EDITORIAL
A dawn of a new eraFor quite some time, the Banner's editorial page has asserted that the civil rights era approach is no longer an effective strategy for advancing the interests of African Americans. Racial discrimination persists, but it is no longer sufficiently virulent to prevent black progress. What is needed now is a rededication to the old-fashioned values of self-discipline, hard work and thrift. More » |
Roxbury prideFor several decades, Roxbury residents of the mid-20th century would have come with their families to an annual reunion in Franklin Park. People travel from all over the United States, and even abroad, to reminisce with their friends and neighbors about growing up in Roxbury as an African American. More » |
OPINION
Millions of African Americans will be disenfranchised on Election DayWhen Election Day arrives in November, the state of Virginia will likely play a huge role in determining whether Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain becomes the next president of the United States. Unfortunately, the vote tally from the Old Dominion will be illegitimate, because the state will disenfranchise nearly 350,000 individuals who are barred from voting because of felony convictions. More » |
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Info on Mass. black Civil War regiment available onlineOn July 18, 1863, on Morris Island, near Charleston, S.C., the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a Union regiment composed entirely of free African American men, began their assault on Fort Wagner, a Confederate stronghold. After the war, a sergeant of the 54th, William Harvey Carney, became the first African American awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, for taking up the fallen Union flag and carrying it to the fort's walls. Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the commander of the regiment, was killed in the charge, along with 116 of his men. Shaw, an abolitionist born to a prominent Boston family, had been recruited by Massachusetts Gov. John Andrew to raise and command the all-black regiment, the first of its kind in the Civil War. More » |
