Black History

Ben Vinson III, Historian of the African Diaspora in Latin America in as Howard U. President

Vinson, who attended high school in Washington D.C. and was a dean at the George Washington University, returns to the District with goals of vaulting the university into the top ranks of research institutions. 

Review: The Paradoxes of CLR James

by Gerald Horne

A new biography by John L. Williams examines the connections that the pathbreaking radical intellectual CLR James drew between the Haitian revolution and global struggles for emancipation in the 20th century. 

Martin Sostre's Vision of Collective Liberation

by Garrett Felber

Martin Sostre's refusal to allow the New York prison system to subject him to invasive and violating searches showed how he placed bodily autonomy at the center of a radical critique of racial oppression. At what would be his 100th birthday, his legacy is considered. 

Philosopher Lewis Gordon's Impact on Black Jewish History

Gordon said for him, “Black consciousness links to all oppression and that’s exactly the kind of Jewishness I was raised in. It was always explained as connected to the ethical, the political dimensions of what it was to be Jewish."

Quintard Taylor's Black Past Project Fights Erasure of History

The Seattle Times editorial board praises the web-based library, now 16 years old, founded by a University of Washington professor. 

Conversations in Black Studies

Komozi Woodard, Jeanne Theoharis and Robyn Spencer-Antoine discuss the 10th anniversary of an important monthly discussion series hosted by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York. 

Anastasia Curwood on New Shirley Chisholm Bio

By framing Chisholm as a person with a life history, Curwood elevates knowledge of the New York congresswoman from a "first major party candidate" to a political theorist and visionary. 

Rescuing Shirley Chisholm's Life from Symbolism

by Anastasia Curwood

Writing a biography of the Congresswoman and presidential candidate required working through the distinction between Shirley Chisholm the symbol and the much more complex reality of Shirley Chisholm the woman, to see how big trends in Black history unfolded at a human scale.

How Josephine Baker Challenged Racism in Las Vegas

by Claytee White

Josephine Baker's brief stand in 1952 didn't forever break the color line in the city's casinos and clubs, but it did help Black Las Vegans push for enduring change. 

Black Educators Have Long Fought Against Political Suppression of History

by Keisha N. Blain

For as long as white politicians have tried to suppress Black perspectives on history and public life, Black educators have worked to make sure those perspectives are heard, and to explain why they matter. 

Josephine Baker's Induction to the Pantheon Shouldn't Obscure how Other Black Women Served Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

by Rachel Anne Gillett

"Even as White European audiences fell in love with her, Black women in France criticized her and the system that lifted her up."

Black Germans and New Forms of Resistance

by Tiffany Florvil

Black activists and intellectuals in Germany have worked to promote knowledge of colonial and Black history as a counter to the entrenched tendency to hide and evade the subject. 

Mary Seacole and the Politics of Writing Black History in 1980s Britain

by Margo Williams

The revival of British interest in the life of Jamaican-Scottish nurse Mary Seacole reflected the rise of a movement by Black British activists to see Black history as a story of struggle, rather than of a color-blind narrative of Britishness. 

Remembering is Resistance

by Jessica M. Parr

Books by Ana Lucia Araujo and Joan Wallach Scott examine the politics of memory and history and explain the stakes of fights over teaching and memorializing oppression. 

The Real Black History? The Government Wants To Ban It

by Priyamvada Gopal

Tory attacks on "victim narratives" in the history curriculum defend entrenched power and ignore the fact that Black British histories are about the power of protest and activism to make social change. 

Black Lives Matter But Slavery Isn’t Our Only Narrative

by Aretha Phiri and Michelle M. Wright

"Black folks are astonishingly diverse in their cultures, histories, languages, religions, so no single definition of Blackness is going to fit everyone. When we fail to consider this, we effectively leave many Black people out of the conversation."

The Great White Heist (The Other Reason For Reparations)

Slavery is the usual argument for reparations. But there’s another rationale.

Using MLK to Quell Outrage Distorts His Legacy

by Jeanne Theoharis

King has much to say about our contemporary moment, about the persistence of police abuse and the power of disruption, which may account, at least partly, for why this aspect of his politics is considerably less recognized.

A 1963 Klan Bombing Killed Her Sister and Blinded Her. Now She Wants Restitution.

Sarah Collins Rudolph, who survived the 1963 church bombing that killed her sister and three other girls, wants restitution and an apology for what she’s suffered.

The Cruel Story Behind The 'Reverse Freedom Rides'

This episode of the NPR podcast "Code Switch" discusses the forgotten history of a segregationist scheme.