Black History

Understanding the History of Government Contracts and Economic Opportunity A System That Left Many Businesses Out To understand why minority business programs were created, we have to look at how government contracts worked in the past. Government contracts are a major source of economic opportunity in the United States. When governments build highways, schools, military

Revisiting W.E.B. Du Bois and the Debate Over War, Capitalism, and Global Influence The Argument About Power and History Throughout history, scholars and political thinkers have tried to explain why wars happen and why certain nations pursue global dominance. One influential voice in this conversation was W. E. B. Du Bois, who in 1915 wrote

Understanding the Debate Over Public Aid and Political Narratives The Long Debate Over Public Assistance Public assistance programs have been a central part of American political debate for decades. Programs such as food assistance, unemployment support, housing aid, and social security were designed to help people during periods of economic hardship. These programs expanded significantly

Why Time, Access, and Policy Continue to Influence Economic Outcomes Understanding the Idea of Compounding To understand how wealth and opportunity develop in a country, it helps to begin with the concept of compounding. In finance, compounding describes the process by which growth builds on itself over time. When someone invests money, the returns from

Why Stories Reveal the True Meaning of History A Quiet Morning Before History Changed Imagine standing in a small Virginia town in the early morning hours of October 16, 1859. The air is cold enough that each breath rises in small clouds. A thin fog rests over the mountains while the river nearby moves steadily

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