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| Giants Edge Out Patriots For Super Bowl Win |
| Eli Manning and the Giants one-upped Tom Brady and the Patriots again, coming back with a last-minute score to beat New England 21-17 Sunday night for New York's fourth Super Bowl title. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:25:00 -0500) |
| Photos: Super Bowl XLVI |
| The New England Patriots have kicked off to the New York Giants to begin the Super Bowl. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:49:00 -0500) |
| Obama: Israel Undecided On Iran Attack |
| In an interview with NBC, the president sought to assure allies and foes alike that the United States was working in lockstep with Israel to solve the crisis, "hopefully diplomatically." He also said he deserved "a second term" as president, though he acknowledged the economy still needed work. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:14:00 -0500) |
| Stopping The 'Brain Drain' Of The U.S. Economy |
| Recent surveys show that a large percentage of graduates from the nation's top schools are taking jobs in consulting or finance. But students at some top schools have begun protesting recruitment drives by financial firms in an effort to steer students away from the financial sector. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:39:00 -0500) |
| Fewer Autopsies Mean Crucial Info Goes To The Grave |
| Autopsies are conducted on just 5 percent of patients who die in hospitals, and experts say that is a troubling trend that has broad implications for public health in America: Death certificates aren't as accurate as they could be, and that information drives research dollars and public health spending. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:56:00 -0500) |
| U.S. Floats Coalition On Syria After U.N. Veto |
| U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Sunday for "friends of democratic Syria" to unite and rally against President Bashar Assad's regime. The move previews the possible formation of a formal group of like-minded nations to coordinate assistance to the Syrian opposition. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:05:00 -0500) |
| Russia's Hottest Protest Song, Courtesy Of The Military Elite |
| An Internet hit is becoming the anthem for Russian protesters as they march against Vladimir Putin's rule. The musicians in the video aren't rock stars; they're veterans of the Russian army. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:09:00 -0500) |
| Egypt To Try 19 Americans Over NGO Funding |
| A lawyer for several of the organizations under investigation said the activists also include 2 Germans, 5 Serbs, 3 Arabs and 14 Egyptians. They have been referred to trial on charges they illegally provided foreign funding to non-governmental organizations. Among those being investigated is the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:21:00 -0500) |
| Support, Protest And Hiccups During The Nev. Caucus |
| Mitt Romney was the big winner in Saturday's Nevada caucus, leaving runner-up Newt Gingrich in the dust. Organizers said tens of thousands of people participated in the West's first presidential contest of the year, and some of them were still taking part late into the night. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 -0500) |
| Voting Their Own Way: Maine's Extra-Long Caucuses |
| In the midst of a primary season where every state is trying to outdo the rest, Maine is content to do caucuses its own way. The state's many small towns have long held individual caucuses any time between January and March, and the state Republican Party's efforts to reel them into a single week has had mixed success. Host Rachel Martin speaks with political writer Al Diamon. |
| Read More...(Source: News - Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 -0500) |
| Sojourner Truth |
| Born into slavery in New York State in the 1790s, Sojourner Truth never learned to read or write. Yet she became known as a passionate and intelligent advocate for the abolitionist cause as well as for women's rights. As she did not write down her speeches, we have to rely on accounts of those who heard her speak, and some of the accounts are disputed. What is clear is that she was involved in religious and utopian movements in New York before moving on to becoming very involved in the abolition movement. She became known as a feminist and anti-slavery speaker. Sojourner Truth, lacing her speeches with recollections of her life as a slave, radiated moral authority. And her concerns, which she expressed before many audiences, would provide inspiration for the feminist movement as well as the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. More about Sojourner Truth: Biography of Sojourner Truth Transcript of her Ain't I A Woman? speech Vintage Images: Sojourner Truth Photograph: Sojourner Truth/Getty ImagesSojourner Truth originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Saturday, February 4th, 2012 at 18:37:02.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |
| Black History Month |
| As we commemorate Black History Month, it's an ideal time to pay tribute to the life and career of historian Carter G. Woodson, who is often cited as the creator of the field of African-American History. Woodson, who passed away in 1950, did not live to see the great achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, but his groundbreaking work inspired many and led to the creation of Black History Month. Woodson promoted the week of February 7, 1926 as the first Negro History Week, as it would include the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Woodson's hope was that young African Americans would celebrate the accomplishments of their ancestors. Over the years the tradition developed of observing Negro History Week. And during America's bicentennial celebrations in 1976 the idea was expanded to Black History Month, which was made official by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. Illustration: Historian Carter G. Woodson/Getty Images Black History Month originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 14:16:54.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |
| The 13th Amendment |
| The Emancipation Proclamation, which President Abraham Lincoln issued on January 1, 1863, was destined to be a temporary measure. It invoked the war powers of the presidency, and it declared that slaves in the states in rebellion to the United States were free. In a practical sense, the Emancipation Proclamation did not actually free many slaves. For complicated political reasons, the border states during the Civil War were exempt from Lincoln's proclamation. And slaves were not actually freed in the South until the Union Army took possession of a region. What was needed was an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and one was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865. The 13th Amendment, which would end slavery in the United States, was signed the next day by President Lincoln. As part of the process of ratification, the new amendment was submitted to the states for passage by their legislatures. After enough states approved it, the text of the 13th Amendment was considered ratified and it became part of the Constitution on December 6, 1865.The 13th Amendment originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 23:24:47.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |
| Home of Josiah Henson In the News |
| The Washington Post's Civil War blog published an interesting item about the home of Josiah Henson, whose life is generally believed to have been an inspiration for the abolitionist novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The house in Maryland where Henson lived and worked as a slave from the late 1700s to 1830 has been restored and added to the National Register of Historic Places. Now known as the Josiah Henson Special Park, the location, in North Bethesda, Maryland, will be the site of special programs to mark Black History Month. When Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin she based characters on real people. And Henson, who had escaped to freedom in Canada in 1830, was likely the inspiration for the character of George Harris, a fugitive slave. Henson wrote his own life story in the late 1840s, which he updated in the late 1850s, following the success of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Prior to the Civil War, Henson aided a number of fugitive slaves who arrived in Canada. He remained in Canada after the war, and died in 1883 at the age of 93. Illustration: Josiah Henson/Getty Images Home of Josiah Henson In the News originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 22:48:04.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |
| Remembering Melvinia |
| Seeing the first lady take her seat in the visitor's gallery of the House of Representatives for President Obama's State of the Union address was a reminder of the history of America and its people. In 1850, presidents did not yet deliver their Constitutionally required message to Congress in person. And the Compromise of 1850, which was hammered out in the Capitol, gave America the Fugitive Slave Act, one of the most despised and controversial laws ever enacted. And in that same year, 1850, a plantation owner in South Carolina wrote his will, and among his possessions he listed a 6-year-old girl known simply as Melvinia. She was a slave. Melvinia would eventually live in freedom. And in the years after the Civil War, she would raise children. We know something of Melvinia, who took the last name McGruder, thanks to research by a genealogist and researchers from the New York Times, which published an article about her family in 2009. When Melvinia died in 1938, in her 90s, her death certificate indicated that she may not have known the names of her parents. Yet we all know one of Melvinia's descendants. And we saw her welcomed by members of Congress as she took her place of honor in the House gallery. Melvinia's great-great-great-granddaughter is Michelle Obama, the first lady of the United States. Photograph: First Lady Michelle Obama at the State of the Union Address/Win McNamee/Getty Images Remembering Melvinia originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 23:43:34.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |
| The Tuskegee Airmen |
| The new George Lucas action film "Red Tails" tells the story of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, a celebrated group of African-American fighter pilots in World War II. The very existence of the squadron was a milestone. The U.S. Army was still segregated during the war, and it took the intercession of the Roosevelt administration to authorize the training of black pilots. As they were trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, they became known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Under the command of Benjamin O. Davis, an Army Air Force officer who eventually was promoted to general, the pilots battled racism and countless obstacles when their first squadron began flying combat missions in 1943. Eventually the top brass realized the value of the pilots, and more squadrons of Tuskegee Airmen were trained and began flying missions over Europe. The pilots compiled an impressive service record, winning many medals and distinguishing themselves as bomber escorts, bravely engaging in dogfights with German fighter pilots. Illustration: Wartime poster depicting a Tuskegee Airman/Getty Images The Tuskegee Airmen originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 17:38:20.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |
| Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
| As we pause to observe Martin Luther King Day, it's a good time to look back on his career. Dr. King first came to prominence as a leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and his name became closely associated in the public mind with the Civil Rights Movement. His "I have a dream" speech in August 1963 is often quoted, and it stands out as a classic American oration. And his "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" is also considered a major essay of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King's colleague in the Civil Rights Movement, John Lewis, who is now a congressman from Georgia, remarked this morning on Twitter that today should be "a day on, not a day off," and urged Americans to get involved in a day of service in their communities. And Congressman Lewis also remembers his first meeting with Dr. King in a touching video at the Washington Post's tribute to the great leader of the Civil Rights Movement. Photograph: Martin Luther King, Jr./Getty ImagesDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Monday, January 16th, 2012 at 10:19:44.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |
| Langston Hughes |
| The author Langston Hughes was one of the most influential black writers of the 20th century. Known primarily as a poet, Hughes was also accomplished as a writer of fiction and drama. Born in Missouri in 1902, Hughes attended college in New York City for a year before sailing to Europe as a merchant seaman. Eventually returning to America, he became strongly associated with the Harlem Renaissance, along with such writers as Zora Neale Hurston and Countee Cullen. The poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," which Hughes wrote while crossing the Mississippi, first appeared in 1921. The poem evokes African heritage, and is widely anthologized. Hughes's first collection of poems, The Weary Blues, appeared in 1926. The essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," which Hughes published in 1926, was considered something of a manifesto for black writers and artists in America. In 1930 Hughes published his first novel, Not Without Laughter, and throughout the 1930s he wrote a number of plays and short stories. Langston Hughes traveled extensively, was active in radical politics, and wielded considerable literary influence until his death, in Harlem, in 1967. Photo: Langston Hughes/Getty ImagesLangston Hughes originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 22:51:41.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |
| Slave Rebellions |
| Uprisings by slaves didn't happen often. But a few notable incidents made a constant fear of slave rebellions resonate deeply in the American South. The Stono Rebellion, in 1739, was the largest slave revolt in colonial America. Slaves along the Stono River in South Carolina, some of whom had served as soldiers in Africa before being sold into slavery, planned their actions carefully. After seizing weapons, the slaves, in military formation and flying flags, tried to march south to Florida. The local militia located and attacked them, killing many. Nearly a century later, Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831 terrified Virginians. Turner, a slave who spoke of having religious visions, led a band of about 50 men, seizing weapons and murdering whites. A local militia attacked Turner and his men, and Turner was eventually hunted down. After a trial he was hanged. When the fanatical abolitionist John Brown seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859, it sent a shock wave through southern society as the fear of slave rebellions had always been so pervasive. Indeed, laws which had been passed to prevent slave rebellions, and the violence unleashed to put them down, demonstrated that slavery was not the benign and human institution its supporters often claimed. Illustration: Capture of Nat Turner/Getty ImagesSlave Rebellions originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 15:58:51.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |
| The Civil Rights Movement In the 1950s |
| The Civil Rights Movement can often seem synonymous with the 1960s, especially as many iconic photographs from that decade became enduring symbols. Yet the previous decade was also a fascinating time. While the Civil Rights Movement may not have been at center of American life in the 1950s, great strides were being made. The cause of a Kansas third-grader forced to attended a segregated school made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the landmark desegregation case Brown vs. Board of Education. In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in December 1955, and her dedication led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In Little Rock, Arkansas, federal troops were dispatched in 1957 to enforce the desegregation of Little Rock Central High. A timeline of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s illustrates the profound changes that were occurring as the stage was being set for the 1960s. Photograph: Attorney and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, at a 1955 press conference discussing Civil Rights cases/Getty ImagesThe Civil Rights Movement In the 1950s originally appeared on About.com African-American History on Thursday, January 5th, 2012 at 11:22:59.Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Read More...(Source: About African-American History) |