African American Interest

Most recent stories in African American Interest

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  A Gifted High Jumper Gets Set To Leap Onto The World Stage

  NPR - Melissa Block

  Editor's Note: Vashti Cunningham made the U.S. Olympic team by finishing second in the high jump at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., on July 3, clearing 6-foot-5 (1.97 meters). Her brother Randall Cunningham Jr. did not make the team. It's already been a big year for high jumper Vashti …

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  In Its Retelling, 'Roots' Is Powerful, Must-See Television

  NPR - David Bianculli

  The original Roots miniseries, based on the 1976 Alex Haley novel tracing his own family tree from African tribal life to American slavery and freedom, was a phenomenon. ABC showed it over consecutive nights in January 1977, not because it was expected to earn huge ratings but because network …

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  West Point Cadets At Center Of Storm After Raising Fists In Photo

  NPR - Dana Farrington

  West Point is investigating whether black female cadets violated any rules by raising their fists in a photo. The 16 women, following school tradition, posed in historical-style uniforms ahead of graduation later this month. The investigation will look into whether the cadets violated the school …

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  Born With No Hands, This 7-Year-Old 'Stunned' Judges To Win Penmanship Contest

  NPR - Mabinty Quarshie, Laura Wagner

  Seven-year-old Anaya Ellick, who was born with no hands and does not use prostheses, recently won a national penmanship contest. Holding the pencil between her wrists, the first-grader at Greenbrier Christian Academy in Chesapeake, Va., formed neat, careful letters, earning her the Nicholas Maxim …

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  Churchill Downer: The Forgotten Racial History Of Kentucky's State Song

  NPR

  Every year at the Kentucky Derby, crazy hat-wearing, mint julep-guzzling horse-gazers break into a passionate rendition of Kentucky's state song, "My Old Kentucky Home." As tradition goes, the University of Louisville Cardinal Marching Band accompanies the crowd as they croon a ballad that seems to …

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  The faces of the Flint water crisis

  CNN - Mallory Simon

  Flint, Michigan CNN — When President Barack Obama visits Flint today, he will find a community that has been through strife and tried to find the positives – but is struggling to see progress. In the time CNN has spent on the ground, we have met families who have fought the system to try and force …