Black bookstores report, CBS News shakeup, RIP Bernard LaFayette
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What I’m Reading
The Trump administration can’t kill Black History Month, The Atlantic
For The Atlantic, Clint Smith explores the downstream effects of the Trump administration’s attack on Black history and how it has affected the ways schools, libraries, and corporations celebrate the February holiday. But “we don’t have to wait on the government to give us permission to learn a history we can reach for ourselves,” he writes.
Improbably famous, then perpetually forgotten. Now, the renaissance of Edmonia Lewis, The New York Times
You may or may not have heard of Edmonia Lewis, a 19th-century sculptor of Black and Indigenous ancestry whose marble sculptures achieved international acclaim. She was extremely popular in the 1860s and 1870s, friends with figures like Frederick Douglass, and was then largely overlooked. Today, scholars and artists are working to keep her story alive.
Related: Lewis’s work and life are now the subject of a new exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts…
There are only 3 Black NFL head coaches. Does that matter to players?, Andscape
Reporting from the NFL draft combine in Indiana, Martenzie Johnson asked Black football players for their thoughts on the men they entrust with their careers. There was no consensus.
Thank you to Essence Magazine for the shoutout!
What’s In The News
Across America
California: Black pedestrians are disproportionately killed on Sacramento streets. For one family, unanswered questions after a fatal crash only deepened the loss, Williamena Kwapo reports…
District of Columbia: The Howard University Department of Athletics has reportedly set new pregame rules requiring student-athletes to stand during the national anthem…
Florida: A group chat for Florida right-wing students was filled with over 400 instances of the N-word and writings of “dozens of ways of violently killing Black people”...
Georgia: Pinky Cole, the founder of the Slutty Vegan restaurant, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy…
Illinois: Chicagoans are expected to die earlier in West Garfield Park than in any other neighborhood in the city. A network of community gardens aims to close that gap…
Massachusetts: The digital library JSTOR examined how a dramatic 1836 courtroom escape led by primarily Black women “challenged slave hunters—and Boston’s elite”…
Michigan: State Rep. Karen Whitsett isn’t running for reelection, citing her commitment to Jesus Christ…
Mississippi: Author W. Ralph Eubanks talked with Capital B’s Aallyah Wright about his new book, and the inequality and history that shaped the Mississippi Delta…
New York: The Associated Press has a six-part audio series, “This City Was Black,” which explores what it means to be a Black New Yorker in 2026…
South Carolina: In a win for the Gullah Geechee people on St. Helena Island, access to a long-used cemetery has finally been restored…
Tennessee: 8Ball, one of the pioneers of Memphis hip-hop, was recognized by the state’s Black Caucus for his cultural impact…
Texas: Jasmine Crockett conceded the Texas Senate primary to James Talarico…Crockett’s pastor, Frederick Haynes III, has won the primary election for the seat she currently occupies…
Virginia: A century after segregation-era policies stripped Hampton University of its land grant status, a bill in the Virginia legislature aims help the school get it back…
What’s Happening
CBS News’ news: Gayle King will stay with “CBS Mornings” for the foreseeable future after signing a new deal…The show’s top producer, Shawna Thomas, will reportedly leave CBS News at the end of this month: “Frankly, I’m tired y’all”...
A leaked government database revealed the enormity of the Trump administration’s effort to scrub Black history and more at hundreds of national park sites…
Families have no choice but to turn to states for civil rights support as Trump dismantles the Education Department…ProPublica has sued the Education Department, accusing it of withholding public records about how it’s enforcing civil rights protections…
“More than half of all Black Americans live within 3 miles of a hazardous chemical plant,” Adam Mahoney reports…"
Trump has no justification to ban DEI, diversity experts say. But that doesn’t mean his administration won’t do its best to continue eliminating it…
Boston has recognized March 5th as Crispus Attucks Day, honoring the first person killed in the Boston Massacre 256 years ago...
On February 8, incarcerated folks in Alabama Dept of Corrections facilities initiated a work strike. For Scalawag Magazine, Incarcerated writer Michael Kimble outlines why the strike is essential…
Dorothy Butler Gilliam, the first Black woman reporter hired at The Washington Post, donated $10,000 to recently laid-off staff…
An effort to create a landmark to honor the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Mansfield school desegregation crisis is underway in Texas…
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis settled a lawsuit by the estate of Henrietta Lacks that claimed the company unjustly profited from her cells to make major medical advancements…
The kids are alright: North Carolina A&T State University students walked more than 30 minutes to a polling site after learning there was no early voting site on campus…
Capital B News is exploring how the county committee system played a key role in diminishing Black political power and resources for Black farmers…
Benedict College interim president Teresa Hardee talked with The Assembly about how the South Carolina-based HBCU is navigating financial uncertainty…
Enslaved 19th-century potter David Drake left messages for his descendants inscribed into the clay pots he crafted...
Stacy M. Brown, correspondent for Black Press Media, wrote about how pressure from right-wing news outlets led to the ousting of a Black dean at Harvard…
Nicole Carr wrote about the time she uncovered the racist text messages Ryan Millsap wrote in 2023. He’s now running for an open U.S. House seat in Georgia…
A Texas student has been expelled after posting an edited video of a basketball player’s face over the “Roots” character Kunta Kinte…
A Michigan-based bridge club of 90-year-olds gathers weekly to play cards, building community and strengthening mental acuity…
Entertainment News
The legendary De La Soul performed at the NPR Tiny Desk concert series this week. Watch above…
Awards season continues: Michael B. Jordan won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the Actor Awards…Ryan Coogler is the first director to helm two best ensemble winners in the history of the award show…Ryan Coogler and Delroy Lindo received a standing ovation at the NAACP Image Awards…
Related: Billboard’s Kyle Denis spoke with Ryan and Zinzi Coogler, Ludwig Goransson and Sev Ohanian about the future of Proximity Media’s music branch…Franklin Leonard sat down with Coogler for an interview on how “Sinners” became his most personal film yet…
Abe Beame penned an essay on the tragic state of hip-hop media archives and the fight for preserving hip-hop’s past...
Fashion brand Hanifa is pausing production indefinitely after nearly 15 years in business…
Antoine Fuqua’s long-awaited Netflix-backed biopic of Hannibal with Denzel Washington is set to start production in June…
Wild story: A tipster alleged that an assistant men’s basketball coach at California State University, Bakersfield was also “working as a pimp across four states”...
The trailer for “Scary Movie 6” is out, and people have a lot of thoughts…
Black horror writer Tananarive Due shared the art of crafting horror stories about real-life traumas…
“Abbott Elementary” has been renewed for a sixth season on ABC…
Netflix shared a new behind-the-scenes collage from the set of the upcoming “A Different World” series...
Obituaries
Christine Johnson McPhail, former president of St. Augustine’s University and a fighter for equity in higher education, has died. She was 80…
Joe Randall, who was widely acknowledged as the “dean of Southern Cooking,” has died. He was 79…
Bernard LaFayette, whose key work in Selma culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has died. He was 85…
Sidney Dorsey, who was convicted of setting up the assassination of his political rival in 2000, has died. He was 86…
For Andscape, Jesse Washington wrote about how the late James Bernard and “The Source” defined 1990s hip-hop…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute, 20 seconds…
Netflix’s Strong Black Lead is seeking entertainment super fans to host its new social series…
Sequoia Holmes’ podcast network is hiring a part-time producer for her podcast, “Black People Love Paramore”...
I’m excited to be moderating the DC Alphas’ mayoral forum at Kramer Middle School in Washington on March 11th…
The Washington Post has compiled a database of nearly 1,000 colleges and universities that offer free tuition programs…