Category: Racial Justice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_Thomas

Alma Woodsey Thomas (September 22, 1891 – February 24, 1978) was an American artist and art teacher who lived and worked in Washington, D.C., and is now recognized as a major American painter of the 20th century. She is the first African-American woman to be included in the White House‘s permanent art collection.^[1] Thomas is best known for the “exuberant”, colorful, abstract paintings that she created after she retired from a 35-year career teaching art at Washington’s Shaw Junior High School.

https://www.npr.org/2026/07/01/nx-s1-5876122/colorado-primary-election-melat-kiros-democratic-socialist

Political newcomer and democratic socialist Melat Kiros is poised to become the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress after defeating 15-term incumbent Democrat Diana DeGette in a primary race for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Alfonso

X-Alfonso (born c. 1974 as Equis Alfonso) is a Cuban hip hop and afro-rock musician, who played with Audioslave in a concert in Havana on May 7, 2005, in “Tribuna Anti-imperialista”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Parham

Jason Parham (born 1986) is an American writer and editor. He is senior writer at Wired and the founder and editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Spook. He was previously an editor at Gawker and The Fader, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Awl, The Atlantic, The Village Voice, and The New York Times Magazine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayanna_Pressley

Ayanna Soyini Pressley (born February 3, 1974) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts’s 7th congressional district since 2019. This district includes the northern three quarters of Boston, most of Cambridge, parts of Milton, as well as all of Chelsea, Everett, Randolph, and Somerville.^[1]

Pressley served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council from 2010 through 2019. She was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2018 after she defeated the ten-term incumbent Mike Capuano in the Democratic primary election for Massachusetts’s 7th congressional district and ran unopposed in the general election.^[2] Pressley was the first black woman elected to the Boston City Council and the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.^[3][4] Pressley is a member of “The Squad“, an informal group of progressive Congress members.

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/29/g-s1-126163/bow-wow-tiny-desk-concert

Bow Wow built his own lane. His debut single spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart, he released three successful albums and landed a string of big screen appearances, all before turning 18. His transformation from child star to well-rounded entertainer serves as a blueprint for longevity, and honoring the impact and legacy of BET without him would have been incomplete.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_Wow_(rapper)

Shad Gregory Moss (born March 9, 1987), better known by his stage name Bow Wow (formerly Lil’ Bow Wow), is an American rapper and actor. His career began upon being discovered by rapper Snoop Dogg in 1993 at the age of six; five years later, he signed with record producer Jermaine Dupri‘s So So Def Recordings, an imprint of Columbia Records. As Lil’ Bow Wow, his debut studio album, Beware of Dog (2000), was released at the age of 13, and followed by his second album, Doggy Bag (2001). Both commercial successes, the albums peaked at numbers 8 and 11 on the Billboard 200, respectively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Miller

Adrian Miller is an American author and former attorney and policy analyst. His books have twice won the James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship: Soul Food in 2014 and Black Smoke in 2022. He is also the author of The President’s Kitchen Cabinet, which was nominated for a 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction. He also served as a White House advisor to U.S. president Bill Clinton.

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/28/nx-s1-5843114/250-colonial-america-1776-food-anniversary

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Arthur Gross has been the chef at Middleton Tavern in Annapolis, Md., for 50 years. That’s a long time, even for a tavern that started serving food before the country’s inception.

Sometimes, in between preparing food in the kitchen, “I wonder to myself what would it have been like?” Gross said of the early days at the 276-year-old tavern.

https://www.insideannapolis.com/archive/reviews/MiddletonTavern.html

Undeterred, we proceeded to the dessert and selected the crème brulee with four spoons. It was cool and, upon notice, server Aaron had it appropriately warmed to room temperature. This faultless classic favorite is a specialty of Executive Chef Arthur Gross who has been with Middleton’s for 25 years. He went through the ranks from dishwasher to prep specialist, cook, to sous chef and now executive chef, somehow fitting in training with the Culinary Institute of America, the Academy of French Cuisine and other notable professional training schools. He modestly credits the Middleton team and low staff turnover for much of the restaurant’s superb fare.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Boykin

Hope Boykin is an American dancer, choreographer and former member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.^[1]

Boykin also works as an educator, and joined the faculty of the University of Southern California (USC)’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance as the artist in residence for the 2019-2020 academic year.^[10] In 2020, she served as the artistic lead for the Kennedy Center Dance Lab (KCDL),^[11] a two-week dance and leadership program for high school students.

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/26/nx-s1-5867404/2026-world-cup-fifa-africa-cape-verde-senegal-morocco-congo

It’s not just Cape Verde: African soccer is having a World Cup moment

HOUSTON — Cape Verde, the surprise star of the 2026 World Cup, is having a moment. A big moment. The team has advanced to the knockout round.

This is the first World Cup for the small island nation, and yet, the squad has managed to hold its own against soccer powerhouses like Spain and Uruguay. And it’s not just Cape Verde: African teams are playing big in this year’s tournament, against soccer legends that are performing unevenly.