In her book, Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America, Professor Melissa Harris-Perry discussed a psychological study that involved placing research subjects in a crooked room and observing their responses. When subjects were placed in a crooked room, they were asked to align themselves vertically while also sitting in a crooked chair. The […]

Sometimes it feels like our family name can take on a life of its own and define us before we have a chance to define ourselves. A major theme in Brown Girl Dreaming, a memoir of author Jacqueline Woodson’s childhood, is how her family’s surname and the responsibilities that came with it have shaped her […]

In 1937, New York City teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol composed the anti-lynching poem, “Strange Fruit.” The poem stemmed from Abel’s shock and disbelief at the reality of racial discrimination, in particular the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in 1930. The poem was published under the pseudonym Lewis Allan and was set to […]

First produced in 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun takes its name from Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem.” Hughes’ poem reflects the disillusionment many African Americans felt after World War II. Despite the sense of optimism following the end of the Great Depression and the war, continued discrimination prevented African Americans from achieving […]

By the time President Reagan spoke the word “AIDS” in 1985, over 12,000 Americans had already died of the virus. [1] Government silence during the AIDS epidemic directly resulted in the death of thousands of AIDS victims. In response, the rally cry of AIDS activists became “Silence = Death.”[2] To combat the silence, individuals with […]