Four Years of Silence Benjamin O. Davis Jr. entered West Point in 1932 with a dream of becoming a military pilot. As a young Black man, he already understood that talent alone would not protect him from racism. His father, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., was one of the few Black officers serving in the Army.
Benjamin O. Davis Jr.: The Cadet They Tried to Break Read More »
The Question Behind the Rumor Every so often, a claim makes its way around that Historically Black Colleges and Universities are secretly owned by white people. I understand why somebody might ask the question because the history of HBCUs includes white missionaries, philanthropists, religious organizations, state governments, Black churches, formerly enslaved people, and Black educators.
Who Really Owns HBCUs? The Truth Is More Complicated Than the Rumor Read More »
When the Supreme Court Approved Forced Sterilization Some chapters of American history are difficult to read because they force us to face what respected institutions once considered acceptable. In 1927, the United States Supreme Court decided Buck v. Bell, a case involving a young Virginia woman named Carrie Buck. Virginia wanted to sterilize her under
When Medicine Took Away the Right to Choose Read More »
A Few Minutes After Midnight A few minutes after midnight on June 12, 1963, Medgar Wiley Evers pulled into the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi. He had spent another long day doing civil rights work in a state where demanding simple fairness could get a Black man killed. Only hours earlier, President John
June 12, 1963: Medgar Evers and the Long Road to Justice Read More »
A Phrase We Say Without Knowing the Weight When somebody says they were “sold down the river,” most of us understand immediately that they mean somebody betrayed them, sacrificed them, or left them hanging to protect themselves. A worker might say it after a supervisor places the blame for a company mistake on them. A
Sold Down the River: The History of Betrayal Hidden Inside an American Phrase Read More »
The Question Behind the Question When people say Black Americans seemed to have stronger businesses and institutions during segregation, there is some history behind what they are noticing, but we have to be careful about the conclusion we draw from it. Segregation itself was never some hidden blessing for Black folks. It was a deliberate
We Do Not Need Segregation to Rebuild Black Economic Strength Read More »
The Law That Followed Freedom North The Christiana Resistance of September 11, 1851, cannot be fully understood without first understanding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Congress had strengthened federal procedures allowing people accused of escaping slavery to be captured even after reaching states where slavery itself was illegal. That meant crossing into Pennsylvania did
Christiana, 1851: When a Black Community Refused to Surrender Its Freedom Read More »
A Question Worth Asking Ask somebody to name five white Americans who seriously opposed slavery or racial injustice, and there is a good chance the list will get short pretty fast. Abraham Lincoln usually comes first, and somebody who knows a little more history may mention John Brown. After those names, however, the room can
The White Americans We Rarely Learn About Who Fought Racism Read More »
Fourteen People in the Room Imagine shrinking the United States down to a room containing one hundred people and seeing roughly fourteen Black Americans standing among them. The exact number changes depending on the year, Census definitions, and how race and Hispanic origin are counted, so the image is meant to make a larger point
Fourteen in a Room of One Hundred: Why Building Together Still Matters Read More »
The Claim That “White People Did Not Exist” The statement that “white people did not exist before 1681” will certainly get people’s attention, but history requires a little more care than that. People whom Americans would classify as white today obviously lived long before the seventeenth century. English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and
When Did “White People” Become White? Race, Law, and Power in Colonial America Read More »