Les prix A. Philip Randolph ont été distribués le 15 avril 2016, au Centre du patrimoine culturel Bruce R. Watkins à Kansas City, USA. Lors de la cérémonie de remise des prix, Patricia Jones, présidente de la section de Kansas City de l’Institut A. Philip Randolph, a partagé des histoires de ce pionnier de l’organisation des travailleurs. Dans les années 1920 et 1930, Randolph a aidé à organiser les porteurs et les femmes de ménage travaillant sur les wagons Pullman de chemins de fer de l’Amérique et a créé le premier syndicat dirigé par les afro-américains. Plusieurs des prix cette année ont été faites aux églises dans la région de Kansas City qui ont fourni des espaces de réunion pour les travailleurs et organisateurs du mouvement ouvrier.

The A. Philip Randolph awards were distributed on April 15, 2016, at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center and Museum in Kansas City. In the 1920s and 1930s, Randolph helped organize America’s porters and maids working on the Pullman railroad cars and created the first African-American-led labor union. Many Pullman maids and wives, daughters, and sisters of Pullman porters were members of the Ladies Auxiliary which shaped “public debates over black manhood and unionization, setting political agendas for the black community, and crafting effective strategies to win racial and economic justice.”

A recent New York Times article “Lecture Me. Really.” makes the case for good and great lectures by excellent lecturers combined with active and analytical listening and synthesizing note taking by students, as well as small weekly discussion sections, as a way to teach and learn the humanities at colleges and universities [in the USA] in this day and age. But lectures alone seem to be insufficient.

Le groupe de la Banque africaine de développement (BAD) a placé l’édition 2014 de son rapport sur le développement en Afrique sous le signe de “l’intégration régionale au service de la croissance inclusive”. Développement des réseaux de distribution et des échanges régionaux au sein des chaînes de valeur mondiales et africaines, dans lesquelles s’inscrit le [...]

Alioune Badara Camara, may his soul rest in peace, was a friend of education and lifelong learning, which he supported and exemplified. When at the International Development Research Center (IDRC), he supported research across Africa on teachers and students creatively and strategically use technologies like computers and internet and mobile phones to change teaching and learning, making it more active and engaging and more up to date. He supported the Education Research Network for West and Central Africa (Ernwaca) in working with hundreds of researchers and policymakers. As important as the IDRC grants were the expertise and experience he willingly shared, in a spirit of dialogue and partnership, of co-construction.

FERGUSON, MO. The Rev. Tommie Pierson was meeting in his church a week ago Saturday when, only blocks away, multiple bullets fired from a Ferguson police officer’s pistol pierced the body of Michael Brown, leaving the unarmed African-American teen dead on the street.

A cashier at a café at Johnson Country Community College (Kansas, USA), where I spend a few hours most days these days, inspired me to share something I read earlier this year by a friend of a friend. The cashier explained how some people, while they order and pay for their breakfast or lunch or snack with him, chat on their cellphones and toss debit or credit cards at him, never making eye contact or otherwise acknowledging him as a person. An essay by a friend of a friend on the importance of greetings came to mind, and I thought I’d share it. Here goes…

The fifth edition of the Journal of Educational Research in Africa contains eight papers on educational issues in North and West Africa. They relate to technical training, higher education and curriculum reform as well as overeducation, child labor, religious pluralism at school, and the influence of mothers’ educational levels on their children’s academic performance. The [...]

Pede Hollist’s So the Path Does Not Die, published by Langaa in 2012, was named 2013 Book of the Year for Creative Writing by the African Literature Association (ALA) at its annual meeting in April 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa.This award is for an outstanding book of African literature, whether novel, nonfiction prose, play, or [...]

Three persons lost their lives outside a Jewish Community Center in the Kansas City area one week ago, as a result of hate crimes, which we deplore. Our thoughts go out to their loved ones. The article below, from the Johnson Country Community College newspaper by a young journalist that found himself at the Center near the time of the tragedy, attests to hope and humanity, and the power of youth.