history
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Why Would My Former Slave Ancestor Move South?
My ancestors Lewis Pratt (born circa 1870) and his father, John Pratt (born circa 1840), lived in Prattville in Alabama, according to family research that I have done. My research also reveals (from Ancestry.com and a letter written by Lewis Pratt’s granddaughter) that John Pratt was born in North Carolina and moved his family to…
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5 Good Things and 5 Bad Things That Happened After Brown v. Board
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, was the U.S. Supreme Court’s name for a series of lower-court cases that were heard at the same time by the high court, which eventually overturned its own 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson—which held that “separate but equal” (aka segregated) public facilities were legal. On May 17, 1954,…
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Is This Black Soldier the Inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo?
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. Rendered with an economy of means and a penetrating observation of…
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Queen Njinga Stood Up to the Portuguese Invaders of Angola
For centuries, black Brazilians and Portuguese descendants of Africa around the globe have danced and sung in celebration of a woman known as Queen Njinga. Their Angolan ancestors carried her name from the African colony of Angola, where today she is revered as one of the 25 most important women in the history of the…
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Lincoln or Cheyney: Which Was the First HBCU?
Nestled in the campestral sprawl that is the rural outskirts of Philadelphia, no more than 35 minutes from each other, are Cheyney University and Lincoln University, the two historically black colleges or universities in Pennsylvania. Their campuses are living, moving, thriving tributes to their culture-rich communities and the giftedness of the Diaspora. Each has educated…
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The Black Saint Who Embodied Christianity for the African Masses
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. This remarkable black saint, whose story of victory and piety begins…
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Not Even a ‘Jenious’ Can Trace My Family Name. Help!
I have a rather unique last name: “Jenious.” My paternal grandfather’s name was Otto Jenious. I have found some census, death and military records of my grandfather and some of his siblings; however, the trail seems to disappear after that. I would like to find out where the name might come from and how far…
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In Greek Theater, a Black Mask Plays an Important Role
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. An intriguing artifact from the classical period of ancient Greece attests…
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Discovering an Enslaved Artist and His Masterpiece
Many people are surprised to learn that a great painting from the 17th century was the work of a former slave of African descent. Not all the staff at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Fla., knew that the painting, The Flight Into Egypt (1658), depicting the perilous journey of Joseph and Mary with the baby…
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The Diverse Ways They Each Coped With Child Abuse
What is especially sinister about child molesters is that they often take advantage of a child’s ignorance about sex to perpetuate the assault. When Oprah Winfrey spoke to admitted child abusers and their therapists about the tactics and strategies they used to groom their victims, one of the most disturbing revelations was when the predators described how…