Credit: © Manny DaCunha, Shutterstock

The Fourth of July is Independence Day in the United States. The day marks the nation’s birthday, July 4, 1776, when delegates to the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adopted the Declaration of Independence.

The delegates represented the 13 British colonies, which had come to resent the ever-increasing taxes and restrictions that King George III sought to impose on them. In April 1775, British troops had clashed with colonial militia at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, in effect signaling the outbreak of the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence explained the reasons for the colonists’ rejection of British rule, detailed the ways in which the British government had violated American rights, and declared the freedom of the American colonies from Britain. The American Revolution ended in 1783 when Britain recognized the independence of the United States.

July 4 is traditionally a day of patriotism and celebration, including a full menu of picnics or cookouts and fireworks, with popular side dishes of baseball, fairs, parades, and parties. Last year, public celebrations of the holiday were largely absent, as people followed social distancing measures intended to stem the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, with widespread vaccinations putting the disease in retreat in many areas, fireworks and other public displays have largely returned.

The Fourth of July isn’t just a day for celebration, however. It’s also a good time to reflect on the promise of freedom outlined in the Declaration of Independence and to think about how various groups are still struggling to achieve that freedom. In a year that followed worldwide protests over the killing of George Floyd, many people are choosing to make the Fourth not only a celebration of our nation’s history but a time of reflection and preparation for its future.

Dr. Rachel Levine.
Credit: © Daniel Shanken, Reuters/Alamy Images

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. All month long, Behind the Headlines will feature lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning pioneers in a variety of areas.

Summertime celebrates joy and growth; spring brings new beginnings. This spring, Rachel Levine made history when she became the first openly transgender person to be confirmed to a federal government position by the United States Senate. Transgender is a term for individuals whose identity or self-expression does not match their assigned gender. In January 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Levine, an American physician, for assistant secretary for health for the Department of Health and Human Services. Levine was confirmed on March 24, 2021.

Born Richard Levine in Melrose, Massachusetts, north of Boston, on Oct. 28, 1957, Levine was assigned male at birth. Levine grew up in nearby Wakefield, Massachusetts. After graduating from Harvard University with an undergraduate degree, Levine attended Tulane University School of Medicine. Levine moved to New York City to train in pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. In 1993, Levine accepted a position at the Polyclinic Medical Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Three years later, in 1996, Levine began working at the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey. Around 2010, Levine began publicly presenting herself as a woman.

In 2015, Levine was named Pennsylvania’s physician general. Three years later, she was named Pennsylvania’s secretary of health. As a state official, Levine focused her efforts on maternal health, immunization, and the opioid drug-abuse crisis.

A woman carries the Pan-African flag, a symbol of Black unity, at a Juneteenth parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Juneteenth celebrations commemorate the freeing of slaves in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865.
Credit: © Tippman98x/Shutterstock

June 19 is Juneteenth, a festival held in many Black and other communities to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. The name of the festival refers to the date, June 19—the day the last slaves were freed in the southern state of Texas in 1865. Juneteenth festivities often include plays and storytelling, parades, prayer services, and family reunions. Some communities hold longer Juneteenth festivals spanning several days as a celebration of civil rights and freedom.

People wait for floats to pass by during a parade celebrating Juneteenth in the historically Black town of Bastrop, near Austin, Texas USA. Credit: © Bob Daemmrich, Alamy Images

Last year’s Juneteenth looked different than celebrations past, because of the ongoing pandemic (global outbreak) of the coronavirus disease COVID-19. This year, festive Juneteenth celebrations have resumed in many places. Parades and festivals throughout the country will commemorate and celebrate Black life in America. If attending crowded events does not yet feel safe to you, you can celebrate Juneteenth by supporting Black-owned businesses, including stores and restaurants.

One way the national government is celebrating Juneteenth this year and for years to come is by making it a federal holiday. This week, Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law a bill to officially recognize Juneteenth each year.

Juneteenth originated in Texas at the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865). In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared freedom for the slaves in Confederate states in rebellion against the Union. However, many slave owners in Texas suppressed information about the emancipation even after the war ended in April 1865. On June 19, Gordon Granger, a Union general, entered Galveston, Texas, and ordered all slaves in the state to be freed. About 250,000 people, among the last slaves remaining in the United States, were freed.

Juneteenth celebrations were held only in Texas and a few communities in other southern states in the years following the Civil War. Black people carried the celebration with them, however, as they migrated to other regions of the country. The push to make Juneteenth a federal holiday gained momentum in 2020, during the widespread Black Lives Matter protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd.

In the United States, June—the first month of summer—is celebrated as LGBTQ+ Pride Month. LGBTQ+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning. The “+” represents other sexual identities. Transgender individuals are those whose identity or self-expression does not match the gender assigned to them at birth.

Throughout June, cities across the nation host concerts, festivals, colorful parades, parties, and other events that honor the identity, contributions, and historical impact of LGBTQ+ people. June is also the month in 2015 when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that states could not ban same-sex marriage.

The rainbow flag has symbolized the LGBTQ+ community since the late 1970′s. Credit: © Natasha Kramskaya, Shutterstock

Historically, LGBTQ+ Pride Month commemorates the Stonewall uprising, a series of demonstrations for gay rights that took place in New York City in late June and early July 1969. The demonstrations were in response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Following the raid, bar patrons and other supporters began a series of riots that lasted, on and off, for several days.

The Stonewall uprising was an important part of the change happening in the gay rights movement at the time. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, this movement grew in size and strength. Gay rights activists created new organizations and developed political strategies still used today. The Stonewall uprising also inspired gay rights activists in other countries. In 2000, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated the Stonewall Inn and the surrounding streets a national historic landmark. In 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama designated the Stonewall Inn as a national monument.

An activist for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) rights waves a rainbow flag in front of the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. The rainbow flag is a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride. Credit: © AP Photo

The early 2000’s saw significant advances in LGBTQ+ rights. For example, more than a dozen countries, including Canada, the United States, New Zealand, South Africa, and a number of European and South American nations legalized same-sex marriage. In 2010 and 2016, respectively, the U.S. government ended its ban on openly gay and transgender people serving in the military. And in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex spouses were entitled to receive the same federal benefits as heterosexual (different-sex) spouses.

LGBTQ+ Pride Month developed from LGBTQ+ Pride Day, celebrated on the last Sunday in June. In 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton proclaimed June Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. Likewise, every year from 2009 through 2016, President Barack Obama officially proclaimed June LGBTQ+ Pride Month. From 2017 to 2020, President Donald Trump did not issue such a proclamation. In 2021, President Joe Biden proclaimed June LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

United States Senator Tammy Duckworth
Credit: U.S. Congress

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. All month long, Behind the Headlines will feature AAPI pioneers in a variety of areas.

Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, was elected to the United States Senate in 2016. As a senator, she has been a champion for civil rights, environmental justice, and veterans’ affairs.

Ladda Tammy Duckworth was born in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 12, 1968, to a Thai mother and an American father. Her father had been serving in Southeast Asia in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War (1957-1975). When Tammy Duckworth was a child, the family moved around the region while her father worked with the United Nations and private corporations. She became fluent in Thai, Indonesian, and English. The family later moved to Hawaii, where Duckworth finished high school. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Hawaii (also spelled University of Hawai‘i) in 1989.

Duckworth joined the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) in 1990 while working on a master’s degree in international affairs at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She completed her degree in 1992. That year, she also got her commission as a reserve officer and trained as an army helicopter pilot. In 1996, while studying for a doctorate in political science at Northern Illinois University, she transferred to the Illinois National Guard. She later completed a doctorate in human services at Capella University, an online-based school.

In 2004, while Duckworth was still a student at Northern Illinois, her National Guard regiment was sent to Iraq. On November 12, her helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. She lost both legs and some of the use of her right arm. In December, she was awarded a Purple Heart for her injuries. The Purple Heart is a medal given to soldiers of the U.S. armed forces who are wounded or killed in combat. Following a lengthy recovery, Duckworth began working for better medical care for veterans. In 2006, she ran unsuccessfully for an Illinois seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich then named her director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs. In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed her assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs.

In 2012, Duckworth was elected to the U.S. House, representing a district in the Chicago suburbs. She was reelected in 2014. Also in 2014, she retired from the Army Reserves, having achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 2016, Duckworth defeated incumbent Republican Senator Mark Kirk to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Duckworth married Bryan Bowlsbey, an officer in the Army National Guard, in 1993. In 2018, she became the first sitting U.S. senator to give birth when she delivered a daughter, Maile Pearl. The couple’s first child, Abigail, was born in 2014, while Duckworth was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Duckworth’s memoir, Every Day is a Gift, was published in 2021.

Nadeen Ashraf
Credit: © Omar Allam, American University in Cairo

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas. 

Social media websites are often used for such activities as connecting with friends and family or sharing your singing, dancing, or cooking skills. But social media can also serve as platforms for promoting change, be it in politics, race relations, or gender equality. Nadeen Ashraf, an Egyptian feminist and activist against sexual assault, started the account Assault Police on the social media service Instagram. The account has drawn large numbers of women to share information about sexual assault and harassment, along with their personal experiences.

Ashraf was born March 12, 1998, in Cairo. From a young age, she had an interest in the internet and social media. She started Assault Police while studying philosophy at the American University in Cairo. Other students had posted online about a man who was sexually harassing and threatening women. When one of their accounts suddenly disappeared, Ashraf became angry. In July 2020, she created Assault Police to repost the allegations. The account quickly drew thousands of followers, and the man was soon arrested.

Many more women were drawn to share their experiences on Assault Police. Ashraf’s work helped inspire a broader discussion about sexual violence in the conservative country. Egyptian officials have traditionally been reluctant to prosecute crimes against women, and witnesses and victims may be charged with indecency upon coming forward. In a poll conducted by the United Nations in 2013, 99 percent of Egyptian women reported witnessing sexual assault or harassment. A 2017 study found Cairo to be the most dangerous large city for women, in part due to sexual assault and harassment.

The movement sparked in part by Ashraf has been compared to the MeToo social movement in Western countries. In August 2020, Egypt’s parliament passed a law to shield the identity of harassment victims.

An International Women’s Day rally in Lisbon, Portugal
Credit: © Sonia Bonet, Shutterstock

Monday, March 8, is International Women’s Day (IWD). It is observed annually in many countries around the world. It serves to recognize and celebrate women’s cultural, economic, political, and social achievements and to promote women’s rights and gender equality. In some countries, IWD is a national holiday. In Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the day falls within Women’s History Month.

Many different groups, such as businesses, charities, governments, international and nongovernmental organizations, and schools organize activities and events for International Women’s Day. Some groups declare a different IWD theme each year. Many people observe the day with political actions, including marches and rallies for women’s rights, and protests against sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and violence against women. Others participate in such activities as conferences, exhibitions, labor strikes, performances, and sporting events. Women in some countries traditionally receive flowers and small gifts, or time off from work.

International Women’s Day has its origins in the women’s labor and suffrage (voting rights) movements of the early 1900′s. The first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States on Feb. 28, 1909. It was designated as such by the Socialist Party of America to commemorate a women garment workers’ march in New York City in 1908 demanding suffrage and better work conditions. In 1910, an International Conference of Working Women met in Copenhagen, Denmark. German attendees Luise Zietz and Clara Zetkin proposed an annual international women’s day to further women’s rights, especially woman suffrage. The proposal was received with great enthusiasm.

International Women’s Day first was held in 1911. It was observed on March 19 by more than 1 million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Men and women participated in hundreds of demonstrations. They demanded the right of women to vote and hold public office, and protested sex discrimination in employment. People later began observing IWD on March 8. This date corresponds with protests by Russian women in the 1910′s against World War I (1914-1918) and conditions preceding the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1975, as part of International Women’s Year, the United Nations (UN) began celebrating IWD on March 8. Today, IWD is celebrated in more than 100 countries.

Kamala Harris
Credit: California Attorney General’s Office

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas. 

Kamala Harris and Stacey Abrams have reshaped the American political landscape not only for women and people of color, but for all Americans. Regardless of political affiliation, both have opened doors for women, rising to new heights in government and politics.

Kamala Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California, on Oct. 20, 1964. Her mother, a physician and cancer specialist, was born in India. Her father, who was born in Jamaica, became an economics professor. In 1986, Harris received a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Howard University. In 1989, she earned a law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

From 1990 to 1998, Harris served as deputy district attorney for Alameda County, in California. In 1998, she became the managing attorney of the Career Criminal Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. In 2000, she was named to lead the San Francisco City Attorney’s Division on Families and Children.

In 2003, Harris won election as San Francisco district attorney. She was reelected in 2007 and served through 2010. Her victory in the 2010 campaign for state attorney general marked the first time that a woman and—because of her mixed ethnicity—a person of Black and South Asian ancestry won the post. Harris took office in 2011. As attorney general, she gained attention for her work to combat transnational gangs and investigate banks that engaged in mortgage fraud. She was reelected in 2014 and served until 2017.

In June 2016, Harris finished first in California’s open primary for a U.S. Senate seat. She defeated Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, a fellow Democrat, in the November election. As a U.S. senator, Harris served on a number of committees, including the Judiciary Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

In January 2019, Harris began a campaign for her party’s 2020 nomination for president. She dropped out of the race in December 2019, while trailing her competitors in fundraising and in support in public opinion polls.

In August 2020, Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, named Harris his vice presidential running mate. Issues in the campaign included the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and tensions between Black communities and police. Biden and Harris won the November 2020 election. Harris resigned her Senate seat in January 2021, days before she and Biden took office. On Jan. 20, 2021, Harris became the first woman to serve as vice president of the United States. She also became the first person of Black and South Asian ancestry to serve in the position.

Stacey Abrams
Credit: © Cheriss May, NurPhoto/Getty Images

Stacey Abrams also played a major role in the 2020 election. Get-out-the-vote drives championed by Abrams are widely credited with helping Biden and Harris to win the state of Georgia. They are also said to have helped two Democrats to victory in state runoff elections, tipping the balance of the U.S. Senate.

Stacey Yvonne Abrams was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on Dec. 9, 1973. She grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi. When Abrams was 16, her family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. In 1991, Abrams graduated from Avondale High School, where she was the first Black valedictorian. The valedictorian is the graduate with the highest marks. In 1995, she graduated magna cum laude (with great honor) from Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in interdisciplinary studies. The major combined political science, economics, and sociology. She then attended the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, receiving a master’s degree in public policy in 1998. The next year, Abrams earned her J.D. degree from the law school of Yale University.

After graduating law school, Abrams began working at a law firm in Atlanta. In 2003, she started her career in government. She became the deputy attorney for the city of Atlanta’s law department. In 2006, Abrams was elected to Georgia’s House of Representatives from the state’s 84th district.

After four years as a representative, Abrams was chosen by the Democratic Party to serve as minority leader in the House of Representatives of Georgia. She became the first woman to serve as leader of either party in the Georgia General Assembly, the state’s legislature.

In 2018, she became the first Black woman nominated by a major political party to run for governor of Georgia. In the primary contest, Abrams defeated the Democrat Stacey Evans. But, in the general election, she was narrowly defeated by the Republican candidate Brian Kemp.

In addition to holding political office, Abrams has founded several political organizations. In 2014, she founded the New Georgia Project to counteract challenges to voter rights and increased barriers to voter registration. In 2018, she founded Fair Fight, an organization promoting voter education and fair elections.

Harriet Tubman
Credit: Library of Congress

United States President Joe Biden has promised to accelerate a planned redesign of the $20 bill, to feature the abolitionist (anti-slavery activist) Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913). As it is now, the bill features a portrait of former president Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) on the front and a picture of the White House on the back. Jackson’s portrait will be replaced by a portrait of Tubman, a Black woman who helped hundreds of enslaved people in the United States escape to freedom.

In 2016, Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew proposed that Tubman be featured on the bill. But, the administration of President Donald J. Trump, who became president in 2017, postponed the change indefinitely. President Biden’s Treasury Department is determining how to speed up the process of adding Tubman to the $20 bill. Putting Tubman on the bill is intended to both celebrate and reflect the diversity of the United States.

Harriet Tubman was a famous leader of the underground railroad. The underground railroad was a secret system of guides, safehouses, and pathways that helped people who were enslaved escape to the northern United States or to Canada. Admirers called Tubman “Moses,” in reference to the Biblical prophet who led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt.

Tubman was born into slavery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore some time around 1820. Her name was Araminta Ross. She came to be known by her mother’s name, Harriet. Her father taught her a knowledge of the outdoors that later helped her in her rescue missions. When Harriet was a child, she tried to stop a supervisor from punishing another enslaved person. The supervisor fractured Harriet’s skull with a metal weight. Because of the injury, Harriet suffered blackouts. She interpreted them as messages from God. She married John Tubman, a free Black man, in 1844.

Harriet Tubman, acting alone, escaped from slavery in 1849. After arriving in Philadelphia, she vowed to return to Maryland and help liberate other people. Tubman made her first of 19 return trips shortly after Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This law made it a crime to help enslaved runaways.

Tubman became a conductor (guide) on the underground railroad. She carried a gun and promised to use it against anyone who threatened the success of her operation. She was assisted by white and free Black abolitionists. She also got help from members of a religious sect known as the Quakers. On one rescue mission, she and a group of fugitives boarded a southbound train to avoid suspicion. On another mission, Tubman noticed her former master walking toward her. She quickly released the chickens she had been carrying and chased after them to avoid being recognized. In 1857, Tubman led her parents to freedom in Auburn, New York. Slaveowners offered thousands of dollars for Tubman’s arrest. But they never captured her or any of the 300 enslaved runaways she helped liberate before the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Tubman continued her courageous actions during the Civil War. She served as a nurse, scout, and spy for the Union Army. During one military campaign along the Combahee River in South Carolina, she helped free more than 750 enslaved people. After the war, Tubman became the subject of numerous biographies. Upon returning to Auburn, she spoke in support of women’s rights. She established the Harriet Tubman Home for elderly and needy Black Americans. She died on March 10, 1913.

The people of Auburn erected a plaque in Tubman’s honor. The United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp bearing her portrait in 1978. The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, in Auburn, includes Tubman’s home, the residence she created for elderly Black Americans, and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church she raised funds to build. The historical park, which is operated by the National Park Service, opened in 2017. Also in 2017, a museum at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park opened to the public. The national historical park, created by Congress in 2014, includes sites in Dorchester, Caroline, and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

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.