Race

Health & Safety

Health Promoters Help Latinos Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19

6:26am July 06, 2021

by Maria Godoy

Vaccination rates have stalled across the U.S., but are on the rise among Latinos. That's thanks in part to volunteer promotoras — foot soldiers known as health promoters.

National

Police Departments Rely On A System Unequipped to Handle Racial Bias

4:27pm July 05, 2021

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with KQED's Sandhya Dirks about the fourth episode of the podcast On Our Watch, which looks at how police departments are unequipped to identify and handle racist policing.

National

What The Haitian Revolution Tells Us About The U.S. Movement For Racial Equality

7:58am July 04, 2021

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro and historian Marlene Daut discuss parallels between the Haitian Revolution and the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. for our series, "We Hold These Truths."

Arts

Tennessee Beauty School Teaches Importance Of Working With Black Hair

7:58am July 04, 2021

by Ambriehl Crutchfield

A Black hair salon in Tennessee is teaching people of other races how to do hair for Black women. So far, it's done lessons in Nashville and one in Portland.

Danita Bilozaze, alongside her daughter Dani, celebrated the completion of her master's degree in education with a portrait session last year at Kye Bay in Comox Valley, British Columbia. Bilozaze's studies focused on Indigenous language revitalization.

She Struggled To Reclaim Her Indigenous Name. She Hopes Others Have It Easier

7:00am July 04, 2021

by Emma Bowman

A new Canadian policy answers a 2015 call for government action. Danita Bilozaze hopes it means that no one will face the resistance she did to rescue her name from a history of forced assimilation.

Music & Culture

Shaking Up The Classical Canon: Randall Goosby Talks With Lara Downes

5:00am July 03, 2021

by Lara Downes

The rising young violinist discovers his musical roots and questions the traditional borderlines of the repertoire.

National

Frederick Douglass' Descendants Read From 'What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?'

8:04pm July 02, 2021

Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 169 years ago.

The funk of "Shaft" came less from the plot, than from cool and commanding presence of its star, Richard Roundtree, who started his career as a model.

Arts

Looking Back On The Legacy Of 'Shaft,' 50 Years Later

4:45pm July 02, 2021

by Marc Rivers

"Shaft" was released 50 years ago this week. The film heralded what came to be known as Blaxploitation cinema, a genre with a chequered legacy that also created inspired, Oscar-winning music.

National

Remembering Elizabeth Martinez, Chicano Social Justice Activist

4:31pm July 02, 2021

by Mandalit del Barco

Chicano social justice activist and feminist writer Elizabeth Martinez died in San Francisco at 95. She was a fixture at marches and rallies and wrote books about the history of Chicanos and Chicanas.

National

Examining A Racist Passage In The Declaration Of Independence

4:31pm July 02, 2021

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with historian Donald Grinde Jr., a member of the Yamassee Nation and University of Buffalo professor, about the racist passage the Declaration of Independence cont.