by James Melson | Aug 24, 2023 | 2023, Weekly Reflection
August 28 will be the 60th anniversary of the landmark March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom during which Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream Speech.” Events and publications throughout the country will mark the anniversary of this historic...
by James Melson | Aug 16, 2023 | 2023, Weekly Reflection
This is the time of year when children are preparing for the new school year. Parents, children, teachers, and school administrators are well aware of the upcoming first day of school in their localities. But at the start of the 1956-57 school year in Virginia, there...
by James Melson | Aug 10, 2023 | 2023, Weekly Reflection
Nine years ago this week on August 9, 2014, an unarmed Black teenager named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, MO. Some witnesses claimed that during the confrontation between Michael Brown and the officer, Brown held up his empty hands...
by James Melson | Aug 3, 2023 | 2023, Weekly Reflection
Last week on July 25, a new national monument was created. The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument includes three sites related to the lynching of 14 year old Emmett Till in August 1955. Thanks to his mother Mamie, Emmett’s brutal murder became a...
by James Melson | Jul 26, 2023 | 2023, Weekly Reflection
Usually state standards for teaching American history are not the subject of national news stories. But last week in Florida, that state’s standards received widespread national attention because of the way they address the issue of slavery. The following quote...
by James Melson | Jul 20, 2023 | 2023, Weekly Reflection
When the subject turns to summer, recent news reports have focused on the ways that climate change is resulting in more extreme weather events. By now most of us have heard the term “heat dome” referring to persistent patterns of unusually high and potentially...
