theblackbottom

Source:Colorlines.com
Florida scored a second big victory yesterday (here’s the first one) came in federal judge Robert Hinkle’s decision to strike the 48-hour deadline rule for groups handing in voter registration applications. Before Florida’s HB 1355 law was passed last year, completed registration applications could be turned in within 10 days, allowing for those [...]

Dear Sisters in Struggle,
I have been thinking a great deal lately about the struggles of black men. This is not to say I have not thought of the struggles of women or the declining fortunes of the American middle class or the working class or the poor in general, I have.  My letter to you [...]

Source: New York Times
Suppress the Vote!
By JIM ARKEDIS and LINDSAY MARK LEWIS
The grip of the super PAC on the Republican primary season has been well-documented. They are wrecking balls operating outside the candidates’ direct control, fueled by massive influxes of cash from a handful of wealthy patrons. The millions spent by [...]

Source: About.com Angela Davis, radical black activist and philosopher, was arrested as a suspected conspirator in the abortive attempt to free George Jackson from a courtroom in Marin County, California, August 7, 1970. The guns used were registered in her name. Angela Davis was eventually acquitted of all charges, but was briefly on the FBI’s [...]

Insularity kills! Institutional building requires leaders and followers to have a singularity of purpose.  Rarely do great institution come into being without the full commitment of all those involved. Institution building has a pernicious side, however.  Institutional leaders delude themselves into believing that wrongful deeds must be swept under the rug for the sake [...]

The Root.com

Filmmaker Obatala Mawusi said that the days he spent documenting the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City were “eye-opening.” In particular, the diversity he saw among the protesters belied the images of the movement in mainstream media. In early October 2011, Mawusi spoke to some of the black participants about why the [...]

Back in January we highlighted this new documentary with an interview with actor and activist Danny Glover on Democracy Now. Below you will find a link to some of the reviews.

Mark Jenkins, NPR: It probably never occurred to most students of the American black power movement that they should know more about the Swedish outlook [...]

“Clara Shepard Luper (born May 3, 1923 – June 8, 2011) was a civic leader, retired schoolteacher, and a pioneering leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. She is best known for her leadership role in the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-in Movement, as she, her young son and daughter, and numerous young members of the [...]

Fourah Bay College is the oldest “Western” style university in West Africa in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown.
Source: Wotay Kamara for AfricaNews
The road leading to this historic university is very narrow and in the morning hours students line up to wait for transportation to take them to mount Aureole as it popularly known. There, [...]

I love you friends for cocktails, but not politics. I love the urbane funny conversations that we have, but I must admit I hate discussing with you political struggle. You my friends are just too easily discouraged.  I don’t mean any disrespect, but the black freedom struggle has been going on for over hundred years [...]