Underground railroad in NYC, Black newspapers close, FAMU admits 'mistake'
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What I’m Reading
As America turns 250, the fight over Black history intensifies, Axios
Axios’ It’s Dee-LAN-oh! 👈🏽 🤷🏽♂️ explored how America’s 250th anniversary is colliding with an ongoing battle over Black history during the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. Trump’s administration is “actively shrinking institutions that preserve and teach that history,” he writes.
Related: A white historian claimed that Black people ‘had no history.’ Carter G. Woodson dedicated his life to proving otherwise…
More: Black History Month celebrations continue in higher education despite the attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Obama meme on Trump’s Truth Social was exactly what it looked like, The Atlantic
“The ‘joke’ that Trump’s account spread is plainly sinister. The idea that Black people sit somewhere between white people and apes has long been used to justify cruelty,” Hana Kiros writes in The Atlantic.
Related: AP’s Matt Brown spoke with the congressional Black caucus chair, Rep. Yvette Clarke, about the racist meme. He also published a roundup of what Republicans, who rarely criticize Trump, had to say.
In Capital B News, Chauncey Alcorn found that the racist meme was not a dealbreaker for some Black Georgia Republicans.
A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years.
When I posted this video online, I (not surprisingly) received many comments saying that New York was a free state, so it was impossible for an Underground Railroad stop to exist there. But actually, there were stops on the Underground Railroad in places like New York!
What’s In The News
Across America
California: San Francisco has been sued over its reparations plan as a right-wing group claims the plan unconstitutionally discriminates based on race and ancestry…
Colorado: A new law requires K-12 public schools to integrate Black history and cultural studies into their curriculum by 2028…
Connecticut: A Black Solidarity Conference held at Yale University included panels and networking events for students from across the country.…
District of Columbia: J. Cole made a stop at Howard University to promote his latest album…
Florida: A Florida A&M University law student says the school told her to remove the word ‘Black’ from a Black History Month event flyer. Now FAMU says it was a mistake…
Georgia: In a major victory, Gullah Geechee people fought off developers with a historic referendum…
Illinois: According to columnist Alden Loury, it’s time to “build on vacant land in Black neighborhoods to stop the exodus of Chicagoans”…
Kentucky: Fawn Weaver’s whiskey company, Uncle Nearest, “will remain in the hands of a receiver for at least another month”…
Louisiana: Black residents have won a key ruling in the ‘cancer alley’ environmental racism case…
Massachusetts: The Black population in Boston has continued to shrink since the COVID-19 pandemic, census survey estimates show…
Missouri: Five Black women were promoted to fire captain at the St. Louis Fire Department...
New York: A Black woman who gave birth to a premature baby in a Syracuse jail was awarded $100,000 after Onondaga County agreed to settle her lawsuit…
Oregon: The Skanner — one of the few Black-owned newspapers in the Pacific Northwest — is shutting down…
Pennsylvania: The statue of Joe Frazier will move from the stadium district to the Philadelphia Museum of Art this spring…
South Carolina: A man who spent 15 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit has filed a lawsuit against Clarendon County and several state officials…
Texas: The racial wealth gap in the U.S. isn’t shrinking — it’s growing. Here’s how the Lone Star state ranks…
Virginia: The Richmond Free Press, a Black newspaper, is closing its doors after over three decades…
What’s Happening
The White House is set to host a Black History Month reception next Wednesday, February 18th, an official told Brianna Tucker…
“A notable number of Black residents are leaving Brooklyn — no longer able to afford it. I might be one of them,” Naomi Jackson writes in Curbed…
The latest story from my colleague Njera Perkins : Black Women’s HIV stories have long been undertold. This magazine hopes to change that…
Frederick Haynes III is running to fill Jasmine Crockett’s House seat. He’s also her pastor…
“Just Mercy” author Bryan Stevenson sat down with theGrio’s Natasha S. Alford in Montgomery, Alabama, to discuss telling truth that America can’t ignore….
Nike is facing a federal investigation for allegedly discriminating against white employees…
A historic Michigan home where Malcolm X once lived remains closed to the public nearly a year after the promised opening date…
100 years after the first Black homeowners in Piedmont, California, were forced out by their white neighbors and city officials, their great-granddaughter is suing for compensation and a formal apology…
A reparations committee in Evanston, Illinois, announced it will issue payments to 44 descendants this summer…
Axios: Atlanta’s Prince Hall Masonic Temple and Lodge is now part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park…
“As the U.S. accelerates its green transition to curb climate change, the South, as the birthplace of the environmental justice movement, remains the nation’s front line,” Augustina Boateng writes in Scalawag Magazine…
Author Wil Haygood provided LitHub with an excerpt from his latest book about the experiences of Black Vietnam veterans—and the current efforts to erase that history…
Phillis Wheatley wrote poetry while enslaved. Now, she is immortalized on a postage stamp…
Eric Morrison-Smith penned an op-ed about the revolutionary civil rights leader James Forman…
Entertainment News
Author Veronica Chambers published a list of Toni Morrison’s best books in the New York Times…
The Unpolished Edit created a comprehensive Black-owned beauty guide for Black History Month…
Simone Ledward Boseman talked with The Guardian about the shock of losing Chadwick, and how a revival of one of his plays helped her heal…
For Apartment Therapy, ellice ellis writes about growing up in a Black home, where the books on display meant more than decor…
Meet the Arlington, Virginia, hairstylists that Michelle Obama relies on…
A new video shows an HGTV star using the N-word on camera — and immediately begging for it to be deleted. Her show was also canceled…
The Grio’s Haniyah Philogene wrote about Charm La’Donna, the Black choreographer behind Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar & Beyoncé’s halftime shows…
Amy Sherald’s show set a visitor record at Baltimore Museum of Art, following her decision to withdraw her exhibition from the Smithsonian over censorship concerns…
Jennifer Hudson has signed on as a producer of the Broadway revival for “Dreamgirls”...
“After singing on the world’s top opera stages for more than 40 years, Denyce Graves took a final bow and is pivoting to teaching the next generation”…
Charlie Woods, Tiger Woods's son, has verbally committed to play golf at Florida State…
Halle Berry is featured on The Cut’s February 2026 cover and talked about next steps in her menopause-awareness mission…
Laila Edwards just became the first Black woman to score a goal during an Olympic hockey game…
ChatGPT caricatures are taking over social media—but at what cost?...
“Sinners” is now a part of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood with props, costumes and set pieces displayed in a new exhibit…
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has launched a 20-city U.S. tour under its new artistic director, Alicia Graf Mack…
With fewer daytime talk shows on air, Black women hosts are being left to navigate what comes next in a rapidly changing media industry, Kimberly Wilson writes for Essence...
Obituaries
Nathan Smith, the son of Lil Jon and musician known as DJ Young Slade, has died. He was 27…
Betty DeRamus, a prize-winning columnist for The Detroit News and author of two books about the Underground Railroad, has died. She was 84…
William Newman Jr., who served as Arlington’s first Black County Board member, chief judge of the county’s circuit court and later, an actor, has died…
Thelma Vernell Anderson Gibson, a pioneering nurse, civil rights advocate and longtime community leader in Miami, has died. She was 99…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute, 34 seconds…
Verso Books is offering 40% off a collection of both new and classic titles on Black History and Black Liberation…
Liberation Ventures wants to fund narrative change work in mass culture engagement, mass media development, and curated experiences. Details…
Black Ink is hosting a Black artist-centered open house on Feb. 14 in Hyattsville, Maryland…
On Feb. 19, the WABJ is teaming up with the Conservation Fund for a talk about the urgent threats facing historic Black sites at the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service & Heritage…
Los Angeles: The Nipsey Hussle Square sign dedication ceremony will be held February 28th at the southwest corner of Crenshaw & Slauson…
Two events in Baltimore you should check out: The Baltimore Association of Black Journalists is hosting a community town hall on the future of local journalism on Feb. 19…Learn about the legacy of the Baltimore Black Sox, one of Baltimore’s historic Negro League baseball teams, on Feb. 21…
NPR Code Switch explored the history of Black History Month on its 100th anniversary…
The latest episode of “Lost Credits” podcast examines the rise of 1990s Black family sitcoms that centered Black girlhood and the impact of their decline…
Thanks for the mention, and for all your work. ✊🏾