 in Enid, Okla., to Rev. Hulon and Pearl Olive Leatherman Mitchell.

She came from a very large family—she the 10th child of 15, and began her career in music singing in her father’s church choir.

After receiving her degree in music from Oklahoma City University, Mitchell became one of the top opera performers in the world, singing in Geneva, Paris, Madrid, and Sydney. Her debut with the San Francisco opera in 1972 catapulted her career to unimaginable heights.

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.