Chi Ossé describes his relationship with activism and advocacy as an awakening — one that transpired last summer after the murder of George Floyd led him and his friends to protest on the streets of New York City. The 23-year-old activist became so inspired by the collective demonstrations that he…
Nadya Okamoto has no problem talking about her period. Growing up in a household with a single mom and two sisters kept the floor open for all things menstruation. At age 16, during morning commutes to school, she would chat with homeless women who first introduced her to period poverty…
At the time of Trayvon Martin’s murder in 2012, Brea Baker was only 17. The now 26-year-old racial and gender justice activist recalls the tragedy being a defining moment in how social media served as a catalyst for activism in the United States. Black Lives Matter proliferated on Twitter and…
Naj Austin knows exactly what she wants and has no problem making it happen. Her high school classmates always knew this. “She’s a dog with a bone,” says a description in Austin’s high school yearbook. “She doesn’t let anything go. …
If anyone knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of gaslighting, it is Black women. Oftentimes our complaints are dismissed as being unreasonable and our experiences are treated as fiction. …
It comes as no surprise that the demographic of women who are most likely to die from pregnancy-related complications, see their sons disproportionately incarcerated, and represent 22% of American women in poverty are the backbone of American democracy. Across history, Black women, who face compounded hardship based both on their…
As a child, while visiting a friend whose mother was cooking meat for dinner, Howardena Pindell came across a recent issue of Life magazine. Inside the issue, a large photo of a Black man lying face-up on a log, set on fire, caught her eye. She took deeper notice of…
This story is a part of our Back to the Future series on how key moments in the year 2000 influenced similar events in 2020.
The year 2000 wrapped up an iconic moment in television history — the season finale of the original All That series. After six seasons of…
A week after George Floyd’s death, I took it upon myself to call out my closest White friends who had yet to say anything publicly about the tragedy. By this time in late May, my favorite French band Ofenbach had posted a GoFundMe link for the Floyd family, and Timothée…
There are several pieces floating around the internet detailing the clever ways singles have adapted to dating while practicing social distancing. There’s the story about the guy who flew a drone to his neighbor’s rooftop to exchange phone numbers and then there are data pieces revealing a spike in dating…
