Black History

Rediscovering the Role of Peter Salem and the Hidden History in America’s Founding The History Hidden in Plain Sight Many Americans have seen famous paintings from the Revolutionary War without realizing that some of the people depicted in them were Black patriots. These images appear in textbooks, museums, and history classrooms across the country. Yet

How Black Codes and Work Laws Forced Black Women Back Into Domestic Servitude The Transition From Slavery to Control When slavery officially ended in 1865, many Americans assumed that freedom would immediately transform the lives of formerly enslaved people. In reality, the systems of control that governed Black labor did not disappear. Instead, new laws

How Sharecroppers in Alabama Created the Symbol of Black Power A County Known for Violence and Control To understand where the Black Panther symbol truly began, we have to go back to Lowndes County, Alabama, in 1965. At that time the county had a population that was roughly eighty percent Black, yet not a single

The Political Landscape After the Civil War The period following the Civil War was one of the most transformative moments in American political history. Millions of formerly enslaved people gained legal freedom, and new constitutional amendments promised citizenship and voting rights. The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship and equal protection under the law, while the Fifteenth

Why Definitions Matter in Conversations About Identity Many debates about culture and identity become confusing because people use important terms without clearly defining them. Words such as race, ethnicity, nationality, and culture are often used interchangeably even though they mean very different things. Race generally refers to broad social categories based largely on physical traits

Language as Survival Under Oppression Throughout history, people who lived under oppression often developed ways of communicating that outsiders could not easily understand. Enslaved Africans in the United States were frequently denied the right to read, write, or openly organize. Yet human beings always find ways to communicate, share information, and preserve culture even under

The Logic That Never Made Sense For centuries, racial ideology in the United States and other parts of the Western world was built on a claim that Black people were intellectually, morally, and culturally inferior. These ideas were repeated through laws, pseudoscience, political speeches, and social customs. They became the justification for slavery, segregation, and

Challenging the Traditional Story of Enslavement American history often presents a very narrow story about how enslaved people experienced oppression and freedom. In many textbooks and popular narratives, enslaved people are often portrayed as passive figures who endured suffering while waiting for outside forces to bring freedom. This view overlooks the many ways enslaved people

Understanding Slavery Before the Atlantic System Slavery existed in many societies long before the rise of the transatlantic slave trade. In ancient civilizations such as Greece, Rome, parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, forms of bondage were common. People could become enslaved after losing wars, falling into debt, or being captured during raids.

The Rise of an Unlikely Emperor In the year 193 CE, the Roman Empire entered one of its most chaotic periods. After the assassination of Emperor Commodus and a rapid succession of short-lived rulers, Rome descended into political instability. Amid this uncertainty, a provincial Roman official named Septimius Severus rose to power.Born in the North