New Year’s Eve, Day holds special meaning for Black Americans
Source: Savannah Now
Read about the history of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day traditions for Black Americans.
Grade 8
| The Move Toward Freedom | What is freedom worth? |
Civil Rights Movement
Source: History
The Emancipation Proclamation did not end racial oppression. Read the Introduction and Background on this web site to learn how African Americans continued to fight for equal rights.
In 1865, thousands of Black South Carolinians signed a 54-foot-long freedom petition
Source: Washington Post
Read about some of the objects on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The past is the past? How slavery still benefits white Americans
Source: Work in Progress
A sociologist shares the results and repercussions of an in-depth data analysis.
Confederate Pride and Prejudice
Source: The Washington Post
Well over a century after the South lost the Civil War, its battle flag is showing up in a surprising place: the North. This article explores the causes and effects.
What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack?
Source: Education Week
Learn why an academic approach toward examining lingering effects of slavery has turned into a hot-button topic.
150 Years Later, Myths Persist about the Emancipation Proclamation
Source: CNN
What did the Emancipation Proclamation really do? Three myths about this document are addressed in this article, which was written for the 150th anniversary of its signing.
Reconstruction and Its Aftermath
Source: Library of Congress
View artifacts from the Reconstruction era, including artworks, pamphlets, maps, and more.
Boston Art Commission Votes To Remove Emancipation Memorial From Park Square
Source: WBUR
Learn why a sculpture inspired by the Emancipation Proclamation incited controversy that resulted in its removal.
‘Make Farmers Black Again’: African Americans Fight Discrimination To Own Farmland
Source: NPR
After decades of land loss and lending discrimination Black American farmers struggle to reclaim the ability to sustain their ancestral farmlands.
Why Texas Still Celebrates Confederate Heroes Day
Source: Texas Monthly
At the start of the 2021 Legislative session in the state of Texas, a bill was filed to end an outdated state holiday. Find out why it’s on the books at all.
Health Inequality Actually Is a “Black and White Issue”, Research Says
Source: University of Michigan
Over a century and a half after emancipation, why are Black Americans statistically more likely to suffer from health problems?
One Man’s Epic Quest to Visit Every Former Slave Dwelling in the United States
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
Joseph McGill, Jr., a descendant of slaves, has slept in 41 of the remaining slave dwellings so far. He hopes to bring awareness to the small buildings that housed slaves before the buildings all disappear.
America Has Tried Reparations Before. Here Is How it Went
Source: The New York Times
Descendants of enslaved people may be entitled to reparations, but what can we learn from previous attempts to compensate people for a wrong?
Why the Black National Anthem is Lifting Every Voice to Sing
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
This song, endowed with its deep history of Black pride, speaks to the universal human condition.
The Black sorority that faced racism in the suffrage movement but refused to walk away
Source: Washington Post
These African American women fought for decades against racism within their movement and took their rightful place in history.
The Courage And Ingenuity Of Freedom-Seeking Slaves In America
Source: NPR
In their desperation, runaway slaves found creative ways to hide and escape. This article tells the stories of slaves who shipped themselves to freedom in crates and of others who found safe haven in the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina.
Frederick Douglass On How Slave Owners Used Food As A Weapon Of Control
Source: NPR
This article examines some of Frederick Douglass’s writings in which he describes how slave owners made use of food (and hunger) as a way of manipulating their slaves.
Activist Ida B. Wells Gets Pulitzer Prize 137 Years After Refusing to Exit ‘Whites Only’ Train
Source: People Magazine
Born a year before emancipation, journalist Ida B. Wells is getting some overdue recognition for her brave and powerful reporting on injustice.
What Does It Mean for America to Put Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill?
Source: The Atlantic
The U.S. Treasury recently decided to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Click on this link to read a discussion by several writers and editors from The Atlantic about the significance of this change to American currency.
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