What Black youth need, Morris Brown president out, RIP Claudette Colvin
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What I’m Reading
What Black youth need to feel safe, The Nation
Dani McClain spent months talking with therapists, youth development workers, families, and scholars about the mental health crisis Black youth are facing. A narrow focus on outdoor play and social media doesn’t appropriately address what’s happening in the lives of Black teens, she explains. But a group of Cincinnati teens believes they have the answers.
NewsOne’s documentary, “One Year Later: The Eaton Fire,” examines how the devastating fire has forever reshaped Altadena’s Black community, highlighting grief, displacement, and the struggle to rebuild.
The women upholding Baltimore’s tradition as a quilt city, Baltimore Beat
“The African American Quilters of Baltimore, a vibrant guild of artists and craftspeople, is a crossroads for master quilters, fine artists, hobbyists, textile collectors, and beginners to gather and exchange knowledge that keeps these traditions alive and evolving,” MacKenzie River Foy writes for the Baltimore Beat.
What’s In The News
Across America
Arkansas: Prisoners in Arkansas will no longer be allowed to receive books or magazines from outside sources beginning on Feb. 1…
Florida: A new exhibit at the Old Dillard Museum, “Sistrunk Then & Now,” showcases the history of the oldest Black neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale…
Illinois: As Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson highlights the city's falling crime rates, community groups say they need more funding to sustain that trend…
Indiana: Martin University, the state’s only predominantly Black institution of higher education, is closing its doors…
Louisiana: A new study shows Louisiana State Police Department troopers used force against Black people at a far higher rate than the amount of Black people in the state…
Michigan: Four Black employees working under Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson have filed a civil lawsuit, alleging workplace racial discrimination…
Minnesota: A labor-community coalition is calling on residents to refuse to work, shop, or go to school on January 23 following an ICE takeover…
Mississippi: Understaffing and gang violence in Mississippi’s prisons led to dozens of incarcerated people being killed in the last 10 years, according to the Marshall Project…
New Hampshire: A state representative appeared to advocate for “segregated schools” in an alleged leaked group chat…
New Jersey: In his final act, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order to restore jury service to roughly 350,000 people who were banned for life…
North Carolina: Marissa Carmichael, a Black mother of five, was last seen on surveillance footage at a gas station in 2024, after calling 911. Authorities are asking the public to share any tips…
Pennsylvania: A local group identifying as part of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense has emerged as the Trump admin sends federal agents to cities nationwide…
Texas: Harris County is the deadliest place in the U.S. for Black mothers to give birth…
Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Republican Party confused two Black candidates for governor on social media...
What’s Happening
Morris Brown College President Dr. Kevin James announced that he was terminated today “without specific cause or substantive explanation,” leaving alumni and supporters stunned… HBCU scholar and expert Think Twice Tiffany is skeptical that his ouster is simply another example of board overreach…
Capital B News: Nearly five decades after Stevie Wonder helped to galvanize support for the holiday, historians tell Brandon Tensley that Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy is being undone…
The Trump admin, which says it was investigating fraud in blue states, gave a pass to Mississippi and ignored a massive welfare fraud investigation centering on public funds funneled to Brett Favre and others…
A viral moment between an NFL head coach and longtime reporter Lynn Jones-Turpin sparked a heated conversation about journalism standards. I wrote about what I felt the discourse was missing… Jones-Turpin turned the moment into a positive one, and now she’s on a press run, talking with Kevin Hart and others.
A predominantly white city in Mississippi labeled a historic Black neighborhood as “blighted” in an effort to redevelop 320 acres. They didn’t tell the Black residents who actually live there, Aallyah Wright reports for Capital B News…
Renee Nicole Good’s killing is part of a system Black Americans have long warned the country about, Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier writes for Word In Black…
The UNCF released a study that showed over 60% of the high school students it surveyed were unfamiliar with HBCUs…
Black in Appalachia, a nonprofit that documents the history, culture and contributions of Black families in the Appalachian region, has released its 2025 report…
HuffPost is always accepting pitches for personal essays, and we need more from Black writers. Here’s an example of one of our latest: A basketball coach accused my son of cheating because he ‘looked too old.’ He is 11 — He’s just tall and Black…
Months after Florida authorities said they were forced to shoot and kill an armed man, the man’s family says newly released video tells a different story about the incident…
The borough of Media, Pennsylvania, has a new, millennial mayor. And she “has a passion for urbanism, affordable housing, and comic books”...
Entertainment News
Issa Rae is taking her talents to Paramount, having snagged a three-year first-look film and television producing deal at the studio…
Mosaic Theater Company is preparing a new musical biography of John Lewis’ formative years…
Muhammad Ali is being honored for the first time with a commemorative U.S. postage stamp…
Salt-N-Pepa’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group over control of their master recordings has been dismissed…
West Coast legend Kurupt is battling an undisclosed illness in the hospital but is slowly getting better…
J. Cole announced that his long-awaited new album, “The Fall-Off,” is set to arrive on Feb. 6…
Golden Globes: Teyana Taylor won Best Supporting Actress for “One Battle After Another,” and “Sinners” won at the Golden Globes for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement…My colleague Njera Perkins wrote about how “Sinners” ruled the year in film, but only nabbed two wins…
Angela Bassett will be recognized for her career achievements at the 8th American Black Film Festival Honors in February…
Music executive LA Reid settled a lawsuit by Drew Dixon, a former employee who accused him of sexual assault and harassment…
Ludacris and Nelly are drawing criticism for their participation in a MAGA-friendly music festival…
Coco Jones recently stopped by NPR’s Tiny Desk to deliver an amazing performance. I recently went to a star artist’s Tiny Desk recording; their announcement will be coming in a few weeks…
Andscape: Black Sports Moms was “created to equip Black mothers with the knowledge, resources, and confidence to navigate an often opaque and unforgiving sports industry on behalf of their children”…
There’s still room for growth, but this could be the most diverse U.S. Olympic winter roster ever assembled…
Paste Magazine: “Donny Hathaway died young, but his work on ‘Come Back, Charleston Blue’ is still influencing musicians.”...
Meagan Good and Jonathan Majors have been granted citizenship in Guinea…
Obituaries
John Forté, the Grammy-nominated musician known for his work with the Fugees, has died. He was 50…
T.K. Carter, who appeared in the horror film “The Thing” and “Punky Brewster” on television, has died. He was 69…
Kristen Pierce-Sherrod, the daughter of the man who founded the iconic Chicago restaurant Harold’s Chicken, has died. She was 55...
I spoke with WUSA9 about Marckell Williams, a young photographer who was killed when a driver sped through traffic in DC and struck him…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute, 21 seconds…
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture launched a new exhibit, “At the Vanguard: Making and Saving History at HBCUs,” this week…
USC Annenberg is hosting a webinar titled “How Reporters Can Get Ahead of Misinformation” on Jan. 21. Kat Stafford, the global race and justice editor for Reuters, will be the featured speaker. Register here…
A show for the late Faith Ringgold highlights the artist’s extraordinary range with oil paintings, gouaches, figurines, textile works and ‘story quilts.’ It will leave New York on Jan. 24…
If you’re in Atlanta on January 21st, author Deborah Douglas will be in conversation with Axios’ Delano Massey about her book “U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler’s Guide to the People, Places, and Events That Made the Movement”...
Black and Viral is seeking Webby nominations from Black creatives. The deadline has been extended to Friday, February 6. You can submit here, and learn about the categories here…
“She Speaks: Black Women Artists and the Power of Historical Memory” will open at the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, starting on February 7. Register for the opening reception here…
The folks over at NPR “Code Switch” are looking at the history of moral panics in the U.S., and why they so often invoke fears about race and integration…
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