Posts by Ben Dawson

  • Teaching Black History

    Dr. Carter G. Woodson, “the Father of Black History,” was born in Virginia in 1875 to parents who had both formerly been enslaved. When his family moved to Huntington, West Virginia, they were close to Frederick Douglass High School, one of the rare high schools open for Black students, but he remained largely self-taught while working in the local coal mines to help support his family first.

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  • Black Workers, Black History

    Every February, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the organization established in 1915 by “the Founder of Black History” Dr. Carter G. Woodson, designates a theme for the observance of Black History Month.

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  • Writing the Next Chapter

    In the days following President Barack Obama’s first inauguration, the preparations for Black History Month felt especially joyful. That was a moment when the entire nation could see Black history and American history being written at the same time.

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  • A Lesson from Dr. King

    The week honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in our nation ended under a barrage of threats to Dr. King’s vision and values and attacks on long-deserved, hard-earned protections and progress for millions of people.

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  • A Definition of Greatness

    As we celebrate the national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which coincides with Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C., this year, it is an opportune moment to return to Dr. King’s definition of greatness.

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  • Character and Service

    President Carter once called justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, and love “the guiding lights of a life,” and those principles were the threads woven through the long lists of his own accomplishments.

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  • Immigration

    Vote NO on HR 29, Laken Riley Act

    Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) and Children’s Defense Fund-Texas (CDF-Texas) urges you to vote NO on HR 29, the Laken Riley Act. This is not a border security bill. HR 29 is a discriminatory, anti-immigrant bill that violates the U.S. Constitution by rolling back basic due process protections that protect those who are wrongfully arrested from losing their immigration status.

    | Texas