Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Moves 2025 Convention From Orlando, FL due to Governor DeSantis’ Racist Policies Against The Black Community

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. General President Dr. Willis, L. Lonzer, III announced the relocation of the Fraternity’s 99th General Convention and 119th Anniversary Convention from Orlando, Florida, scheduled to take place in 2025, due to Governor Ron DeSantis’ harmful, racist, and insensitive policies against the Black community.

The announcement, on the first day of its 97th General Convention and 117th Anniversary Convention in Dallas, Texas, amplifies the Fraternity’s convention theme, “Strengthening the Brotherhood and Standing for Social Justice.”

“Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has an unmatched legacy of social justice, advocacy, and leadership for the Black community,” said General President Dr. Willis L. Lonzer, III. “In this environment of manufactured division and attacks on the Black community, Alpha Phi Alpha refuses to direct a projected $4.6 million convention economic impact to a place hostile to the communities we serve. Although we are moving our convention from Florida, Alpha Phi Alpha will continue to support the strong advocacy of Alpha Brothers and other advocates fighting against the continued assault on our communities in Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis.”

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Conventions generate approximately $4.6 million in economic impact.

Earlier this week, the Florida Board of Education approved a controversial new K-12 curriculum for African American history, which erases Florida’s role in slavery and oppression, blames the victims, and declares that African Americans who endured slavery benefitted from the horrific and torturous institution.

The Fraternity joins a broad coalition of organizations protesting Florida’s barrage of harmful and discriminatory policies on protests, voting rights, education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. In May, the NAACP issued a travel advisory, calling Florida “openly hostile” to African Americans.

In Dallas this week, General President Lonzer and Fraternity leadership are dedicating much of its current convention to highlight the continued fight needed for social justice on behalf of African Americans and other marginalized communities. On Monday, Fraternity leadership joined Dallas-Ft. Worth area Alpha Phi Alpha Chapters as well as other Divine 9 Dallas Chapters in a protest march that culminated with a rally of hundreds at City Hall.

The newly appointed President & CEO of The Rainbow Push Coalition, Alpha Brother, Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, also helped lead the march and delivered rousing remarks at the rally.

School District Is First In New Jersey To Require Students To Take African American History To Graduate

The Cherry Hill School District is now the first in New Jersey to require students to take African American history in order to graduate. The school board approved the move Tuesday night.

Students had lobbied for the course to become mandatory. The charge was led by seventh-grader Ebele Azikiwe, of Beck Middle School. Watch the full story beow.

Check out the National Museum of African American History and Culture: A Souvenir Book

While I'm sure many of us have future plans to go to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, our very busy lives and or finances could delay or stop that trip entirely. That doesn't mean that we can't get a look at the museum in the meantime through it's souvenir book.

SYNOPSIS: National Museum of African American History and Culture: A Souvenir Book

This souvenir book showcases some of the most influential and important treasures of the National Museum of African American History and Culture's collections. These include a hymn book owned by Harriet Tubman; ankle shackles used to restrain enslaved people on ships during the Middle Passage; a dress that Rosa Parks was making shortly before she was arrested; a vintage, open-cockpit Tuskegee Airmen trainer plane; Muhammad Ali's headgear; an 1835 Bill of Sale enslaving a young girl named Polly; and Chuck Berry's Cadillac. These objects tell us the full story of African American history, of triumphs and tragedies and highs and lows. This book, like the museum it represents, uses artifacts of African American history and culture as a lens into what it means to be an American.

CHECK OUT THE BOOK

Alexandria (VA) to dedicate memorial to African Americans who died in Civil War

During the Civil War, the Alexandria Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery was the burial place for approximately 1,700 African Americans who fled to Alexandria to escape bondage. Now, in the sesquicentennial of both the Cemetery and the Civil War, a new memorial honors this site and those who were laid to rest there.

The City of Alexandria will officially dedicate the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial on Saturday, September 6, 2014 at 10 a.m. Several hundred descendants of those buried at the Cemetery have been located, and many will be on hand for the dedication ceremony.

Read more about the dedication and the cemetery here: http://www.visitalexandriava.com/things-to-do/historic-sites-attractions/african-american/

Civil War Recruiting posters for blacks.

Check out these poster used to recruit free black men to the US Army during the Civil War. If you like history, African American history, and American history these should interest you.