“WHEATLEY SUDDENLY HAD A WIDE READERSHIP ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC,” WROTE HENRY LOUIS GATES. “IT MADE HER THE TONI MORRISON OF HER TIME.”
In 1770, when Phillis was seventeen, the revered Reverend George Whitfield passed away. He was a popu ...
Posted Wednesday, December 16th 2009 at 10:05PM
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JUPITER HAMMON (1711-1806?) BECAME THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WRITER PUBLISHED IN AMERICA WHEN HIS POEM APPEARED IN PRINT IN 1760. IN 1778 HE WROTE A POEM TO PHILLIS WHEATLEY, WHOSE BOOK OF POETRY WAS PUBLISHED IN ENGLAND IN 1773. HE LIVED HIS ENTI ...
Posted Tuesday, December 15th 2009 at 5:27PM
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KHADIJAH HAS FLOATED FROM SHELTERS TO MOTELS TO ARMORIES ALONG THE WEST COAST. SHE ATTENDED 12 SCHOOLS IN 12 YEARS. EVERY MORNING SHE UPHELD HER DIGNITY, MAKING SURE SHE DIDN’T SMELL OR LOOK DISHEVELED. ON THE STREETS, SHE LEARNED HOW TO HUNT FOR ...
Posted Monday, December 14th 2009 at 9:18PM
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“WHILE IN BOSTON, I HEARD OF A VERY EXTRAORDINARY FEMALE SLAVE WHO MADE SOME VERSES. I VISITED HER MISTRESS AND FOUND BY CONVERSING WITH THE AFRICAN THAT SHE WAS NO IMPOSTER. I ASKED HER IF SHE COULD WRITE ON ANY SUBJECT. SHE SAID YES.”
“As P ...
Posted Monday, December 14th 2009 at 6:42PM
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RECALL BACK IN 2007, THE OUTRAGE WHEN A RADIO SHOCK JOCK TOOK A CHEAP SHOT AND INSULTED THE RUTGERS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM THAT WENT TO THE NCAA FINAL FOUR THAT YEAR. ONE OF HIS TARGETS WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG LADY NAMED BRITTANY RAY, NOW ON COURS ...
Posted Sunday, December 13th 2009 at 9:36PM
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MANY AMERICANS ARE NOW CHOOSING TO “BLEND CHRISTIANITY WITH EASTERN OR NEW AGE BELIEFS” AND THAT “SIZABLE MINORITIES OF ALL MAJOR U.S. RELIGIOUS GROUPS SAID THAT THEY HAVE HAD SUPERNATURAL EXPERIENCES, LIKE ENCOUNTERING GHOSTS.
by CHARLES M. BLO ...
Posted Saturday, December 12th 2009 at 10:46PM
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“I FACE THE WORLD AS IT IS,” MR. OBAMA DECLARED. “MAKE NO MISTAKE: EVIL DOES EXIST IN THE WORLD. A NONVIOLENT MOVEMENT COULD NOT HAVE HALTED HITLER’S ARMIES. NEGOTIATIONS CANNOT CONVINCE AL QAEDA’S LEADERS TO LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS.”
By DAVID E. S ...
Posted Saturday, December 12th 2009 at 10:42PM
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“PHILLIS WAS BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA IN THE YEAR 1761, BETWEEN SEVEN AND EIGHT YEARS OF AGE. WITHOUT ANY ASSISTANCE FROM SCHOOL, EDUCATION, AND BY ONLY WHAT SHE WAS TAUGHT IN THE FAMILY, SHE, IN SIXTEEN MONTHS TIME FROM HER ARRIVAL, ATTAINED ...
Posted Friday, December 11th 2009 at 11:08PM
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A PRESENCE SO CLOSE TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER “SENDS THE OPPOSITE STATEMENT TO WHAT HAPPENED ON 9/11,” SAID IMAM FEISAL ABDUL RAUF. “WE WANT TO PUSH BACK AGAINST THE EXTREMISTS. WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY WAS NOT ISLAM.”
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL and SHA ...
Posted Wednesday, December 9th 2009 at 9:02AM
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“MY BOOK IS A SKETCH OF MY LIFE OR ADVENTURES AND PERSECUTIONS WHICH I WENT THROUGH FROM 1860-1865. I DO NOT MEAN TO SPEAK DISPARAGINGLY OF THOSE WHO SOLD ME NOR OF THOSE WHO BOUGHT ME. THOUGH I SEEN A HARD TIME, IT HAD AN ATTENDANCY TO MAKE A MAN ...
Posted Monday, December 7th 2009 at 8:33PM
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A NEWLY DISCOVERED LETTER WRITTEN BY SLAVE POET PHILLIS WHEATLEY, THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN TO PUBLISH A BOOK OF POETRY, WAS SOLD TO A PRIVATE COLLECTOR FOR $253,000 AT SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES. IT IS THE HIGHEST AMOUNT REALIZED AT AUCTION FOR A LET ...
Posted Saturday, December 5th 2009 at 3:26PM
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CLEARLY, JOHN WASHINGTON AND WALLACE TURNAGE WANTED TO WRITE THEIR STORIES TO PRESERVE A RECORD OF THEIR CONDITION AS SLAVES. THEY WANTED SOMEONE TO KNOW OF THEIR STRUGGLES TO GAIN FREEDOM. BUT THEY PROBABLY NEVER EXPECTED THEIR STORIES WOULD BE PU ...
Posted Saturday, December 5th 2009 at 10:33AM
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December 3, 2009. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — POP STAR STEVIE WONDER HAD A HOTTER DEBUT THURSDAY AS A U.N. PEACE ENVOY THAN ANYBODY EXPECTED.
The singer-songwriter was in the middle of his acceptance speech as a prestigious Messenger of Peace and advo ...
Posted Thursday, December 3rd 2009 at 9:21PM
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By Tony Horwitz
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY, THE MOST SUCCESSFUL TERRORIST IN AMERICAN HISTORY WAS HANGED. BEFORE CLIMBING ATOP HIS COFFIN FOR THE WAGON RIDE TO THE GALLOWS, HE HANDED A NOTE TO ONE OF HIS JAILERS: “I, JOHN BROWN, AM NOW ...
Posted Wednesday, December 2nd 2009 at 9:54PM
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Q. YOU HEAR PARENTS SOMETIMES SAY, “I’M LIVING WITH AN INSANE PERSON. MY CHILD IS A TEENAGER.” ARE THEY BEING HYPERBOLIC?
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS
Laurence Steinberg, a developmental psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia, is one of the le ...
Posted Tuesday, December 1st 2009 at 10:24PM
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By Fred Kaplan
WITH ALL THE MUTLI-DISC JAZZ BOXES COMING OUT IN RECENT YEARS—THE COMPLETE MILES DAVIS, CHARLIE PARKER, DUKE ELLINGTON—IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ANY SIGNIFICANT TAPES BY ANY MAJOR MUSICIAN MIGHT STILL BE LANGUISHING UNDISCOVERED IN ...
Posted Saturday, November 28th 2009 at 9:42AM
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“YOUNG PEOPLE THINK ROSA PARKS JUST SAT DOWN ON A BUS AND ENDED SEGRETATION, BUT THAT WASN’T THE CASE AT ALL,” MS. COLVIN SAID. “MAYBE BY TELLING MY STORY—SOMETHING I WAS AFRAID TO DO FOR A LONG TIME—KIDS WILL HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING ABOUT WHAT ...
Posted Thursday, November 26th 2009 at 9:38AM
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AUTHOR AND HISTORIAN PHILLIP HOOSE’S TRUE STORY ABOUT A BRAVE AFRICAN-AMERICAN TEEN WHO DEFIED JIM CROW LAWS IN MARCH 1955 BY REFUSING TO GIVE UP HER SEAT ON A BUS TO A WHITE WOMAN IN MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, IS THE RECIPIENT OF THE 2009 NATIONAL BOOK AW ...
Posted Thursday, November 26th 2009 at 9:33AM
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“NO GROUP OF SLAVES ANYWHERE, AT ANY OTHER PERIOD IN HISTORY, HAS LEFT SUCH A LARGE REPOSITORY OF TESTIMONY ABOUT THE HORROR OF BECOMING THE LEGAL PROPERTY OF ANOTHER HUMAN BEING.”—DR. HENRY LOUIS GATES
All together the Federal Writer’s Project ...
Posted Wednesday, November 25th 2009 at 2:00PM
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NASHVILLE—IT SOUNDS LIKE THE START OF A JOKE: A RABBI, A MINISTER AND A MUSLIM SHEIK WALK INTO A RESTAURANT. BUT THERE THEY WERE, RABBI TED FALCON, REV. DON MACKENZIE AND SHEIK JAMAL RAHMAN, WALKING INTO AN INDIAN RESTAURANT AND AFTERWARD A CHURCH. ...
Posted Tuesday, November 24th 2009 at 9:18AM
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“THE EQUALITY OF ANY PARTNERSHIP IS MEASURED OVER THE SCOPE OF THE MARRIAGE. IT’S NOT JUST FOUR YEARS OR EIGHT YEARS OR TWO,” THE FIRST LADY SAID. “WE’RE GOING TO BE MARRIED FOR A VERY LONG TIME.”
BY JODI KANTOR
CLEARLY, THE OBAMAS prefer to ...
Posted Friday, November 20th 2009 at 8:22PM
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SEEING HIM IN THE OVAL OFFICE CRACKS MICHELLE OBAMA UP, SHE TOLD ME. “IT’S LIKE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?”
BY JODI KANTOR
ON A HUMID September day, Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago stood on a platform on the South Lawn of the White House h ...
Posted Thursday, November 19th 2009 at 10:02PM
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CAMPAIGNS OFTEN PROVE TOXIC TO PARTICIPANTS’ PERSONAL LIVES, BUT VALERIE JARRETT SAYS THE OBAMA’S RELATIONSHIP IMPROVED. “THEY BOTH RALLIED TO EACH OTHER’S DEFENSE AND SUPPORT,” SHE SAID. “BY HAVING TO WORK HARD AT IT, IT STRENGTHENED THEIR MARRIAG ...
Posted Thursday, November 19th 2009 at 7:48AM
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“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU COULD ACCOMPLISH THAT OTHER CANDIDATES COULDN’T?” MICHELLE ASKED. THE QUESTION HUNG IN THE AIR.
BY JODI KANTOR
IN THE HISTORY of Barack Obama, his landslide loss against Rush is now regarded as a constructive political ...
Posted Wednesday, November 18th 2009 at 1:33PM
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“IF MY UPS AND DOWNS, OUR UPS AND DOWNS IN OUR MARRIAGE CAN HELP YOUNG COUPLES SORT OF REALIZE THAT GOOD MARRIAGES TAKE WORK…” MICHELLE OBAMA SAID. “THE IMAGE OF A FLAWLESS RELATIONSHIP IS THE LAST THING THAT WE WANT TO PROJECT. IT’S UNFAIR TO THE ...
Posted Wednesday, November 18th 2009 at 8:31AM
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