Person

W.E.B. Du Bois

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Joe Biden signs the legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Juneteenth and the Problem of American Freedom

Of course, Juneteenth should be recognized as a Black holiday belonging to Black people. But this is not a day purely of joyful celebration.
Map of the Appalachian mountain range

The Making of Appalachian Mississippi

“Mississippi’s white Appalachians may have owned the earth, but they could never own the past.”
Stokely Charmichael with microphone, speaking to crowd. Supporters are standing behind him on stage.

The Birth of Black Power

Stokely Carmichael and the speech that changed the course of the civil rights movement.
Members of the Harvard branch of the KKK pose for 1924 graduation photo at the foot of John Harvard Statue

The Crimson Klan

The KKK was clearly present at Harvard. But the university rarely mentions the 20th century in its attempts to reckon with its past.
Illustration of James McCune Smith, the African Free School #2, and the University of Glasgow

America's First Black Physician Sought to Heal a Nation's Persistent Illness

An activist, writer, doctor and intellectual, James McCune Smith, born enslaved, directed his talents to the eradication of slavery.
Martin Luther King Jr.

What Dignity Demands

A new book persuasively places Malcolm X and Martin Luther King at the center of each other’s most dramatic transformations.
"We the People"; US Constitution

It Would Be Great if the United States Were Actually a Democracy

The pervasive mythmaking about the supposed wisdom of the founders has covered up a central truth: the US Constitution is an antidemocratic mess.
Artistic photo of Malcolm X

Malcolm’s Ministry

At the end of his remarkable, improbable life, Malcolm X was on the cusp of a reinvention that might have been even more significant than his conversion.
Deputy sheriff at county fair in Gonzales, Texas.

New Sheriff in Town

Law enforcement and the urban-rural divide.
Three panels of a graphic depicting Soul city. Images include two people walking in a street, people playing golf, and the inside of a mall

The Plan to Build a Capital for Black Capitalism

In 1969, an activist set out to build an African-American metropolis from scratch. What would have happened if Soul City had succeeded?
Artistic graphic of a woman holding hands with two other people

‘Solidarity, Not Charity’: A Visual History of Mutual Aid

Tens of thousands of mutual aid networks and projects emerged around the world in 2020. They have long been a tool for marginalized groups.
Angela Davis and George Jackson

The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism

Radical Black thinkers have long argued that racial slavery created its own unique form of American fascism.
The five members of The Band in black and white

Is “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” Really a Pro-Confederate Anthem?

The answer may lie in the ear of the beholder.
Survivors of Hiroshima

Daughters of the Bomb: A Story of Hiroshima, Racism and Human Rights

On the 75th anniversary of the A-bomb, a Japanese-American writer speaks to one of the last living survivors.
Youth members of a German-American Bund camp raising a flag, 1934.

American Fascism: It Has Happened Here

Americans of the interwar period were perfectly clear about one fact we have lost sight of today: all fascism is indigenous, by definition.
White state militia man with rifle confronting a Black man in a U.S. military uniform, while others look on.

How Racist Policing Took Over American Cities

"The problem is the way policing was built," historian Khalil Muhammad says.
A group of men gather at a headquarters of the Communist Party USA following a protest demanding pay raise and an end to police brutality, US, circa 1920. Hirz / Archive Photos / Getty

How McCarthyism and the Red Scare Hurt the Black Freedom Struggle

Union activists linked the struggle for black equality in housing, employment, and at the ballot box, to the broader struggle against capitalist domination.
Dr. Cliff Kuhn leading the 1906 Race Riot Walking Tour. Photo credit: Julia Brock

Atlanta's 1906 Race Riot and the Coalition to Remember

Commemorating the event that hardened the lines of segregation in the city.
Parade of women suffragists, holding signs, dressed in white.

When Lesbians Led the Women's Suffrage Movement

In 1911, lesbians led the nation’s largest feminist organization. They promoted a diverse and inclusive women’s rights movement.
Photo of John Brown holding a flag and raising his right hand as if in oath.

A Hero in the Midst of Cowards

The righteous rage of John Brown.