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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: civil rights

civil rights stories: 85 news summaries

21 - 40 of 85 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next >>

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OPINION

 Gays Deserve 
 Reparation Checks 


Apr 7, 09 5:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - “The time has arrived to place economic reparations for gay and lesbian Americans on the political agenda,” Jacob Appel writes in the Detroit Free Press. Equality under the law is inevitable, if still a few years out; meantime, homosexuals must be compensated for their trouble. “While the... More »

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gay rights • gay marriage • equality • workplace discrimination • civil rights • gays • reparations • second-class citizen

(Newser) - Gay marriages will begin taking place in Iowa on April 24, the Des Moines Register reports. The state supreme court’s ruling today that prohibiting the unions is unconstitutional applies to Iowans as well as visitors, because the state has no residency laws for marriage. “I’m off the... More »

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gay rights • Iowa • gay marriage • civil rights • Chet Culver • Iowa Supreme Court

New Photos Bare Aftermath of King's Death

Life finally releases
grim images taken
after assassination

Apr 3, 09 4:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - Newly published photographs by a Life magazine lensman capture the aftermath of the shocking assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., including a motel worker sweeping away the blood of the civil rights crusader. Few journalists traveled to Memphis after the assassination, and Life declined to run the photos after his... More »

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photograph • civil rights • photographers • Martin Luther King Jr. • Memphis • Life • civil rights movement • Life Magazine

Black Leaders Pin High Hopes on New AG

Civil rights advocates see opportunity for change under Holder

Feb 5, 09 9:23 AM CST
(Newser) - For decades, black men have been arrested, convicted, and sentenced to execution at disproportionate rates. Now, with the appointment of the country's first African-American attorney general, black leaders are hoping Eric Holder will help the Justice Department reform what they see as a broken system. "The most important thing... More »

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Department of Justice • civil rights • racial profiling • prison population • attorney general • African-Americans • Eric Holder • Obama administration

Witness to a Century, 105-Year-Old Goes to Capitol

'My hope for him is my hope for the country,' she says

Jan 20, 09 10:49 AM CST
(Newser) - Today’s inauguration of Barack Obama marks an important milestone in an African-American struggle that lasted more than 200 years—and Ella Mae Johnson isn’t going to miss it, NPR reports. After all, she’s been around for nearly half of that struggle. The 105-year-old Cleveland resident will brave... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • presidency • Cleveland • race relations • civil rights • inauguration • President Obama • inaugural address • WEB Du Bois

 Little Rock Desegregation 
 Heroes Mark New Era 

Former students who helped pave way for Obama presidency to attend inauguration

Jan 20, 09 1:53 AM CST
(Newser) - Five decades ago, nine teenagers walked into their new high school through screaming mobs who spat at them and shouted racist abuse. They were the first black students to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., and became known as the Little Rock Nine. Seven of them will attend... More »

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civil rights • Little Rock Nine • President Obama • Inauguration Day • desegregation • Brown v. Board of Education • Tuskegee Airmen • Melba Patillo Beals • Elizabeth Eckford

MLK Predicted Black US Prez
in 'Less Than
40 Years'

BBC unearths 1964 talk with civil rights leader

Jan 19, 09 8:48 PM CST
(Newser) - The BBC has dug up an archival interview of Martin Luther King, Jr predicting a black US president "in less than 40 years." Talking to the BBC's Bob McKenzie in 1964, King said he was encouraged by recent changes, like compliance with the Civil Rights Act, "that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • president • civil rights • Martin Luther King Jr.

Purge of 'Crazy Libs' by Bush Civil Rights Boss Broke Law

'Commies' pushed out for 'real Americans'

Jan 14, 09 3:44 AM CST
(Newser) - A Bush appointee who headed the Justice Department's civil rights division blatantly violated federal anti-bias laws in his hiring policies and then lied about it to Congress, according to government authorities. An internal report quotes emails from Bradley Schlozman, who ran the department from 2003 to 2006, in which he... More »

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Bush administration • Department of Justice • civil rights • bias • political appointee • Bradley Schlozman

(Newser) - William Zantzinger, the white Maryland tobacco farmer immortalized in a Bob Dylan song for the 1963 killing of a black Baltimore barmaid, has died. Zantzinger, inebriated from a night on the town, struck Hattie Carroll with a cane when she was slow bringing him a bourbon. Carroll, a 51-year-old mother... More »

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Maryland • Bob Dylan • racism • Baltimore • song • civil rights • manslaughter • William Zantzinger • Hattie Carroll

Belafonte, Sotheby's Cancel MLK Auction

King estate disputes ownership of papers

Dec 10, 08 9:23 PM CST
(Newser) - Sotheby's has canceled the auction of three Martin Luther King documents amid an ongoing feud between their owner—Harry Belafonte—and the King estate, the New York Times reports. MLK's heirs contend that Belafonte is not the rightful owner of the papers, which include an important King speech on Vietnam... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Lyndon Johnson • history • civil rights • Martin Luther King Jr. • Coretta Scott King • Harry Belafonte

 Folk Giant Odetta Dead at 77 

Odetta's powerful songs were soundtrack of '60s struggle

Dec 3, 08 2:37 AM CST
(Newser) - The woman Martin Luther King Jr. called "the queen of American folk music" has died of heart failure at the age of 77, the New York Times reports. Odetta was a huge influence on dozens of musicians from Bob Dylan to Janis Joplin as her powerful voice and songs... More »

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civil rights • folk • singer • Rosa Parks • civil rights movement

King Family Wants Cut of Obama-King Souvenir Cash

The dream may be passed down, but not the brand

Nov 14, 08 11:41 AM CST
(AP) - The family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is demanding a share of the proceeds from the sudden wave of T-shirts, posters, and other merch pairing the civil rights leader with Barack Obama, the AP reports. Obama may have inherited the dream, but they own the brand, says the... More »

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Barack Obama • brands • merchandise • civil rights • Martin Luther King Jr. • civil rights movement

Prop 8 Splits California's
Gays, Blacks

African-Americans argue gay marriage isn't a civil rights issue

Nov 8, 08 11:14 AM CST
(Newser) - California's narrowly passed ban on gay marriage has divided many of the state's gays and blacks on the issue, the Los Angeles Times reports. Exit polls show that black voters—who turned out in record numbers—backed the ban by around 70%, the biggest margin of any ethnic group. Some... More »

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gay rights • California • gay marriage • civil rights • Election 2008 • civil rights movement • African-Americans • Proposition 8

OPINION

Despite Prop. 8, Gay Rights Will Prevail: Sullivan

All civil-rights struggles have setbacks, gay Atlantic scribe reminds

Nov 5, 08 3:33 PM CST
(Newser) - Though news of California banning gay marriage is “heart-breaking,” Andrew Sullivan takes solace in the progress that has been achieved for gay rights, he writes for the Atlantic. Marriages, like Sullivan’s own, performed in Massachusetts or Connecticut are still valid. The California initiative can be rolled back,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • gay rights • Massachusetts • Connecticut • civil rights • Andrew Sullivan • Proposition 8

Senate OKs
Civil Rights-Era Cold-Case Unit

Bill would give Justice Department $10M a year to examine killings

Sep 25, 08 12:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - The US Senate unanimously passed a bill that would open a Justice Department unit to re-examine civil-rights era killings that have gone unpunished, the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger reports. The Emmett Till Act, named after the Chicago teen whose murderers confessed publicly, has also passed the House and will be... More »

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Department of Justice • hate crime • racism • civil rights • Emmett Till

Court Tosses Ex-Klansman's
Conviction in '64 Murders

Statute of limitations for kidnapping had expired, appeals panel rules

Sep 10, 08 3:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - A federal appeals court has thrown out last year's conspiracy and kidnapping conviction of an ex-Klansman involved in the murders of two black teens in Mississippi in 1964. Lawyers for James Ford Seale said they will seek to have the 72-year-old cancer patient, who was serving three life sentences, freed... More »

MORE ABOUT:
kidnapping • murder • appeal • hate crime • James Ford Seale • Ku Klux Klan • Charles Eddie Moore • Henry Hezekiah Dee • conspiracy • KKK • civil rights • statute of limitations

OPINION

After 43 Years, LBJ's Dream Is Realized Tonight

Voting Rights Act paved the way for Obama's candidacy, writes Caro

Aug 28, 08 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - As Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination tonight, author Robert A. Caro will be remembering another speech: Lyndon Johnson's 1965 address to Congress urging the passage of the Voting Rights Act. In that speech, which reduced Martin Luther King to tears, LBJ "adopted the great anthem of the civil... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Lyndon Johnson • Voting Rights Act • civil rights • voting rights • Martin Luther King Jr. • civil rights movement

Some Blacks Think Obama Could Threaten Progress

Experts fear success could close discussion

Aug 25, 08 8:43 AM CDT
(Newser) - Despite being a landmark in black American history, Barack Obama’s pending nomination could stall civil rights progress, some blacks say, because his success could fuel an argument that racial divisions have been healed, the New York Times reports. The danger is “that we declare victory,” a sociologist... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • African Americans • race relations • Voting Rights Act • Civil Rights Act • civil rights • African-Americans

Advocates Work to Get Ex-Cons in Voting Booths

New laws make
tens of thousands eligible to vote again

Aug 11, 08 1:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - Grass-roots activists in states across the country are working to register an unusual bloc of potential voters: former felons. While nearly all states limit the right of convicted criminals to vote, most offer avenues back to the voting booth in varying degrees, the Washington Post reports. In the potential swing... More »

MORE ABOUT:
prison • voting • civil rights • voting rights • felon • voter registration

Opinion

 No Stopping
 Gay Marriage's
 Mass. Appeal 

Equality has been uphill climb for homosexuals, but history's on their side

Jul 17, 08 1:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - With Massachusetts legislators set to repeal a law ex-Gov. Mitt Romney hoped would prevent the state from becoming “the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage,” Gail Collins, in the New York Times, looks at the march toward equality. For one thing, with the economy the way it is, “... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Mitt Romney • gay rights • gay marriage • tourism • Massachusetts • civil rights • interracial marriage

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