A black and white drawing of Julia Ann Chinn.

Tenuous Privileges, Tenuous Power

Amrita Myers paints freedom as a process in which Black women used the tools available to them to secure rights and privileges within a slave society.
Afeni Shakur at a session of the Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention, organized by the Black Panther Party, in Philadelphia, September 1970.

How the Shakurs Became One of America’s Most Influential Families

In a white supremacist society, where Black people are still fighting for freedom, the Black family offers protection and, at times, a space for resistance.
Three Mississippi women, denied the right to go onto the House floor at the opening of the new Congress, stand Jan. 4, 1965, outside the Capitol. From left: Annie Devine, Fannie Lou Hamer and Victoria Gray.
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Remembering Past Harms is a Key First Step for Achieving Social Justice

Mississippi makes a move to confront a shameful episode from the past.
2022 oil painting of Jo Collier

They Called Her ‘Black Jet’

Joetha Collier, a young Black woman, was killed by a white man in 1971, near the Mississippi town where Emmett Till was murdered. Why isn’t her case well-known today?
A bus, and a Black man at the bus stop standing under a sign for a "Colored Waiting Room."

Homer Plessy Was Never a Criminal. Now His Record Reflects That.

In rejecting Plessy’s argument that the Jim Crow law implied Black people were inferior, the Supreme Court upheld the notion of “separate but equal.”
Black and white photo of Fannie Lou Hamer in her rocking chair.

Why Fannie Lou Hamer’s Definition of "Freedom" Still Matters

The human rights activist and former sharecropper once said that “you are not free whether you are white or black, until I am free.”

Fannie Lou Hamer's Dauntless Fight for Black Americans' Right to Vote

The activist did not learn about her right to vote until she was 44, but once she did, she vigorously fought for black voting rights

It Really Is Different This Time

Two dozen experts consider the George Floyd protests in light of protests past.

Why We Should Remember William Monroe Trotter

A pioneering black editor, he worked closely with African-American workers to advance a liberatory black politics.

The Power of the Black Working Class

In order to understand America, we have to understand the struggles of the black working class.

“I Lifted Up Mine Eyes to Ghana”

W. E. B. Du Bois died on this day in 1963. Few figures were more influential in shaping the struggle against colonialism.

The Hidden History of Black Nationalist Women's Political Activism

Contrary to popular conceptions, women were also instrumental to the spread and articulation of black nationalism.
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Ida B. Wells Offered The Solution To Police Violence More Than 100 Years Ago

The answer runs through the history of anti-lynching laws.
Jo Ann Robinson's mug shot.

This Unheralded Woman Actually Organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Jo Ann Robinson is unfortunately overlooked by history.

Trump Syllabus 2.0

An introduction to the currents of American culture that led to "Trumpism.'