Hope Requires Work
Leslie McGraw joins Turning A Moment Into A Movement to honor Rev. Jesse Jackson’s legacy and explore what accountability looks like today. This conversation connects past and present, calling us to move from awareness into action.
The Way to Right Wrongs
The National Park Service is asking for public comments on lynching sites in the Memphis region, including Brownsville, Tennessee—where Elbert Williams was killed in 1940 for organizing Black voter registration. This is more than a historical review. It is a chance for communities and descendant families to help shape how this story is remembered, preserved, and taught. For many of us, especially those with roots stretching from Tennessee to Michigan, this history is not distant. It lives in
Naming the Wound, Finding the Healing
What happens when lived grief meets clinical wisdom? At the Ann Arbor District Library, George Floyd’s family and leading psychologists gathered for a powerful evening of truth-telling, resilience, and racial healing. From personal loss to the psychology of racial trauma, the panel revealed how turning pain into purpose demands not only courage—but also community, love, […]
Discovering Juneteenth
Article Reprinted, Courtesy of Brownsville States-Graphic OPINION | DISCOVERING JUNETEENTHBy Leslie McGraw, Great Grandniece of Elbert Williams I didn’t grow up celebrating Juneteenth. Like many Black Americans in the Midwest, I knew of it only vaguely—something about Texas, something about the end of slavery, but it felt distant, like someone else’s history. In my 11th […]
Hannah: True story of a newly freed girl meeting President Abraham Lincoln
Author, Podcast Host, and retired Nurse Pamela Goldstein recounts a story of meeting President Abraham Lincoln, as told to her by 108-year-old Hannah when she worked as her direct caregiver at age 19.
Black History Contributions
Brownsville's 2024 bicentennial will be celebrated with the theme "A Journey Through Our History – A Pathway to Progress". The town's history is shaped by African and European cultures, contributing to a bright future. African cultures have influenced art forms globally, including music genres. Prominent individuals from Brownsville have made national and international contributions. The community celebrates African beauty standards and showcases art like "Women of a New Tribe" by Jerry Taliaf
Threescore years
September 15, 1963 was another grim and bloody Sunday in these United States, when six black children were murdered and dozens of church goers were injured at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
Lift Every Chair and Swing
No historian or forecaster could have seen the storm brewing earlier this month in Montgomery, Alabama. Many Americans had their Sunday afternoon social media scrolling disrupted with what initially seemed like a race-based brawl on the Montgomery, Alabama riverfront on August 5, 2023. The final victory blows were executed with a single folding chair.
Not so long ago – Remembering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
America has lost two of its most endeared trailblazers over the last few weeks, Betty White and Sidney Poitier. At ages 99 and 94, respectively, we weren’t ready for their transition. In fact, I was bummed that Betty White was not able to hold on for a few more weeks so that she could witness […]
Juneteenth Conversations
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day, is celebrated throughout the nation and as a state holiday in Michigan. This uniquely American holiday commemorates the day in 1865 that news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached enslaved people in Texas and other parts of the southwest– June 19th, a […]