slave trade
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Churches Across the U.S. Are Launching Reparations Programs
The topic of reparations is a touchy one…for white people. While the American government hasn’t touched the topic in a serious way, churches across the country are taking it upon themselves to try and make amends for the role they played in the slave trade. According to the Associated Press, there is a renewed interest…
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Georgia's First Capital Votes to Remove Former Slave Market From Town's Center
In Louisville, Ga., one of the last remaining former slave markets is finally being removed from the town’s center. CNN reports that an advisory committee of 14 members was formed in July to determine what to do with the Old Market House. The structure has been in the town—the first capital of the state—since 1795…
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Breaking: Something Bad Is Happening in Virginia [Updated]
To commemorate the quadricentennial anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in America, we imagined what it would be like to cover that late August day when the first slave ship landed on the shores of the place now known as Hampton, Va. 8/20/1619 2:27 P.M. Earlier: A few hours ago, The Root received several…
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She’s Gotta Have It Writer Responds to John Boyega Regarding ‘Trash’ Black Brits Scene
In the fifth episode of She’s Gotta Have It’s second season, titled, “SuperCaliFragiSexy,” Nola Darling (DeWanda Wise) and her new lust interest Olumide “Olu” Owoye (Michael Luwoye) are chillin’ on the couch discussing Black British actors’ impact on Hollywood. “Black British actors are better suited than black American actors because they don’t carry the burden…
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Last Known U.S. Slave Ship, the Clotilda, Said to Have Been Discovered in Alabama
Researchers at the Alabama Historical Commission recently announced that they’ve located the remains of the last known ship known to bring enslaved Africans to what we now call the United States. As National Geographic notes, slave importing was officially banned in 1808, though an illegal trans-Atlantic slave trade continued for many years. In 1860, some…
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Charleston, SC, Apologizes for Its Role During the Slave Trade in City Council Resolution
On Tuesday, as Juneteenth—the holiday marking the end of slavery—was observed, the City Council of Charleston, S.C., decided to adopt a resolution apologizing for the city’s role in the slave trade. The city was once a key seaport in the slave trade, a location where some 40 percent of enslaved people first set foot on…
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A Reporter May Have Found the Last American Slave Ship
In 1860, 52 years after the importation of human chattel was outlawed in the United States, the Clotilda, a two-masted schooner, sneaked into Mobile Bay near Mobile, Ala., returning from a secret mission in Benin, Africa. Captained by William Foster, the Clotilda unloaded its precious cargo: 110 kidnapped human beings. When federal authorities discovered that…
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Meet ‘Angela,’ One of the 1st Slaves to Arrive in America
What if we could put names and faces to the Africans who were brought over to America as slaves in 1619? Would it humanize slavery instead of making it a category in American history that people love to conveniently forget or urge black folks to “just get over it”? The first Africans arrived at Point…
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How Obama’s ‘Worst Mistake’ Led to the Libyan Slave Trade
When CNN broke the story several weeks ago that slavery—not wage slavery, not emotional slavery, not virtual slavery, but actual whips-and-chains-forced labor slavery—was alive and well in the North African nation of Libya, Americans finally started to take notice. Sort of. While there has been some reporting on the issue and a few statements from…
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Mock Slave Auction at NJ Elementary School Enrages Parents
You know, there’s a way to teach slavery to people, especially children, without involving fun, hand-drawn posters and role-playing in mock slave auctions. However, it seems as if a New Jersey school still hasn’t gotten the memo, and now it’s facing backlash from parents after a mock slave auction apparently took place in a fifth-grade…