National

  • 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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  • Nikki Giovanni

    When poet, essayist, scholar, and activist Nikki Giovanni passed away on December 9, the world lost a singular voice.

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  • Education

    Giving the Gift of Books

    As parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, and adults everywhere are busy choosing holiday gifts for the children they love, books should always be at the top of the list.

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  • American Youth Policy Forum – Moving Forward

    The impact of the 2024 election may shape our nation for generations. That is why I am pleased Children's Defense Fund was positioned to host the American Youth Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., on November 8th.

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  • A Litany of Thanksgiving

    On this Thanksgiving, I share once again the beautiful prayer of great Black theologian Howard Thurman, A Litany of Thanksgiving. For many years I always made Thanksgiving dinner for our whole family and for friends away from their homes.

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  • Saying Grace

    During the Thanksgiving season I often share the description of an editorial cartoon my father kept pinned up in the vestibule of our church that made a deep childhood impression on me I have never forgotten.

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  • Keep Rising

    This is a moment when many people are feeling as if the dream they have of what America can and should be has been deferred yet again, while the forces that seem willing to ignore, excuse, or embrace misogyny, racism, bigotry, bullying, and cruelty may appear to be ascendant.

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  • The Most Powerful Tool

    On March 7, 1965, a group of us attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to dramatize to the nation that people wanted to register to vote.

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