Latest news with #Nannie
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New trend ‘grandma showers' are another way for family to celebrate newborns — but are they ‘lovely' or just ‘peak narcissism'?
Is this a not-so-grand plan? In recent years, a new kind of baby shower has taken root — not for the parents-to-be, but for the grandparents. 'Grandma showers' or 'grandbaby showers' aim to celebrate growing lineage, especially those about to welcome their child's first offspring. While some view it as a heartwarming way to honor a new chapter in life, others criticize it as an inappropriate — even narcissistic — trend that shifts focus away from the growing family. 'It's a big deal to become a new grandparent and it deserves to be celebrated, but it's not the same as becoming a parent,' seasoned grandmom-of-three DeeDee Moore told TODAY. In a recent TikTok video, Moore posed the divisive question 'What do you think about granny showers?' and offered two positions: 'Opinion one: Grandmother showers are a lovely way to welcome a friend or co-worker into their new role. Opinion two: Granny showers are inappropriate and tacky gift grabs. So, which is it?' And it's that last part, especially — the gift expectations — that has people talking. Traditionally, baby showers were created to support new parents, often younger couples who needed help setting up a nursery. As Moore points out, that doesn't always translate well to grandparents, who often are more financially stable and don't necessarily need as much. 'It's harder to justify a shower for a grandmother who can likely afford most of the things she needs and probably won't need that many things to begin with,' said Moore, who runs the advice site More Than Grand. The conversation exploded on TikTok, where responses ranged from supportive to scathing. Some called the idea 'peak narcissism,' while others were puzzled by the notion of a 'new role' deserving gifts. 'Inappropriate and tacky. If the person is becoming a grandparent, they've already had their own children,' one person wrote. 'The grandchild isn't a 'do-over' for them.' Still, not everyone is against the idea. 'I've never heard of it, but I think it's great,' one commenter wrote. Others suggested smaller, more intimate gatherings: 'A cute lunch with some goodies would be great.' For some, the showers are deeply meaningful. Alexandra Rugh shared the touching story of her great-grandmother's surprise 'grandma shower' organized by her sewing group. The celebration, held shortly before heart surgery, gave her a sense of joy and purpose during a difficult time. 'At 73 years old, my Nannie didn't know if she would make it through the surgery,' Rugh told HuffPost. 'Her biggest fear was dying and not being able to hold her first and only great-grandchild. I'm happy to say that Nannie survived the surgery and was able to hold my daughter in her arms when she was just 1 week old.' Others haven't had such positive experiences — but, according to etiquette experts, the key is balance. Lizzie Post of the Emily Post Institute believes small gatherings to acknowledge grandparents can be sweet, but cautions against anything that mimics the formality or scale of a traditional baby shower. 'It's really awesome to celebrate new grandparents,' she told HuffPost. 'But we caution people against throwing parties like this and having them get out of control.' Moore suggests alternatives, like 'meal-prep showers,' where friends prepare food for the new parents while also celebrating the grandparents' new role. But, like many evolving traditions, granny showers walk a fine line between heartfelt and over-the-top. At their best, they're joyful celebrations of a new life stage. At their worst, they risk overshadowing the very people at the heart of the occasion: the parents and their baby. Context is everything. A small get-together with close friends? Lovely. A full-blown registry and event that rivals the main baby shower? Maybe not. In the end, experts say the rule of thumb is simple: celebrate thoughtfully — and keep the baby, not the spotlight, at the center.
USA Today
07-02-2025
- General
- USA Today
'Thank goodness for them': Black History Month honors labor leaders amid Trump rollbacks
'Thank goodness for them': Black History Month honors labor leaders amid Trump rollbacks Show Caption Hide Caption Here's why Black History Month is celebrated in February Black History Month is celebrated in February to commemorate the rich history and achievements of African-Americans. unbranded - Newsworthy When Nannie Helen Burroughs established the National Association of Wage Earners in the early 20th century, Black women and girls were facing unchecked racism and sexism in the workplace. They were often relegated to low-paying jobs like sharecropping or domestic service, two occupations in which women suffered harassment, violence and even jail time for the smallest infractions, according to Danielle Phillips-Cunningham, author of Nannie Helen Burroughs: A Tower of Strength in the Labor World. Burroughs tried to register her organization as an official union under the American Federation of Labor, now known as the AFL-CIO, but its leaders turned her down. So Burroughs led her own employment agency in Washington, D.C., where she made uniforms for domestic workers and held lectures on women's rights and issues affecting Black workers across the nation. She'd established her own school to educate female students in fields they were barred from, like stenography, and provide them credentials Burroughs hoped would make employers take them more seriously. The work required great sacrifice. Unable to secure funding from white or Black men without compromising her vision, Burroughs sometimes had to hunt her own food and sell crops to provide for her students, said Phillips-Cunningham, a Rutgers University–New Brunswick professor in the department of labor studies and employment relations. Burroughs is one of many Black labor leaders who have fought to secure better working conditions for people color, trailblazing work that still continues today, labor experts, including Phillips-Cunningham, say. 'You still see this tradition of Black people having to create their own spaces to advance labor rights,' she said. This month, that work is being celebrated by the Association for the Study of African American Life & History, the advocacy organization founded by the father of Black History Month, scholar Carter G. Woodson. This February, the month's theme is African American labor. Though it was chosen well before President Donald Trump was re-elected, the theme has become particularly salient in light of Trump's recent attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and ongoing restrictions on Black history lessons in schools, according to Karsonya Wise Whitehead, president of ASALH. 'This is an exceptional theme for this particular time, because it is making people think about these contributions, it's making people think about who does America belong to, and it's making people think about who built America,' said Whitehead. Black History Month 2025: Here's the history behind the month-long celebration Labor and Civil Rights Movement intimately connected As union membership peaked following the end of World War II, some progressive groups in the deeply segregated labor movement began organizing across racial lines, according to Emily Twarog, a professor of history and labor studies at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. But many unions, particularly those in industrial industries like steel and auto workers still had breakaway factions of Black employees, she said. 'They have to fight really hard sometimes for equal recognition and not being segregated into the kind of crappiest jobs in the plants,' Twarog said. These Black labor groups also quickly became instrumental in the broader Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. A. Philip Randolph, who waged a 12-year fight to get higher wages and shorter shifts for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was a key figure in the planning of the famous 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the United Auto Workers provided much of the funding for the event. But the economic demands of the march and its keynote speaker Martin Luther King, Jr. are still not well known, even among labor activists, Twarog said. 'He's a pivotal figure in civil rights history, but we don't teach people that he was actually a major labor activist and was on his way to a picket line when he was assassinated,' she said, referencing the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike sparked by the deaths of two trash collectors. 'And I think it's going to continue to get worse as the federal government tries to determine what can and cannot be taught in the classroom and when the states begin to alter textbooks and pick and choose what pieces of American history they want to teach,' she later added. Legacy of the civil rights era carries on After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Twarog said more job opportunities opened up for African Americans particularly in municipal jobs like the post office or sanitation thanks in part to Title VII, which bars discrimination and employment on the basis of characteristics including race and gender. She said this also led to a massive uptick in organizing in the public sector, which helped further integrate unionizing efforts. Women like Dorothy Lee Bolden also picked up the mantle of the work done by Burroughs, Phillips-Cunningham said. She said Bolden went house to house in Atlanta, gathering the support needed to form the National Domestic Workers Union in 1968, which quickly became a political powerhouse and served more than 10,000 people. 'Even the late Jimmy Carter said for any politician Black or white who wants to run, to have a shot at winning an election in the state of Georgia, they must talk to Dorothy Lee Bolden and members of the National Domestic Workers Union of America,' Phillips-Cunningham said. Though the national organization no longer exists, Phillips-Cunningham said the Georgia arm of Bolden's group has remained influential in the campaigns of politicians including two-time Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Sen. Raphael Warnock and former President Barack Obama. 'Dorothy is no longer with us, but the legacies of her organizing have extended into today,' she said. Progress made, 'but there's still a lot of work to do' Today, Black workers like Service Employees International Union President April Verrett and National Education Association President Becky Pringle have risen to the highest ranks of the movement, particularly following nationwide conversations jump started by the 2020 racial justice protests, Phillips-Cunningham said. But many are still pushing for change from the margins, through dedicated centers and organizations that specifically research and advocate for legislation that addresses the issues that still plague Black workers today. Black workers remain more likely to be union members than white, Asian, and Hispanic workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January. But Black employees, especially women, still generally earn less than their white counterparts, and they are the most likely group to say they've experienced discrimination at work, according to Pew Research Center. 'So there have been some gains, but there's still a lot of work to do concerning this very age-old and deeply rooted problem of racism and sexism,' Phillips-Cunningham said. Twarog said federal agencies like the Department of Labor have also given out grants to increase the representation of women and people of color in different industries, but that funding may be at risk under the Trump administration. Meanwhile labor unions like the Illinois chapter of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor groups in the U.S., have also made strides by launching initiatives to increase representation of women and minority groups in specific trades like construction, she added. 'When there's a mandate to broaden out who's included, it works. It works really well,' Twarog said. 'And it doesn't mean that unqualified people are getting hired.' Black labor leaders fighting 'crisis' Phillips-Cunningham said she is deeply troubled by the 'crisis' caused by the Trump administration's rollback of protections for workers of color and hobbling of federal regulatory commissions meant to protect workers rights. But she said she's proud to see unions like the SEIU leading the effort to challenge these moves. 'Black labor organizers, thank goodness for them, because they are motivated. They are out there. They are organizing. They're filing lawsuits. They are educating people about what is happening,' she said.
