On June 19th, 1865, 2,000 troops led by General Gordon Granger traveled to numerous locations throughout Galveston, Texas to inform the people that the war was over and slavery was therefore abolished. It is rumored that Freedwomen and men who heard the news began celebrating all across town. This moment birthed the now federal holiday “Juneteenth”, a commemoration of African-American independence. This celebration is important for many, many reasons — one being that it tells a truth to which broader America is just now getting exposed.

Education is known to be one of the most crucial facets of preserving and advancing not only democracy, but life itself. One could only imagine that the topic of education spending would be a fairly bi-partisan issue; one which people of any political background could come to some sort of consensus on, even those in office. My research shows that this unfortunately is not the case.

When Do The Right Thing hit American theaters in 1989, it was deemed the most controversial film of the year. The clashing perspectives that were depicted within the movie left everyone with an opinion to cling to. Despite how one may feel about the plot, it is hard to deny the historical accuracy of Do The Right Thing, or its importance as a cultural artifact.

The 13th amendment ended slavery in December of 1865, freeing the rest of the enslaved individuals whom were not freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. What followed the two-year process of emancipation lay a world of barriers for the newly freed individuals. The economy, the political structure, and society were still contingent on the subjugation of Black people, despite them gaining their freedom at the hands of the constitution. Black people who refused to follow the slavery-esque guidelines put in place by these White-supremacist barriers were typically met with one of the most pervasive deterrents of all: racially motivated violence.

The term ‘redlining’ is one we hear so often, yet few are aware of what redlining really is, or of its effects. With the help of the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond’s Mapping Inequality Project, we will tackle what redlining (and company) is and how its effects still linger today.

On January 26, 2021 Joe Biden signed an executive order which stated that the U.S. Attorney General “shall not renew Department of Justice contracts with privately operated criminal detention facilities, as consistent with applicable law.” While this may seem like a monumental gain amidst national calls for defunding the police and abolishing the prison industrial complex completely, a brief look into the business model and statistics of these entities exposes telling narratives. 

Jayden’s thoughts on his experiences with racism within Sylvania Schools, originally published on Twitter 6/7/20

Jayden explains why he created this platform and what his hopes are for it in the future.