Robbin Chapman

Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging @Kennedy_School

Adjunct Associate Professor @Penn

Former President, Society of Senior Ford Fellows

[President Biden Archived @POTUS46Archive]

Because thoughts and prayers are not enough.

@VP and I just created the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

[Inspirational Quotes @SeffSaid]

Quick reminder

[Tweets_From_Runaway_Enslaved_People @FromSlaves]

I was seized and jailed in Somerset County, MD, accused of being a runaway, but I was a free man. I sat in that jail through October 1855. My name was JIM JANES.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

The Battle of Bamber Bridge, 1943.

Racist US military police attacked black US troops on British soil.

US military authorities demanded the town’s pubs impose a colour bar, the local landlords responded with signs that read “Black Troops Only” which pissed them off.

A THREAD

[Left of Black @LeftOfBlack]

“When White people ridicule Black people for how they speak, dress, or style their hair, they are out of line, and there’s no way Black people should have to alter their behaviors consistent with the demands of bullies.” — @queenie4rmnola https://t.co/5cBjBKl5YG

[Dr. Marvin Dunn @MarvinDunn4]

Enslaved women were forced to have children in order to increase the wealth of their owners and to provide plantation labor. These are our great, great grandparents. The Supreme Court just ruled that none of this matters anymore. We are color blind now! https://t.co/LNnmmhj0Gr

[Michelle Obama @MichelleObama]

Happy birthday, Malia! I feel so lucky to be your mom and to be able to watch you become the wonderful young woman you are today. Love you so much! 💕

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Happy birthday to this talented, hilarious, and beautiful young woman. Malia, I hope 25 brings you everything you’re looking for and more.

[Left of Black @LeftOfBlack]

“A night of fireworks doesn’t ease the sting of this nation’s duplicity.” — @queenie4rmnola

https://t.co/TyNyPfgVnA

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

4th July, 1844 — Edmonia Lewis was born.

Edmonia was the first professional black sculptor and one of the most celebrated neoclassical sculptors of her time.

‘The Death of Cleopatra’ is one her most recognised works. It depicts the famous Cleopatra in the moment of her death.

[Inspirational Quotes @SeffSaid]

Don't give up

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

These are the Muse Brothers. Their biological names are George and Willie Muse. They were two albino brothers;

In 1899 they were kidnapped as boys in Truevine, Virginia by bounty hunters and were forced into the circus, labeled as “freak show” performers.

Their owners showcased the brothers in circuses where they were exploited for profit in so-called freak shows. The Muse Brothers became famous across the United States as “Eko and Iko”, the “White Ecuadorian Cannibals”, the “Sheep Headed Men”, the “Sheep Headed Cannibals”, the “Ministers from Dahomey” and “Ambassadors from Mars”.

George and Willie were forced to grow their hair into massive “dreadlocks“ which together with their white skin and bluish eyes were exhibited as rarities. They were also billed as “Darwin’s Missing Links” and “Nature’s Greatest Mistakes”.

The boys were not permitted to go to school, neither were they paid for their work. They were literally kept in slavery.

One of their owners had found that George and Willie harboured the ability to play any song on almost any instrument, from the xylophone to the saxophone and mandolin, and that made them even more famous and more valuable ‘assets’ to owners of travelling circuses. However, after all this time, their illiterate mother had not ceased looking for her boys.

In the fall of 1927, the brothers were on a tour with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to Roanoke, little did the boys know they were coming home from which they had disappeared nearly three decades back.

It came to their mother’s attention that the The Greatest Show On Earth was in town and she was determined to find them. It was a tough decision to confront the Ringling Brothers who were powerful multimillionaires who also had the attention of the heavyweight politicians and law enforcement agencies.

Their mother tracked them down and eventually found the boys working for the Ringling Brothers circus and surprised them while they were on stage and their family reunited, 28 years later since they had gone missing in the very same town. The poor and powerless black woman stood up to police and big shot circus owners and successfully took her sons home.

[SAVE A SEAT FOR ME (Simon & Schuster, 2026) @NewBlackMan]

Photography is inherently racist. Can new technology change that?

How Google and Snap are creating new technology to fix an age-old problem: racism in photography.

https://t.co/P521sLZIo8

[Rev. & Prof. Cornell William Brooks @CornellWBrooks]

Students put scholarship and policy expertise at the service of advocacy as they help seek justice in modern-day lynchings. | Harvard Kennedy School

Please read & share—we need your voices. https://t.co/mBlfbovbVu

[Robbin Chapman @DrRNChapman]

Timeline cleanser...

[Michael's Cat @michaelscat2]

This is my sister’s cat, Flash, and he has some thoughtful comments for your performance review. Please, take a seat.

[Tweets_From_Runaway_Enslaved_People @FromSlaves]

On this day in 1855, I ran from the plantation of Samuel R. Potter near Wilmington, NC. I was well known as an accomplished hunter; I hoped that skill would keep me alive as I hid, but I was caught. Potter died in 1856 and I was listed in his estate inventory. My name was NED.

[The Black Wall Street Times @TheBWSTimes]

Emmett Chappelle's journey from NASA to the Goddard Space Flight Center culminated in the creation of a new technique that helps scientists discover life on other planets.
https://t.co/DpSOAsKOOy

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

The Black Panther Party first & most notable community program was the Free Breakfast for Children Program.

The program began in January 1969 because poverty forced families to send their children to school hungry.

—By the end of 1969, the Black Panthers were serving full free breakfasts (including milk, bacon, eggs, grits, and toast) to 20,000 school aged children in 19 cities around the country, and in 23 local affiliates every school day. The breakfast program was just one of many programs the Panthers ran to address the needs of the poor. In fact, they developed more that 60 Serve the People programs, including efforts to provide free clothing and shoes, medical services —including drug and alcohol awareness, —legal aid education, and what was thought to be some of the first true early childhood education programs in the nation, preceding Head Start. But the Panthers’ image and focus on self-determination drew the attention of then FBI chief, J. Edgar Hoover. He singled out the Black Panthers as national hate group, and the breakfast program as an act of subversion. Once Hoover went after the Breakfast Program, the handwriting was on the wall. Even though the organizers were careful to consult with nutritionists to make sure the children got high quality, balanced meals, and made sure they had the necessary permits from the health and fire departments for the kitchens and halls where they served meals, they became regular targets of local officials. The children they served were caught in the middle.—