by James Melson | Feb 24, 2020 | 2020, Weekly Reflection
Today is the final Monday in February, the month that has become identified as Black History Month. Why was February chosen to lift up the contributions of African Americans to the history and culture of our nation? That answer goes back to 1926 when the Harvard...
by James Melson | Feb 17, 2020 | 2020, Weekly Reflection
Last week, the Academy Awards were given for films released in 2019. For over a century, films have been an important part of American culture. One of the most influential movies in the history of cinema is Birth of a Nation that was released 105 years ago in 1915. It...
by James Melson | Feb 3, 2020 | 2020, Weekly Reflection
On February 1, 1960 four freshmen at North Carolina A&T (Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, and David Richmond) set a spark that kindled a major part of the modern civil rights movement. After a late night dorm room conversation about the injustices of...
by James Melson | Jan 27, 2020 | 2020, Weekly Reflection
Today is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – the most notorious of the Nazi concentration/death camps. The survivors of the Holocaust are fewer and fewer with each passing year. Yet the legacy of their witness is that we must never forget what...
by James Melson | Jan 20, 2020 | 2020, Weekly Reflection
Today is our national holiday in honor and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His name is one of the most familiar in modern American history. In the nation’s capital, the MLK, Jr. Memorial stands among our major monuments. Yet the danger of today and of that...
by James Melson | Jan 13, 2020 | 2020, Weekly Reflection
The news from the past week was dominated by stories about the cycle of violence between the US and Iran. Politicians and pundits debated about whether or not the use of preemptive violence in killing an Iranian military leader followed by Iranian missile attacks...
