Sachs Foundation Awards $2.6M in Scholarships to Black Scholars Amid DEI Challenges

The Sachs Foundation announced the selection of 65 outstanding Black scholars who will receive more than $2.6 million in scholarships.

The students were honored at the Foundation's Annual Celebration in June at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, where scholar, activist, and author Angela Davis joined Sachs Foundation Board Member Aisha Praught-Leer, a two-time Olympian and Jamaican record holder, for a keynote conversation before scholars, families, and community supporters.

At a time when diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and race-conscious admissions face legal and political challenges nationwide, the Sachs Foundation remains steadfast in its 95-year legacy of investing in Black students across Colorado through scholarships, mentorship, and leadership development opportunities.

"We get a lot of questions about what the Sachs Foundation is going to do in this current political moment. And our answer has been clear for almost 100 years," said Ben Ralston, CEO of the Sachs Foundation. "The same answer we had when the KKK held power in Colorado. The same answer during the Jim Crow South. The same answer through the civil rights movement. We are going to be here. We are going to do this work. And we are going to celebrate it."

In conversation with Praught-Leer, Professor Davis spoke directly to the scholars, drawing on her own formation as a young Black woman navigating a hostile political moment. Her message to this year's class was clear: use these years to practice freedom by challenging, critiquing, and building. "Find your community," she told them. "If you can't find it, you build it."

Black Colorado residents can apply for scholarships each year from January 1 to March 15. Learn more at https://www.sachsfoundation.org/#scholarships.

Those interested in supporting the Foundation's mission can visit SachsFoundation.org/donate/ or contact sachs@nextpr.com for information on partnership and giving opportunities.

Freedom School for Educators: Black History Classes in the Age of Censorship

It's not every day that educators can learn directly from leading historians, writers, and activists and then immediately process that learning in small groups with peers equally committed to truth and justice. That's exactly what makes the Zinn Education Project's Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online class series so rare and vital.

The 2026–2027 class schedule has just been announced. It opens the school year with a class on the history of high school student organizing, featuring historians Aaron Fountain Jr. and Jon Hale. Other sessions include Howard Bryant on Paul Robeson and Jackie Robinson; Gary Tyler on mass incarceration and the legacy of slavery; Kelly Lytle Hernández on racism and immigration policy; and Jeanne Theoharis on Coretta Scott King.

In an era of book bans, gag orders, and political attacks on justice-centered curricula, spaces for honest, interactive professional learning are shrinking. Teachers and school staff face constant pressure, misinformation, and curricular erasure. The need for meaningful, culturally relevant professional development has never been greater, as nearly half of educators report that their required training is irrelevant to their work. This series offers a response: a collaborative and engaging learning experience unlike typical workshops or webinars.

The Zinn Education Project series reminds participants that history is layered, contested, and constantly rewritten. It emphasizes that social transformation is collective. Now in its sixth year, the series offers monthly 75-minute sessions that combine rich historical conversation with interactive engagement. Each session pairs a teacher interviewer with a historian. Then, participants move into breakout rooms where they meet colleagues from across the country, discuss the content, and share strategies for bringing truth to their classrooms.

Anchored in an emergent people's history tradition, the series has featured speakers such as Clint Smith on slavery's lasting impact on inequality in the United States; Eve Ewing on how the U.S. school system maintains racial hierarchies; Jarvis Givens on Black History Month as an evolving liberatory project; and Jeanne Theoharis on Northern racism and the ongoing misuse of Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. Martha Jones highlighted the role of Black women in the long struggle for voting rights. As one participant reflected on the session:

The stories of our female ancestors are powerful and need to be told and taught! Using Vanguard, I can share with my students the background of the struggle for Black women to vote and tie it into what is happening currently all across the country. This history is bigger than us.

These classes are not only about learning people's history. They provide opportunities for educators to connect with peers, find guidance for teaching under authoritarianism, and gain inspiration to continue justice-centered work. As one participant reflected, "So much of our history lies in our hands, and we have to tell our story and carry it forward."

The sessions consistently model inquiry-based, dialogic learning where knowledge grows through discussion and reflection, rather than top-down instruction. "As always, I appreciate the chance to actively process my thinking with other educators," one participant emphasized. Another shared, "Loving the breakout groups more and more each time."

Participants from every U.S. state and territory describe the series as rigorous and sustaining. One attendee said the experience "reinvigorates me to keep learning as much as possible to teach kids Black history, despite the major gaps in my knowledge." Another added: "This will definitely help my future teaching by being more open and honest with students. Not sugarcoating what has happened actually informs them more."

If educators are to teach U.S. history accurately, they need access to the current scholarship. These sessions provide exactly that: cutting-edge research in people's history that uncovers forgotten or previously unrecognized stories of real people — stories that traditional narratives have left out or intentionally erased.

"These spaces are not only about learning," one attendee wrote. "They are about organizing, connecting, and freedom dreaming."

PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS WILL HOLD PART TWO OF VOTING RIGHTS FORUM IN MONTCLAIR NJ

The second part of a forum entitled “The Attack On Voting Rights And The War On Black People,” will be held Friday, June 26, 2026, 7:00pm at St Paul’s Baptist Church, 119 Elm Street in Montclair, New Jersey.

The event is sponsored by the People’s Organization For Progress (POP), a grassroots volunteer group that works for racial, social, economic justice and peace.

“The purpose of this forum is to give people an opportunity to continue our dialogue on the negative impact of the racist and fascist domestic and foreign policies of the Trump administration on Black people and strategies for fighting back,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress stated.

Part one of the forum was held on May 29th at the same location. During that session numerous presentations were made by elected officials, community leaders, and activists.

“During the last seasion most of the program consisted of presentations by the invited speakers. This time most of the program will be devoted to audience participation so we can hear what the people have to say,” Hamm said.

“At the end of the of the last program we polled the audience and asked them if they wanted to have a second session to continue the dialogue and the overwhelming majority responded affirmatively,” he said.

Hamm said POP decided to have the first program after the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in the Louisiana v. Callais case. That ruling eviscerated the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

“In terms of civil rights and racial equity that was one of the worst U.S. Supreme Court decisions since the Dred Scott case of 1857 when the court said that black people had no rights that white people were bound to respect,” he said.

Hamm said the court’s decision enables racist state legislatures to redraw their congressional districts and eliminate those which have large black populations. This could result in the loss of as many as 19 congressional seats now held by African Americans.

Besides voter suppression and the attack on voting rights Hamm cited other reasons for calling the forum.

“Black people continue to experience the highest rates of racist violence. Black Americans experience the highest rate of police brutality and fatal shootings by police. Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than whites.

“Black student enrollment at colleges and universities continues to decline due to the Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action in higher education.

“Since the beginning of Trump’s second term Black unemployment has doubled with more than 600,000 black people losing their jobs, including 350,000 Black women, due to a sagging economy, federal budget cuts, and the ending of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs,” he said.

“The Trump administration is perhaps the most openly racist and certainly the most corrupt in my lifetime. His racist and fascist rhetoric and vitriolic attacks exceed that of his contemporaries,” he said.

“The reactionary policies of the White House, ultra conservative decisions of the Supreme Court, and right wing legislation of Congress and state legislatures makes it feel like there is a war on Black people in this country,” Hamm said.

“The response to the first forum was so positive that we have decided to have this same discussion in other cities and towns across New Jersey. Other programs are already scheduled and will be announced soon,” he said.

For more information please call People’s Organization for Progress at 973 801-0001.

MARCH AGAINST TRUMP DICTATORSHIP IN NEWARK, NJ ON SUNDAY, JUNE 14TH

A counter protest will be held in response to the Trump administration’s celebration in Washington DC this weekend. 

An “End The Trump Dictatorship March And Rally,” will be held Sunday, June 14, 2026, 2:00pm at the Rodino Federal Building, 970 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey. 

The demonstration is sponsored by the People’s Organization For Progress. It has been endorsed by the Martin Luther King People’s Convention for Justice and Resistance Planning Committee. 

The event will begin with a rally at the federal building. After the rally the protesters will march to Martin Luther King Statue at 495 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. 

“We are having this demonstration to protest the sham celebration that President Trump is having in the nation’s capital on Sunday,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress stated. 

“We will not celebrate this president who is a would be dictator nor will we celebrate a false racist history of this country. We must protest against it,” Hamm said. 

He said that the demonstration is also being held to protest Trump’s racist, fascist, and draconian policies at home, and his administration’s imperialistic wars abroad.

“Trump is celebrating himself this weekend. He says it’s about the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country but it’s really all about him, his administration, and his policies,” he said. 

“This is what dictators do. They try to make people believe they are the personification of the nation,” he said. 

“Like King Louis XIV, Trump believes he is the state. In his mind being loyal to the country means being loyal to him,” he said. 

Hamm said the historical narrative of the nation being used by the Trump administration for these celebrations is a whitewashed history that conforms to a white supremacist perspective. 

“In their version of history the genocide against the Native Americans and theft of their land, the enslavement of Africans and oppression of Black people, and other similar episodes are downplayed or nonexistent,” he said. 

“We cannot celebrate a history that does not tell the whole truth or does not recognize the contributions of those who have been oppressed and exploited,” he said. 

For more information contact the People’s Organization For Progress at (973)801-0001.

Nearly a Century After Founding Michigan's Only HBCU, Detroit Declares Violet T. Lewis Day

The City of Detroit officially declared May 27 as Violet T. Lewis Day during a historic ceremony held Wednesday at Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design (PLC Detroit), where a representative from Mayor Mary Sheffield's office presented the official declaration to Dr. Violet Ponders, granddaughter and namesake of Dr. Violet T. Lewis, honoring the extraordinary legacy of the educator, entrepreneur, and civic leader whose institution later became Michigan's only historically Black college.

The recognition arrives amid growing national conversations surrounding Black educational legacy, institutional preservation, and pathways to economic and creative opportunity.

Approximately 250–300 guests attended the celebration, including civic leaders, educators, creatives, students, entrepreneurs, community members, and partners such as the Gilbert Family Foundation, Apple, Carhartt, StockX, Nike, and adidas, reflecting PLC Detroit's growing influence across education, culture, business, and design innovation.

Guests wearing shades of violet entered an immersive experience honoring the spirit and legacy of Dr. Violet T. Lewis. Storytelling activations, commemorative experiences, and a violet-hued specialty beverage curated exclusively for the occasion by Fixins Soul Kitchen transformed the event into both a cultural and celebratory experience. As guests departed, they received packets of violet flower seeds and customized planters, symbolizing the continued growth of Dr. Lewis' vision and the enduring impact of the institution she founded.

The celebration also welcomed members of Gamma Phi Delta Sorority, Incorporated, reflecting the enduring influence of an organization Lewis co-founded more than 80 years ago.

Dr. Violet T. Lewis founded Lewis Business College in 1928 during a time when opportunities for Black Americans — particularly Black women — remained severely limited. In 1939, she relocated the institution to Detroit, where it became a cornerstone of Black education and professional advancement, educating more than 20,000 students.

Her influence extended beyond education. In 1943, Lewis co-founded Gamma Phi Delta Sorority, Incorporated alongside her sister, Elizabeth A. Garner, creating new pathways for leadership development, sisterhood, and professional advancement for women.

When Dr. D'Wayne Edwards revitalized the college in 2022, he reestablished it as the nation's only design-focused HBCU while preserving Lewis' name and institutional identity.

"We are honored to celebrate Violet T. Lewis' legacy and continue the mission she began," said Dr. Edwards. "This declaration reflects the transformative power of education, opportunity, and institutional impact."

"My grandmother understood that education was not simply about learning — it was about access, dignity, independence, and the ability to transform lives across generations," said Dr. Violet Ponders. "To witness the City of Detroit formally recognize her contributions in the community where her work impacted thousands of lives is deeply meaningful."

The observance of Violet T. Lewis Day will now serve as an annual recognition of Black educational achievement, institutional vision, and the enduring role historically Black institutions continue to play in shaping culture, industry, leadership, and economic mobility in America.