February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas.

Barbara Rose Johns
Credit: Library of Virginia

Can you imagine inspiring all the students in your school? Maybe you already have. You might have inspired them to establish a recycling program. You might have urged students to talk with teachers and administrators about having a more diverse curriculum.

In 1951, at the age of 16, the Black civil rights activist Barbara Johns (1935-1991) inspired all the students in her school. She led a walkout of her segregated high school in protest of poor and unequal school conditions. Segregation is the separation of people by race. Johns’s walkout helped launch the desegregation movement in the United States.

Barbara Rose Johns was born on March 6, 1935, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. During World War II (1939-1945), Johns moved to Prince Edward County, Virginia, to live with her grandmother. Johns attended the segregated Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. The school’s facilities were inadequate to handle its students. Although the school was constructed to hold about 200 students, more than 400 students attended. Classes were held in school buses and in the auditorium. When parents asked the school board for additional space, several tar-paper shacks were built.

In the 11th grade, after years of frustration, Johns began mobilizing students to protest the poor and unequal school conditions. On April 23, 1951, the students—led by Johns—left the school and did not return for two weeks. The protest attracted the attention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Lawyers from the organization agreed to help the students, as long as the students agreed to sue for an integrated (combined) school, rather than simply improved conditions at the all-Black school. The students agreed, and the suit became known as Dorothy E. Davis et al v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia. It became one of several cases consolidated into the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In that case, in 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.

After organizing the walkout, Johns began receiving death threats. So, she moved to Montgomery, Alabama, to live with relatives and finish school. Johns married William Powell in 1954. She became known as Barbara Johns Powell. The couple raised five children. Johns attended Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, before earning a master’s degree in library science from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1979. She became a librarian in the Philadelphia public school system. Johns died of bone cancer on Sept. 25, 1991.

In 2020, it was announced that a statue of Barbara Johns would be placed in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, representing the state of Virginia. It was to replace a statue of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee, which was removed for its association with racism and the legacy of slavery.

Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is escorted by United States deputy marshals at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana, in November 1960. The first-grader was the only Black child enrolled in the school, where parents of white students boycotted the court-ordered integration law.
Credit: AP/Wide World

Ruby Bridges (1954-…) is another important figure in the history of integrated schools. She became one of the first Black children to integrate an elementary school in the Deep South region of the United States. In 1960, as a 6-year-old first-grader, she was the only Black student to enter the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. On Nov. 14, 1960, federal marshals escorted Bridges on her first day of school. The child was met by angry mobs. Parents of white students boycotted the court-ordered integration and took their children out of the school.

Bridges was taught by a white teacher named Barbara Henry, and she was the only student in her class for the entire school year. By the time Bridges entered second grade, Frantz Elementary had been successfully integrated. There were no more protests, and Bridges was able to attend the school unescorted.

President Donald J. Trump
Credit: The White House

On Wednesday, January 13, Donald J. Trump became the first United States president to be impeached twice. Impeachment is the formal accusation of serious misconduct against a government official. In this case, the accusation against Trump included incitement of insurrection—that is, encouraging an uprising against the government. Impeachment is an extraordinary check on presidential power. The Constitution specifies that officials shall be removed from office after impeachment for, and conviction of, “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

In the article of impeachment, Trump is accused of “inciting violence against the government of the United States.” The accusation stems from the violent, pro-Trump demonstration in which rioters attacked the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The accusation alleges that Trump—in a rally held before the event and on social media—encouraged supporters who stormed the Capitol, endangering hundreds of lives.

On the morning of January 6, members of Congress had convened at the Capitol to certify Democrat Joe Biden as winner of the November presidential election. However, the count was disrupted by protests that turned violent. Supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol, pushing through barriers and climbing walls. Lawmakers were quickly ushered to safety. Shouting and waving flags, the unruly mob entered the official chambers of Congress, as well as the personal offices of senators and representatives. Some damaged or stole property. Others took pictures of themselves occupying one of the nation’s most sacred buildings. Several people were killed in and around the Capitol. Dozens of people have been arrested since the attack, and many more are being investigated.

One week after the attack, the vote for impeachment took place in the House of Representatives, passing 232 to 197. Unlike Trump’s first impeachment, in 2019, the vote did not strictly fall along party lines. A number of House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach. The vote set the stage for a trial to occur in the Senate. If the Senate votes to convict Trump, he may be barred from ever holding public office again.

Trump’s two presidential impeachments are part of only four in the country’s history. In 1868, the House impeached President Andrew Johnson, who had inherited a wartime dispute between his predecessor, Abraham Lincoln, and Congress over how to treat the South after the Civil War. After impeachment, a Senate vote failed to remove Johnson from office. In 1998, the House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice. The charges developed out of Clinton’s efforts to conceal an improper sexual relationship. The House sent its findings to the Senate, which conducted a trial and found Clinton not guilty. Another president, Richard Nixon, resigned from office to avoid impeachment in 1974 for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

United States President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speak in Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 7, 2020, after being declared the winners of the presidential election. Both wear masks to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
Credit: © Andrew Harnik, AFP/Getty Images

In the early morning hours of Jan. 7, 2021, the United States certified its electoral count, making official Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. In November 2020, Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, defeated the Republican incumbents (office holders), President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Certifying the electoral count is an activity associated with the Electoral College, a group of representatives that formally elects the president and vice president. On Election Day, in November, voters choose among presidential and vice-presidential tickets (pairings of candidates) from various political parties. But, the votes do not directly determine which candidate will become president. Instead, they determine which party’s electors will represent each state in the Electoral College. The electors, in turn, cast electoral votes on behalf of the states they represent. Electoral votes determine the outcome of the election.

In December, following the election, the electors in each state assemble and cast their ballots. Either by custom or by law, the electors vote for the candidates designated by their party. After the electoral votes are cast, they are sent to the vice president of the United States, acting in his role as president of the Senate. In January, at a joint session of Congress, the vice president opens and tallies the votes. One Democrat and one Republican from each chamber count the votes. The candidate who gets a majority of the electoral votes is declared the winner of the election.

On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, members of Congress convened at the United States Capitol to carry out this largely ceremonial tradition. However, the count was disrupted by protests that turned violent. Supporters of President Trump, who had gathered to challenge the legitimacy of the election, stormed the Capitol, pushing through barriers and climbing walls. Lawmakers were quickly ushered to safety. Shouting and waving flags, the unruly mob entered the official chambers of Congress, as well as the personal offices of senators and representatives. Some damaged or stole property. Others took pictures of themselves occupying one of the nation’s most sacred buildings. Several people were injured, and one woman was shot and killed by the police. Several hours after the raid began, police and security officials cleared the Capitol. Lawmakers returned to the chambers to vote, intent on certifying the election results.

Outgoing Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, a Republican, was one of the first senators to speak when talks resumed. Just hours earlier, Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, had defeated Loeffler in a runoff election. (In November 2020, neither Loeffler nor Warnock received more than half the vote, requiring the state to hold a runoff election.) The Loeffler-Warnock runoff was not the only one held in Georgia on January 5. In another runoff, the Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff defeated Senator David Perdue, a Republican. These victories gave the Democrats slim control of the Senate, reshaping the balance of power.

Members of the South Korean pop group BTS are, left to right, front row: Suga and V. Back row: J-Hope, RM, Jin, Jimin, and Jungkook.
Credit: © RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images

The South Korean pop music group BTS made history this month—and not because they shattered another sales record. The oldest member of the group, Kim Seok-jin—known as Jin—turned 28 on December 4. According to South Korean law, men must complete 21 months of military service once they turn 28, if not sooner. But on Tuesday, December 1, South Korea’s National Assembly revised the country’s Military Service Act to allow K-pop stars to postpone their military service until they turn 30. (K-pop is a term used to describe music and artists originating in South Korea’s popular music industry.) Under the law, K-pop stars who have been awarded government medals for spreading South Korean culture can apply to postpone military service. BTS won one of these medals in 2018.

BTS, also known as Bangtan Boys, gained international fame in the mid-2010’s with the help of the video-sharing website YouTube. The group is known for its expressive vocals, stylish image, sharp dance moves, and strong fan base and social media presence. The music of BTS combines elements of rap, hip-hop, pop, and electronic dance music (EDM). The group also is known for its lyrics about the challenges faced by young people. The group’s vocals are mainly in Korean, but BTS also performs lyrics in English and Japanese.

BTS originally stood as an abbreviation for Bangtan Sonyeondan, Korean for Bulletproof Boy Scouts. The initials were later also said to stand for Beyond the Scene. The members of the group are J-Hope (born Jung Ho-seok), Jimin (Park Ji-min), Jin (Kim Seok-jin), Jungkook (Jeon Jeong-guk), RM (Kim Nam-joon), Suga (Min Yoon-gi), and V (Kim Tae-hyung).

BTS was formed by the South Korean music producer and record executive Bang Si-hyuk. The group’s first single was “No More Dream” (2013). The song deals with the pressures many young Koreans feel from their culture and society. Since 2013, the group has released many successful recordings. The band’s first full-length studio album was Dark & Wild (2014).

In 2020, the group released the single “Dynamite,” making BTS the first South Korean pop act to debut at number 1 on the Billboard “Hot 100″ chart. It was also the first song the group recorded entirely in English.

Mississippi’s new state flag
Credit: © Dromara, Shutterstock

During the 2020 election, people across the United States voted for local, state, and national officials. But voters in Mississippi got to vote on a fairly unique proposition as well—the design of a new state flag. In June 2020, the state Legislature passed—and Governor Tate Reeves signed—a bill to remove and replace the state flag. The old flag, adopted in 1894, featured a replica of the Confederate battle emblem used during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Many people consider the emblem to be a symbol of slavery and oppression. The Legislature’s measure called for a commission to adopt a new design that omitted Confederate symbols and included the words “In God We Trust.”  Mississippians voted to accept the new design in a November referendum (vote of approval).

Mississippi’s new flag features a white magnolia blossom on a blue backdrop with red and gold stripes on either side of the flower. The magnolia is the state flower, as well as the state tree. “In God We Trust” is written below the flower. Twenty stars representing Mississippi’s status as the 20th state in the Union surround the flower. One gold star represents Mississippi’s Native American tribes.

The move comes at a time when protests of racial injustice and the legacy of slavery and white supremacy have captured the nation’s attention. This summer, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the United States (and even around the world) took to the streets to demonstrate against racism and the police use of force against African Americans, including the killings of George Floyd and others. Protesters urged city officials—in Mississippi and throughout the United States—to remove statues of such Confederate leaders as Robert E. Lee, the general who commanded the Confederate Army in the Civil War. Protesters also encouraged the removal of a variety of Confederate-related symbols, such as the emblem on the Mississippi flag. Displays of the emblem were also banned at NASCAR races and other events.

This year was not the first time a new Mississippi flag has been proposed. In 2001, Governor Ronnie Musgrove appointed a commission to propose a new design for the state’s flag. That design featured a circle of stars, representing Mississippi’s Native American tribes. Later in the year, two-thirds of Mississippi voters rejected the new design and chose to keep the old flag. Mississippi’s flag remained a source of controversy through the early 2000′s, leading a number of organizations and corporations to decline to hold events in the state or open facilities there. The new design officially becomes law in 2021.

Amy Coney Barrett, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Credit: © Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images

On October 26, the American jurist (legal scholar) Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge Barrett became the 115th justice and only the fifth woman to be appointed to the nation’s highest court. In September, President Donald J. Trump nominated her to fill a vacancy on the court created by the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg eight days earlier.

Barrett’s confirmation was contentious, in part because of the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for November 3. The confirmation process began only six weeks before Election Day, and Democrats argued that the seat should not be filled until after Americans cast their votes. On March 16, 2016, President Barack Obama had nominated Merrick Garland to the court. The Republican-controlled Senate at the time had refused to consider the nomination, arguing then that it was too close to the 2016 election, some 7 1/2 months away, to consider Garland. Many of the same Republicans voted to confirm Barrett in 2020.

Democrats expressed their opposition through voting—not a single Democratic senator supported Barrett’s confirmation. Republicans celebrated her nomination, with only Senator Susan Collins of Maine voting against it. Barrett’s confirmation gave conservatives a firm 6-3 majority on the court.

Court observers have described Barrett as a conservative judge. She has consistently ruled conservatively on such issues as abortion rights, gun control, and immigration. She has criticized the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling that upheld key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Barrett describes herself as an originalist, meaning that she believes the Constitution of the United States should be interpreted as it was originally meant to be understood.

Amy Vivian Coney was born on Jan. 28, 1972, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. She received a bachelor’s degree from Rhodes College in 1994 and a J.D. degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1997. After graduating, she served as a law clerk for Laurence H. Silberman, a judge serving on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. She then served as law clerk for the Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She married Jesse Barrett in 1999.

Also in 1999, Amy Coney Barrett began working as an associate for private practice law firms in Washington, D.C. She became an adjunct faculty member and fellow in law at the George Washington University Law School in 2001. In 2002, Barrett joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as a law professor. President Trump nominated her to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals is a federal court that makes legal judgments for the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

The flag-draped casket of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in state inside Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 25, 2020.
Credit: © Erin Schaff, POOL/AFP/Getty Images

On Friday, the late Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, with her casket on display in Statuary Hall. Ginsburg is also the first Jewish person to lie in state. To lie in state is a great honor, reserved for the country’s most distinguished citizens.

The tradition dates back to 1852, when the American statesman Henry Clay became the first person to receive the honor. Other people to lie in state include judges, military leaders, representatives, senators, and presidents. Aside from lying in state—as Ginsburg is—honorees can lie in honor or lie in repose. The Black civil rights activist Rosa Parks, for example, lay in honor following her death in 2005. Ginsburg will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, one of the largest and most famous cemeteries in the United States.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020), associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Credit: Supreme Court of the United States

Ginsburg, a legal and feminist icon, died on Friday, September 18, at the age of 87. Ginsburg served on the Supreme Court from 1993 to 2020. As a Supreme Court justice, she provided a steady liberal voice and was a passionate supporter of women’s rights.

Ginsberg was the second woman to serve on the court. Sandra Day O’Connor became the first in 1981. President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsburg to the court to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Byron R. White.

Ruth Bader was born on March 15, 1933, in New York City. She graduated from Cornell University in 1954. She married Martin D. Ginsburg, who also became a lawyer, later that year. She earned a law degree from Columbia University in 1959.

Ginsburg taught law at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, from 1963 to 1972 and at Columbia University from 1972 to 1980. During the 1970′s, Ginsburg served as general counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that works for citizens’ rights. In this position, she argued before the Supreme Court and won many cases involving equality between the sexes. She actively supported women’s rights.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. During her years as a member of this court, she became known for working to bring about agreement between her liberal and conservative colleagues.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020), associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Credit: Supreme Court of the United States

The world lost a legal and feminist icon on Friday, September 18, with the death of the associate justice of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the age of 87. Ginsburg served on the Supreme Court from 1993 to 2020. As a Supreme Court justice, she provided a steady liberal voice and was a passionate supporter of women’s rights.

Ginsberg was the second woman to serve on the court. Sandra Day O’Connor became the first in 1981. President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsburg to the court to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Byron R. White.

Ruth Bader was born on March 15, 1933, in New York City. She graduated from Cornell University in 1954. She married Martin D. Ginsburg, who also became a lawyer, later that year. She earned a law degree from Columbia University in 1959.

Ginsburg taught law at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, from 1963 to 1972 and at Columbia University from 1972 to 1980. During the 1970′s, Ginsburg served as general counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that works for citizens’ rights. In this position, she argued before the Supreme Court and won many cases involving equality between the sexes. She actively supported women’s rights.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. During her years as a member of this court, she became known for working to bring about agreement between her liberal and conservative colleagues.

Demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin, protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed African American man, in August 2020.
© Kamil Krzaczynski, AFP/Getty Images

Protests erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and elsewhere this week in response to the August 23 shooting of Jacob Blake, an African American man, by a white police officer. The officer shot Blake in the back seven times. Blake was hospitalized but survived.

People in Kenosha and elsewhere have taken to the streets to demonstrate against racism and the police use of force against African Americans. The demonstrations often feature signs reading “Black Lives Matter.” This slogan has become a popular rallying cry in recent years. It is also the name of an activist movement. Black Lives Matter was formed to campaign against racism and what its members consider police brutality against African Americans.

The demonstrations have at time turned violent, with protesters damaging property and police shooting rubber bullets and tear gas. On August 26, two protesters were shot and killed. A third protester was shot, but not fatally. A white 17-year-old from Illinois who claimed to be a member of a militia was arrested in connection with the three shootings.

The shooting of Blake comes in the wake of several other high-profile cases of violence against African Americans by police and others. On Feb. 3, 2020, in Georgia, an African American man named Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed while jogging. (Arbery’s killers were not law enforcement officers, but many people were angered when it took months of pressure for arrests to be made in the case.) On March 13, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky, an African American woman named Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police officers executing a search warrant, who broke into her home in the middle of the night. George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, died in police custody on May 25. Cellphone video captured by witnesses showed a white police officer kneeling on the handcuffed Floyd’s neck for several minutes before his death.

In protest of the Jacob Blake shooting, players for the Milwaukee Bucks voted to boycott their National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff game on August 26. Other teams followed, and the league soon canceled the day’s games. Many other sports teams and players sat out games in solidarity.

Three woman suffragists cast votes in New York City around 1917. Woman suffragists fought for the right of women to vote. The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed on Aug. 18, 1920, granted this right to women throughout the country.
Credit: © Everett Collection/Shutterstock

Aug. 18, 2020, is the 100th anniversary of the addition of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The amendment granted women the right to vote. It reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

During colonial times, the right to vote was generally limited to adult males who owned property. After the United States became an independent nation, the Constitution gave the states the right to decide who could vote. One by one, the states abolished property requirements. By 1830, nearly all the states had given all white male adults the vote.

In the mid-1800’s, such leaders as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone began speaking out for equal rights for women. Suffrage (the right to vote) soon became their chief goal. People who supported the drive for suffrage were called suffragists. The woman suffrage movement gained strength after 1870, when the 15th Amendment extended voting rights to Black men.

The House of Representatives approved the 19th Amendment in 1918, but the Senate defeated it. The House passed the amendment again on May 21, 1919. The Senate finally passed it on June 4. However, the amendment still needed the approval of three-fourths of the states. On Aug. 18, 1920, the Tennessee legislature approved the amendment, giving the measure the support it needed. On August 26, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the amendment.

By the late 1900’s, women had the vote in almost every country where men had it. In 2015, women in Saudi Arabia voted in and won elections for the first time. Vatican City is the only country in which women are not allowed to vote but men have the right. However, some countries still deny voting rights to many or all their people.