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Should the Media Stay Away From Michelle Obama's Heritage?
Yesterday, the New York Times ran a piece on Michelle Obama's connection to slavery. Using old public records, fading photos, and recollections of older family members, the New York Times, along with genealogist Megan Smolenyak, uncovered details that fully connect the first lady to the history of slavery for the first time. While the piece was captivating, some worry that it was not appropriate.
New York Times Traces First Lady's Slave Roots
The New York Times ran a captivating historical piece today about a six-year-old slave named Melvinia. The paper traces her family's five-generation journey from slavery to modern success.
It's a fascinating American story that just so happens to be part of first lady Michelle Obama's story, too.
US Moves to Apologize For Slavery 145 Years Later
2009 just might be the year the United States officially apologizes for slavery, which was abolished in 1863. Yesterday, the US Senate approved a resolution that acknowledges the wrongs of slavery.
Words can never take back this shameful part of American history or repair its enduring effects, but an official apology can focus attention on injustices, and perhaps impact present government policies and modern moral obligations.
Child Slavery in the US? Wealthy Immigrants Bring "Hired" Help
Well, this is just great. Behind the gated and planned communities of Southern California housewives aren't just employing children as drug dealers, they're smuggling children into the US to work.
As affluent immigrants move here from Africa, where the rich think nothing of employing children for little to no money, many bring children with them to employ for meager wages ($30-per-month meager).
Immigrants the New Slave Labor? FBI Probes Treatment
Mexican guest workers at the center of an FBI investigation say that their boss treated them like animals.
Charles "Bimbo" Relan, the Louisiana farmer who employs the immigrants, allegedly confiscated the workers' passports, kept them working hunched over for hours, fired his shot gun over the workers' heads, killed the stray dog the workers kept as a pet, and sometimes paid them only $2 an hour. He also exposed the immigrants to dangerous pesticides.
Website Lets Public Track Slave Trade Voyages
This year marks 200 years since the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, one of the largest, and most tragic, migrations of humans in history. To mark the anniversary, Emory University launched "Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database," a project that allows the public to search information about 35,000 trips and 70,000 slaves traded from the 1500s to the 1800s. In the introduction to the project, David Eltis of Emory writes: It is difficult to believe in the first decade of the twenty-first century that just over two centuries ago, for those Europeans who thought about the issue, the shipping of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic was morally indistinguishable from shipping textiles, wheat, or even sugar.
Niger Found Guilty of Allowing Slavery By West African Court
An ex-slave in Niger, who was sold at the age of 12, made to worked for 10 years, and forced to bear the children of her master, has won a case against her country, which now must pay her $19,750 in damages. A West African Court found the Niger government guilty of failing to protect Hadijatou Mani from slavery, sending a message loud and clear that Niger must do more than nominally outlaw slavery. Activists hope the case will improve the lives of thousands kept in slavery throughout the region.
Does Congress's Apology For Jim Crow and Slavery Matter?
As part of Congress's whirlwind-meets-marathon pace (like voting on 10 amendments in one minute at a pace of six seconds per) in order to finish up before the end of session, votes have been fast and furious. The votes aren't on trivial matters either: Whether people should be allowed to register to vote on election days and if Massachusetts can allow out-of-state gay couples to marry are on the agenda. Part of the voting frenzy included a key apology.
Got a Stop Watch? It Only Takes 10 Hours to Buy a Child Slave
It takes just 10 hours for someone in New York City to travel to Haiti and buy a child. ABC News reporter Dan Harris found that out when he set out to test the ease of securing a child slave. For as little as $150 one trafficker guaranteed Harris a "trained" 11-year-old.
Front Page: Airlines Grounded, FL on Slavery, North Korea
- The two Democratic candidates are both giving speeches on the economy this morning. Obama is speaking in New York now, Clinton to follow in North Carolina. More to come as the speeches develop.
- Delta Air Lines became the second major airline in two days to announce cancellations in service.
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