How has the election of Barack Obama changed the public dialogue about race and the realities for African Americans and other people of color?
In honor of Black History Month,
NewsTrust teamed up with PBS Engage, PBS’s Tavis Smiley and
Santa Clara University students to focus on the Black Experience in
America. All last week, we sought out the best journalism on issues
of economic empowerment, social justice, and the contributions of
African Americans to the country’s cultural landscape. In our
final tally, we reviewed 84 stories on the Black Experience from
dozens of mainstream and independent publications.
Our top rated story was 'The Other
Black President,' a profile
of the NAACP's new 35-year-old president, focusing on the challenge of keeping
his organization relevant in the era of Barack Obama. The story
appeared in the monthly magazine American Prospect and drew high
marks from several members, including two of our partner bloggers
from PBS. Sean Nixon
called it a "very well written thorough analysis of the NAACP.
The author takes adequate time to relay the organization’s
history, its challenges, and introduce the new NAACP president Ben
Jealous." Tamika
Thompson praised
it for "using Jealous to situate the NAACP in a 21st Century
context."
'The Year in
Hate,' published by the
Southern Poverty Law Center, reported on the gamut of hate groups
operating in the United States. It detailed the activity of the three
most dangerous factions of white supremacists, and warned that
Obama's election, the economic recession and the immigration debate
had renewed their energy.
Other top news stories covered a
sampling of issues involving race relations and the status of blacks
in America. The Washington Post
reported that in the first
month of Obama's presidency, top government officials have begun to
address race "more freely, with a boldness and confidence they
once shunned." The article cited several administration officials, including the EPA administrator and Attorney General
Eric Holder, who have recently discussed race in public appearances.
Striking a cultural tone, Ebony
Magazine's 'Letter from Atlanta'
depicted the Georgia capital as "a scale model of black America
with all of our glories, vanities, contradictions and failures."
And in 'Saga of NFL's African-American pioneers is an untold
story,' the Dallas Morning
News explained the reintegration of black football players and their
coaches in the early days of the NFL.
In our top opinion, The Root, an online magazine not previously listed in our source database, posted two highly rated stories. The first, 'More than beads, booze and boobs,' acknowledged the 100th anniversary of the Zulu krewe parade in New Orleans, which began as a celebration for blacks who were excluded from Mardi Gras. The second, 'Approaching the whites-only bench,'called attention to the lack of diversity among American judges and argued that a "systematic approach" is needed to make courts more representative of their constituencies.
Top Stories on the Black Experience
Here is a list of our top news and
opinion on the Black Experience:
News
The Other Black
President
American Prospect
The Year in
Hate
Southern Poverty Law Center
Saga of NFL's African-American pioneers
is an untold story
Dallas Morning News
Top officials expand dialogue on
race
Washington Post
Letter from
Atlanta
Ebony
Opinion
Race and the stimulus
rejectionists
Salon
More than beads, booze and
boobs
The Root
Approaching the whites-only
bench
The Root
New eyes on bigger
prizes
Washington Post
On different pages when it comes to
race
Chicago Tribune
Most trusted: top rated stories on the
Black
Experience (full
list ranked by
rating)
Most recent: top stories on the Black
Experience
(full
list ranked by
date)
Thanks to our partners
We'd like to extend a warm thanks to
our partners from the Tavis Smiley team, PBS Engage,and
Santa Clara University, who contributed so much to this project last week. Tavis Smiley's Young
Voices bloggers Tamika Thompson, Sean Nixon and Jeremy Freed posted a
total 47 story reviews and offered some great notes to back up their
ratings. SCU professor Lehrman and her students also came together to
submit 33 reviews on our Black Experience stories. And thank you to
the folks who helped organize this News Hunt in the first place: Laura Hertzfeld, Jayme
Swain, Kevin Dando and Amy Baroch from PBS Engage; and Philip Dunn
and Ariel Fox of KCET.
From the NewsTrust community, we'd also
like to recognize the great reviews and submissions from our most
active members: Kristin Gorski, Dale Penn, Dwight Rousu, Patricia
Blochowiak, Kenneth Sibbett, Kevin Barry and Peter Combs. We enjoyed working with you again, and your
participation is an inspiration to us.
This Week: Community Picks
This week on NewsTrust, we invite you
to submit a story for review. Have you come across a
good news story today? If so, please share it with us. Pick a story
-- on any topic -- that you think deserves to be reviewed and post it
here. Can you help us rate this week's best stories?
Please review some of the stories dug up by your peers, to help us
determine which community picks to feature on our home page. We're
particularly interested in your reviews on unrated stories (indicated
by a gray icon), in our Stories for Review listing.
-- By Derek Hawkins, with Kaizar Campwala and Fabrice Florin
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