The Oldest Living Pullman Porter

Lee Wesley Gibson, the oldest surviving Pullman porter, is 100 years old.

Dahlia Lithwick On The GOP And Thurgood Marshall

In this Slate posting Dahlia Lithwick discusses two tactical mistakes made by Senate Republicans who criticized Thurgood Marshall during the Kagan confirmation hearing.

Slideshow: Oscar Grant

Take a look at this.

Black Patriots Who Fought In The Revolutionary War

Read this.

Honoring Carl Brashear

Carl Brashear, the United States Navy's first master diver who happened to be black, was recently honored by American Legion Post 249 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Jack Johnson v. Jim Jeffries

July 4 marked the one hundredth anniversary of boxer Jack Johnson's victory over Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight championship bout in Reno, Nevada. Click here and here for stories on the fight.

"The Karate Kid"

While watching the movie "The Karate Kid" with her 8-year-old son, Lonnie O'Neal Parker saw "something new. Jaden Smith was playing a black boy in three domensions: vulnerable, contemplative and in possession of a wholly formed interior world."

The Fourth Of July

Frank Rich's recent NYT column, "Fourth of July 1776, 1964, 2010," should be read. A snippet: "But the story of America and race is hardly resolved, and progress is not inexorable."

On Frederick Douglass And Being Black In America Today

Jack White shares his views in The Root.

Marketing Suggestion

MSNBC should sell Morning Joe "coffee smugs."

Recommended

Jerry Kang & Kristin Lane, Seeing Through Colorblindness: Implicit Bias and the Law, forthcoming in the UCLA Law Review.

The Conservatism Of Thurgood Marshall?

In The Wall Street Journal Juan Williams asks, "Was Thurgood Marshall a conservative?"

He's Back

Mel Gibson has issues. Check out this Radaronline story about "one of the most explosive, racist and vile outbursts by a celebrity ever caught on tape."

Purple Drank

ESPN's Outside the Lines examines the use of "Purple Drank."

"I Have A Dream"

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech can be watched here.

Homey The Clown At Christmas

From In Living Color.

From "The Onion"

Story: "Speculation About Where LeBron Will Play Could End When He Signs Contract"

Glenn Beck And Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Watch this.

Acting White

John McWhorter addresses the "acting white" phenomenon in the context of public school desegregation.

From "The Root"

"The Down-Low Delusion": On "The View" television show, "comedians-turned-talking heads" D.L. Hughley and Sheri Shepherd made statements concerning "down low" African-American men and HIV infections among African-American women. Hughley: "They are getting it from men who are on the down low." Shepherd: "Thw down low is African-American men who have sex with men and then have sex with their girlfriends--or their wives. They're husbands, as well. It's very prevalent in the African-American community. Very." Kellee Terrell's Root article comments that "neither one of these comedians-turned-talking heads is an AIDS expert," and that "nowadays, having expertise (or an ounce of knowledge on a topic) is not mandatory for a media platform. Anyone with a camera aimed at them can spout off at the mouth, claiming that fiction is fact, and it goes completely unchallenged." While "closeted black men exist, . . . contrary to popular belief, the DL is not a major force in the rise of HIV infections among black women in this country."

"Trashing Thurgood Marshall": Sherrilyn Ifill writes that "Republican members of the [Senate Judiciary] committee used their opeing statements to unleash an orchestrated disparagement of the record and legacy of Supreme Court justice and civil rights icon Thurgood Marshall . . . The invocation of Marshall (35 times by Republicans) was a surprising new low, even for the shameless opportunism of modern confirmation hearings."