History
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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…
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How the Republican Party Became The Party of Racism
Here’s a joke: What’s the difference between a Klan rally and a Republican Convention? Answer: The dress code. Here’s another one: How white is the Republican Party? According to Pew Research, 83 percent of the registered voters who identify as Republican are non-Hispanic whites. The Republican Party is whiter than Tilda Swinton riding a polar…
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Did Black People Own Slaves?
For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers