From the Cottagers’ Corner column in the July 1969 editions of the Vineyard Gazette by Dorothy West.

Union Chapel was packed for Henry Louis (Skip) Gates Jr.'s film about African Americans over the past five decades. His talk later was part college lecture, part humorous observation, part nostalgic Vineyard experience.

The sound of crashing waves mixed with prayer and music Monday morning as upwards of 200 people gathered at Inkwell Beach in the wake of police shootings and racial violence around the country.

Last week Doris Clark of Vineyard Haven became the first African American to lead the Martha’s Vineyard Seacoast Defense chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Nathaniel Philbrick’s book In the Heart of the Sea, on which the movie is based, tells a tale of horror.

Three years ago, with a grant from the Ford Foundation, Charlayne Hunter-Gault began speaking with experts around the country who could shed light on the problem of racism in America. Race Matters, a new PBS NewsHour series that grew out of her efforts since 2012, premiered last Tuesday.