history
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Was a Slave-Owning Politician My Ancestor?
I wonder if I am related to a slave-owning politician in North Carolina, Stephen Cabarrus. One of my maternal great-grandfathers was named Lawrence Cobbaris (also spelled Cabarrus or Cabarras). He was born in or about 1832, enslaved in North Carolina. He purchased land in Emantha, Fla., in 1892, according to a homestead certificate I am…
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Celestial Twins—1 Black, 1 White—Are a Symbol of Harmony
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 precious fragment from the revival of sculpture in the European…
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The ‘Black’ Witch of Salem?
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. 75: Was a black slave…
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Marian Anderson: The Voice That Refused to Be Silenced
Her voice was haunting, soulful and powerful. Her dulcet contralto had been known to bring people to tears or render them speechless. Some 75 years after her iconic performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Marian Anderson’s legacy and voice are remembered as a vehicle that pushed past entertainment and helped propel a racially…
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Should I Post Controversial Family Tree Info Online?
I am writing you to ask your advice on how to handle a problem that has recently occurred in my ancestral search. I have been on Ancestry.com since 2006 and recently received my ethnicity results from my DNA. The company helps people find relatives by matching DNA results. As it turns out, one of my highest matches came from…
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Why These Slave Women in an Asian Setting Were Important to Dutch Trade
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 fanciful vision of an exotic, remote Asian land brilliantly expands…
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Who Is Black America’s Patron Saint?
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.…
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DNA Does Not Lie, and Neither Did Aunt Peachy
She couldn’t read or write and didn’t know her own age. By 1942 she was old and without a job. For decades, she’d been a domestic for a wealthy white family, the McKnews, in Washington, D.C., until she suffered a crippling stroke. The McKnew family put her out and ours took her in. For 20…
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Why a Black Preacher’s Fiery Sermon at a White Church Received a Lasting Tribute
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. The ornate, lacquered contours of a meticulously painted serving tray highlight…
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Quote of the Day: C.T. Vivian on Revolution
You can read this quote by C.T. Vivian, from Black Power and the American Myth (1970), in Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations. Read more about Vivian here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him…