Sixty years ago, on Sunday, March 7, 1965, John Lewis and Reverend Hosea Williams set out on a nonviolent march with a group of 600 men, women, young people, and children headed from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital in Montgomery.
At the first Presidential Address to a Joint Session of Congress in his second term of office, President Donald J. Trump was, as my sons would say, ‘in his bag’ as showman-in-chief. Beyond the jokes, antics, and partisan division belying the historic decorum of the Chamber, the tradition of storytelling through special guests—popularized by President Bill Clinton—has become a project in propaganda. This time it both exploited and commodified our children.
Harvard Medical School scholar Dr. Alvin Poussaint, who passed away February 24, was a renowned psychiatrist and educator whose research included studying the ways racism and discrimination impact African Americans’ self-esteem and mental health, including Black children and young people.
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.
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.
Children's Defense Fund (CDF) strongly opposes the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and we are urging Senators who represent children, youth, and families across the country to do the same.
On Wednesday, January 29, Children’s Defense Fund President and Chief Executive Officer, Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, assumed the gavel as chair of the Board of Trustees for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). He was elected to the role in July 2024, after serving as a trustee since January 2022. He chaired the Nominating and Governance Committee for the last year.