By C. Nicole Mason
Amid protest from parents and teachers, New York City’s Department of Education voted on January 27 to close 19 failing public schools. The closings come on the heels of a heated battle among state legislators to lift a ban limiting the number of charter schools in the state. The measure failed, but not without revealing a troubling trend around the country with regard to public education in states and cities—chasing dollars instead of what’s in the best interest of students.

By Clifton R. Wharton, Jr.
The unprecedented election of President Barack Obama has provided a dramatic spotlight on the issues of race in America. One aspect of significance is that it represents an important step in the process of racial integration in our nation. His election was the result of the collective decisions by a multi racial and multi ethnic electorate. Both as a U.S. Senator from Illinois and as President, Obama has been what might be called an “Integrative Black Pioneer.”

By Khalil Gibran Muhammad
“Education is the key to success. Knowledge is power.” Wise words repeated countless times to young people at home and in school every single day. But what should we say to them if one day their hard work meets empty promises, if their dreams are deferred, or their first paycheck of material reward is marked insufficient funds.

By Eisa Nefertari Ulen
What does a woman do after coming-of -age in Birmingham in the 1950s, after losing two friends in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four little girls in the 1960s, after helping free her very high-profile sister from the clutches of the FBI’s Most Wanted List during the height of Black Power in the 1970s? What does she do after advocating for the end to Apartheid in the 1980s, after working as a Civil Rights trial lawyer through the 1990s?

By George E. Curry
I thought I knew Cornel West, the most public of public intellectuals. But it was not until I read his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud that I realized how much I didn’t know about my friend.

By TaRessa Stovall
A clever response to Beyonce’s super-hit, Single Ladies, with the line, “If you like it, then you should have put a ring on it,” has inspired a group of young students from the Hope Christian School in Milwaukee to create their own version with a very different—and much more empowering—message.

By Deborah Rudacille
The Montgomery County Conservation Corps combines job training with intensive counseling and character-building. But it is the promise of earning a GED that gets most corps members in the door.

By TaRessa Stovall
“Why don’t you guys study like the kids from Africa?”
This is the question posed by a white male high school teacher to his “virtually all African-American” 12th grade English class, where not a single student raised their hand when asked if they have a father living at home.

By The Editors
The Howard University School of Law, which for nearly a century and a half has supplied much of black America’s legal talent, celebrated its 140th anniversary at a gala dinner October 24 in Washington, D.C. True to institutional form, law school officials celebrated the school’s historic record of service by honoring the service of others.

By The Editors
John Payton, speaking at one of the nation’s most historic black institutions of higher learning, takes on the challenging question – and assertion – President Obama’s election has inevitably raised: Does that mean the United States of America has become a “post-racial” society?