Debate Allows Host Ole Miss to Show Progress on Race

More opportunity and a spiritual return among main reasons

(NEWSER) - The Great Migration may have come full circle. African-Americans are leaving large cities in the East and Midwest and moving to the South in the greatest numbers in decades, say demographers. Black New Yorkers especially have taken to the South—more than half of those who left the state in 2009 relocated to southern states. It's a sign of the inversion of the so-called "Great Migration" that saw African-Americans moving from from the South to industrialized northern cities between World War I and the '70s, reports the New York Times . More»

Black president one year, white the next

(NEWSER) - After enduring a ruckus over its segregated student government elections, a Mississippi middle school has nixed rules it says were put into place some three decades ago in order to ensure minority representation. Under the rules, white students were allowed to run for class president one year, black students the next. Other positions were similarly segregated at Nettleton Middle School, reports AP . More»

(NEWSER) - The bicentennial of Lincoln's birth will be celebrated Feb. 12, so expect endless tributes to the president beloved by ordinary citizens and historians alike. Unless, of course, you're south of the Mason-Dixon line, where anti-Lincoln views "aren't particularly radical," writes Alex Beam of the Boston Globe. Lincoln is viewed by many as a cynical politician who pushed the Civil War not to end slavery but to keep his party in office. More»

'Showdown' could switch to town hall meet if only Obama turns up today

(NEWSER) - What if they held a presidential debate and only one candidate came? The scenario is looking like a real possibility as the federal bailout deal stalls, the Wall Street Journal reports. John McCain has said he will fly to Mississippi for the debate only if an agreement is reached in Washington this morning, while Barack Obama has made it plain he will show up regardless of the status of the rescue package. More»

Historians fear King's life has been forgotten

(NEWSER) - In the decades since his death, Martin Luther King Jr. has been transformed from a flesh-and-blood figure into a one-dimensional icon. Historians fear memory has frozen King on the Washington Mall in 1963, reducing him to a soundbite and a “symbol that people use and manipulate for their own purposes,” says one professor. The Associated Press considers King's—there's that word again—legacy. More»