Black Americans

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'True Unicorn' of Country Music Is 133 Years Old

Earliest known song of genre was recorded by Black singer Louis Vasnier of New Orleans in 1891

(Newser) - "Thirty years before some fiddlers from Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia started recording a new genre of music called 'hillbilly,' a Creole of color from the Seventh Ward of New Orleans named Louis Vasnier ... beat them to the punch." That's the catalog description for "Thompson'...

Judge Balks at Black Teen's Ask in Fight Over Dreadlocks

Darryl George wanted restraining order to stop Texas school from punishing him if he returns

(Newser) - A federal judge on Friday denied a request by a Black high school student in Texas for a court order that the student's lawyers say would have allowed him to return to his high school without fear of having his previous punishment over his hairstyle resume. Darryl George had...

Janet Jackson on Her Harris 'Apology:' Not So Fast

Pop star's team now says she didn't say sorry for conspiracy theory questioning whether VP is Black

(Newser) - Over the weekend, Janet Jackson reportedly apologized over remarks she made about Kamala Harris in reference to the vice president's racial and ethnic background. Now, Jackson's team says she didn't issue an apology after all, leaving the pop star's confusing comments about Harris floating in the...

After Affirmative Action Ban, Numbers Emerge on Campuses

Following 2023 SCOTUS ruling, Harvard, other elite schools see a dip in Black student enrollment

(Newser) - Last summer, a Supreme Court ruling squashed affirmative action at colleges and universities across the nation, with the majority deciding that taking race into account during the admissions process was a form of discrimination. Now, the numbers are in at Harvard on the fallout from that decision, with the enrollment...

Students Told 'Welcome Black BBQ' Needs a New Name

University of Missouri tells Black student group that the event will have to be 'welcoming to all'

(Newser) - A Black student group at a flagship Missouri university that was roiled by protests over race nearly a decade ago said it has been forced to rename an upcoming barbecue the Welcome Black and Gold BBQ instead of the Welcome Black BBQ, reports the AP . The Legion of Black Collegians...

Journalist Traces His Family's Freedom Fight Across Centuries

AP reporter Darren Sands honors ancestor who fought for Union during Civil War

(Newser) - Growing up in Roslyn, New York, Darren Sands found holes in his family history. As a journalist, he sought to fill them and uncovered a remarkable story of bravery that played out over a century before his time, less than 10 miles from where he grew up. In 2021, while...

An Overlooked D-Day Hero Finally Gets His Due

WWII medic Waverly Woodson Jr. posthumously awarded Distinguished Service Cross

(Newser) - For 30 hours, as mortar shells rained around him on Omaha Beach, Army medic Cpl. Waverly Woodson Jr. treated wounded Allied soldiers, even while wounded himself. For that brave act, Woodson has been posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, "the second-highest military decoration that can be awarded to a...

Family of Teen Executed, Then Exonerated: 'They Need to Pay'

Alexander McClay Williams was exonerated of murder in 2022, nearly a century after he died

(Newser) - The family of the youngest person ever executed in the state of Pennsylvania—a Black 16-year-old sent to the electric chair in 1931 and exonerated by the governor in 2022—is suing the county that prosecuted him. Alexander McClay Williams was convicted of murder in the October 1930 icepick stabbing...

Rap Battle Song Hits No. 1, and 'It's a Bit Disconcerting'

Andre Gee of 'Rolling Stone' muses on lyrics in Lamar's diss track on Drake

(Newser) - Earlier this month, Andre Gee declared in Rolling Stone that Kendrick Lamar "won the great rap war " between himself and Drake, a long-running feud that has resulted in a recent slew of diss tracks—including Lamar's "Not Like Us," which ascended to the No. 1...

Trump Says Black Americans Can Relate to His Indictments

Ex-president says at event that Black citizens understand him because he's discriminated against

(Newser) - Former President Donald Trump claimed Friday that his four criminal indictments have boosted his support among Black Americans because they see him as a victim of discrimination, comparing his legal jeopardy to the historic legacy of anti-Black prejudice in the US legal system. Trump argues he's the victim of...

Black Mom, 4 Kids Detained After Salon Day Get $1.9M Settlement

Children were handcuffed, made to lie on ground during stolen-vehicle mix-up

(Newser) - The Black mom and four children ordered out of their car by police at gunpoint and forced to lie on the ground (while handcuffed, in the case of two of the kids) have settled with the Colorado city involved in the 2020 incident. Aurora will pay Brittney Gilliam, her daughter,...

Mom of Boy Arrested for Public Peeing Wants Case Thrown Out

She won't sign probation agreement subjecting 10-year-old to curfew, possible drug tests

(Newser) - The mother of a 10-year-old child who was sentenced by a Mississippi judge to three months of probation and a book report for urinating in public has refused to sign his probation agreement and has asked for the charge against her son to be dismissed, the family's attorney announced...

3 Months Later, Black Student Still Being Punished for His Hair

Family has sued Texas leaders and the school district, claiming violations of the CROWN Act

(Newser) - Darryl George has received a second in-school suspension following three months of disciplinary action over his choice to wear his hair in locs. The Texas high school student who was suspended in August for violating Barbers Hill High School's dress code, then sent to an off-campus disciplinary program for...

Army Aims to Rectify 'Largest Mass Execution' in Its History

More than a century later, soldier convictions related to the 1917 Houston riots are overturned

(Newser) - It was, as the Washington Post reports, "the largest mass execution carried out in the history of the US Army." On Dec. 11, 1917, 13 Buffalo Soldiers were hanged in a military camp near Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. The African American cavalry soldiers of the...

Black Student Still Taking Stand Over Hairstyle

Darryl George has now been placed in a disciplinary school program in Texas

(Newser) - For more than a month, Darryl George, a Black high school student in Texas, spent each school day sitting by himself in punishment over his hairstyle . This week, he was sent to a separate disciplinary program, where he's been told he will spend several more weeks away from classmates....

At Texas School, a Fight Over Boy's Dreadlocks

Darryl George, 17, suspended for violating dress code same week a law protecting hair was enacted

(Newser) - The same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles, the AP reports that a Black high school student in Texas was suspended because school officials said his locks violated the district's dress code. Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, received an...

Deadliest Skin Cancer Is Deadliest for Black Men
Deadliest Skin Cancer Is
Deadliest for Black Men
NEW STUDY
Jul 11, 2023 11:36 AM CDT

Deadliest Skin Cancer Is Deadliest for Black Men

One factor that plays a role in the US: diagnosis delays, scientists say

(Newser) - Melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, is more common and more deadly in men than it is in women. It is also much more common in white men than in Black men, yet Black men ultimately fare worse, the reasons for which are explored in what's touted...

DOJ: This 'Made What Happened to George Floyd Possible'

After 2-year investigation, agency finds Minneapolis cops engaged in pattern of discrimination

(Newser) - The Justice Department accused Minneapolis police Friday of engaging in a pattern of violating constitutional rights and discriminating against Black and Native American people following an investigation prompted by the killing of George Floyd. The sweeping two-year civil rights investigation concluded that systemic problems in the Minneapolis Police Department "...

Surprise SCOTUS Ruling Hands Victory to State's Black Voters

Decision orders creation of second Black-majority district in Alabama

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case, ordering the creation of a second district with a large Black population, per the AP . Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court's liberals in...

Family: Cop Shot Black Boy 'for No Reason'

11-year-old Aderrien Murry was shot in chest by Mississippi officer who responded to his call: lawyer

(Newser) - A Mississippi family is calling for charges against a police officer who they say shot an 11-year-old boy "for no reason." Aderrien Murry's mother asked him to call police around 4am Saturday when a man with whom she's connected showed up at the family's Indianola...

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