African American History - KOLUMN Magazine

‘The Slaves Dread New Year’s Day the Worst’: The Grim History of January 1 | Time

December 31, 2019December 31, 2019African American History, Black History ...

Americans are likely to think of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as a time to celebrate the fresh start that a new year represents, but there is also a troubling side to the holiday’s history. In the years before the Civil War, the first day of the new year was often a heartbreaking […]

The Norfolk 17 face a hostile reception as schools reopen | The Virginian-Pilot

December 31, 2019African American History, Black History ...

Three weeks later than originally scheduled, Norfolk schools were finally ready to open. Well, most of them. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] On Sept. 29, 1958, 48 of Norfolk’s schools welcomed students – but the doors of six were padlocked and under police guard. Maury, Norview and Granby high schools and Northside, Norview and Blair junior highs remained […]

She was on stage during MLK’s ‘I’ve a Dream Speech’ but little is said of the first black woman federal judge | Face2Face Africa

December 30, 2019December 30, 2019African American History, Black History

At a time when segregation against Blacks was highly prevalent, Constance Baker Motley, a civil rights lawyer and trailblazer, made history as the first Black woman to become a federal judge in the US. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] In 1966, Motley was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson to become the first black woman to hold the […]

Africa makes a scene: Best contemporary art fairs of 2020 | Al Jazeera

December 28, 2019December 31, 2019African Art, African Culture

From South Africa to Morocco, fairs including new and established creatives are drawing art lovers and buyers alike. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] African art has been having a very long moment. Over the past 10 years, contemporary artists from the continent – from the Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui to Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu to South African photographer […]

Unita Blackwell Risked It All So Black Mississippians Could Vote | The New York Times Magazine

December 28, 2019African American Activist, African American History ...

She was arrested dozens of times, and Klan members threw Molotov cocktails into her yard — but that didn’t stop her fight for civil rights. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] On an afternoon thick with Mississippi heat, Unita Blackwell sat on the front porch of her shotgun house with her friend Coreen, drinking homemade beer, waiting for something […]

A Massive New Database Will Connect Billions of Historic Records to Tell the Full Story of American Slavery | Smithsonian Magazine

December 24, 2019December 24, 2019African American History, Black History

The online resource will offer vital details about the toll wrought on the enslaved. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] In 1834, a 22-year-old Yoruba man who would come to be known as Manuel Vidau was captured as a prisoner of war and sold to slave traders in Lagos, today the largest city in Nigeria. A Spanish ship transported […]

Richard Hatcher, one of the nation’s first black mayors of a major city, dies at 86 | The Washington Post

December 18, 2019December 18, 2019African American Politics, African American Vote

Richard Hatcher, who became one of the first African American mayors of a large U.S. city when he was elected mayor of Gary, Ind., in 1967, died Dec. 13 at a Chicago hospital. He was 86. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] His death was announced by his daughter, state Rep. Ragen Hatcher, a Gary Democrat. The cause was […]

Justice for Curtis Flowers | The New York Times

December 17, 2019December 17, 2019Criminal Justice Reform

Delayed and incomplete, but still a triumph. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] First, a quick note about impeachment: More than 600 protests will be taking place around the country this evening. The goal is to voice outrage at President Trump’s behavior and show support for impeaching him. My colleague Michelle Goldberg writes about the planned events in her […]

Don’t Try This at Home | The New York Times

December 17, 2019December 17, 2019African American Entertainment, African American History

How the Nicholas Brothers became America’s foremost tap-dancers. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Most jazz tap-dancers stand up and dance. The Nicholas Brothers did that — and then they flew, catapulting themselves over each other’s heads, step by step down a staircase, or running up a wall and uncoiling backward into thin air. Perhaps you’ve seen them on […]

Possible mass grave from 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre found by researchers | NBC News

December 17, 2019December 17, 2019African American History

Experts in Oklahoma believe they found a mass grave site from the deadly race riots, recently recreated in HBO’s “Watchmen.” [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Experts at the University of Oklahoma believe they have found a possible mass grave site from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre at a city cemetery, although they are unsure how many bodies are […]