“Hidden Figures” is now in theaters nationwide and sheds light on our untold Black stories. Herstories. While its star-studded cast remarkably recounts the story of three black women whose work was crucial to NASA in the 1960s, its lens on gender relations, racial identity, and individual perseverance are inspiring for all. Though not a subject of this film, Mae Jemison, …
All the lessons learned on starting your own business.
Usually around February (aka Black History Month) when we’re stumbling over the third verse of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and quoting MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech with so much vigor, at least one person will pay homage to badass female millionaire #1: Madam CJ Walker. Walker wasn’t just a trailblazing businesswoman, she also was the first black person …
Why are young black girls hitting puberty at an alarming rate?
A new study tells us that almost half of all black girls show signs of puberty by age 8. This is alarming for a number of reasons, especially considering that only 20% of white girls experience this at the same age. Why is this happening? Your guess is as good as the researchers’. “The beginning of adolescence is a tough …
Science is for suckers.
Check out this hilarious video from comedian W. Kamau Bell, mocking conservative rhetoric about global warming.
This black superhero saves the world through environmental justice.
How can we get black kids interested in the environment? A comic book may help.
The second black man in space always broke barriers.
Here is the story of how a little black boy went from breaking barriers in the local library to breaking barriers of time and space.
Save the world by farming in your own backyard.
It’s quite expensive to get fresh food to poor neighborhoods. Urban farmers are taking matters into their own hands. “Sprinkled throughout some of America’s blackest, brownest and most distressed communities lies the future of food for us all: urban farms. Initially a response to inner-city decay and the absence of supermarkets in the nation’s poorest neighborhoods, these citified agricultural centers, …
Beautify your hood.
From farmers’ markets to murals, Colorlines provides 5 ways to mark Earth Day by building environmental equity. “This weekend marks the 41st Earth Day and the theme is “A Billion Acts of Green”–a people-powered campaign to generate a billion global acts of environmental service and advocacy by the 2012 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro. And from …
The US Department of Defense wants to enter another solar system. Who do they call? A black woman, of course.
Black people have always had strong connections to space, science fiction, and the unknown. Now, first black woman astronaut Mae Jemison looks to continue that legacy by taking us out of this world. Jemison now runs The 100-Year Starship, a project that will figure out how to take make interstellar travel sustainable. “Today, Mae Jemison may be best known as …