Henry Louis Gates Jr and Oxford to publish African American Dictionary

The Oxford University Press has planned to publish in 2025 a dictionary that will reflect the history, significance and meaning of African-American language.

The Oxford Dictionary of African American English, a new glossary of language that will contain popular phrases used by historical Black figures and modern-day Black Americans.

Historian, Henry Louis Gates Jr is the editor-in-chief of the proposed dictionary which will be produced from a three-year research project by Oxford English Dictionary and Havard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research.

According to Gates on the project, “Every speaker of American English borrows heavily from words invented by African-Americans, whether they know it or not,” Gates said.

The project was a joint venture of the Oxford University Press and the Hutchins Center. Gates Jr. said that the idea for the new dictionary came about when the Oxford Press asked him to collaborate on their existing dictionaries, leading him to propose a more ambitious project.

Funded by grants from the Mellon and Wagner Foundations, the dictionary stems from a three-year research project led by a diverse team of researchers and lexicographers whose focus is to preserve the vocabulary of African-Americans. The new dictionary, which Gates said is heavily influenced by “words invented by African Americans,” will serve as an authoritative record of African-American English.

The first copy of the Oxford Dictionary of African American English is expected to be released in 2025.

Emmett Till’s House among African American Historical Sites to Get Landmarks Funds

Emmett Till left his mother’s house on Chicago’s South Side in 1955 to visit relatives in Mississippi, where the Black teenager was abducted and brutally slain for reportedly whistling at a white woman.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a cultural preservation organization announced Tuesday that the house will receive a share of $3 million in grants being distributed to 33 sites and organizations nationwide that are important pieces of African American history.

Till’s brutal slaying helped galvanize the civil rights movement. The Chicago home where Mamie Till Mobley and her son lived will receive funding for a project director to oversee restoration efforts, including renovating the second floor to what it looked like when the Tills lived there.

“This house is a sacred treasure from our perspective and our goal is to restore it and reinvent it as an international heritage pilgrimage destination,” said Naomi Davis, executive director of Blacks in Green, a local nonprofit group that bought the house in 2020. She said the plan is to time the 2025 opening with that of the Obama Presidential Library a few miles away.

Leggs said it is particularly important to do something that shines a light on Mamie Till Mobley. After her 14-year-old son’s lynching, Till Mobley insisted that his body be displayed in an open casket as it looked when it was pulled from a river, to show the world what racism looked like.

The house and the story of the casket highlight the risks that the remnants of such history can vanish if not protected. As recently as 2019 when it was sold to a developer, the red brick Victorian house built more than a century earlier was falling into disrepair before it was granted landmark status by the city of Chicago. And the glass-topped casket that held Till’s remains was only donated to the Smithsonian Institution because it was discovered in 2009 rusting in a shed at a suburban Chicago cemetery where it was discarded after the teen’s body was exhumed years earlier.

That discovery of the casket, which only happened because of a scandal at the cemetery, underscores how easily significant pieces of history can simply vanish, said Annie Wright, whose late husband, Simeon, was sleeping with his cousin, Emmett, the night he was abducted.

“We got to remember what happened and if we don’t tell it, if people don’t see (the house) they’ll forget and we don’t want to forget tragedy in these United States,” said Wright, 76.

[SOURCE: WTTW]

NAACP awards U.S. House Rep. Jim Clyburn its Spingarn Medal

The NAACP awarded U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn its Spingarn Medal to cap off its 113th annual national convention Wednesday night.

The medal is awarded annually to living African Americans who have realized the highest or noblest achievements in their field.

Clyburn received the award as recognition of his advocacy for voting rights and work to protect democracy — efforts that have been critical over the past year, according to the NAACP news release.

“I am pleased beyond measure and humbled to receive the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor,” Clyburn, D-S.C., said in an NAACP news release issued before the ceremony. “The history of this award speaks to the work done for over a century to ensure the American dream is made accessible and affordable for all her citizens.”

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson praised the South Carolina congressman for his work to advance equality.

"Whip Clyburn’s contribution to civil rights is extraordinary," Johnson said in the release. “From championing rural and economic development to advocating for the restoration of historic buildings and sites on the campuses of historically Black colleges and universities, Whip Clyburn has been at the forefront of advocating for Black communities and helping to create a more equitable society for decades."

[SOURCE: PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY]

Byron Allen Buys Black News Channel

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group is buying the Black News Channel, with plans to revive the bankrupt cable news outlet and significantly grow its distribution footprint.

Allen’s company is acquiring “substantially all” of BNC’s assets for $11 million, with a bankruptcy court in Tallahassee, Florida, formally signing off on the sale.

Allen says that his company “will deliver a best-in-class network to serve the underserved African American community and the advertisers who want to reach this extremely valuable audience.

“Also, we appreciate the opportunity to provide cable operators, satellite companies, telcos and digital platforms diversity of ownership, voices and viewpoints on their programming lineups by having a 100 percent African-American-owned network,” he added.

Allen says that his company “will deliver a best-in-class network to serve the underserved African American community and the advertisers who want to reach this extremely valuable audience.

“Also, we appreciate the opportunity to provide cable operators, satellite companies, telcos and digital platforms diversity of ownership, voices and viewpoints on their programming lineups by having a 100 percent African-American-owned network,” he added.

[SOURCE: HOLLYWOOD REPORTER]

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman arrested during abortion protest outside U.S. Supreme Court

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey was arrested Tuesday outside the U.S. Supreme Court building during a protest in support of abortion rights.

Watson Coleman, D-12th Dist., was one of 17 House members among the 37 individuals arrested during the march for blocking the street that runs in front of the court building, U.S. Capitol Police said. She is a member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus.

Watson Coleman told NJ Advance Media she feared the six Republican-appointed justices next would take aim at contraception, same-sex marriage and gay rights.

“I’m very scared,” she said. “We are seeing a trend that’s very dangerous to our fundamental rights.”

The congresswoman told NJ Advance Media that this was her first opportunity to join a protest since the court action.

“I wanted to express my solidarity with all of those who recognize that we must stay front and center to protect our privacy, our health care, our access,” Watson Coleman said. “There was no way I was going miss it if I was available.”

[SOURCE: NJ.COM]