Activists chart course for Black America s progress after a year of turmoil
Most activists say leaders need to prove they are accountable and usher in change that benefits the communities that supported them.
Donna M. Owens, Special to USA TODAY
Published
3:23 pm UTC Feb. 18, 2021
Most activists say leaders need to prove they are accountable and usher in change that benefits the communities that supported them.
Donna M. Owens, Special to USA TODAY
Published
3:23 pm UTC Feb. 18, 2021
The arc of Timuel Black Jr.’s life is long, covering most of the 20th century and all we ve seen of the 21st. Along the way, the 102-year-old labor organizer, educator, author and freedom fighter has witnessed pivotal events in American and African American history.
Activists chart course for Black America s progress after a year of turmoil Donna M. Owens, Special to USA TODAY
New Jersey addresses inequities that fueled coronavirus spread
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The arc of Timuel Black Jr.’s life is long, covering most of the 20th century and all we ve seen of the 21st. Along the way, the 102-year-old labor organizer, educator, author and freedom fighter has witnessed pivotal events in American and African American history.
As an infant, he survived the influenza pandemic of 1918. He was part of the Great Migration, which brought his family north from Alabama to Chicago. As an Army soldier in World War II, he battled Hitler abroad and segregation at home. During the civil rights movement, he led a contingent to the March on Washington in 1963.
Alzheimer s deaths skyrocket as patients lives upended by pandemic Georgea Kovanis, Detroit Free Press
DETROIT – George Pitchford knew his wife, Bettie, a retired educator whose lively mind was lost in the fog that is Alzheimer s, was going to get worse. But he hadn t expected her to die, at least not so soon.
The nursing center where she lived closed to visitors, and everything changed. George and a legion of family friends were no longer allowed to take Bettie on the walks she so greatly enjoyed.
Within months, she was in a wheelchair. They saw her only through window visits or via FaceTime calls, neither of which were especially productive.
Words that live forever
This socially-distant holiday season will not be celebrated the way we have always enjoyed. But writing a letter to a loved one will bring us closer.
By Linda Solomon, Special to the Detroit Free Press
Published
4:37 pm UTC Dec. 19, 2020
Linda Solomon reads a letter from her father
Antranik Tavitian, Detroit Free Press
“This letter which I am writing with my own hand, with my own pen, with my own penmanship comes from me and no one else . you can read me today, tomorrow, any day you want.” A. R . Gurney Playwright “LOVE LETTERS”
My dad passed away suddenly when he was 63. Thirty years ago. I have no video of him, no FaceTime messages, no voicemail messages. But I have his handwritten letters. And I can read them “any day” I want. When I read his letters, my dad’s voice and heart are forever with me. Providing comfort because I can touch the paper he touched. His letters, written on a simple yellow lined pad with a red pen.