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Civil rights activist Lena Horne dies at 92

Lena Horne died this week at the age of 92. More than just a brilliant singer and actress, she was a pioneering civil rights activist, breaking racial barriers for generations of African-Americans who have followed her. She fought segregation and McCarthyism, was blacklisted, yet persisted to gain worldwide fame and success. Her grandmother signed her up as the youngest member of the NAACP as a 14-month-old.

Hers is the story of the 20th century, of the slow march to racial equality, and of remarkable perseverance.

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naacp Entertainment civil rights

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Colour line hasn't been erased

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As it moves into its second century, the NAACP is, unfortunately, as relevant as ever.
Columnists

Colour line hasn't been erased

W.E.B. Du Bois' classic 1903 work The Souls of Black Folk opens with "The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line." Du Bois helped form the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which just celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., who directs Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, knows much about the colour line -- not only from his life's work, but from life experience, including last week, when he was arrested in his own home.

Gates' lawyer, Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree, said in a statement that the arrest occurred as Gates returned from the airport:

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Obama racism naacp Discrimination racial injustice Sonia Sotomayor african americans people of colour

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Weekly Audit: Progressive pressure is repairing the economy

By The Media Consortium
| March 19, 2009

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Blogger

Progressive media is sounding the alarm on the AIG bonus scandal, demanding that policymakers stop repeating Bush administration mistakes and offering concrete solutions to the dire economic situation those missteps have created.

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