Associated Press: Black churches mobilizing voters despite virus challenges. “In recent election cycles, Black church congregations across the country have launched get-out-the-vote campaigns commonly referred to as ‘souls to the polls.’ To counteract racist voter suppression tactics that date back to the Jim Crow era, early voting in the Black community is stressed from pulpits nearly as much as it is by the candidates seeking their support. But voter mobilization in Black church communities will look much different in 2020, due in large part to the coronavirus pandemic that has infected millions across the U.S. and has taken a disproportionate toll on Black America.”
African-Americans
CBS News: Black scholars band together to fight “cultural disinformation” on social media
CBS News: Black scholars band together to fight “cultural disinformation” on social media. “The National Black Cultural Information Trust seeks to counter trolls on Twitter and other social media platforms that attempt to discourage Black voters from participating in elections or seek to turn Black voters against other communities of color, such as Hispanics or Asian Americans. Teach-ins, webinars, workshops and town hall discussions will be hosted by the NBCIT to strengthen public awareness, according to the release.”
BNN Bloomberg: New Site Solicits Pledges to Black Causes, Starting at $100,000
BNN Bloomberg: New Site Solicits Pledges to Black Causes, Starting at $100,000. “A new online database, called 100kPledge, will track individuals and organizations that commit anywhere from $100,000 to $100 million over 10 years to hire Black people, invest in Black-owned businesses or donate to causes supporting Black communities. An initial group of founding members — more than 130 professionals, including Reshma Saujani of Girls Who Code — have pledged $140 million already.”
New York Times: H.B.C.U. Homecomings Are Canceled, but Students and Alumni Will Feast Anyway
New York Times: H.B.C.U. Homecomings Are Canceled, but Students and Alumni Will Feast Anyway. “This year, many homecoming festivities have been canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the energy of game day never dissipates. Memories of tailgating sustain many graduates of H.B.C.U.s, and brunch, which has become the new cornerstone of homecoming celebrations, will be a virtual affair for 2020.”
Lift Every Voice 2020: Defining the Black Reconstruction Archive (Emory University Event)
Emory University Event: Lift Every Voice 2020: Defining the Black Reconstruction Archive. “‘Defining the Black Reconstruction Archive’ is the first of three panels that will explore the history and significance of Reconstruction. Panelists will highlight the manner in which African American archives and Black print culture illuminate the African American experience and shape the stories that we tell. They will discuss such topics as the use of archival collections that shaped their research, and African American patriotism and activism.” I’m 99% sure this is both free and virtual.
Hyperallergic: Now Is the Perfect Time to Learn About William Greaves
Hyperallergic: Now Is the Perfect Time to Learn About William Greaves. “An active filmmaker for nearly 50 years before his death in 2014, William Greaves was continually at the forefront of Black independent directors in the US. He was a vital contributor to the long-running public affairs show Black Journal (episodes of which are archived online), and directed numerous short and feature documentaries about the Civil Rights Movement and Black American life….Recently, under the supervision of Greaves’s widow Louise and avant-garde filmmaker Su Friedrich, a new website dedicated to his work has launched.”
BuzzFeed News: Trump And The Coronavirus Are Dividing Black And White Churches In Georgia
BuzzFeed News: Trump And The Coronavirus Are Dividing Black And White Churches In Georgia. “In Georgia, where [Trump spiritual advisor Paula] White recently rallied Trump supporters ahead of the presidential election, the divide between the white and Black church is increasingly bitter and transparent. Part of it is just Trump, who has polarized religious communities along racial lines, and who faces a real risk of losing Georgia in November. But the divide has become even more explicit in the day-to-day during the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans, and resulted in the hospitalization of the president himself.”
TechCrunch: This public spreadsheet lists Black founders who have raised VC, and the investors backing them
This is from July and it completely flew past me. TechCrunch: This public spreadsheet lists Black founders who have raised VC, and the investors backing them. “Finding out how many Black founders have successfully raised venture capital, and which venture capital firms invested in their startups hasn’t been an easy task, historically. Venture capital data is often diceable by stage, say, or by startup type. But if you wanted to know how many Black founders a particular firm had invested into, that information has been hard to come by. Until now, that is.”
Harper’s Bazaar: Antoine Gregory’s Black Fashion Fair Creates Space for Long Overlooked Black Designers
Harper’s Bazaar: Antoine Gregory’s Black Fashion Fair Creates Space for Long Overlooked Black Designers. “After years of being one of the only Black people in a room or on a set, Gregory was inspired to create and produce Black Fashion Fair—an immersive online platform where Black fashion designers are championed, celebrated, and centered. Its website serves as an online database where Black designers are listed A-Z, and a virtual marketplace with a stellar curation of fashion’s most exciting Black designers.”
Gustavus Adolphus College: SSRC Grant Explores COVID-19’s Impact on Marginalized Communities
Gustavus Adolphus College: SSRC Grant Explores COVID-19’s Impact on Marginalized Communities. “A Minnesota-based research team led by Gustavus Adolphus College history professor Maddalena Marinari has been awarded a Rapid-Response Grant on COVID-19 and the Social Sciences by The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) to explore the impact of COVID-19 on African, Asian, and Latinx immigrant and refugee communities.”
State Archives of North Carolina: The African American Education Digital Collection is now Complete
State Archives of North Carolina: The African American Education Digital Collection is now Complete. “This digital collection covers the day by day interactions of the Division of Negro Education with the African American community. The collection ranges from the early to mid 20th century and includes correspondence, articles, speeches, reports, newspaper clippings and more.”
USA Today: Trump used Facebook to suppress the Black vote in battleground states during 2016 election, report says
USA Today: Trump used Facebook to suppress the Black vote in battleground states during 2016 election, report says. “Channel 4 News says it obtained a leaked database of voter profiles used by the Trump campaign that included a category called ‘deterrence,’ meaning voters who were likely to cast their ballots for Clinton or to not vote at all. These 3.5 million voters, who were disproportionately Black, were targeted with ‘dark’ ads to dissuade them from backing Clinton, according to the report. The report credits Cambridge Analytica, the Trump-connected data analysis firm that gained unauthorized access to tens of millions of Facebook profiles, with orchestrating the strategy.”
University of Illinois at Chicago: Alkebuluan Merriweather (BA, 2019) launches Black Matriarch Archive
University of Illinois at Chicago: Alkebuluan Merriweather (BA, 2019) launches Black Matriarch Archive . “Alumna Alkebuluan Merriweather (BA, 2019) has launched a digital platform titled Black Matriarch Archive. Black Matriarch Archive is a digital platform and archive that seeks to encourage members of the African diaspora to submit images and video documentation of black elders, whether they may be grandmothers, great-aunts, godmothers, or caregivers.” This is a project that uses Instagram as its platform. It’s early days.
Give Blck: New Database Connects Donors to Black Nonprofits (PR Newswire) (PRESS RELEASE)
PR Newswire: Give Blck: New Database Connects Donors to Black Nonprofits (PRESS RELEASE). “Give Blck, a new digital platform that raises visibility for Black-founded nonprofits across America, launches today. The tool helps donors easily identify these organizations in order to drive more dollars to underfunded causes and help solve racial disparities in philanthropic funding.”
Atlas Obscura: A Rare Day-by-Day Document of Life Aboard a Slave Ship
Atlas Obscura: A Rare Day-by-Day Document of Life Aboard a Slave Ship. “THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE DATABASE documents more than 36,000 voyages in which enslaved persons were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean…. Despite the overwhelming density of these kinds of records, masking brutality with meticulous documentation, far less survives to describe daily life on these ships, or the experience of being on board. That’s what distinguishes the ‘Journal of the Slave Ship Mary,’ recently acquired by Georgetown University Library in Washington, D.C.”