400 Years Blog #43  – Stem Cells and More: Contributions from, and abuse of, Black Patients

The Tuskegee syphilis study (Blog #42) is just one reason why people of color have indicated wariness of the medical establishment. As Dr. Zia Okocha wrote, “trust is hard-earned in a system that has historically utilized Black lives and bodies to advance medical knowledge and consistently fails at improving health disparities for Black people.” The case of […]

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Blog #42: The Coloring of the Hippocratic Oath 

The Hippocratic Oath begins, “First, do no harm…”.  However, in the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” racism led physicians to violate this sacred promise. From 1932-1972, the U. S. government consistently deceived and lied to 600 Black sharecroppers in Macon County, Alabama, resulting in suffering, death, and distrust. As Prof. Allan […]

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Blog #41: The Single Greatest Threat

J. Edgar Hoover called the Black Panther Party (BPP) “the single greatest threat to the nation’s internal security.” Some Panthers were Marxists, had guns, and are in prison today for violent acts. But much of the violence that killed both Panthers and police was fueled by an over-zealous, militarized FBI program known as COINTELPRO.  233 of […]

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400 Years Blog #40  – Radicalism is Relative 

In the context of centuries of brutal oppression, the Black Panther Party (BPP), founded in 1966, does not seem so radical. Since no more than six Black people served as U. S. Representatives at any one time between 1877 and 1969, Black citizens couldn’t rely on conventional politics. White racism was still powerful. In April […]

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400 Years Blog #39 – Revolutionary Learning 

As the civil rights movement heated up, the Black community fostered more radical educational efforts. Stokely Carmichael, who led the effort by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to register southern Black voters, knew how white supremacists manipulated education. He wrote about how the Bolivar County, Mississippi, school board demanded that, “Neither foreign languages nor civics […]

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400 Years Blog #38 – Sacrificing for Education

In 1954, when the Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional, about half of all Black professionals were teachers.  They were respected members of the Black community and committed to the collective task of racial equity. Ambrose Caliver, who studied the effects of racism while at the U.S. Office of Education in the 1930’s, explained, “In […]

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400 Years Blog #37 – The Courage to Teach

As students return to school, let’s acknowledge the importance of education in the liberation struggle of Black Americans.  Enslaved Black people braved harsh punishments when they gathered to learn. Frederick Douglas taught “Sabbath-school” deep in the woods to avoid being caught.  The first African Free School opened in 1787 to teach free Black Americans and […]

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Blog #36: 400 Years is Today

400 years is a very long time, especially when counting each minute of fear, suffering and hopelessness caused by racism. At the same time, the past is not so long ago; wounds still fester. This paradox – about the length and shortness of history – is embodied by my neighbor Daniel Smith (husband of Loretta […]

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Blog #35: Commemorating a Grim Anniversary

 Two weeks ago in Hampton, Virginia, thousands gathered to commemorate the grim 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first African people brought against their will to the British North American mainland. Thanks to a distinguished commission, the occasion was marked by speeches, music, tours, and exhibits honored the resilience and contributions of Africans and […]

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Blog #34: Building Inclusive Neighborhoods

In the first half of the 20th century, African Americans moving into cities were funneled by racist powers into poor neighborhoods. When in 1948 the Supreme Court ruled that racially restrictive housing covenants were unconstitutional (Hurd v. Hodge, Shelley v. Kraemer), the real estate industry created other segregation strategies. Most effective was “blockbusting,” the manipulation […]

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