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Massachusetts Keeps a Slavery Myth Alive
(The Root) — Last week Amy S. Erickson, the master teacher and academic coordinator at New Millennium Academy in Minneapolis, sent me a link to a “nonfiction” reading comprehension test (pdf) for sixth-graders from the Massachusetts Department of Education. The “nonfiction” exercise was about quilts and the Underground Railroad. The passage, titled “Women’s Quilts as…
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Three-Fifths Clause: Why Its Taint Persists
(The Root) — President James Wagner of Emory University recently asserted that the three-fifths clause of the Constitution is a good example of how people with differing political views can find common ground. He was referring to the provision in the U.S. Constitution, written in 1787, that counts each enslaved person as three-fifths of a…
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2nd Amendment Passed to Protect Slavery? No!
(The Root) — Recently Thom Hartmann published an essay on Truthout titled “The Second Amendment Was Ratified to Preserve Slavery.” Hartmann, who is described on the Internet as a radio host, author, former psychotherapist and entrepreneur and a progressive political commentator, said the amendment to the U.S. Constitution was intended, in part, to protect slave-patrol…
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Thomas Jefferson Was a Racist, Period
Thomas Jefferson declared that all men were created equal, but he also owned more than 100 slaves. When others like George Washington freed their human property during the Revolutionary War, Jefferson did not, according to New York Times contributor Paul Finkelman. Even when Jefferson died, his will freed only five of his nearly 200 slaves,…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
