history
-
Ferguson Is a Starting Point for a National Conversation on Race
On Sept. 15, at Tufts University’s Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, we will host the second annual National Dialogue on Race Day. This year’s program carries particular significance in light of the tragic death of Michael Brown and last month’s events in Ferguson, Mo., and we are committed to advancing a better…
-
With a Statue to Frederick Douglass, Blacks Have Their Say in What Freedom Means
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Commanding a low rise in a verdant park in Rochester, N.Y., the monolithic figure of Frederick Douglass stands in eloquent testimony to…
-
Why Labor Day Should Be a Moral Monday
On Labor Day we honor America’s working families. These families build our country, serving as the engine that keeps our country on its path toward a just, sustainable democracy. But in 2014, we urge that Labor Day also be a Moral Monday. The people of North Carolina have established Moral Monday protests as a powerful…
-
Why Are There So Many Black Athletes?
Editor’s note: 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, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 89: Why are there so…
-
Whites Should Learn Our History to Understand Our Pain
When I was a very young boy, I decided that it would be fun to draw swastika images on various objects that I owned. My parents were outraged and made me remove every one. Realizing that I had no idea what I had done wrong, my dad sat me down and explained that Adolf Hitler…
-
Why Did My Great-Granddad Change His Name?
My great-grandfather married my great-grandmother under the name “Roy Parker” and also served in World War I under that name. However, when he died, his brother Robert Hagen notified the coroner that “Roy Parker” was actually “Henry Hagen.” Roy Parker/Henry Hagen died in Missouri in 1935. How do I find out who he was, where…
-
Did the Power of the Printed Word Truly Liberate Africa?
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute, part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. In the lush tropical setting of Africa, two groups of well-dressed Europeans sweep…
-
Who Was the Real Dido Elizabeth Belle?
Editor’s note: This column was originally published on May 5. Belle, the movie based on the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, will be released on DVD on Tuesday and is available now as a digital download on Amazon.com. For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment…
-
In Ancient Egypt, Were Africans the Oppressors or the Oppressed?
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute, part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. A huge tableau, painted on a mural scale more than 10 feet…
-
Who Was My Enslaved Ancestor’s Owner?
My third great-grandfather Cain Dick was born between 1821 and 1824 and died around 1910 in Rock Creek, Guilford County, N.C. I was trying to search for his parents and the origins of his slaveholders, only to run into a complication. I came across three male individuals who had the same surname as my third…