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.
A print based on David Gilmour Blythe's fanciful painting of Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation: Annotated

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in America on January 1, 1863. Today, we've annotated the Emancipation Proclamation for readers.
bell hooks

bell hooks

Writer and academic, teacher and activist. Read and share some of her foundational work.
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.
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.
Cedric Robinson

Cedric Robinson and the Black Radical Tradition

Cedric Robinson proposed that the Black radical tradition was necessitated into existence by “racial capitalism.”
Charles Chesnutt

The Ghosts of Slavery in Charles Chesnutt’s Fiction

What begins as a magical escape from the horrors of plantation life soon turns into a spine-chilling testament to slavery’s dehumanizing effects.
Mary Rose Allen mid-leap

Teaching Black Women’s Self-Care during Jim Crow

Maryrose Reeves Allen founded a wellness program at Howard University in 1925 that emphasized the physical, mental, and spiritual health of Black women.
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.
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.