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Ashawnta Jackson

Ashawnta Jackson

Ashawnta Jackson is a reader, writer, and record collector living in New York. She has written for NPR Music, Bandcamp, Artsy, Atlas Obscura, and GRAMMY.com, among others. You can read more of her work at heyjackson.net.

Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night

The Slap That Changed American Film-Making

When Sidney Poitier slapped a white murder suspect on screen, it changed how the stories of Black Americans were portrayed on film.
Duke Magazine

Why the “Black Playboy” Folded After Just Six Issues

Duke magazine aimed to celebrate the good life for the era’s growing Black middle-class.
Donna Summer, 1976

The Year The Grammys Honored Disco

In 1980, The Grammys gave disco its own category, but the genre was already receding into invisibility.
The Rolling Stones perform on the set of the pop music television show Thank Your Lucky Stars in Birmingham, England on January 30th, 1965.

Creating the Musical Canon

When you look at the canon of popular music, who's on the list looks very much like those who made the list.
Freedom House library, September 1964

Freedom Libraries and the Fight for Library Equity

Freedom libraries in the south provided Black residents with access to spaces and books, whether in church basements or private homes.
Pavlova cake on a white background

Food and Culture

Food is complicated. That creation you love from The Great British Baking Show? It's been the subject of arguments over culture, identity, and copyright.
A sign for the All-Star Bowling Alley in Orangeburg, SC

Desegregating Bowling Alleys

The bowling desegregation movement began during World War II, but wouldn’t end there.
Photograph: Marley Shelton, Marla Sokoloff and the rest of the girls at a sleepover in a scene from the film 'Sugar & Spice', 2001

Source: Getty

Slumber Parties and Folklore

Slumber party rituals are indeed alive and well, and being passed down to the next generation in person and online.
An advertisement for snake oil, 1905

Why Do We Fall for Scams?

People want to believe that the person they trust with their money, or their hearts, is telling the truth. The con artist relies on that.
Nella Larsen, 1928

The Plagiarism Scandal That Ended Nella Larsen’s Career

Larsen's 1930 story "Sanctuary" had a similar plot to an earlier British story. So what? Perhaps the tale never really belonged to either writer.
A postcard advertising Rev. Dr. Bow Weevil, a Rooster Channel Jumper

How Black CB Radio Users Created an Audible Community

CB radio was portrayed as a mostly white enthusiasm in its heyday, but Black CB users were active as early as 1959.
A daguerreotype of a postmortem baby, partially covered by a flowered shawl

The History of Postmortem Photography

Ever since the medium was invented, people have used photography to document loss.
Two sharply dressed women modeling both looks for home and at work from the late 1970's

The History of the Power Suit for Women

As women entered the white-collar world, experts told them to dress like men, without being too threatening.
An illustration from Muscle Building by Earle Liederman, 1924

The King of Mail-Order Muscles

Flab, begone! Earle Edwin Liederman wanted men to learn his vaudeville-strongman secrets—for a not-so-low price.
"The Big Ones of '68" a paper dress by Universal Studios, 1968

When Paper Was Fashion’s Favorite Material

It's hip, it's happening, it's wow, it's now, it's gone: RIP the paper dress, 1966–1968.
A poster for Tango!, 1933

How Women Singers Subverted Tango’s Masculinity

In the hands of performers known as cancionistas, the genre known for its machismo was transformed.
Women from Boston and Charleston, West Virginia, holding signs, demonstrating against textbooks, Washington, D.C., 1975

When a Battle to Ban Textbooks Became Violent

In 1974, the culture wars came to Kanawha County, West Virginia, inciting protests over school curriculum.
Eileen Southern

The Work of Pioneering Musicologist Eileen Southern

The scholarship of Black music was transformed by Southern's work, and is now being honored by a new initiative.
A Destroy Rape Culture sticker by Starchild Stela

Little Red Riding Hood On Campus: Women & Public Space

According to one criminologist, “constructing public space as dangerous to women ... reinforces traditional gender norms which emphasize women as vulnerable."
People holding hands at a civil rights demonstration in Washington, DC, in the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, September 1963.

Making Eyes on the Prize

One of the most influential historical documentaries of all time almost didn't get made.
President Richard Nixon Starting the 1973 American League Season by Tossing a Baseball

Richard Nixon’s Fantasy Baseball Team

It might have been a ploy to garner Democratic votes, but the president took his dream team seriously.
Nat "King" Cole performs a song on piano on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on April 13, 1958 in New York City

Way before MTV, Music Ruled the Living Room

I want my Ed Sullivan, Arthur Godfrey, and Lawrence Welk! To say nothing of Soul Train!
Prince performs at the 10th Anniversary Essence Music Festival at the Superdome on July 2, 2004 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Philosophy of Posthumous Art

For some creators, death isn’t the end of their career. How should we think about completing and releasing their work afterward?
OK Soda can

Sells Like Teen Spirit

OK Soda disappeared from the store shelves of the 1990s shortly after its debut. But did its wink-wink marketing to Gen X actually work?
Along the highway near Bakersfield, California. Dust bowl refugees by Dorothea Lange

The Photographers Who Captured the Great Depression

The Farm Security Administration had photographers fan out across the country to document agricultural conditions. But they brought back much more.