Black Organizing and White Violence
In 1919, armed posses and federal troops killed as many as one hundred African-Americans in one of the worst instances of mass violence in U.S. history.
The Dangers of Gone With The Wind‘s Romantic Vision of the Old South
Writer Margaret Mitchell was born on November 8th, 1900, at the beginning of a new century. Her novel Gone ...
Ralph Ellison on Race
Ralph Ellison believed fiercely in the American project and in the centrality of black people to it.
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.
Charlottesville Syllabus: Readings on the History of Hate in America
The history of racism and ethnic hate in America is long and deep. What are the cultural, economic, and political currents that led us here?
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.
A Precedent for Today’s Political Violence
Illegal violence has always been a political tool, often serving the interests of the powerful. A historian looks at the case of 1930s Birmingham, Alabama.
Why is the U.S. Losing Public Housing?
In much of the U.S., public housing is disappearing as governments fail to maintain the buildings or actively demolish them.
Race and Labor in the 1863 New York City Draft Riots
In July 1863, over a thousand Irish dockworkers rioted against the Civil War draft in New York City in a four-day upheaval, targeting black workers and citizens.
The 1917 Immigration Act That Presaged Trump’s Muslim Ban
Prohibitive laws like the 1917 Immigration Act barred many Asians from entering America. Cultural fears still determine who "deserves" to migrate.