African American History - KOLUMN Magazine

Escape Route | Lapham’s Quarterly

February 13, 2020February 13, 2020African American History, African American Travel ...

How cars changed the lives of black Americans. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Between the 1920s and the 1960s, automobile ownership changed African American life. You could not be asked to move to the back of the bus—or, worse, to get off and reenter through the back door—if you drove your own car. The horsepower of an automobile […]

Nearly 100 Years After Tulsa Massacre, City Plans to Search Cemetery for Victims | The New York Times

February 10, 2020February 10, 2020African American History, Black History

In one of the worst instances of racist violence in American history, a group of white people slaughtered black residents of Tulsa. For decades, city leaders rarely acknowledged it in public. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Archaeologists plan to excavate part of a cemetery in Tulsa, Okla., to see if it holds the remains of black residents slaughtered […]

Who Really Killed Malcolm X? | The New York Times

February 7, 2020February 7, 2020African American History, Black History ...

Fifty-five years later, the case may be reopened. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] For more than half a century, scholars have maintained that prosecutors convicted the wrong men in the assassination of Malcolm X. Now, 55 years after that bloody afternoon in February 1965, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is reviewing whether to reinvestigate the murder. Some new […]

LGBTQ Rights Icon Bayard Rustin Granted Posthumous Pardon In California | HuffPost

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020African American History, Black History ...

Rustin, who co-organized the March on Washington in 1963, was jailed for having gay sex nearly 70 years ago. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s governor announced Wednesday that he is posthumously pardoning a gay civil rights leader while creating a new pardon process for others convicted under outdated laws punishing homosexual activity. Bayard […]

Biography of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad | ThoughtCo.

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020African American History, Black History ...

Magical realism meets real life in the acclaimed journalist’s debut novel about American slaves escaping to the north [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] William Still (October 7, 1821–July 14, 1902) was a prominent abolitionist who coined the term Underground Railroad and, as one of the chief “conductors” in Pennsylvania helped thousands of people get free and settled away […]

The 15th Amendment Was Ratified 150 Years Ago, but the Fight to Protect Black Voters Continues | Teen Vogue

February 4, 2020February 4, 2020African American History

OG History is a Teen Vogue series where we unearth history not told through a white, cis-hetero-patriarchal lens. In this edition, Jameelah Nasheed explains how the fight for Black voters’ rights has changed in the 150 years since the 15th Amendment was ratified. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] On February 3, 1870 — 150 years ago today — […]

Louis Allen Murdered in Liberty, Mississippi | EJI

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020African American History, Black History

On January 31, 1964, the night before he was set to move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Louis Allen was ambushed outside his property in Liberty, Mississippi and shot twice in the face with a shotgun. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] He died almost instantly. Mr. Allen was the victim of racially motivated violence in a system where he was […]

America’s Black Holocaust Museum Hopes To Reopen Its Doors This Year | Wisconsin Public Radio

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020African American History, Black Holocaust Museum

Thanks To A Donation, The Museum Plans To Open In Summer 2020 [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) in Milwaukee is a step closer to reopening its doors after being closed for over a decade, thanks to funding from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. The museum was founded by lynching survivor, James Cameron in 1988. […]

The Story of Josiah Henson, the Real Inspiration for ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ | Smithsonian Magazine

January 28, 2020January 28, 2020African American History

Before there was the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a formerly enslaved African-American living in Canada wrote a memoir detailing his experience. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] From its very first moments in print on March 20, 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a smashing success. It sold 3,000 copies on its first day, and Frederick […]

Killers’ Confession | The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi | PBS

January 24, 2020January 24, 2020African American History, Emmett Till

Killers of Emmett Till Confess in Look Magazine [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Editors Note: In the long history of man’s inhumanity to man, racial conflict has produced some of the most horrible examples of brutality. The recent slaying of Emmett Till in Mississippi is a case in point. The editors of Look are convinced that they are […]