The Pulse of Jazz Grounded in Freedom Movements
John Coltrane at the Half Note in New York, 1965Adam Ritchie/Redferns via Getty For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.When it’s said that you can hear the history of freedom movements in John Coltrane’s 1963 “Alabama,” it’s more than metaphor: Coltrane patterned his horn lines after Martin Luther…
Trump Built a Fence Around the White House. Protesters Turned It Into a Canvas.
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.The 8-foot-tall fence around the White House has been creatively repurposed by the public as a wall of memorial to Black lives lost to police violence. Designed to keep protesters at bay, the fence has become a canvas of voices—a gallery of…
A Bakery Owner’s Free Cakes Just Sweetened the Day for High Schoolers in Several States
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Bakery owner Bill Hanisch knew what to do when his old high school’s graduation ceremonies were called off: He announced that he’d bake hundreds of free personalized cakes, and appreciation came so fast that parents and administrators offered donations if he’d bake…
20,000 Kids Have Learned Hip-Hop From One Revolutionary Network. Today’s Plague Won’t Stop It Either.
Students create hip-hop projects rooted in knowledge of Oakland public parks and climate change as part of Agents of Change youth artist residency program, funded by the California Arts Council. (Pictured pre-pandemic.)Sarah Arnold Photography/Hip Hop for Change For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Turning a pandemic into an…
The Radical Roots of Mother’s Day as a Pandemic-Fighting Movement
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.For the millions of mothers working on the front lines and the millions more incarcerated across America right now—80 percent of women in jail are mothers—spending Mother’s Day at a mandatory distance is a test of resilience. But also of creative solidarity.…
“The Workers Are Being Sacrificed”: As Cases Mounted, Meatpacker JBS Kept People on Crowded Factory Floors
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.On her phone, Crystal Rodriguez keeps a photo of her father hooked up to a ventilator. Nurses at the hospital sent her the image after he’d spent close to a month in the intensive care unit at UCHealth Medical Center of the…