For the first time, New York City’s public school students have the day off to mark the holiday of Diwali, celebrated in India and among the global Indian diaspora as the victory of light over darkness.

First Lady Jill Biden saluted Colleen Shogan, the first woman to be sworn in as national archivist, saying that democracy’s power is “made real with access to history, unfiltered and uncensored.”.

Screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard, who skillfully adapted stories of historical Black figures in “Remember the Titans” starring Denzel Washington, “Ali” with Will Smith and “Harriet” with Cynthia Erivo, has died.

Wes Moore could soon make history if elected Maryland’s first Black governor, and he’s not alone: Rep. Anthony Brown would be the state’s first Black attorney general.

Michael Rosato knew he had an incredibly important assignment on his hands when he was commissioned to paint a Harriet Tubman mural in Cambridge, Maryland.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan says he will not run for the U.S. Senate.

The United States Mint says it has begun shipping quarters featuring the image of poet Maya Angelou.

Virginia's new Republican lieutenant governor-elect says she's eager to get to work after a history-making campaign.

Jerry Pinkney, a prize-winning children’s book illustrator known for his richly textured images of Black life, fables and fairy tales in works ranging from “The Lion and the Mouse” to “The Sunday Outing,” has died at 81.

Civil rights pioneer Gloria Richardson has died.

President Joe Biden has put the kibosh on his predecessor’s planned “National Garden of American Heroes."

Archaeologists in Maryland say they believe they've found the homesite of famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman's father.

FILE - Actress Cynthia Erivo poses for a portrait during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Sept. 10, 2019. Erivo portrays Aretha Franklin in the National Geographic miniseries Genius: Aretha. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP, File)NEW YORK – “The Color Purple” turned into Grammy, Tony and Emmy gold for Cynthia Erivo. The performer’s brilliant performance in the Broadway revival won her the 2016 Tony for best actress in a musical. “I guess I didn’t expect to be this close this soon,” Erivo told The Associated Press of her almost-EGOT status.

Harriet Tubman did so much for others -- she escaped slavery and went on to become a leading abolitionist, leading enslaved people to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad.

With a change of administrations, it looks like Harriet Tubman is once again headed to the front of the $20 bill. Obama administration Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had selected Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson, the nations seventh president, on the $20 bill. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON – With a change of administrations, it looks like Harriet Tubman is once again headed to the front of the $20 bill. Obama administration Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had selected Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson, the nation's seventh president, on the $20 bill. Under the schedule Mnuchin announced in May 2019, the redesigned $20 bill would not have come out until 2028 with final designs for the bill not announced until 2026.

Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Commissioner Amy Zanelli, suggested George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans whose killings by police sparked massive street protests. The administration also is leaving open the possibility of a statue of Trump himself in the Trump-created statue park after receiving what it said were multiple nominations" of the president. Trump ordered up the statue park during a Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore, and set up a task force on a 60-day deadline to get the idea going. They urged the task force to consider a statue to Kendrick Castillo, an 18-year-old high school senior shot to death last year while lunging at a gunman in his British literature class. Asked about what it said were many nominations for a statue of Trump, Goldey, the Interior spokesman, pointed to Commissioner Steve Smith of Custer County, Idaho.

She faced questions familiar to women in politics, particularly women of color, about her ambition. Harris faced both the scrutiny of her personal life and the resistance to her rise as she raced past rivals from more well-connected families. Years later, when she ran for California attorney general and needed support beyond her liberal home base, Harris tempered her stance on capital punishment. She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as Black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud Black women," Harris wrote of her mother. At Howard, Harris joined Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nations oldest sorority for Black women.

She faced questions familiar to women in politics, particularly women of color, about her ambition. Harris faced both the scrutiny of her personal life and the resistance to her rise as she raced past rivals from more well-connected families. Years later, when she ran for California attorney general and needed support beyond her liberal home base, Harris tempered her stance on capital punishment. She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as Black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud Black women," Harris wrote of her mother. At Howard, Harris joined Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nations oldest sorority for Black women.

FILE - Kanye West answers questions during a service at Lakewood Church Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke, File)TRENTON, N.J. Kanye West withdrew his petition to appear as a presidential candidate on New Jersey's ballot, according to an email chain between a judge and what appears to be the rapper's campaign email address. At this time, Kanye 2020 has no further option than to regrettably withdraw from New Jersey and cease further efforts to place Mr. Wests name on the New Jersey ballot," the Kanye 2020 email said late Monday. The New Jersey petition showed a number of signatures looked nearly identical, including lower-case is dotted with a small circle. Questions about why West withdrew and whether the campaign disputed Salmon's objection were sent to the Kanye 2020 email address.

FILE -Kim Kardashian West, left, and Kanye West arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 9, 2020. Kardashian West is asking the public to show compassion and empathy to husband Kanye West, who she says is bipolar and caused a stir this week after fulminating in a series of social media posts. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)NEW YORK Kim Kardashian West is asking the public to show compassion and empathy to husband Kanye West, who caused a stir this week after fulminating in a series of social media posts. West and Kardashian West were married in 2014. Kardashian West thanked fans and friends for expressing concern about West.

Kanye West makes his first presidential campaign appearance, Sunday, July 19, 2020 in North Charleston, S.C. Rapper Kanye West, in his first event since declaring himself a presidential candidate, delivered a lengthy monologue Sunday touching on topics from abortion and religion to international trade and licensing deals. (Lauren Petracca Ipetracca/The Post And Courier via AP)COLUMBIA, S.C. Self-declared presidential candidate Kanye West delivered a winding and unconventional campaign introduction speech in which he proposed a $1 million payout to each new mother and decried Harriet Tubman for her work on the Underground Railroad. Despite Sunday's event, West failed to qualify as a candidate for the South Carolina ballot. Last week, he qualified to appear on Oklahomas presidential ballot, the first state where he met the requirements before the filing deadline. Risk or no risk of losing whatever deal possible, I am not on the board at Adidas, West said.

Kanye West makes his first presidential campaign appearance, Sunday, July 19, 2020 in North Charleston, S.C. Rapper Kanye West, in his first event since declaring himself a presidential candidate, delivered a lengthy monologue Sunday touching on topics from abortion and religion to international trade and licensing deals. West delivered a lengthy monologue, touching on topics from abortion and religion to international trade and licensing deals, before a crowd in North Charleston, South Carolina. On abortion, West said that while he believes it should be legal, financial incentives to help struggling mothers could be a way to discourage the practice. Last week, he qualified to appear on Oklahomas presidential ballot, the first state where he met the requirements before the filing deadline. West, who is married to reality television star Kim Kardashian West, initially announced his candidacy on July 4.

NEW YORK Chelsea Clinton is extending her celebration of women to chapter books and the world of sports. Clinton's She Persisted in Sports: American Olympians Who Changes the Game will be published Sept. 22, the children's imprint Philomel Books announced Monday. The latest of Clinton's best-selling She Persisted" picture books will include sections on such prominent athletes as Wilma Rudolph, Mia Hamm, and Venus and Serena Williams. Also Monday, Philomel announced that a new series of chapter books will feature 80-page stories on women that Clinton and She Persisted illustrator Alexandra Boiger previously honored. Additional chapter books will include Meg Medina writing about Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Renee Watson's biography of Oprah Winfrey.

This photo provided by WROC-TV shows the remnants of a Frederick Douglass statue ripped from its base at a park in Rochester, N.Y., Sunday, July 5, 2020. The statue of abolitionist Douglass was ripped on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches, delivered in that city in 1852. (Ben Densieski/WROC-TV via AP)ROCHESTER, N.Y. A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches, delivered in that city in 1852. Police said the statue of Douglass was taken on Sunday from Maplewood Park, a site along the Underground Railroad where Douglas and Harriet Tubman helped shuttle slaves to freedom. The statue was found at the brink of the Genesee River gorge about 50 feet from its pedestal, police said.

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2014, file photo Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks in Washington. The president unveiled his plan Friday, July 3, 2020, during his speech at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, S.D. We will raise the next generation of American patriots, Trump said at Mount Rushmore. None will have lived perfect lives, but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying, according to the order. The order includes language to make clear that non-U.S. citizens who played significant roles in American history also could be honored in the garden.

This image released by Lionsgate shows co-writer/directors Christopher Renz, left, and Gerard Bush on the set of "Antebellum." Filmmakers Bush and Renz planned to release their feature-length debut film, Antebellum, in the spring of 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic exploded internationally. In Antebellum, Mone gives moviegoers a modern Black heroine who takes charge of her own liberation without a male-dominated cavalry. Their path to feature-length films with a racial justice message has been a long time coming, Bush and Renz said. Even as they anticipate finding box office success with Antebellum, Bush and Renz are already at work on their second feature-length script, under a newly formed production company, Gloaming Pictures.