The Uneasy History of Integrated Sports in America
The integration of collegiate and professional sports parallels the civil rights movement, but in important ways it was a whole different track.
The Inequality Hidden Within the Race-Neutral GI Bill
While the GI Bill itself was progressive, much of the country still functioned under both covert and blatant segregation.
Two Women of the African Slave Resistance
African women, always a minority in the slave trade, often had to find their own ways of rebellion against slavery if they could.
The Devastation of Black Wall Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 1921. A wave of racial violence destroys an affluent African-American community, seen as a threat to white-dominated American capitalism.
The Slave Roots of Square Dancing
Square Dancing's lily-white reputation hides something unexpected: A deep African-American history that's rooted in a legacy of slavery.
Can College Cure Racism?
New reading requirements at Harvard have added fuel to an ongoing debate about diversity in curricula. At HBCUs these fights had a different dimension.
How WWI Sparked an Artistic Movement That Transformed Black America
African-American literary works born out of the ashes of World War I went on to spur the bold spirit of resistance of the African-American protest movement.
What Americans Thought of WWI
What did Americans think of World War I before the US entered the conflict 100 years ago? “Public opinion” was no more universal in 1917 than it is today.
Liberia: A Primer
Liberia, named for liberty in 1824, has had a rough go of it since being colonized by African-Americans settled there by the American Colonization Society.
Automation in the 1940s Cotton Fields
Automation is a bit of a Rorschach test for anyone interested in workers’ rights. In the 1940s, the mechanization of cotton farming changed the US economy.