NNPA—Election Day victories for two Black Republicans raise a rare question in the House of Representatives in the 112th Congress: How will two African-American members of the Grand Old Party interact with the Congressional Black Caucus?

Fourteen Black Republicans ran for Congress in the Nov. 2 mid-term elections but, after all the votes were counted, only Tim Scott, a South Carolina businessman, and Allen West, a Florida-based Army veteran of the Iraq War, will take seats. They are the first African-American Republicans to be elected to Congress since 1995.

So far, West has said he wants to be part of the CBC, while Scott is still undecided and is leaning toward not participating.

by Jesse Washington

HOUSTON (AP)—One recent day at Dr. Natalie Carroll’s OB-GYN practice, located inside a low-income apartment complex tucked between a gas station and a freeway, 12 pregnant Black women come for consultations. Some bring their children or their mothers and only one brings a husband.

NO WEDDING NO WOMB—Christelyn Karazin holds her 15-month-old daughter, Emma, while her husband, Mike, sits with son Zachary, 5; daughter, Chloe, 7; and Kayla Higgins, 12, Christelyn’s daughter; at their home in Temecula, Calif., Oct. 30. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Things move slowly here. Women sit shoulder-to-shoulder in the narrow waiting room, sometimes for more than an hour. Carroll does not rush her mothers in and out. She wants her babies born as healthy as possible, so Carroll spends time talking to the mothers about how they should care for themselves, what she expects them to do—and why they need to get married.

by Dorothy Rowley

(NNPA)—Former President George W. Bush said in a recent NBC interview that the lowest point of his life was when rapper Kanye West made statements in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that painted Bush as a racist.

PROMOTING NEW BOOK—Oprah Winfrey interviews former President George W. Bush during taping of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago. The show aired nationally Nov. 9. (AP Photo/Harpo Productions Inc., George Burns)

West’s statement, from five years ago, that “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people,” hit a sore spot with the then-president. During the televised interview in which Bush promoted his memoir, “Decision Points,” set for release in November, he said he didn’t deserve to be labeled as a racist.

“I didn’t appreciate it then. I don’t appreciate it now,” Bush told reporter Matt Lauer. “It’s one thing to say, ‘I don’t appreciate the way he’s handled his business.’ It’s another thing to say, ‘This man’s a racist.’ I resent it, it’s not true and it was one of the most disgusting moments in my presidency.”

Week of Nov. 12-18

November 12

1775—General George Washington, first president and “father of the country” issues an order barring free Blacks from serving in the army as the U.S. struggled for independence from England. Washington was also a slave owner. The slave owning aristocracy felt if free Blacks fought for America’s liberation they would demand freedom for their enslaved brothers and sisters. Despite Washington’s order, hundreds of Blacks did fight in the Revolutionary War.

HENRY OSSAWA TANNER

1900—Henry Ossawa Tanner becomes an internationally acclaimed artist as he takes a silver medal for his art displayed at the Paris Exposition. Nearly 7,000 artists had entered their works. The Pittsburgh-born Tanner had numerous major works including his painting called “The Banjo Lesson.”