Lifestyles
Election November 2022
There will be an election in November 2022 and you won't be able to participate. Now don't get your anger mold out to do battle. No one is stepping on your voting rights or putting up barriers to impede your path toward doing your civic duty. No, no, no, nothing this drastic as one of our own native daughters is running for congress.
Evelyn Mitchell Celebrates 90 Years Old
In the mist of the resent pandemic, many of us may feel as though we don't have much to celebrate but Grand Rapids native Evelyn Mitchell recently celebrated her 90th birthday.
The Grand Rapids Study Club's Founding Motto In Its Time
Early African American women in Grand Rapids formed several literary and social clubs during the Progressive Era, starting with the Married Ladies Nineteenth Century Club. The Grand Rapids Study Club was one of five women's organizations that sponsored the 1907 meeting of the Michigan Association of Colored Women's Clubs in turn-of-the-century Grand Rapids. Founded in 1904, the Grand Rapids Study Club (GRSC) is the only club still active today. And it retains its original motto, "rowing not drifting." Thinking about the motto and the period in which the GRSC was formed, I became curious. I was struck because the women who founded the club felt it necessary not only to include action, or movement, in the club motto, but they considered the result of not rowing, of drifting. With "rowing," the Study Club indicated that they were actively using tools, as rowers use oars, to propel themselves forward through both rough and calm seas. Also, in saying that they were "not drifting," these women wanted to clarify that they were opposed to just moving with the current, just letting it take them to unknown and undesirable places. Now that was brave!
Meghan's Racism Claims Come As No Surprise To Black Britons
LONDON (AP) - Explosive allegations by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex that she faced racist attitudes from both the palace and the U.K. press have sent ripples of shock around the world. But they came as no surprise to many Black Britons. Whether it's the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people of color or the lack of non-white faces at the top of British media and politics, ethnic minorities in the U.K. say racist attitudes and structures of discrimination are pervasive - and all too often denied by society at large.
February is Black History Month
This final installment of the February Special Section ends The Grand Rapids Times features observing Black History Month.
Mr. and Mrs. McClain Celebrate Their 70th Wedding Anniversary
February 17, 2021 will be a special day in the lives of Catherine and James McClain because it will mark the couple's 70th Anniversary.
February Black History Sampler — ONE
"We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice." -Carter Woodson