Duchess Harris

In a May 6, 2012 New York Times op-ed Alice Randall argues that, "...we need... a body-culture revolution in black America. Why? Because too many experts who are involved in the discussion of obesity don't understand something crucial about black women and fat: many black women are fat...

For 20 years I have read how Black women felt alienated by the second wave of feminism, but because I was born during this time period, I never "felt" it until the 2008 Presidential election.

It started with the extremely unpleasant showdown between Gloria Steinem and Melissa Harris Lacewell, (now...

The political event that had an impact on my young adult life more than any other was the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings.

In October of 1991 I was 22-years-old and in my first month of graduate school. It was the first time I'd left the Eastern seaboard where I'd...

On Friday September 17, The Washington Post reported that "Black Scholars [were] to debate how to hold Obama 'accountable.' I was fortunate enough to be one of several Shirley Chisholm Presidential Accountability Commissioners to engage in this dialogue at the 40^th Legislative Annual Congressional Black Caucus Conference.

To give...

On September 8, First Lady Michelle Obama traveled to New Orleans to participate in a game of flag football with some kids and even caught a pass. She has teamed up with the NFL's Play 60 clinic, a program that promotes up to 60 minutes a day of exercise for...

Exactly one year ago, I published a book entitled, Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton. My publisher, Palgrave Macmillan, has decided to re-print in paperback and they'd like me to change the title to "...from Kennedy to Obama" and add a chapter about the president.

I've been...

No one is more delighted than I am that esteemed presidential historian, Annette Gordon- Reed will join the faculty at Harvard Law School. Despite the fact that she was recruited by then Dean Elena Kagan, I respectfully disagree with Charles Ogletree that Elena Kagan is a good choice for...

When I launched my blog a year ago today I wrote: My goal is to provide legal assistance to disenfranchised women and their families. This will benefit women who are leaving prison, and their children; it will also benefit me, the law student, who is learning how...

"Black America stands at the precipice. African American unemployment is at its highest in 25 years. Thirty-five percent of our children live in poor families. Inadequate healthcare, rampant incarceration, home foreclosures, and a general sense of helplessness overwhelm many of our fellows," said Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude, Jr., Ph.D. in...

In the Nov./Dec. issue of Utne Magazine, Alexis Pauline Gumbs was recognized as a "media activist" in an article entitled "50 People Who Are Changing Your World." I initially discovered her work in a November 2009 op-ed piece, "The Revolution Will Be Blogged"...