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Dominique Mann

TheGrio •

New book lionizes America’s first black public high school, source of many African-American greats

When acclaimed journalist and author Alison Stewart learned that her parents had graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., she knew their story pulsed with the greater history of African-Americans seeking to successfully navigate a segregated America.

“Dunbar had a life story, a heartbeat, and a reason for living,” Stewart told theGrio. “Teachers really instilled the idea, ‘don’t give up.’ The faculty was in the kids’ business. They talked to the neighborhood. They ta
TheGrio •

Bernice King reflects on father's legacy near 50th anniversary of March on Washington

Fifty years after civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his seminal “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, his daughter Bernice King will stand before her own pulpit during the anniversary of the historic March on Washington.

As the CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (also known as The King Center), King will participate in a series of events starting on August 21, ending with the anniversary on August 28, in Wa
TheGrio •

Saturday March on Washington: A call for environmental justice

August 28, 2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, which attracted hundreds of thousands to D.C. to call for economic equality. It was officially titled the “March for Jobs and Freedom,” but as people convene in the nation’s capital this weekend to commemorate the ’63 event with a new march, they will find that the scope of the original march demands have grown.

In addition to expanding to cover the needs of women and members of the LGBT community, the list of offic
TheGrio •

Loving v. Virginia case cited as legal precedent in interracial lesbian couple's marriage equality fight

During a road trip heading north from her hometown in Lynchburg, Virginia, Joanne Harris stopped at a friend’s house for a backyard cookout and caught the eye of a woman named Jessica Duff staring intently at her from the porch.

“As soon as I got out of the car, Jessi looked at me as if I was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life,” Harris reminisced as she endearingly turned to Duff in the Virginia home they now share, reliving how they first met in 2002.

Over a decade later,
TheGrio •

Dream Defenders to draft 'Trayvon’s Law' legislation from halls of Florida’s state capitol

Reverend Jesse Jackson announced his support of the Dream Defenders today, the latest in a string of high-profile affiliations, which includes entertainment and civil rights icon Harry Belafonte.

The Dream Defenders are leading a push to repeal Stand Your Ground laws, address racial profiling, and launch a national discussion on issues catalyzed by George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman was found not guilty of the second degree and manslaught
TheGrio •

Hurricane Sandy: Communities of color recount their struggle to rebuild after superstorm

Hurricane Sandy struck parts of New York and New Jersey over a year ago but many residents on the eastern portion of the Rockaways in New York’s borough of Queens are still displaced and struggling to rebuild.

The recovery challenges of the upper-middle-class communities of the western Rockaway peninsula took center stage in the media, but some lower-income communities, the majority of which are African-American and Latino, are still struggling to rebuild with fewer resources.

Growing controve
Glamour •

After Every Trauma I’ve Faced as a Black Woman, I’ve Turned to the Woods

My experience of racial violence started in childhood. In middle school I trembled exiting the school bus one day, just minutes after classmates knocked my head into the back of the brown bus seats. I saw flashes of those same peers who not long before called me the N-word and versions of it while they chanted, drumming their index fingers on The Magic School Bus picture books. They followed up with whispers about the size of my lips and the watermelon printed on one of my “knockoff” T-shirts.
whitehouse.gov •

Statement by the President on the Passing of Grace Lee Boggs

Michelle and I were saddened to hear of the passing of author, philosopher, and activist Grace Lee Boggs. Grace dedicated her life to serving and advocating for the rights of others – from her community activism in Detroit, to her leadership in the civil rights movement, to her ideas that challenged us all to lead meaningful lives. As the child of Chinese immigrants and as a woman, Grace learned early on that the world needed changing, and she overcame barriers to do just that. She understood th
MSNBC.com •

In wake of new film 'The Butler,' black ex-White House staffers reflect

As the 50th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham approached and thousands celebrated the recent March on Washington commemoration, former White House Butler George Hannie relived his journey from 1940s segregated Alabama to the regal second floor residence of the President of the United States.

Born and raised in Northport, Ala., a city in Tuscaloosa County, Hannie grew up in the Jim Crow South. He remembered the police kicking him off street corners, and threaten