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At the turn of the 20th century, with few opportunities for Black children to see themselves in print, the Black press sought to fill the void.
Children’s literature scholar Paige Gray tells the story of how popular Black newspapers like the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier started publishing inserts featuring poems, letters and stories written by Black kids, for Black kids.
It turns out there was an enormous appetite for – as the 10-year-old editor of the Defender Junior put it – the “sayings and doings” of “we little folks,” who finally had a platform to tell their stories, express their anxieties and affirm their ambitions.
Also today:
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A newspaper boy hawks copies of the Chicago Defender.
Library of Congress
Paige Gray, Savannah College of Art and Design
At the turn of the 20th century, with few children's books featuring Black characters, one young editor implored his peers to 'Let us make the world know that we are living.'
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Science + Technology
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Diwakar Davar, University of Pittsburgh
Whether or not you respond to a certain medicine or therapy doesn't just depend on you. The microbes in your gut play a role in the success or failure of various drugs, including cancer therapies.
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Bevil R. Conway, National Institutes of Health; Danny Garside, National Institutes of Health
Neuroscientists tackling the age-old question of whether perceptions of color hold from one person to the next are coming up with some interesting answers.
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Economy + Business
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Veronika Dolar, SUNY Old Westbury
The widely reported unemployment rate – currently 6.7% – doesn't fully reflect the reality of joblessness in the US economy.
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Erica Goldberg, University of Dayton
It's up to the courts to draw a line between free speech and illegal market manipulation. And the Supreme Court has never ruled on this specific question.
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Politics + Society
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Jeff Inglis, The Conversation
There are a lot of questions about the point of putting on trial someone who is no longer in office.
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Ethics + Religion
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Deborah Whitehead, University of Colorado Boulder
Joe Biden used the National Prayer Breakfast to call for unity amid 'dark, dark times.' The event has been attended by every president since Dwight Eisenhower in 1953.
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Education
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Leonard Cassuto, Fordham University
Graduate programs can be rich in scholarship and still prepare students for real-world careers.
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Scott Henderson, Furman University
Humor is a key ingredient to successful learning. Can educators keep the laughter going when learning takes place online?
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From our international editions
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Alexandre Hassanin, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
A bat virus discovered a decade ago in Cambodia indicates that pangolin trafficking remains a credible explanation for the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Cheryl Thompson, Ryerson University
'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' the best seller of the 19th century, is not a relic from the past. The complex Uncle Tom figure still has a hold over Black politics.
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Archa Fox, University of Western Australia; Harry Al-Wassiti, Monash University
Researchers are already working to improve the current crop of mRNA vaccines. Hopefully this will help them become more practical and affordable for the entire world, not just first-world countries.
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