As a lifetime reader of Black newspapers – among them the Baltimore Afro-American, Chicago Defender, Pittsburgh Courier, New York Amsterdam News – I woke up to the headline, “The Richmond Free Press ceased publication,” a Black newspaper and held onto the fragile hope that someone had played cruel AI hoax on me. I wish I could sit here and say that was the case, but I can’t. Lord knows I can’t.
Continue reading Threats to the future of the Black Press – by Terry Howard
“Sorry, but I don’t remember seeing many white faces during civil rights protests and marches in the sixties.
So, I’ll take a pass.”
That was one of the “no thanks” responses I got from “Fernando,” one of several Black folks I invited to attend the recent No Kings Day protest with me. Hold that for now because I want to leave with a full-throated response to “Fernando” in closing.
Now in case you didn’t know, cared to know, or reside on another planet (and much to the chagrin of “someone” who is obsessed with crowd size), in the largest single day of protest in American history, over 8,000,000 people took part in some 3,300 “No Kings” rallies recently spanning every continent on Earth while millions more participated remotely by watching coverage on television or online.
Georgia protesters Virginia protester
So, despite temperatures in the mid-forties, I made the short drive to a local No Kings Day protest. It seemed that the only difference between that protest compared to the one I attended last year was a much bigger turnout, more young people in attendance and more creative posters, some with graphic images and language way too inappropriate to include in this narrative. Plus, given that this an election year a few politicians were there deftly working the crowd. And from what I could glean from some conversations, many protesters were there not necessarily to protest for themselves but for generations to come.
Continue reading Random thoughts on No Kings Day protests – by Terry Howard
Hard to believe that a little over a year ago – April 25, 2025, to be exact – a white woman by the name of Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, if we were blessed to have had her still alive last year, would have been 100 years old.
So, on March 25, 2026, it will be sixty-one years since an assassin’s bullet in 1965 snuffed out her life on an Alabama highway; sixty-one years since, during the interim, the passage of the Voting Rights Act four months after her death; sixty-one years, during the interim, Dr. King was also felled by an assassin’s bullet; and sixty-one years since, during the interim, that the hard earned right to vote was instrumental in the election of the first African American president of the United States. One could make a compelling argument that Liuzzo’s assassination was a factor in the fight for civil rights.
Continue reading Women’s History Month: Remember Viola Liuzzo – by Terry Howard
Okay, I’ll take my licks and apologize if anyone finds my headline repulsive; Sorry… Lo siento …Je suis désolé(e) …Es tut mir leid …or Entschuldigung …. 对不起 . …..Now if I missed a sorry in another language, well here’s my blanket apology; I’m sorry about that too.
So, with that said and out of the way, how about we consider our “repulsiveness” in a historical context. Let’s talk about the lingering power of images that are burnt into our subconscious and remain buried there sometimes for a lifetime.
To kick off March, Women’s History Month, I decided to write about Unita Blackwell and her place in both African American and women’s histories. Among so many great women of all backgrounds, among them Eleanor Roosevelt, Viola Liuzzo and Susan B. Anthony who advocated for civil and voting rights, I wish that Unita Blackwell was alive and with us today. More than ever, we need her out on the battlefield leading protests and knocking on doors extolling the urgency of exercising our right to vote. Lord knows we need her (and them).
Continue reading An African American in Women’s History Month – by Terry Howard
Like millions, I was riveted to the breaking news about the passing of Civil Rights advocate Jesse Jackson and at 5:30 pm, during a commercial, I called Bill Willis to follow up on a conversation we’d had two days before.
“Will I see you at this evening’s Board of Commissioners meeting (Douglas County, Georgia) during which I will accept their African American History Month proclamation? It starts at six and will be preceded by an art exhibition on the third floor.” I thanked him for the heads up and promised to get there as soon as I could.
Well as it typically is it is for Bill Willis, not only was he there with one of paintings, but the impeccably dressed Willis was there to accept the Commissioners proclamation.
Continue reading Introducing Professor Bill (“Paul Revere”) Willis – by Terry Howard
I have something to say and will say it on a few issues I’ll get to shortly.
Why me? Well, I guess it is because I’m blessed with several platforms to educate, elevate, cajole, annoy, encourage, or enrage based on what happens to crop in the latest news or on the sociopolitical menu. And this is a privilege I don’t take for granted. If I win or lose friends, well so be it. It comes with the territory.
Now class, pull out your notebooks and ready yourselves for a lecture beginning with how one migrates from “Rewriting” to “Revealing” to “Amending” History. After lunch, we’ll switch to “Responding to the ‘playing the race card’ nonsense then finish up with boogeyman number three, dubbing someone a “diversity hire.”
Continue reading Rewriting History: Playing the Race Card – by Terry Howard
“Thanks homegirl,” I said to myself as I left the car’s garage and punched my hotel’s address into my GPS. I thanked her again after the GPS she developed guided me through heavy California traffic and back roads and got me safely to my hotel. And thanks to your legacy, Dr. West, I’m proud and delighted to kick off African American History Month with your incredible story.
Now if anyone is as insecure as I am when you’re about to drive to some unfamiliar place, you’re probably quick to rely on your destination’s address in your GPS. Yes? No?
Continue reading The legacy of Dr. Gladys West – by Terry Howard
What began eight years ago at a local coffee shop with casual conversations between frequent customers evolved into a realization by several of us that we had a shared interest in books and in writing. And before we knew it others who eavesdropped into our conversations from nearby tables asked to join us in our talk about books and writing. Thus, the birth of the “26 Tiny Paintbrushes” writers guild launched by then resident Naomi Tapia and yours truly.
Continue reading 26 Tiny Paintbrushes 2.0? Well not so fast! – by Terry Howard
“I don’t know if you watched it or not, but this year’s Dr. Martin Luther King Day celebration at Ebenezer Baptist Church here in Atlanta was awesome,” I said to Deborah Levine, Founder/Editor-in-Chief of the American Diversity Report. Continue reading Recharging African and Jewish American Dialogues – by Terry Howard
