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Memorial to nation’s lynching victims opens
Elmore Bolling defied the odds against black men and built several successful businesses during the harsh era of Jim Crow segregation in the South. He had more money than a lot of white people, which his descendants believe was all it took to get him lynched in 1947.
Olympian and activist Lee Evans, who took iconic stand at 1968 Mexico City Games, dies at 74
Lee Evans, the record-setting sprinter who wore a black beret in a sign of protest at the 1968 Summer Olympics and then went on to a life of humanitarian work in support of social justice, died Wednesday, May 19, 2021, at age 74.
After video backlash, NCAA addresses inequities at women’s and men’s tournaments
The NCAA’s inequities in women’s sports are showing. And the NCAA officially, embarrassed mightily on social media, moved quickly to try to clean up the problems.
FBI detects breaches in two state voter systems
The FBI has found breaches in Illinois’ and Arizona’s voter registration databases and is urging states to increase computer security ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election, according to a U.S. official familiar with the probe.
Hate crime charges filed in Louisiana church fire
The white man suspected in the burnings of three African-American churches in Louisiana will remain in jail, denied bond Monday by a judge, as state prosecutors added new charges declaring the arsons a hate crime.
FBI finds no hate crime in old noose in Bubba Wallace’s NASCAR garage
NASCAR went to Talladega Superspeedway last weekend on heightened alert after Bubba Wallace, its only Black driver, took on an active role in a push for racial equality.
Washington NFL team drops racist name
The most polarizing name in North American professional sports is gone.
Smithsonian African-American history museum to open Sept. 24
Free Press wire reports The Smithsonian Institution will open the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24 in Washington.
30 members of Congress make pilgrimage to civil rights sites
About a dozen Democrats and Republicans prayed and sang “Amazing Grace” during a solemn ceremony last Friday at the site where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated nearly 50 years ago. The ceremony marked the start of a three-day congressional “pilgrimage” to sites with ties to the Civil Rights Movement in the South.
Serena getting ready for U.S. Open
Tennis champion Serena Williams is getting ready for the U.S. Open, which gets underway Aug. 26 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
Obamas break ground for $830M presidential library
After five years of legal battles, gentrification concerns and a federal review, Barack and Michelle Obama dug shovels into the ground Tuesday during a celebratory groundbreaking on their legacy project in a lakefront Chicago park.
Former WNBA player new part-owner of the Atlanta Dream
ATLANTA Former Atlanta Dream guard Renee Montgomery made history recently as part of a three-member investor group that was approved to purchase the team.
Monument to activist-journalist Ida B. Wells unveiled in Chicago
A monument to journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells was unveiled June 30 in Chicago.
Athlete power: ‘Shut up and play’ is tossed from the game
The sports world came to a halt last week as leagues postponed professional men’s and women’s basketball games, football practices, soccer matches, baseball games, hockey playoffs and tennis competitions as players protested the shooting of a Black man by police in Kenosha, Wis.
Oklahoma begins Tulsa race massacre centennial remembrance
Oklahoma began a centennial remembrance Jan. 1 of a once- thriving African-American neighborhood in Tulsa decimated by deadly white violence that has received growing recognition during America’s reckoning over police brutality and racial violence.
Texas church opens new sanctuary more than a year after massacre
A South Texas church began its next chapter of worship last Sunday as it unveiled a new sanctuary a year and a half after a gunman opened fire and killed more than two dozen congregants in the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history.
McDonnell, wife free; facing $10M legal bill
Former Gov. Bob McDonnell is officially a free man, but he paid a heavy price to get there. Federal prosecutors announced late last week they will not pursue a second trial against Mr. McDonnell or his wife, Maureen McDonnell, on corruption charges. The decision, announced Sept. 8, comes more than two months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction.
Jury selection begins in federal lawsuit against white supremacist organizers of deadly Charlottesville ‘Unite the Right’ rally
The violence at the white nationalists “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017 shocked the nation, with people beaten to the ground, lighted torches thrown at counterdemonstrators and a self- proclaimed Hitler admirer ramming his car into a crowd, killing a woman and injuring dozens more.
She's a Little League winner
Chicago squad also a standout
Mo’Ne Davis is taking the sporting world by storm with her pitching in the Little League World Series.
Varner wins big
Harold Varner III won the Australian PGA Championship on Sunday, becoming the first African-American to win a professional golf tournament since Tiger Woods.
