slavery
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Amazon Scrubs Site of Clothing With Slogan ‘Slavery Gets Shit Done’
So, some asshat thought it would be a good idea to sell on Amazon.com children’s clothing featuring the slogan “Slavery gets shit done,” prompting the online retail giant to scrub the site of the hideous items after backlash. According to Reuters, there were a range of products—including mugs, bags, kids T-shirts and even a baby…
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Michigan State University Receives Almost $1,500,000 to Create Online Slavery Database
Michigan State University will receive nearly $1.5 million to create a new online database that will allow folks to navigate the records of millions of enslaved people and their descendants, a boon for historians and African Americans who are interested in knowing more about their ancestry. Michigan State recently announced a $1.47 million grant from…
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Libyan Slavery Is Wrong, and It’s Partly America’s Fault. So Why Aren’t We Doing More About It?
In November, CNN broke a story about modern-day slavery in Libya that went viral. Grainy video showed men and women being beaten and being sold for less than the cost of a smartphone. There were no happy endings, no 12 Years a Slave escapes; thousands of people seeking refugee and asylum were being put in…
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Roy Moore Thinks America Was Better When Slavery Was in Place
Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has been accused of a lot of things. He’s referred to Asian Americans and Native Americans as “yellows” and “reds” like they’re fucking M&M’s. Multiple allegations have come forth suggesting that he has a predilection for underage girls. The man is seriously problematic, and for some reason, many in…
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My Mother Is White, I Am Not: On Being Biracial Without Identity Issues
Editor’s note: This piece speaks from the perspective of being biracial with black and white parents. I realize that other biracial ethnic mixes may or may not share any of these experiences. A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece called “Black Folks Who, Though Invited, Probably Wouldn’t Come to the Cookout.” On this list…
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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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Roy Moore Will Win Alabama’s Senate Seat Because Southern Folks Don’t Like Being Told What to Do
Let’s be clear: Nobody likes being told what to do. I hate it when my mortgage company sends me an email letting me know my payment is due on the first of each month. It’s set to autopay, but I ALWAYS consider disabling that option and paying it on, like, the 14th JUST because they’re…
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‘We Cannot Remain Silent’: Rwanda Offers to Take in 30,000 African Migrants at Risk for Being Sold Into Slavery
It has almost become a mantra these days: “I can’t believe that this is happening in 2017.” The way race relations in the U.S. are going, we could be in 1917, or 1817, especially with the recent exposé of the sale of people—black people—in this the year of our Lord. Since a CNN report showing…
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Tracing Your Roots: What Are My In-Laws’ Texas Slavery Roots?
Her mother-in-law’s paternal roots lie in what was once Texas’ richest county, made so off the backs of slaves. Dear Professor Gates: My mother-in-law is in her mid-80s, and per her request, I would like to do what I can to find information about her father’s family. I have searched on Ancestry.com and I am…