1821 Search results for "free"

Black Resistance: Examining the “1st” Free Black Town in the Americas
By Teju Adisa-Farrar When God made mountains He made runaway slaves — Nikki Giovanni, Chasing Utopia We were not supposed to survive. in 2018, AfroPunk published an article about Argentina’s genocide of their Black populations. Unsurprisingly, Argentina is not much different from other countries who have tried to erase their Black populations or their impact […]
Can Freedom Schools Fill Educational Gaps for Black Students?
By Quintessa Williams Originally Published: October, 2nd 2024 In 2022, when Southern red states followed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s restrictions on teaching Black history in classrooms, Black communities in the Sunshine State and beyond found a solution by bringing back Freedom Schools. The resurgence of Freedom Schools is a powerful countermeasure to the growing trend […]
Juneteenth Reflections: Grief Work is Freedom Work
by Julia Mallory “…but in them days they wasn’t no time for mournin.’ ” —Mary Reynolds, Texas Slave Narratives Volume XVI Part III Juneteenth began as a day of celebration commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas on June 19th, 1866. Since then, it has offered Black folks an opportunity to remember […]
Police-Free schools are necessary, as is abolishing the white supremacist state they are rooted in
by Mustafa Ali-Smith As protests continue on both the national and global scale, widespread call-to-actions ramp up. Dismantling, defunding, and divesting from policing and providing police-free schools are becoming a part of everyday conversations. Early educational institutions have even begun to respond to these call-to-actions by ending their relationship with local police departments and promising […]
As the state increasingly regulates our health, Black women are finding freedom in herbal medicine
Editor’s Note: May is Mental Health Awareness Month and National Masturbation Month. This is also the month that we celebrate Mother’s Day. At BYP, we will be exploring these topics alongside the theme of Imagination and the Arts, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics and the things surrounding them.
In a world where my parents let me be as free as Dwyane Wade & Gabrielle Union let Zaya
How beautiful if nothing more than to watch her sashay down the catwalk. How beautiful to hear her parents cheering for this young girl as she strikes a pose, then another, then another—each more fierce than the last. I don’t even begrudge the black fanny pack strapped over her shoulder like the worst damn fashion […]
Brooklyn jail facing protests after freezing temperatures made prisoners sick
According to the New York Times, over a thousand prisoners have been stuck in a federal Brooklyn jail with freezing jail cells, limited power, and heat for at least as long as a week, making many of them sick. The Metropolitan Detention Center houses about 1,600 and is located near the waterfront in Sunset Park, […]
House Democrats cite freedom of speech in refusal to censure Steve King for racist comments
After Iowa Rep. Steve King’s most recent racist comments, House Democrats stopped efforts to censure the lawmaker, claiming it may set a precedent for limiting freedom of speech. Censure has only been used six times in the last century, and is one of the most serious punishments a House member can receive.
CNN fires Marc Lamont Hill for advocating for Palestinian freedom
Yesterday, CNN fired Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, a popular anti-racism activist figure and Temple university professor, over a United Nations speech in which he advocated for freedom and justice for the Palestinian people.
“It doesn’t have to make sense to other people”: An interview with African Diaspora Childfree Sociologist, Dr. Kimya N. Dennis
I wasn’t prepared for the responses to my most recent essay on living intentionally as a childfree Black woman and taking ownership of my womb. I never presumed I was alone in my sentiments on this subject, of course, but I also didn’t expect my words to resonate so deeply with so many people. Writing […]
Queer sex freed me from the shame and discomfort of compulsory heteronormative sex
by Haillee Mason I wish I could say that I’ve always known that I deserved good sex. Or that I arrived into my twenties seeking out my own pleasure. But Black queer women like me are never taught that they deserve anything—not an orgasm, not empathy, or even apologies. I had arrived in my adolescence, […]
Queer isn’t who you are, it’s how you reclaim freedom. And even the gayest of us sometimes fail at it
Content Note: This essay contains details about childhood sexual assault My parents didn’t hit me growing up. I know they hit my older siblings, but something had changed over the years before I got here. Maybe they saw it didn’t help. Maybe they even knew hitting children causes significant harm. But I like to think […]