Black History

Section One: What They Told Us in the 80s In the 1980s, authority figures loved to lecture young Black kids about how to be “acceptable.” They told us that a baseball cap meant we’d never get a job, never be respected, never be taken seriously. They said if you wore it at all, it had […]

Section One: Who Is Remembered and How Abraham Lincoln is one of the most recognizable presidents in American history, yet it is remarkably difficult to find images of his dead body. John F. Kennedy was also assassinated, and while death-related images exist, they are not endlessly circulated or normalized. Contrast that with what happens when

Section One: Disagreement Is Not the Problem The idea that people can disagree and still love each other sounds reasonable, even noble, on the surface. In healthy relationships and societies, disagreement is normal and necessary. It sharpens thinking, exposes blind spots, and forces growth. But James Baldwin made it clear that not all disagreement lives

Section One: Cultural Authority Without Full Belonging Black people occupy a strange and exhausting position in American life. We are followed, studied, copied, and imitated, yet still resisted and devalued. Our taste sets the standard for what is cool, what sounds right, what moves people emotionally, and what becomes profitable. From music to fashion to

A Life That Began in Flight, Not Folklore Rose Fortune was not a myth, not a legend polished over time, but a documented Black woman whose life tells a deeper truth about power and survival. She was born in 1774, likely in the Philadelphia area, during a time when freedom for Black people was fragile

Who Alberta Spruill Was Before the Raid Alberta Spruill was not a criminal, not a suspect, and not a danger to anyone. She was a 57-year-old woman, deeply rooted in her church, her work, and her community in Harlem. For nearly three decades, she held steady employment with New York City’s Department of Administrative Citywide

The Woman Who Shaped a Revolutionary MindLouise Little was not simply the mother of a famous leader; she was a revolutionary in her own right. Before the world ever heard of Malcolm X, Louise was already teaching resistance, pride, and self-sufficiency. She was born to Grenadian parents who believed deeply in Black independence and dignity.

A Life Built and Threatened by SlaveryJohn Anderson was enslaved in Missouri and never knew his exact age or his father. From childhood, he was sold over and over, which was slavery’s way of breaking identity and family ties. Even so, he built a life for himself wherever he could. He married, had a child,