Black History Month: John H. Johnson
Born in 1918 in Arkansas City, Arkansas, Johnson was the grandson of slaves. His father was killed in a sawmill accident, and his mother worked as a camp cook for two years to save the money for a train ticket north for them, because there was no high school for black students in Arkansas City. Johnson’s stepfather joined them in Chicago, and Johnson enrolled at DuSable High School, an all-black high school known for its rigorous academic program. He was elected class president and edited the school newspaper before he…
Black History Month: Jesse Jackson
A pioneering and controversial civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson was born as Jesse Louis Burns on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina. His parents, Helen Burns, a high school student at the time of her son’s birth, and Noah Robinson, a 33-year-old married man who was her neighbor, never married. A year after Jesse’s birth, his mother married Charles Henry Jackson, a post office maintenance worker, who later adopted Jesse. In the small, black-and-white divided town of Greenville, a young Jackson learned early what segregation looked like. He and…
Black History Month: Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey was born in St Ann’s Bay, Jamaica on 17 August 1887, the youngest of 11 children. He inherited a keen interest in books from his father, a mason and made full use of the extensive family library. At the age of 14 he left school and became a printer’s apprentice where he led a strike for higher wages. From 1910 to 1912, Garvey travelled in South and Central America and also visited London. He returned to Jamaica in 1914 and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). In…
United Colors of Benetton Spring 2013 ad campaign: embracing diversity
I’m guilty of writing off high profile fashion companies because I don’t see much good being done in the industry and I believe that most companies are just propelling the same old unhealthy messages forward. However, United Colors of Benetton is one company I have really been paying attention to lately, since I discovered their UNHATE campaign. In their 2013 Spring ads, they are not only promoting racial diversity, but they are also using a transgender model as one of their nine strong international personalities. AND to top this, have…
Personal note from ER doctor written after woman’s death goes viral
This is a really beautiful story and one that you would not expect to hear, about a doctor that was so affected by a woman’s death that he wrote a personal letter to the family – something that most doctors would not do (he himself admitted he had never written a letter before). This personally touched me because I was very moved by the nurses and doctors’ attachment and compassion to my own mother when she passed away a few years ago. Acts of kindness and support like this letter…
