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Curated Nourishing Online Articles
9 Oldest Human Fossils in the World, Oldest.org
Modern humans (Homo sapiens) are the only remaining human group still around. All other human species have been long extinct, but we know about them today through various fossil specimens. The first human fossils were discovered in the 19th century and were highly controversial. Early paleontologists didn’t know what to make of these fossils and often made claims that they belonged to the “missing link” between humans and apes or that they were human ancestors suffering from disease.
https://www.oldest.org/culture/human-fossils/
BLACK MILLENNIALS IN AMERICA
Documenting the experiences, voices, and political future of young Black Americans
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https://blackyouthproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/BYP-millenials-report-10-27-15-FINAL.pdf
BLACK MILLENNIALS AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
Alumna Pens Book on Her Generation’s Struggles
Sangillo, Gregg, American University Press (February 5, 2019)
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Race and Racial Identity, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Museums
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Race is a social fabrication used to shape the way those of African ancestry see themselves and how others see them. Without any scientific basis, race is used to build and wield power against those seen as inferior and, as a result, race is a consequential concept. Touching on this subject and that of racial identity, this article offers critical and insightful information of importance to Black lives.
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https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/race-and-racial-identity
Racism, bias, and discrimination resources, American Psychological Association
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Article Excerpt: Stress in America™ 2020 - Stress in the Time of COVID-19, Volume Three
Discrimination continues to be a source of stress for the majority of Black Americans. Two in 3 Black adults (67%) cite discrimination as a significant source of stress in their life, compared with 55% of Black adults who cited this in May–June. More than three in four Black adults (78%) agree that being their race is difficult in today’s society.
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Fast Company Platforms that Help Black Americans Overcome the Trauma of Racism (August 31, 2020)
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A diverse array of platforms targeting Racism and Racial Trauma. “With devastating police violence and the coronavirus’s disproportionate effects on Black Americans, it’s an incredibly stressful and traumatic time. But entrepreneurs and activists are building safe spaces, both virtual and IRL, for Black people to rest and heal.”
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Median wealth of Black Americans 'will fall to zero by 2053, Jamiles Lartey, The Gaudian (September 2017)
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This report has a formidable warning that should not be ignored. Writers predicted that by 2020, white US households are projected to own eighty-six times more wealth than Black households. Where does Black wealth stand in 2021?
Working from Home while Black, L. Morgan Roberts, Courtney L. McCluney, Harvard Business Journal (June 17, 2020)
Black employees report having to adjust their speech, appearance, behaviors, and expression (i.e., known as code-switching) to navigate inter-racial interactions, causing physical trauma. Working remotely produces higher anxiety as the employees are required to expose more of their racial identities.
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https://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/product/H05OQF-PDF-ENG?itemFindingMethod=Catalog
Black Women Deserve Equal Pay in 2020 (August 13, 2020)
When it comes to pay equity, Black women continues to lag far behind that of other employees. Marginal incremental progress in closing the wage gap occurred between 2019 and 2020. Although Black women’s pay has moved a little closer to equal this year, it was trending worse in previous years and still falls significantly short of equal.
https://www.payscale.com/compensation-today/2020/08/black-women-equal-pay-2020
Black women with natural hair are less likely to get job interviews, CNN Business News, J. Guy (August 12, 2020)
Black women with natural hair less likely to get job interviews, study finds Natural hairstyles such as curly afros, twists, and braids are seen as unprofessional, The Grio.com (August 13, 2020)
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https://thegrio.com/2020/08/13/black-woman-with-natural-hair/
Black Women with Natural Hair Are Less Likely to Get Job Interviews, Research Says, Hello Beautiful, S. Sanders (August 13, 2020)
https://hellobeautiful.com/3181906/black-women-natural-hair-job-discrimination/
The Racial Wage Gap Persists in 2020, Compensation Research from Payscales
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Article Excerpt: “Black men and women have some of the lowest earnings compared to white men. Black women earn $0.97 for every dollar earned by a white man with the same job and qualifications. Black men see a pay gap of $0.98. The median pay for white men in Payscales sample is $74,500, thus the controlled median pay for Black women is $72,300 – 97 percent of white men’s earnings in the same job. For Black men, controlled median pay jumps to $73,000. This suggests a $2,200 pay disparity for being a Black female and a $1,500 pay disparity for being a Black male.”
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Bargaining while Black: The Role of Race in Salary Negotiations, Journal of Applied Psychology © 2018, American Psychological Association 2019, Vol. 104, No. 4, 581–592 0021-90 (October 2019)
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The influence of race in negotiations has remained relatively underexplored. Across three studies, researchers from the University of Colorado, Wake Forest University, University of Washington, and University of Virginia, theorized and found that Black job seekers are expected to negotiate less than their white counterparts and are penalized in negotiations with lower salary outcomes when this expectation is violated. The penalty assessment occurs especially when Black job applicants negotiate with an evaluator who is more racially biased (i.e., higher in social dominance orientation). Specifically, based on the prescriptive stereotype held by those higher in racial bias — that Black (as compared to white) negotiators deserve lower salaries — the researchers predicted that Black negotiators who behave in counter-stereotypical ways encounter greater resistance and more unfavorable outcomes from more biased evaluators.
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https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/apl-apl0000363.pdf
Am I a Black Woman or a Woman Who Is Black? A few Thoughts on the Meaning of Intersectionality, Julia S. Jordan-Zachery, Cambridge University
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Abstract: On a hot 90-degree day during the summer of 2006, my six-year-old daughter looked at me and asked, “Why can boys run around without a shirt and I can't?” After I explained, or at least attempted to, society's rules and regulations, she quietly looked at me and said, “Oh! It's because I have a vagina. Well, that's not fair.” About a year earlier, as she was watching a popular children's show she asked me, “Why are there no little girls that look like me on the ‘WXY’ show?” I am still unsure as to how to answer her on her question on the omission of race. What my daughter is questioning is how does her gender and race, and their intersection, influence how she is treated in society. It is difficult to tell an impressionable child that because of factors beyond her control, her gender, and her race, she will be treated differently than little boys — Black or white and little girls — particularly white. My daughter is like so many other women of color and other marginalized groups who confront this issue of their omission from so many practices, structures, and institutions of society. Many theorists not only have sought ways of discussing the issues raised by my daughter but also have articulated strategies useful in addressing these “unfair” practices. Much of this theorizing has been given the name “intersectionality.”
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Racial and Gender Discrimination in the Stress Process: Implications for African American Women’s Health and Well-Being, Brea L Perry, Kathi L.H. Harp and Carrie B. Oser, National Institutes of Health (September 25, 2013)
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Abstract: In recent decades, sociologists have increasingly adopted an intersectionality framework to explore and explain the complex and interconnected nature of inequalities in the areas of race, class, and gender. Using an inclusion-centered approach and a sample of 204 low-socioeconomic-status (SES) African American women, the authors theorize and explore the role of racial and gender discrimination in the stress process. Analyses examine relationships between social stressors (racial and gender discrimination) and individual stressors occurring in each of six distinct social contexts. Furthermore, the authors evaluate the effects of racial and gender discrimination as compared to individual stressors on three indicators of mental health and well-being. Findings suggest that racial and gender discrimination increases risk for poor health and low well-being, working both directly and indirectly through increased vulnerability to individual stressors. This research demonstrates the value of a more comprehensive study of stressors that influence the health of low-SES African American women and other multiply disadvantaged groups.
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Building resilience in a racist world, Louisa Adjoa Parker (March 12, 2020)
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Author Louisa Adjoa Parker thought that the racism she experienced as a child was a normal part of life. When Ms. Parker became an adolescent, mental health problems occurred, which she came to realize were a direct consequence. In this article she explores what individuals and society can do to acknowledge the harm.
https://wellcomecollection.org/series/XmifPBIAAB8Ae-b4
*From the Broken Heart Not Broken Brain series
The Traumatic Impact of Racism and Discrimination on Young People and How to Talk about It, Maria V. Svetz, M.D., M.P.H., et al. *
In Chapter 42 of this publication, Maria V. Svetz, MD, MPH, and six colleagues describe the “pervasive negative effects of racism on youth development, health, and well-being, and the toll exacted from on racially marginalized families and communities. The authors recognize that approaching the topic of racism may not be easy. Discussing racism can generate empathy, concern, and compassion as much as it can stir defensiveness, anger, hostility, and a wide host of reactions that lie along this continuum. Each individual approaches racism differently according to their lived experiences, self-awareness and critical consciousness, and position in a stratified society. Here, the writers posit that “approaching racism requires us to bring our most compassionate and mindful selves, to suspend emotional reactivity so that we can remain open to viewing the world from the perspectives of others. … This … chapter is especially crucial in these times of heightened social division, invites all of us to put ourselves into other’s shoes, regardless of who we are, our individual origins, or where we come from. In so doing, we may come to recognize our habits of harm, find our pillars of strength, discover the ways to heal, and come to a deeper understanding of what it means to care for one another. Because we belong to each other.”
*For allies with demonstrated commitment to anti-racism and anti-Blackness.
Skin-Tone Trauma: Historical and Contemporary Influences on the Health and Interpersonal Outcomes of African Americans, Antoinette M. Landor and Shardé McNeil Smith, Sage Journals, Perspectives on Psychological Science (August 14, 2019)
Racial trauma endangers health as evidenced by numerous research studies over decades. The plague of colorism, embedded in slavery and colonialism, continues to divide Black people is often overlooked. As recognized by this article’s authors, missing from the literature and public discourse is the inclusion of another culturally relevant factor that Hughes and Hertel (1990) argue plays as significant a role in the lives of African Americans as race does: skin tone. Colorism further endangers the lives of Black people, not only in the U.S. but in other parts of the world, as well.
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Conversations with Teens Foster Healing from Traumatic Experiences of Racism, Boys and Girls Clubs of America (June 8, 2020)
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Publication Excerpt: “According to an upcoming publication from the American Academy of Pediatrics, racism and discrimination are ‘adverse childhood experiences’ that undermine development and well-being. Experiences of racism can influence self-esteem, deviant behavior, classroom behavior regulation and perceived discrimination. Courageous conversations that recognize and acknowledge injustices are one way to help teens counter negative physical, emotional, and social effects, according to the report.”
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Racism Is Terrible. Blackness Is Not, Perry, Imani, The Atlantic (June 15, 2020)
A lot of kind statements about black people are coming from the pens and minds of white people now. That's a good thing. But sometimes, it is frankly hard to tell the difference between expressions of solidarity and gestures of absolution (See, I’m not a racist, I said you matter!) Among the most difficult to swallow are social-media posts and notes that I and others have received expressing sorrow and implying that blackness is the most terrible of fates.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/racism-terrible-blackness-not/613039/
I watched My Parents Help Organize the March on Washington 58 Years Ago and the Movement Still Burns Inside Me for Social Change, Deborah Richardson, The Denver Post (August 23, 2021)
As a child, the March on Washington was my first realization of “the movement” — something that every adult I knew was talking about and engaged in. It was a seminal moment for the American Civil Rights Movement when more than 250,000 people convened on the Mall in Washington D.C. to show nationwide support for Black Americans to receive the same rights and freedoms as white Americans.
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/08/23/opinion-i-watched-my-parents-help-organize-the-march-on-washington-58-years-ago-and-the-movement-still-burns-inside-me-for-social-change/
Representation Matters, Velveta Golightly-Howell, The Amicus, University of Colorado School of Law (Fall Edition 2020)
Alumni and members of Colorado's legal community reflect on why representation matters in legal education and the profession. E Pluribus Unum, a Latin term, translates as out of many, one. This term appears on the Great Seal of the United States and coinage produced before 1956. Learning that E Pluribus Unum once served as the country’s de facto mantra made it more interesting. I am a civil rights and social justice advocate and activist and one who captures thoughts and emotions in poetry. The phrase out of many, one guides my life and works.
https://www.colorado.edu/law/2020/10/27/out-many-one
