Black History

Congress Passes Anti-Lynching Bill After 200 Failed Attempts Over 100+ Years

Rep. Bobby Rush, who represents part of Chicago, where Till lived before he was murdered, said the bill “sends a clear and emphatic message that our nation will no longer ignore this shameful chapter of our history and that the full force of the U.S. federal government will always be brought to bear against those who commit this heinous act.”

Published

2 years ago

March 21, 2022

Oakland Post

Rep. Bobby Rush, who represents the Chicago district where Emmett Till lived, and Los Angeles Rep. Karen Bass with a photo of Emmett Till speaking before the House passed the bill last month. Photo courtesy of Rush press office.

By Brandon Patterson

The Senate passed a bi-partisan bill criminalizing lynching at the federal level this week, sending the bill to President Biden’s desk after the House approved the bill in January. The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, named for the 14-year-old Chicago boy whose brutal murder in Mississippi in 1955 helped catalyze the Civil Rights Movement, allows a crime to be prosecuted as a lynching if a victim is killed or injured as the result of a hate crime with a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. The Senate passed the bill unanimously, though three Republican members of the House — from Georgia, Kentucky, and Texas —voted against it.

The bill’s passage by Congress marks the end of hundreds of failed attempts to pass anti-lynching legislation over more than a century. Congress failed to pass such legislation more than 200 times over the last 122 years, according to USA Today.

The first piece of anti-lynching legislation was introduced by Rep. George Henry White in 1900. White, who represented North Carolina, was the House’s only Black lawmaker at the time. Democrat Sen. Cory Booker and Republican Senator Tim Scott, both of whom are Black, introduced the legislation together this time around.

“Although no legislation will reverse the pain and fear felt by those victims, their loved ones, and Black communities, this legislation is a necessary step America must take to heal from the racialized violence that has permeated its history,” Booker said in a statement on March 7.

Under the new legislation, the 2020 case of Ahmaud Arbury, whose killers were convicted of murder and on federal hate crime charges earlier this year, would likely qualify for prosecution as lynching.

Till, for whom the bill is named, was killed in Money, Miss., in 1955 after being falsely accused of whistling at a white woman. Till was on a trip that summer to visit his mother’s family. Although there was ample evidence and several witnesses, the all-white jury ruled that the men accused in Till’s death were not guilty.

This story was written using reporting from USA Today and CNN, research from the Equal Justice Initiative, and statements released by the offices of Sen. Corey Booker and Rep. Bobby Rush.

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Black History

Remembering the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

The “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” brought an unprecedented throng to the National Mall on Aug. 28, 1963. From every corner of the U.S., marchers came to demand fair wages, economic justice, an end to segregation, voting rights and long overdue civil rights. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his incomparable “I Have a Dream” speech on that day.

Published

17 hours ago

September 27, 2023

Oakland Post

March on Washington, August 1963

By Gay Elizabeth Plair Cobb

Gay Plair Cobb

Editor’s note: The “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” brought an unprecedented throng to the National Mall on Aug. 28, 1963. From every corner of the U.S., marchers came to demand fair wages, economic justice, an end to segregation, voting rights and long overdue civil rights. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his incomparable “I Have a Dream” speech on that day. Below, Gay Plair Cobb shares her remembrance.

“Sleepy eyed, joining the early morning-chartered bus ride from New York City to Washington, DC … exhilarated, but not knowing what to expect in the late August heat

…. the yearning for justice, solidarity with others on the journey, the possibility of new legislation, and also the possibility of violence … We just did not know.

In the end, there were an amazing 250,000 of us, awed and inspired by Mahalia Jackson, John Lewis, Dorothy Height, James Farmer and, of course, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Dream that became our North Star is still our North Star 60 years later and into eternity. Grateful to have been a foot soldier then. Still grateful now.”

Poster for March on Washington.

Black History

Guy Bluford: First African American in Space

Following Sally Ride (America’s first female astronaut) by just two months, Guy Bluford’s spaceflight aboard Space Shuttle Challenger provided another visible moment when more young people could see and be inspired by people like themselves flying into space. Bluford served as a mission specialist on the STS-8 mission and his jobs were to deploy an Indian communications-weather satellite, perform biomedical experiments and test the orbiter’s 50-foot robotic arm.

Published

1 day ago

September 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Dr. Col. Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. Image courtesy of NASA.

By Jennifer Levasseur, Vickie Lindsey, and Amy Stamm

Forty years ago, on Aug. 30, 1983, Guy Bluford flew into history as the first Black American in space.

Despite launch delays totaling six weeks, the spectacular first night launch of a Space Shuttle brought full circle NASA’s promise of a more inclusive astronaut corps.

Following Sally Ride (America’s first female astronaut) by just two months, Bluford’s spaceflight aboard Space Shuttle Challenger provided another visible moment when more young people could see and be inspired by people like themselves flying into space.

Bluford served as a mission specialist on the STS-8 mission and his jobs were to deploy an Indian communications-weather satellite, perform biomedical experiments and test the orbiter’s 50-foot robotic arm.

Following that first mission, he flew three more times to space on STS-61A, STS-39, and STS-53. By the time of his retirement from NASA in 1993, Bluford had spent more than 28 days in space over the four missions.

At the time of his first mission, Bluford was a 40-year-old Air Force officer with a doctorate in aerospace engineering.

Reluctant to be in the spotlight, his goal was not to make history, but fly into space, do his job, and return safely.

Growing up in a middle-class household in the 1950s and 1960s with educated parents (his mother was a teacher, and his father was a mechanical engineer), Bluford was raised to believe that he could do anything he wanted despite racist social restrictions.

He enjoyed math and science, particularly in school. Ignoring the advice of his high school advisor to learn a trade or skill, Bluford went on to college to earn his undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering at Penn State University in 1964, also finishing as a distinguished Air Force ROTC graduate.

After his decades of service to the aerospace community in a variety of roles, having spoken dozens of times about his astronaut career and work in aviation, Dr. Guion Bluford was recently appointed by President Joseph Biden as a member of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Advisory Board.

Editor’s note: Jennifer Levasseur, Vickie Lindsey and Amy Stamm are writers for a NASA blog