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The 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Assassination and Impact Examined in NAACP’s The Crisis Magazine Spring 2018 Issue
William Lucy, NAACP National Board Member & Union Leader, Recalls Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike; Randall Woodfin, 36 year-old Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama is Profiled; Zoe Terry, Who Founded Nonprofit Zoe’s Dolls at Age 11, Discusses Donating Black Dolls
Baltimore, MD – (May 15, 2018) – The NAACP’s The Crisis Magazine 2018 Spring Issue commemorates the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through special features exploring his political philosophies, union support and his social message’s impact on America in the current era of the Trump administration.
The issue examines Dr. King’s support of the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike and interviews NAACP national board member and AFSCME labor union leader, William “Bill” Lucy, who not only helped organize the strike, but encouraged Dr. King to support the strike.
In “Issues and Views,” The Crisis features an essay by Harvard University professor Cornel West
from the book, To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr., edited by Harvard professors Brandon Terry and Tommie Shelby. West looks at the political philosophies of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Crisis founder W.E.B. Du Bois.
Social justice leaders Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Judith Browne Dianis of the Advancement Project, Vanita Gupta of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Kristen Clarke of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Melanie Campbell of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation write essays about the relevance of Dr. King’s message 50 years after his death and in the age. These leaders examine why King’s message is still needed today in the age of Trump, looking at issues such as mass incarceration, police brutality and voter suppression.
Also included in the Spring 2018 issue is a review of the book, Redemption: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Last 31 Hours, by Joseph Rosenbloom and a “Q& A” with Jeanne Theoharis, author of, A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History.
The Crisis looks into the I AM a MAN 2018 campaign and the National Black Worker Center Project which focuses on supporting and incubating Black worker centers, providing education about the impacts of low-wage work and unemployment in the Black community. The Center works to prevent racial discrimination in the work place.
In “Upfront,” The Crisis looks into the I AM a MAN 2018 campaign and the National Black Worker Center Project which focuses on supporting and incubating Black worker centers, providing education about the impacts of low-wage work and unemployment in the Black community. The Center works to prevent racial discrimination in the work place. In addition, there’s a piece about Data for Black Lives (D4BL) which inspires people with expertise in science and technology to put their knowledge to work fighting discrimination and promoting equality. The program, co-founded by Yeshimabeit Milner, Lucas Mason-Brown and Max Clermont, seeks to build a network of “movement scientists” — scientists, engineers, coders and mathematicians —committed to using data to create measurable, positive change in the lives of Black people.
Readers also get a glimpse of Randall Woodfin, the new mayor of Birmingham who was elected at age 36 and is the youngest mayor in the city’s 100-year history.
At the National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Crisis reports on a team of Black Google engineers who built a first of its kind 3-D interactive installation that allows visitors to the museum to interact with rare artifacts that are too fragile to be displayed. The artifacts include ski boots from a Black Olympian, boots from the Broadway play “The Wiz” and a sculpture by the artist, Elizabeth Catlett.
The Crisis covers Zoe’s Dolls, a nonprofit started by Zoe Terry, a young Black girl who was bullied because of her dark skin color. In 2011, at age 11, she started a campaign to give away Black dolls and inspire little Black girls to love the skin that they’re in. To date, she has collected and donated 20,000 Black dolls. Now, Zoe is creating her own doll.
In the “NAACP Today” section, updates include new partnerships; NAACP lawsuits and the Legislative Report Card. The Crisis profiles the new NAACP Youth and College Director, Tiffany Lofton, and remembers Ben Andrews, former NAACP national board member and Connecticut NAACP State Conference president.
ABOUT THE CRISIS MAGAZINE
At 107 years-old, The Crisis is the NAACP’s official journal. In November 1910, the premiere issue of The Crisis was launched under the leadership of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, the renowned journalist, historian and civil rights leader. The Crisis remains the oldest continually published Black magazine in America. It began as the publication that nurtured the Harlem Renaissance. Among the outstanding contributors during the early period were James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, H.L. Mencken, Clarence Darrow and Langston Hughes, who first published his signature poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” in 1921. The Crisis magazine continues to chronicle the history of Black America and the African Diaspora. Since 1968, The Crisis has also been instrumental in marketing the NAACP’s acclaimed Image Awards. Today, The Crisis is a quarterly journal of covering newsmakers in civil rights, history, politics and culture. For more information, check out www.thecrisismagazine.com and follow on Twitter and Instagram at @thecrisismag and on FACEBOOK. Also, view the digitized collection of The Crisis on googlebooks.
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