Black History Month

[Scientific American] Dear Reader, Scientific American is committed to advancing knowledge about social justice, structural racism, bias in science, and ways to make the world safer and more equitable for all. In our powerful [cover story for the March 2021 issue](ck/ME5ETndIdXYwRjlGVTE2UVplSFZlOTZHQlJJNGowNUxaeFNjWjlhVFFiR3hocXdkd0E2THJ6ais1OHIvYkVDT0FUTUFYc3BoVEZtcTJUTHgrR2sxUXhFcnJnNjhSTVZUUEtvZUNhWXhzZlE9S0/), sociologist Aldon Morris, one of the world’s leading scholars of social justice movements, explains how they succeed. When the Civil Rights movement began, some social scientists were dismissive of activists and described protests as unthinking mobs. Morris and his colleagues conducted immersive interviews with leaders of the Civil Rights movement and similar struggles against injustice around the world and found that meticulous planning, cultural resources, discipline and creativity powered the movements, along with emotions ranging from righteous indignation to empathy and love. The Black Lives Matter movement has taken the baton from the Civil Rights era, and as Morris points out, “these struggles necessarily (and excitingly) continue to evolve faster than social scientists can comprehend them.” We hope you enjoy this feature story as well as other articles we have published recently that are [relevant to social justice](, the Black Lives Matter movement and Black History Month. Historian of science Naomi Oreskes wrote that [racism and sexism haven’t disappeared from science](. Psychiatrist Rupinder Kaur Legha wrote about the urgent need to [teach antiracism to the next generation of physicians](. Historian Griffin Black showed how traditional history has tried to [minimize the genius of Black leaders](. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been covering the ways [racism, not race, has caused COVID-19 to disproportionately kill Black people](. And we’re delighted to see that President Biden has made [environmental justice central to his efforts to address climate change]( and follow the science. Wishing you good health, Laura Helmuth Editor-in-Chief Scientific American Twitter: [@LauraHelmuth]( Twitter: [@SciAm]( Facebook: [@ScientificAmerican]( Email: editors@sciam.com To view this email as a web page, [go here](. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. [Unsubscribe](0qVjSL/ME5ETndIdXYwRjlGVTE2UVplSFZlOTZHQlJJNGowNUxaeFNjWjlhVFFiR3hocXdkd0E2THJ6ais1OHIvYkVDT0FUTUFYc3BoVEZtcTJUTHgrR2sxUXhFcnJnNjhSTVZUUEtvZUNhWXhzZlE9S0/SmdBazE2SWRHNXM1dTEyZXlzRjFDN1VERFdqclRXaDV0K0crNWxUaWY2UGw4cnpqSVMxVzlobCtiRGRvR2FmbgS2) [Email Preferences]( [Privacy Policy]( [Contact Us](