by Jim Fitzgerald

NEW YORK (AP)—Derrick Bell, a civil rights scholar and writer who was the first tenured Black professor at Harvard Law School, has died. He was 80.

Bell, a native of Pittsburgh’s Hill District, died Oct. 5 of carcinoid cancer at a Manhattan hospital, his wife, Janet Dewart Bell, said Oct 7. He’d been diagnosed with the disease a decade ago, she said, but was still teaching at New York University Law School as recently as last week.

CIVIL RIGHTS SCHOLAR—Professor Derrick Bell testifies in Ward Churchill’s civil suit against the University of Colorado at the City and County Building in Denver, Colo., in this March 13, 2009 photo. (AP Photo/Mark Leffingwell, File)

The dean at NYU, Richard Revesz, said, “For more than 20 years, the law school community has been profoundly shaped by Derrick’s unwavering passion for civil rights and community justice, and his leadership as a scholar, teacher, and activist.”

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP)—Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, who was bombed, beaten and repeatedly arrested in the fight for civil rights and hailed by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for his courage and tenacity, has died. He was 89.

Relatives and hospital officials said Shuttlesworth died Oct. 5 at Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham. A former truck driver who studied religion at night, Shuttlesworth became pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1953 and soon emerged as an outspoken leader in the struggle for racial equality.

SOLDIERS—In a May 8, 1963 file photo, civil rights leaders, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., left, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, center, and Rev. Ralph Abernathy hold a news conference in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo, File)

Week of October 15-21

October 15

1859—White minister and mystic John Brown leads a violent uprising in Harper’s Ferry, Va., in a bid to spark a Black uprising against slavery. Dozens of Whites are killed but the revolt is eventually put down. President Abraham Lincoln once referred to him as a “misguided fanatic” but Brown actually had a fanatical hatred of slavery and wanted it ended at all costs.

1887—The U.S. Supreme Court declares Civil Rights Act of 1885 unconstitutional. Decision was spurred by the end of Reconstruction and helped to usher in the Jim Crow period in the South whereby Black rights won during Reconstruction were taken away.

by Sopia Tareen

CHICAGO (AP)—Jennifer Hudson’s name has graced an Oscar and Grammy, but the Chicago native said she never imagined her name would be on a weight loss center that she could use to inspire others.

The singer and actress stopped in her home town Tuesday for the opening of “The Weight Watchers Jennifer Hudson Center.” Hudson, who lost about 80 pounds, is a spokeswoman for the company.

WINNING POSE—Grammy- and Oscar-winning singer and actress Jennifer Hudson poses at the opening of “The Weight Watchers Jennifer Hudson Center” in Chicago Sept. 27. Hudson has lost 80 pounds and is a spokeswoman for the company. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

The new center, where walls are covered with posters of the svelte star, is in a strip mall on Chicago’s South Side, not far from President Barack Obama’s home.

“I never thought I would make it to have my own center,” said Hudson, who wore a fitted, ruffled black dress and high-heeled studded black boots. “I’m so honored to be here and see this day.”