The Ghost of Hendrix, and Fans Who Think I’m White

Posted in Articles, Arts, Autobiography, Media Archive, Passing, United States on 2021-11-04 20:32Z by Steven

The Ghost of Hendrix, and Fans Who Think I’m White

The New York Times
2021-11-03

Tom Morello

Mr. Morello has spent over three decades melding music and political activism as a power guitarist with Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, with the acoustic chords of the Nightwatchman and in protests around the country.

In 1965, I literally integrated the town of Libertyville, Ill., at least according to the real estate agent who helped my mom and me find our first apartment.

My Irish-Italian mom had excellent teaching credentials, but the school boards in Northern Illinois made clear that while as a single mother she was welcome to teach in their town, we would have to live elsewhere because we were an interracial family.

I was the interracial part, as my dad is from Kenya. Libertyville, however, was willing to give my mom a shot, with the caveat that the residents of the apartment complex across the street from the school approved. Our helpful real estate agent assured the neighbors that this was no ordinary 1-year-old “Negro” child entering their building, but rather an exotic East African princeling. This false tale haunted me throughout my youth, but it gave my mom and me a toehold among the locals…

Read the entire article here.

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Interview with Virginia Summey, Part 1

Posted in Interviews, Law, Media Archive, United States, Videos, Women on 2021-11-04 17:35Z by Steven

Interview with Virginia Summey, Part 1

Merrittocracy: History to the People
2019-08-22

Keri Leigh Merritt, Host
Atlanta, Georgia

In the first part of my interview with Ginny Summey, an independent scholar, we talk about her forthcoming book on Elreta Melton Alexander, one of the first Black women to become a lawyer in the US, and North Carolina’s first Black woman district court judge. We also discuss the challenges and benefits of being independent scholars.

Watch Part 2 of the interview here.

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