Black lawyer posthumously admitted to state bar, and more

Black lawyer posthumously admitted to state bar

Scholar, poet, and abolitionist George Vashon broke barriers in the 19th century as the first black to graduate from Oberlin College and the first black lawyer in New York state. But his home state of Pennsylvania did not allow him to practice law there because of his race. This week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered that Vashon be posthumously admitted to the state bar, responding to a request from his great-grandson Noland Atkinson Jr., a Philadelphia lawyer. “It’s never too late to right a wrong,” said University of Pittsburgh historian Larry Glasco.

Wounded goose lands in veterinarian's yard

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A Canada goose with a hunter’s 26-inch arrow stuck in its chest picked the right place to land. The 8-pound bird plopped down last month in the Millington, N.J., yard of Bernard Levine, an 82-year-old retired veterinarian, who managed to gently capture the goose and perform life-saving surgery, before transporting it to a bird rehabilitation center. Levine was on hand last week when it was released into a stream in a wooded area on the facility’s property. “It feels great to see him free and liberated,” Levine said, “enjoying life the way a goose should.”

French museum to return mummified Maori heads

Sixteen mummified Maori warrior heads that have been on display in French museums for more than a century will be returned to New Zealand for burial. In the 19th century, European museum collectors bought up hundreds of the heads, and in recent years, the Maori have been lobbying to get them back. France had been a holdout because it feared that other cultures would also demand their artifacts, but the national legislature this week voted to make an exception for human remains. Pita Sharples, New Zealand’s Maori affairs minister, said the repatriation was “a matter of great significance” to the Maori. “Maori believe that, through their ancestors’ return to their original homeland, their dignity is restored,” he said.