History
History
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Quiz: How Much Do You Really Know About Martin Luther King Jr?
The Root is black as the rest of y’all. We can collectively name all the members of Dipset; at least half of us have a can of used grease on our stoves right now. We still hide money in a Crown Royal bag, and will judge you for eating macaroni and cheese that we wouldn’t…
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'Slave Bible' Converted Slaves to Christianity by Omitting Parts That Could Lead to Uprising
A new exhibit at a Washington, D.C., museum featuring an abridged version of the Bible sheds light on how Christian missionaries converted enslaved Africans to Christianity by teaching them the Gospel… except the parts about freedom, equality and resistance. According to NPR, Parts of the Holy Bible, Selected For the Use of the Negro Slaves,…
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Fred Hampton’s Death Is Just One Example of the Government’s Covert Disruption of Black Lives
In the early morning hours of Dec. 4, 1969, Chicago police—acting at the behest of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation—burst into headquarters of the Chicago Black Panther Party and rained a hail of gunfire. When they were done, chapter founder and chairman Fred Hampton, 21, and member Mark…
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Lost-Found ‘Negro’: Never-Before-Seen Chapter From Autobiography of Malcolm X Open to the Public
When I was growing up, The Autobiography of Malcolm X was like manna; it was part of my introduction to “black consciousness,” at least from a proto-nationalist, the-black-man-is-god perspective. Malcolm was larger than life, especially for us inner-city girls who were as well versed on Surahs as Psalms; his words our Sunday sermon, his persona…
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Revisiting Anita Hill: On Racism, Stereotypes and Respectability Politics
“The more things change. The more things stay the same.” My 7th grade English teacher, the black woman who taught me how to write, said that quote in class on a cool spring day in March 2006 and looked at us to explain what she meant. Loads of us scratched our heads in that, “Well,…
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Donald Trump Conveniently Ignores Anniversary of One of America's Worst Acts of Terror
Three days before a national tragedy would shake the entire world, on September 8, 2001, George Bush issued a proclamation recognizing one of the darkest hours in American history. On September 15, 2013, Barack Obama’s White House sent out an official statement recognizing the same solemn day. George W. Bush’s Proclamation 7460 reads, in part:…
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Holding History Hostage: One Family’s Quiet Attempt to Erase Their Father’s Part in Emmett Till’s Story
If there was ever an inverse example of a Confederate monument, it might be the Lorraine, the Memphis motel where Martin Luther King, the most famous leader of the civil rights movement, was struck down on a balcony. Or maybe it is the 16th Street Baptist Church, the Birmingham, Ala., house of worship where four…
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An Open Letter From Harriet Tubman Asking You to Keep Her Name Out Your Mouth
Hey y’all, I was just chilling in the great cookout in the sky playing spades with Sojourner about to run a dime on Frederick Douglass and Richard Pryor when my Google Alert went off. (We have pretty good wi-fi up here.) Once again I heard someone down there mention my name, comparing themselves to me.…
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J. Kenneth Lee, Who Was Among the 1st Black Students to Attend UNC at Chapel Hill, Dead at 94
J. Kenneth Lee, one of four black students who joined a lawsuit that would ultimately lead to the desegregation of the University of North Carolina School of Law and who became one of the first black students to attend UNC at Chapel Hill, has passed away at the age of 94. Lee passed away last…
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Long-Lost Writings of Malcolm X Find a Home in Harlem
At a Manhattan auction house on Thursday, a missing chapter from Malcolm X’s autobiography, as well as a manuscript for the book containing notes exchanged between Malcolm X and his collaborator, Alex Haley, were sold to one of the country’s foremost institutions chronicling the African diaspora. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, located…