海角大神

Today's stories look at the mood of Democrats, political revenge, North Africa as a frontline in climate change, the ERA, and a hopeful Russian investigative journalist. But first, a look at some initiatives that resonate amid Black History Month.

They might seem unrelated: forgotten musical compositions, an overlooked obituary, the heralding of an Olympic athlete.聽

But they all speak to black history, which is celebrated this month, and to the values a society reveals in the stories it chooses to tell.聽

Take black composers Ignatius Sancho and Florence Price. The pair, one an 18th-century Briton, the other a 20th-century American, both now figure in an initiative of , which has resurfaced more than 350 classical works. Violinist Rachel Barton Pine, the group鈥檚 founder, , 鈥淥ur primary motivation 鈥� is聽to inspire young African American students that classical music is part of their history.鈥�

Or take Homer Plessy. The New York Times鈥� rich 鈥淥verlooked鈥� project has been filling out a 150-year-old archive it calls 鈥渁 stark lesson in how society valued various achievements and achievers.鈥� It recently published an obituary of , the African American plaintiff who powerfully though unsuccessfully challenged segregation in a seminal 1896 case. As the Times writes, 鈥渉e all but vanished into obscurity. ...鈥�

And then, take . He was the first African American man to win a title at the Henley Royal Regatta, in 2000, and the first to make the U.S. Olympic rowing team, in 2004. Athletes at , a program for underserved, largely minority youth joining a sport that is working to diversify, can connect with his example 鈥� this time, in real time.