Race

National

Combating Fear And Disinformation Regarding The 2020 Census

8:43am March 08, 2020

A social media post has warned African Americans to not participate in the 2020 census. NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Jeri Green, a senior census advisor at the National Urban League about it.

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Postcolonial Love Poem: Poems, by Natalie Diaz

Books
Arts

Within A Legacy Of Colonization, 'Postcolonial Love Poem' Empowers Native Voice

1:37pm March 06, 2020

by Hope Wabuke

Poet Natalie Diaz returns, interrogating the lasting effects of colonization asking: If a colonizer's influence can't be eradicated from a culture, how can you push back against violence and erasure?

Politics & Government

Understanding The Black Vote In The Democratic Primary

4:24pm March 05, 2020

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Chryl Laird, associate professor of government at Bowdoin College, about the African American electorate in the 2020 election.

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Years Before Brown v. Board Of Education, There Was A Lawsuit For 'Equalization'

8:21am February 29, 2020

by Robbie Harris

Few remember a Virginia case in which an African American principal started a petition for equal school facilities and teacher pay in Pulaski, Va.

Science

Short Wave Celebrates Black Excellence In Science

10:35am February 28, 2020

by Emily Vaughn

To close out Black History Month, Short Wave is highlighting just a few of the many incredible black scientists we've featured so far on the show.

In her StoryCorps interview in September 2018, Olivia Hooker talked about her experience as the first black woman to enter the Coast Guard.

National

Before Making Military History, She Witnessed One Of History's Worst Race Riots

5:04am February 28, 2020

Olivia Hooker advocated for the military to open its doors to women of color. But even after policies started to change, "nobody seemed to be joining," she said. So she decided to join herself.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, by Cathy Park Hong

In 'Minor Feelings,' Asian American Racial Trauma Is Laid Bare

4:59am February 27, 2020

by Elise Hu

Cathy Park Hong's essays serve as a major reckoning, pulling no punches as the author uses her life's flashpoints to give voice to a wider Asian American experience, one with cascading consequences.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., speaks during a news conference about the Emmett Till Antilynching Act on Wednesday on Capitol Hill. He stands beside a photo of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American who was lynched in Mississippi in the 1950s.

Politics & Government

'It's About Time': House Approves Historic Bill Making Lynching A Federal Crime

9:30pm February 26, 2020

by Claudia Grisales

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act was overwhelmingly approved on a bipartisan vote. "It's never too late to repudiate evil," Rep. Bobby Rush said.

The Conestoga stand and face their final moments.

Books
Arts

How A Graphic Novel Resurrected A Forgotten Chapter In American History

1:21pm February 26, 2020

by Jess Kung

In Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga, Native artists retell the events of a brutal massacre in pre-Revolutionary Pennsylvania and bring a painful history to life on the page.

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot, by Mikki Kendall

Books
Arts

'Hood Feminism' Is A Call For Solidarity In A Less-Than-Inclusive Movement

4:59am February 26, 2020

by Ericka Taylor

Mikki Kendall reveals how feminism has failed to consider populations too often excluded from the movement's banner — and forgotten to weigh the breadth of issues affecting the daily lives of many.