On October 3, 1904, Mary McLeod Bethune opened a school with $1.50, five students, and a rented cottage in Daytona Beach, Florida. Born to formerly enslaved parents, she believed education held the key to Black progress, teaching students to read, write, and sew while instilling pride and purpose.

Trump is sweating Texas, North Carolina, and Michigan, but Esosa Osa, CEO and founder of Onyx Impact, has the perfect read on taking praise from an arsonist: "Congratulations, but at the end of the day, your house is still burnt down." 📺 @theweeknightmsnbc.bsky.social | 🎥 @jorgebscomm.bsky.social

A federal committee built to protect Black and minority farmers just got shut out of the room again. The Advisory Committee on Minority Farmers spent a year building recommendations before the Trump administration froze its work in 2025. No timeline for return exists.

Yesterday, we launched The Propaganda Playbook. It's a field guide built to help communities, journalists, creators, and organizations prepare for the moments when information moves quickly, context gets lost, and it becomes harder to separate what's credible from what isn't.

Black culture drives media. Ownership shapes who makes decisions about how it’s distributed, represented and monetized. Charles D. King’s MACRO acquired ALLBLK, returning the streamer to Black ownership. Byron Allen’s family office took a controlling stake in BuzzFeed.

As the NAACP's chief counsel, Thurgood Marshall argued Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court. On May 17, 1954, the Court ruled unanimously that segregating children in public schools by race violates the Constitution, overturning the decades-old "separate but equal" doctrine.

Crystal Mason cast a provisional ballot in 2016, unaware a past conviction made her ineligible. Texas's highest court threw out her conviction in 2024. She now helps others vote with confidence. Confirm registration, plan early voting, and check your polling place. (Source: Errin Haines, 19th News)

Black culture drives media. Ownership shapes who makes decisions about how it’s distributed, represented and monetized. Charles D. King’s MACRO acquired ALLBLK, returning the streamer to Black ownership. Byron Allen’s family office took a controlling stake in BuzzFeed.

Yesterday, we launched The Propaganda Playbook. It's a field guide built to help communities, journalists, creators, and organizations prepare for the moments when information moves quickly, context gets lost, and it becomes harder to separate what's credible from what isn't.

Cissy Houston's voice shaped the sound of gospel and soul, backing legends like Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley before raising her own daughter, Whitney Houston, into a global icon. Her legacy lives on through generations of American music. Remembering Cissy Houston, September 30, 1933.

SO excited to see the launch of The Propaganda Playbook - this is a critical resource for everyone and it's coming at exactly the moment we need it. Check it out! propagandaplaybook.org

The Propaganda Playbook | Onyx Impact

A practical guide to identifying, verifying, and responding to political propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation in the digital age.

propagandaplaybook.org

Onyx Impact@theonyximpact.bsky.social · 5d ago

Our CEO Esosa Osa debuts The Propaganda Playbook, helping Black voters, creators, and journalists navigate rising propaganda risks. Tiffany Hsu covers it in today's @nytimes.com. Read her piece, then visit PropagandaPlaybook.org for the full guide. #VotingRights #Empowerment

I recommend reading (& sharing) the playbook even if you aren't Black. It lays out everything I've educated friends on how & why disinfo is spread, SM suppress Black content, how to verify info, & more. Link to the website is also in the article which contain links to the playbook.

Black Voting Groups Prepare for Disinformation Campaigns in the Midterms (Gift Article)

A new “propaganda playbook” aims to demystify common techniques used to target Black Americans, long a powerful voting bloc, with election-related disinformation.

nytimes.com

Onyx Impact@theonyximpact.bsky.social · 5d ago

Our CEO Esosa Osa debuts The Propaganda Playbook, helping Black voters, creators, and journalists navigate rising propaganda risks. Tiffany Hsu covers it in today's @nytimes.com. Read her piece, then visit PropagandaPlaybook.org for the full guide. #VotingRights #Empowerment

Seen a myth like this before? Send it our way, we'll break it down next. We correct the record, one myth at a time. Follow @onyximpact for more.

On September 29, 1975, William V. Banks put Black ownership on the airwaves for the first time. WGPR-TV becomes the first Black-owned television station in the United States, training generations of Black broadcasters and producers who go on to shape newsrooms across the country.

Our CEO Esosa Osa debuts The Propaganda Playbook, helping Black voters, creators, and journalists navigate rising propaganda risks. Tiffany Hsu covers it in today's @nytimes.com. Read her piece, then visit PropagandaPlaybook.org for the full guide. #VotingRights #Empowerment

Black political infrastructure faces a familiar problem: investment hasn't matched the work. Black-led groups are building and funding it themselves. Esosa Osa, Onyx Impact CEO: "Black voters can spot the difference between a party fighting for them and a party managing them." Via Forbes.

AIsha exists to serve the people mainstream AI has often failed, centering Black history, culture, and context in every answer. So we're asking: what's one question you'd ask an AI built with Black communities in mind? Drop it below, we might just have the answer.

Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) prepares to welcome her second child this fall while fighting a federal case that carries a possible 17-year prison sentence. Read more below...

Born free in North Carolina, David Walker became one of the boldest voices against slavery. He called on enslaved people to rise up and claim their freedom. Georgia placed a $10,000 bounty on his head. He stood firm. He quoted, "It is not in me to falter if I can promote the work of emancipation".

Texas is dealing with a MAJOR voter registration backlog just weeks before the midterm election. Officials in just seven counties have confirmed receiving 178,000+ delayed voter registration records after a Texas Department of Public Safety error. The full statewide total is still unknown.

On this day in 1957, the Little Rock Nine entered Central High School under federal troop protection. Brown v. Board had declared school segregation unconstitutional. But the day’s events showed the distance that can exist between a right being recognized and that right actually being enforced.

HBCUs are getting a funding boost. But the Trump admin paid for it by redirecting money from programs built for other minority-serving institutions. This was a choice, made possible by a funding bill that expanded executive power over spending. Full story available at the Associated Press.

Today marks 10 years since the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture! The institution, which was decades in the making, is a beautiful and necessary reminder that there's no American history without Black history.

What happens when a Black Studies program is merged, reduced, or eliminated completely? The impact is bigger than a course catalog. These programs can support faculty, archives, research, public history, student community, and the next generation of scholars documenting Black life.

A new AP article examines the funding shortfalls facing voter engagement and racial justice organizations ahead of the midterms, and what that means for efforts to reach Black and brown communities. 🔗: apnews.com/article/midt...

The promise of AI should include better access to trusted information, stronger community institutions, greater control over our data, and technology that understands the context of our lives. That’s why we built Aisha, our AI assistant. 🧵

On this day in 1983, Vanessa Williams became the first Black woman crowned Miss America. More on what that historic first represented: 🧵

Your voice matters. And being ready starts before Election Day. 🗳️ For #NationalVoterRegistrationDay, take a few minutes to make sure you’re vote-ready. Visit Vote.org to check your registration and learn more.

On September 12, 1992, Dr. Mae Jemison launched aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour and became the first Black woman to travel in space. While representation doesn't remove every barrier, seeing Black people as scientists, astronauts, and explorers widens the picture of who belongs in the future.

Today, we remember the people whose lives were lost on September 11, 2001, and the families and communities whose lives changed forever.