Race

A South African boy stands in front of a mural of Nelson Mandela in Soweto, South Africa, earlier this month.

World News

South Africans Reflect On Mandela's 'Rainbow Nation'

7:39pm December 13, 2013

by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Equality for all South Africans, regardless of race or color, was at the core of the struggle against apartheid. Nineteen years after Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first black president in the country's first democratic elections, what is the status of race relations?

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Noel, a remote Ozarks town of 1,832, is thriving thanks to the Tyson Foods poultry plant in town.

In A Small Missouri Town, Immigrants Turn To Schools For Help

12:30pm December 11, 2013

by Abbie Fentress Swanson

The once-sleepy tourist town of Noel, Mo., in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, is now home to hundreds of immigrants and newly arrived refugees, thanks largely to the huge Tyson Food Inc. poultry plant. And since the town lacks the infrastructure to serve these new residents, schools have become the de facto safety net.

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Black Nativity is an adaptation of Langston Hughes' play of the same name.

How 'Black Nativity' Made Its Way To The Big Screen

11:57am December 06, 2013

by Mandalit del Barco

The film is one of several fall and winter offerings from Fox Searchlight — including 12 Years a Slave, Black Nativity and Baggage Claim — featuring African-American casts and themes.

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Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele talk Ax vs. Ask with NPR's Shereen Marisol Meraji.

National

Why Chaucer Said 'Ax' Instead Of 'Ask,' And Why Some Still Do

6:39pm December 03, 2013

by Shereen Marisol Meraji

People often question why some pronounce the word "ask" as "ax." We axed several linguists, and it turns out that "ax" has long been an accepted form of the word, used by English speakers for more than a thousand years.

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The Best Man Holiday is Malcolm Lee's sequel to his film Best Man.

'Best Man Holiday' Resonates Across Racial Lines

7:36pm December 02, 2013

by Karen Grigsby Bates

Filmmaker Malcolm Lee most recently directed Best Man Holiday. His production company, Blackmaled Productions, focuses on the image of black men on-screen.

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"A Slave Carrying Her Fate In Her Hands," Frances

Trove Of Artifacts Trumpets African-American Triumphs

6:44pm November 26, 2013

by Allison Keyes

More than 35 years ago, Bernard and Shirley Kinsey began acquiring documents, artifacts and artworks that tell the story of the African-American experience. The collection, which spans more than 400 years, spotlights not black pain, they say, but the strength and resilience of African-Americans.

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The Rev. T.J. Jemison escorts Mary Briscoe (left) and Sandra Ann Jones from jail in Baton Rouge, La., on April 4, 1960. The two had been in jail as a result of lunch counter sit-ins.

National

Rev. T.J. Jemison Remembered As Civil Rights Movement Pioneer

7:21pm November 22, 2013

by Debbie Elliott

Louisiana is paying tribute Friday to the Rev. T.J. Jemison, a strong and steady voice against unequal treatment for blacks in the Jim Crow South. Jemison helped organize a bus boycott in Baton Rouge in 1953 and later advised Martin Luther King Jr. and others on how to orchestrate the Montgomery boycott.

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Cuban jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday.

Music & Culture

Arturo Sandoval: Free To Blow His Trumpet The Way He Wants

9:43am November 21, 2013

by Shereen Marisol Meraji

NPR's Shereen Marisol Meraji spent time with Cuban trumpet virtuoso Arturo Sandoval, just days before he accepted his adopted country's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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Politics & Government

Mexican-American Vets Ignited Kennedy's Latino Support

9:12am November 21, 2013

by Karen Grigsby Bates

Most politicians recognize the importance of the Latino vote, but John F. Kennedy might have been the first presidential candidate to actively court it. Viva Kennedy clubs started by former Mexican-American veterans were an important factor in Kennedy's 1960 victory.

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Formerly known as the Alexandria Slave Pen, this ashen gray row house in Alexandria, Va., once housed one of the country's largest slave-dealing firms.

National

A New Life For An Old Slave Jail

7:31pm November 19, 2013

by Hansi Lo Wang

Lewis Henry Bailey was freed from slavery in Texas and began his journey back to Virginia by foot 150 years ago. The jail where he was sold to slave dealers as a child is now a museum and the offices of a local Urban League chapter just outside of the nation's capital.

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