A6 The Afro-American October14, 2023 - October 20, 2023 Volume 132 No. 23 THE BLACKwww.afro.com MEDIA AUTHORITY • AFRO.COM
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JANUARY 6 , 2024 - JANUARY 12, 2024
Retired U.S. Army Col.
Edna W. Cummings AFRO Person of the Year 2023
Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) Edna W. Cummings
Retired U.S. Army Col. Edna W. Cummings, filmmaker and 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion advocate, is honored as AFRO Person of the Year for all of her work in 2023. Cummings was instrumental in getting the women of the 6888th, shown right, recognized with their own day in the state of Maryland. Each March 9, residents will celebrate the members of the 6888th and their contributions during WWII. By Tashi McQueen AFRO Political Writer tmcqueen@afro.com
afro.com
As 2024 kicks off, the AFRO takes a look back at the person who truly stood out in 2023, making a difference in the lives of others and affecting actual change in the
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communities they serve. This year’s honoree, U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) Edna W. Cummings, has contributed much to veterans in Maryland and throughout the United States. Cummings was vital in getting legislation passed in 2023 to establish a day recognizing the 6888th Central Postal Directory
Battalion, a majority AfricanAmerican women’s battalion from World War II. The battalion reported to Birmingham, England, in 1945, where they worked in eighthour shifts, seven days a week, to eliminate two years worth of backlogged mail. The 6888th were
given six months to send all the accumulated mail— they did it in three. “I’m just grateful for the opportunity to share the story and thankful for the community of supporters, that includes descendants,” said Cummings. Her years of contributions to
educating people about the 6888th and the overall service of Black women in the military make her an excellent fit for the “AFRO Person of the Year” title. In the past, Cummings has received several awards and accolades for her work to honor Continued on A3
Harvard’s first Black president, Claudine Gay, resigns amid controversy By Collin Binkley and Moriah Balingit Associated Press American higher education has long viewed plagiarism as a cardinal sin. Accusations of academic dishonesty have ruined the careers of faculty and undergraduates alike. The latest target is Harvard President Claudine Gay, who resigned Tuesday. In her case, the outrage came not from her academic peers but her political foes, led by conservatives who put her career under intense scrutiny. Reviews by Harvard found multiple shortcomings in Gay’s academic citations, including several instances of “ duplicative language.” The university concluded the
errors “were not considered intentional or reckless” and didn’t rise to misconduct. But the allegations continued, with new ones as recently as Monday. Conservatives zeroed in on Gay amid backlash over her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus. Her detractors charged that Gay — who has a Ph.D. in government, was a professor at Harvard and Stanford and headed Harvard’s largest division before being promoted — got the top job in large part because she is a Black woman. Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who helped orchestrate the effort against Gay, celebrated her departure
a gruesome practice taken up by white colonists who sought to eradicate Native Americans and also used by some tribes against their enemies. “Tomorrow, we get back to the fight,” he said on X, describing a “playbook” against institutions deemed too liberal by conservatives.
Continued on A3
AP Photo/Steven Senne
Supporters of Claudine Gay, the first Black person to lead Harvard University as president, are in an uproar after she resigned in a cloud of controversy on Jan. 2. as a win in his campaign against elite institutions of higher education. On X,
formerly Twitter, he wrote “SCALPED,” as if Gay was a trophy of violence, invoking
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