Education
William Strickland, a longtime civil rights activist, scholar and friend of Malcolm X, has died
BOSTON (AP) – William Strickland, a longtime civil rights activist and supporter of the Black Power movement who worked with Malcolm X and other outstanding leaders within the Nineteen Sixties, has died. He was 87.
Strickland, whose death was confirmed on April 10 by a relative, first became involved in civil rights activities as a highschool student in Massachusetts. According to Peter Blackmer, a former student and now assistant professor of African and African American studies at Easter Michigan University, he was inspired by the writings of Richard Wright and James Baldwin while he was a student at Harvard.
“He made an incredible contribution to the black freedom movement that hasn’t really been recognized,” Blackmer said. “He argued that civil rights did not provide a sufficient framework for challenging the systems that were behind the oppression of Black communities throughout the diaspora.”
Strickland joined the Boston chapter of the Northern Student Movement within the early Nineteen Sixties, which provided support for sit-ins and other protests within the South. In 1963, he became the group’s executive director and from then on became a supporter of the Black Power movement, which emphasized racial pride, self-reliance and self-determination. Strickland also worked with Malcolm X, Baldwin and others in New York on rent strikes, school boycotts and protests against police brutality.
Amilcar Shabazz, a professor within the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of African American Studies on the University of Massachusetts, said Strickland followed a path very much like civil rights pioneer Du Bois.
“He went through a similar experience, committing himself to being an agent of social change in the world against the three main issues of the civil rights movement – imperialism or militarism, racism and the economic injustice of plantation capitalism,” Shabazz said. “He committed himself against a triple evil. He did this through his learning, his teaching, his activism and the way he walked in the world.”
After the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Strickland co-founded the independent Black think tank, the Black World Institute. From its founding in 1969, it served for several years as a meeting place for black intellectuals.
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From there he joined the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he spent 40 years teaching political science and serving as director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Papers. He also traveled to Africa and the Caribbean, where, Shabazz said, he met with leaders of black liberation movements in Africa and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Strickland has also written about racism and capitalism for several media outlets, including Essence and Souls, and has served as a consultant on several documentaries, including “Eyes on the Prize” and the PBS documentary “Malcolm X — Make It Plain,” Blackmer said.
Comparing him to Malcolm X, Blackmer said one of Strickland’s talents was the power to take necessary issues similar to “complex systems of oppression” and make them “understandable and accessible” to a popular audience.
“As a teacher, he taught us to think this way as students – so that we could understand and deconstruct racism, capitalism, imperialism, and at the same time be fearless and not be afraid to name the systems we deal with, a way to develop a strategy that challenges them challenge,” Blackmer said.
To those near him, Strickland was an mental giant with a sense of humor who was not afraid to “speak his mind.”
“He always spoke truth to power. He was that kind of guy,” said Earnestine Norman, his cousin, recalling their conversations, which frequently took place via the phone app FaceTime. They planned to go to Spain, where Strickland had a home before he began having health problems.
“He always spoke the truth about our culture, about being African in America and the struggles we faced,” she continued. “Sometimes it may need embarrassed some people or something, but his truth was his truth. His knowledge was his knowledge and he was not the kind of one who, as they are saying, bit his tongue.
Education
Mississippi College changes name and eliminates football program
Mississippi College embraces its Christian ideology with a name change.
Mississippi College, a non-public institution, is changing its name to Mississippi Christian College. The decision was approved by the Mississippi Board of Supervisors on November 18.
The university can be eliminating its Division 1 football team in an effort to prioritize academic offerings. In an announcement, the university cited the upcoming bicentenary because the inspiration for the changes.
Mississippi Christian College wants to construct on its Christian ideology, in line with President Bake Thompson.
“These transformational and necessary changes are critically important to the future of this institution. As we look ahead to the institution’s bicentennial in 2026, we want to ensure that MC is a university recognized for academic excellence and commitment to Christ for another 200 years.”
The college is rededicated to making a space where Christian education stays a priority.
“The institution may even undergo restructuring. A brand new structure will likely be introduced, which can mix the College of Christianity and Art with the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the College of Pedagogy will change its name to the College of Pedagogy and Human Sciences. The chancellor was charged with evaluating the potential consolidation of a limited number of educational departments on campus.
Mississippi Christian Athletic Director Kenny Bizott reaffirmed his commitment to former student-athletes.
“We will support our current student-athletes who wish to continue their education at MC, as well as those who wish to transfer,” Bizott added.
Many may view these changes as extreme, but Mississippi Christian believes that every latest organizational change will help the institution fulfill its core functions.
Another Mississippi institution can be within the news for its failures on the legislative level. reported the Mississippi State Senate no payment Legislative Services Office (LSO) attorney Kristie Metcalfe is paid commensurate along with her peers.
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi LSO on Metcalfe’s behalf. An office investigation found that Metcalfe was earning half the salary of white LSO lawyers. The investigation also found that Metcalfe is the one non-white worker employed within the office’s 34 years of operation. Race discrimination violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Education
Florida education officials report hundreds of books pulled from school libraries, including Toni Morrison, Richard Wright and Maya Angelou
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” “Forever” by Judi Blume. “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut.
According to the newest information, all of them have been withdrawn from the shelves of some Florida schools list developed by the Florida Department of Education and containing books removed by local school districts.
Recent changes in state law have made it possible for fogeys and residents to take this motion challenge books to school libraries and required districts to submit an annual report to the state detailing which books were restricted of their schools. Florida continues to steer the nation in withdrawing books from school libraries, in accordance with an evaluation by the American Library Association and the advocacy group PEN America.
“Restricting access means limiting the freedom to read,” said Kasey Meehan of PEN America. “Students are losing the opportunity to access books that reflect their own life experiences, to access books that help them learn and to empathize with people who… have different life experiences.”
The list, published for the 2023-2024 school yr, includes titles by American literary icons similar to Maya Angelou, Flannery O’Connor and Richard Wright, in addition to books which have turn into top targets for censorship across the country as a consequence of LGBTQ+ characters, discussions about gender and sexuality and descriptions of sexual encounters, e.g. “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George Johnson and “Gender Queer” by Maja Kobabe. Supporters of conservatism have described such content as “pornographic.”
The list of books removed from libraries also includes Holocaust accounts similar to “The Diary of Anne Frank: A Graphic Adaptation” and “Sophie’s Choice.” It’s an analogous story with the graphic novel, an adaptation of “1984,” George Orwell’s groundbreaking work on censorship and surveillance.
“Everywhere from Toni Morrison to Alice Walker to Slaughterhouse-Five to George Orwell,” said Stephana Farrell, co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, which tracks book challenges within the state. “If you take the time to look through this list, you will see that there is a problem with… this movement.”
In an announcement to the Associated Press, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Education maintained that no books have been banned in Florida and defended the state’s efforts to remove “sexually explicit material” from schools.
“Once again, far-left activists are promoting the book ban scam to Floridians. “The better question is why these activists continue to fight to expose children to sexually explicit material,” spokeswoman Sydney Booker said.
The list shows that the number of book withdrawals varies widely across the state, with some districts reporting no restrictions and others reporting hundreds of titles pulled from shelves. Farrell of the Florida Freedom to Read Project said that based on the group’s evaluation of public records, the department’s report is an undercount since it doesn’t include books removed in consequence of an internal staff review, only those withdrawn in consequence of a grievance filed by a parent or resident.
Farrell believes that almost all Florida parents want their children to have broad access to literature.
“We live in a country where parental rights should be recognized, heard and taken into account,” Farrell said. “We are asking for accountability and an accurate record of the impact of these laws on our children and what is available to them.”
Schools have restricted access to dozens of books by Stephen King, a master of the horror genre known for bestsellers similar to “It” and “Pet Sematary.” Clay County officials also found his book, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft,” inappropriate for college kids.
King, who spends part of the yr in Florida, talked about attempting to get his books out of students’ hands, urging readers to run to the closest library or bookstore.
“What the hell?” In August, King posted on social media reacting to the choice of some Florida schools to drag his books from shelves.
Multiple school districts in Florida have filed legal challenges for restricting students’ access to books, including Escambia County, which is being sued by PEN America and Random penguin housethe biggest publisher within the country.
Nassau County School District in September settled lawsuit brought by the authors of “And Tango Makes Three,” an image book based on the true story of two male penguins who raised a chick together at New York’s Central Park Zoo. Under the terms of the settlement, the district needed to return three dozen books to the shelves.
Education
Issa Rae meets with Georgia law students
Rae will speak to students about legal issues related to her success.
Georgia State University College of Law announced that Issa Rae will meet with students to debate the legal elements of her successful profession as a part of the course “The Legal Life of Issa Rae.”
On November 7, the producer-actress will hold a hearing at Rialto Art Center. The visit is the culmination of a course exploring Rae’s decades-long profession within the entertainment industry. Rae’s profession provides a wealth of legal diversity to explore as her profession extends beyond visual entertainment.
The classes are held as a part of the “Legal Life…” series. The series was created by George State University law professor Moraima “Mo” Ivory.
As a professor at Georgia State College of Law, Ivory curated a series that examined the legality of maintaining a prestigious profession. As reported, Rae is a course subject this semester BLACK ENTERPRISES.
The creator’s team worked with Ivory to take an in depth take a look at the contracts that helped Rae secure her deals.
“With the support of her team, we will also have the unique opportunity to analyze her real-world deals and discuss how her approach to deals is shaping today’s entertainment landscape. We are incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity,” Ivory told .
It was classy access for 10 years value of contractual agreements to be analyzed.
“This is the first class where every contract was an actual contract with the artist,” Ivory said. “Students can see how real deals actually happen and what real entertainment lawyer Issa Rae has been doing over the last 10 years.”
Ivory, a professor and Fulton County commissioner, believes that the language of the law is vital and that the power to see the language in connection with a noteworthy product allows students to beat the barrier of unfamiliarity.
“You have to look at what people are actually doing and what is happening at the moment. The more familiar they become with the language, the faster they will be able to master it and start representing clients.”
According to Ivory, Rae’s family and business partners were instrumental in checking out the complicated details of her business. The course was attended by “Rae’s mother, siblings, network executives and members of her staff.”
The longtime artist began her profession on YouTube with “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.” The show’s success led to a collaboration with host Larry Wilmore and a multi-show deal with HBO. Outside of television, Rae is a successful actress and producer of many shows including (2022). She also created her own media company HooRae media and music label Raedio.
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