Free Republic

NEW YORK (AP) — When the pressure gets intense, law student Jasmine Marchbanks-Owens likes to wander the hallways of Howard University, examining the faded, framed photos of prominent Black graduates of decades past. “It’s just really inspiring to be able to see people that look like me that attended this university and became attorneys,” says the first-year student, whose great-great grandmother was born into slavery. “So, when I get stressed out, I like to walk down here and look at all the names and see all the faces.” Black women, Marchbanks-Owens points out, have been the backbone of social justice...

He entered the White House a living symbol, breaking a color line that stood for 220 years. Barack Obama took office, and race immediately became a focal point in a way that was unprecedented in American history. No matter his accomplishments, he seemed destined to be remembered foremost as the first black man to lead the world’s most powerful nation. But eight years later, Obama’s racial legacy is as complicated as the president himself. […] Perhaps most strikingly, the president’s successor, Donald Trump, is seen by many as the antithesis of a colorblind society, a one-time leader of the “birther”...