Black innkeepers own a thriving B&B. But they keep their identities hidden

“We knew when we opened our doors who our market would be – mostly white people,” said Marvin. Fearing their Black faces might deter potential guests, the Johnsons designed their website to promote the property’s serene surroundings and amenities. “That was on purpose,” said Anita. “We didn’t want to advertise that we were African Americans,…

Reggie Jackson Reveals the Harsh Racism During His Playing Career

“Coming back here is not easy. The racism…when I played here… The difficulty of going through different places where we traveled,” the Hall of Fame baseball player continued. “People said to me… ‘You think you’re a better person, you think you won when you played here and conquered?’ I said, you know, I would never…

How The Murder of Emmett Till Led To The Creation Of The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone was created by Rod Serling, who believed in using television as a platform for social activism and commentary.The show was initially inspired by the murder of Emmett Till, a Black teenager who was brutally killed in Mississippi in the 1950s.Serling’s attempts to directly adapt Till’s story were met with censorship, leading him…

Workplace Bullying: Weaponizing Belonging at Work

Belonging is an evolutionary longing in which connection equals protection, both for our bodies and souls (Sapolsky, 2004). Authentic connection is generative, encouraging us to grow while staying in alignment with our core values (hooks, 1996). True belonging encourages both interdependence, inviting us to lean on and support others, and independence, insisting we maintain personal…

The language we speak influences and shapes our perception of the world

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, also known as linguistic relativity, suggests that the language we speak influences and shapes our perception of the world. It posits that different languages can lead speakers to think differently about the same reality. A question was recently raised: How does the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis work when it comes to Third-Culture Kids? Third-Culture…

Shaping Tomorrow: The HBCU Legacy and American Democracy

New #VaryingViewpoints episode! 🎙️ 🗣️ Learn about the transformative potential of #highereducation exemplified by the #HBCU tradition! 👏 🎓 In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series, we invited John Silvanus Wilson Jr., author of Hope and Healing: Black Colleges and the Future of American Democracy and Visiting Lecturer at Morgan State University. John shares his background…

“Silence represents a theory of the Black man’s reality”

This beautifully written book argues that educators need to understand the social worlds and complex literacy practices of African American males in order to pay the increasing educational debt we owe all youth and break the school-to-prison pipeline. Moving portraits from the lives of six friends bring to life the structural characteristics and qualities of…