Category: African American History

Despite James Hemings’s leading role in Jefferson’s kitchen, he’s credited with only a handful of recipes.   — Natasha Frost, Atlas Obscura TO BELIEVE THE LEGENDS, THOMAS Jefferson was as much a chef as a statesman, the architect of the modern American diet and the person behind such modern European-American classics as vanilla ice cream, steak […]

  — EJI Staff, EJI, Equal Justice Initiative On December 1, 1955, Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress and activist Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated city bus. Her stand helped to spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which remains one of the most well-known campaigns of the civil rights movement. […]

  — EJI Staff, EJI, Equal Justice Initiative On November 30, 1921, a mob of white men in Ballinger, Texas, seized Robert Murtore, a 15-year-old Black boy, from the custody of law enforcement and, in broad daylight, shot him to death.  After a 9-year-old white girl alleged that she had been assaulted by an unknown […]

Whether as soldiers, spies, recruiters or medical personnel, African Americans made crucial contributions to the Union cause. — IVÁN ROMÁN, HISTORY .COM As America’s Civil War raged, with the enslavement of millions of people hanging in the balance, African Americans didn’t just sit on the sidelines. Whether enslaved, escaped or born free, many sought to actively affect […]

An exhibit is taking a closer look at the racist Ocoee Massacre in Florida, 100 years after it took place. — MATTHEW TAUB, ATLAS OBSCURA ON NOVEMBER 2, 1920—ELECTION DAY, 100 years ago—Moses Norman of Ocoee, Florida, joined more than 25 million Americans in going to the polls to cast his vote. Unlike most of those […]

Inequality In Life and Death at Thomas Jefferson’s Home — WILLIAM SPIVEY, DATA DRIVEN INVESTOR If you visit Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home, there are multiple tours available depending on the day of the week and what you’re willing to spend. On one of the tours, you can take a shuttle up to the main home […]