Henry Dee Settlement Reached in Civil Suit Charging Franklin County, MS Role in 1964 KKK Murders On Monday, June 21, Franklin County, Mississippi agreed to a settlement in an historic civil suit with the families of Charles Moore and Henry Dee, two 19-year-old Black men who were kidnapped, tortured and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan on May…

Aunt Esther at age 96 Last winter I drove to Providence, RI full of trepidation and sadness. My incredible Aunt Esther, my maternal grandfather's sister, had pneumonia. I was going to see her to make sure I had the chance to say goodbye. To everyone's, including her own, surprise, she pulled through. "I saw the pearly gates---and they shut!" she sa…

The Clarion Ledger reports: Billy Wayne Posey, a key suspect in the Ku Klux Klan's killings of three civil rights workers in 1964 in Mississippi, has died, but Justice Department officials say they're continuing their investigation of the remaining suspects. The 73-year-old Posey died Thursday of natural causes, according to friends. That leaves fo…

My google alerts on "Hungry Blues" sometimes turn up interesting things. Steven Taylor of the Fugs has written a song that is also called Hungry Blues. It's very much in the spirit of the original song that my blog is named after. It's not quite as good, but it's a tall order to be asked to measure up to Langston Hughes and James P. Johnson. May th…

"I guess if we ignore it, it'll probably go away" by like_shipwrecks (Nicole). This is Nicole. She is one of the many talented photographers whose work I follow on flickr. The same night that the country voted for a Black president, majorities of voters voted against gay families and the rights of gay people in California, Florida, Arizona and Arka…

By minorjive@gmail.com

By minorjive@gmail.com

The Constitution was A noble piece of paper With free society Struggled but it died in vain And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner—unemployed And I'm hopin' that it rains Been a hopin' for some rain But it just don't look like rain I've seen the robins Perched in barren treetops They're watchin' last-ditch racists marching across the floor Just…

When I was reading Daisy's post about Pfc. LaVena Johnson, I got stuck on one of the details. The indications of possible rape and other physical violence and murder all were troubling enough. But then there was this one detail (originally posted by Anne): Indications that someone attempted to set LaVena’s body on fire I immediately hear Billy Holi…

One of your emails about our dinner plans last night made me think of this song. "The Old Stamping Ground" (1937) Personnel: Willie "The Lion" Smith - piano Frankie Newton - trumpet Buster Bailey - clarinet Pete Brown - alto sax Jimmy McLin - guitar John Kirby - bass O'Neal Spencer - drums, vocalBy minorjive@gmail.com