History
History
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A History of Black Excellence: The Mad King and Black Queen Who Built Black Wall Street (No, Not That One)
When an angry white mob bombed, lynched, shot and slaughtered the Black residents in the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Okla., on May 31, 1921, they did not destroy Black Wall Street. They destroyed one of the Black Wall Streets. In fact, before the tragic events in Greenwood, if the producers of Family Feud had asked…
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'My Daddy Had the Nerve to Dream': Robin Roberts Reflects on Her Father's Legacy Ahead of Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage
If you’ve paid attention to Robin Roberts’ rich career and life, you’ll probably describe her as tenacious and celebrate her strength. Whether it was entering a sports journalism career when there were far fewer colleagues who looked like her than today or returning to her revered post as co-anchor of Good Morning America in 2012…
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A History of Black Excellence: The Man Who Invented Laughter
We are the culture. We created jazz, blues, soul, R&B, hip-hop, swing dancing, the Lindy hop, the Charleston, the jitterbug, tap dancing, the moonwalk, the slide (both the cha-cha and the electric one) juking, the James Brown, the robot, breakdancing, pop-locking, graffiti, freestyling, dunking, running fast, jumping high, Cabbage-Patching during touchdowns, frying chicken and candying…
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Trump Administration Releases 1776 Commission Report on MLK Day. Spoiler Alert: It’s Racist AF
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I wrote a piece that celebrates King’s legacy and highlights the work that still needs to be done around racial justice and equality. Other writers did the same because that’s generally what writers do to commemorate the holiday—unless you’re a writer for the Trump administration. It’s clear that President-reject…
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Both Illinois Senators Ask Joe Biden to Designate Site of 1908 Springfield Race Riot as a National Monument
Both of Illinois’ senators have sent a request to President-Elect Biden to designate the site of a 1908 race riot, which inspired the creation of the NAACP, as a national monument. According to NBC News, the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Ill., occurred when 5,000 white people pillaged multiple Black neighborhoods in an effort to find…
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The Whitest Insurrections of All Time
“A riot is the language of white people”— History Insurrection is different from terrorism. Although the two are not mutually exclusive, terrorism is “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims,” while insurrection is “an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government.”…
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An Incomplete History of White Election Violence
America is not a “civilized country.” While, compared to most countries, we have an abundance of toilets, street lights and wifi hotspots, the so-called “United” States also boasts more intentional homicides, gun violence and is more politically unstable than most of the developed world (or as one slightly jaundiced geopolitical expert calls them— the “shithole…
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Where White People Are Scarier Than Monsters: The Hidden Black History of Lovecraft Country
On Sept. 16, 1968, 51 years before HBO aired the first episode of its groundbreaking horror series, Carol Jenkins found herself in Lovecraft Country. Jenkins, a 21-year-old door-to-door encyclopedia saleswoman, sprinted away from a pack of bloodthirsty monsters chasing her through the tiny streets of Martinsville, Ind. She ran for the first home she could find…
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What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
Read the full text of Frederick Douglass’ iconic speech.
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America Is a Confederate Monument
I am 6. I am sad because my face is black and not striped. My sisters and I are at Kalmia Gardens, the beautiful home of Thomas Hart, who founded my hometown, Hartsville, S.C., in 1817. Every year, we visit the Kalmia Gardens Festival and every year, my mother forbids us from having the local…