News & Commentary

Editor’s Note: On May 23, Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo was acquitted in the shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.

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Photograph Dan Paluska via Flickr Creative Commons

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Black History Month is a time to celebrate and reflect on African-Americans who have made great contributions to our country. The ACLU wants to acknowledge the impact of black activists, both past and present, who have made our work stronger. Founding Member James Weldon Johnson, who helped found the ACLU in 1920, was an early civil rights activist whose biggest passion for activism was to teach and write. The NAACP described Johnson’s philosophy “that it was important for blacks to produce great literature and art. By doing so, Johnson held that blacks could demonstrate their intellectual equality and advance their placement in America.” As a creative writing professor for Fisk University, much of his teachings focused on racial advancement, using it as a tool to address inequalities for African-Americans. Some of his most famous work includes The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. Time Doesn’t Heal All. Fast forward to present day, though strides have been made, we are far from equality.

Louise Shropshire