January 18, 2026

Welcome to our weekly Sunday newsletter.

This week’s stories spotlight the enduring power of Claudette Colvin’s quiet courage that helped dismantle segregation to HBCUs driving innovation in community engagement, artificial intelligence and cultural preservation.

Claudette Colvin: A Pioneering Voice in the Civil Rights Movement

Claudette Colvin, born Claudette Austin on September 5, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama, emerged early as a strong-willed student and community member. Growing up in a segregated society, she became politically aware as a young teen, joined the NAACP Youth Council, and was deeply influenced by lessons in Black history and justice. Her upbringing in a poor Black neighborhood and early exposure to racial injustices shaped her sense of dignity and resolve.

At 15 years old, on March 2, 1955, Colvin made a courageous stand that would later gain national historical significance: she refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a Montgomery bus, nine months before Rosa Parks’ more widely known protest. Refusing an order from the bus driver on her way home from school, she stayed seated until police forcibly removed and arrested her for defying Alabama’s segregation laws. This bold act of civil disobedience was one of the earliest public challenges to Jim Crow bus rules and foreshadowed the coming wave of civil rights activism.

Colvin’s protest became a crucial legal cornerstone in the fight against segregation when she became one of four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the federal lawsuit that successfully challenged bus segregation in Montgomery and led to the U.S. Supreme Court declaring such segregation unconstitutional in 1956. Although civil rights leaders at the time chose not to spotlight her case—partly due to her age and personal circumstances—the importance of her role has gained broader recognition in later decades.

After the civil rights era, Colvin moved to New York City in 1958 and devoted much of her life to family and work as a nurse’s aide, retiring in 2004. She lived out her later years as an advocate for recognition of her contribution to civil rights history, successfully having her juvenile arrest record expunged in 2021.

Colvin passed away on January 13, 2026, at age 86, remembered today as a courageous trailblazer whose early stand for equality helped shape the modern movement.

campus chronicles // hbcu edition

The expansion of the University Farm at North Carolina A&T State University marks a historic milestone for the nation’s largest HBCU, reinforcing its land-grant mission and commitment to agricultural research, teaching, and community engagement. Through a $4.2 million investment funded by Title III education grants, the university acquired nearly 90 additional acres, expanding the farm to approximately 581 acres—the largest growth in its 124-year history. The expanded land strengthens hands-on learning and applied research in areas such as food systems, sustainability, and rural development, while creating new opportunities for student training, faculty research, and future grants. University leaders say the expansion positions North Carolina A&T to play an even greater role in workforce development, food security, and environmental resilience across the state and beyond.

Alabama State University has been selected for the 2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement, a prestigious national honor recognizing its sustained commitment to community-focused teaching, research, and partnerships. Administered by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the designation places Alabama State among just 277 institutions nationwide recognized for exemplary community engagement. University leaders say the recognition reflects ASU’s historic mission as a public HBCU rooted in access, service, and social impact, while elevating its national profile during a transformative period in higher education. The classification, valid through 2032, affirms Alabama State’s role as a trusted community partner and a catalyst for equitable change across Montgomery and beyond.

Howard University is redesigning its Intro to Artificial Intelligence course to teach AI-assisted software development skills increasingly required for entry-level tech roles. Developed in partnership with CodePath, the course features hands-on, industry-aligned instruction and is co-taught by Howard faculty and CodePath instructors. Students will learn AI-augmented coding, responsible use of agentic workflows, and build workforce-ready portfolios that demonstrate applied experience for employers. The redesigned course aligns with Howard’s broader campuswide AI initiative, which emphasizes ethics, research, education, and workforce development in an AI-driven economy.

black history in quotes 

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culture

Currently on view at Atlanta’s SCAD FASH through March 1, 2026, André Leon Talley: Style is Forever celebrates the life, legacy, and unmistakable style of André Leon Talley, one of the most influential fashion editors and cultural tastemakers of the late 20th century. Curated by Ralph Gomez, the exhibition draws from more than 70 garments from Talley’s private collection, alongside photographs, documents, and memorabilia that trace the evolution of his bold, unapologetic approach to elegance—one rooted as much in spectacle as in refinement. From Savile Row tailoring to dramatic custom caftans, the exhibit underscores Talley’s belief that style could be expansive, expressive, and deeply personal.

Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Durham, North Carolina, by his grandmother Bennie Francis Davis, Talley’s earliest lessons in luxury came not from fashion houses but from church pews, where he first imagined aisles as runways. A voracious reader of Vogue, Talley studied French literature at North Carolina Central University and later earned a graduate degree from Brown before launching his fashion career under Diana Vreeland at the Met’s Costume Institute. His ascent—from Interview magazine to Women’s Wear Daily, Ebony, and ultimately becoming the first African American creative director at Vogue in 1988—cemented his place as both a powerful editor and a fashion icon in his own right.

The exhibition charts Talley’s dual influence as a style innovator and designer champion, spotlighting his support of visionaries such as John Galliano and Dapper Dan while showcasing his signature late-career caftans as symbols of confidence, comfort, and grandeur. Displayed on mannequins designed by SCAD alum Stephen L. Hayes Jr., the garments reflect Talley’s mastery of high-low fashion and his role in shaping global style narratives. More than a retrospective, Style is Forever affirms Talley’s enduring belief that “luxury is larger than life”—and that fashion, at its best, is a statement of identity, power, and imagination.

Our editor, Lisa D. Tinsley, would like to thank you for spending part of your day with KISA News Radio.

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