African American history

What "Crackhead" Really Meant in 1980s America

by Donovan X. Ramsey

The memories of politicians and police have been allowed to dominate our understanding of the emergence of crack cocaine in the 1980s. A new book seeks to elevate the voices of urban Black Americans and others who experienced it directly and still live with its effects.

In Memphis, Tyre Nichols's Killing Echoes 1866 Massacre

by Isaiah Stafford and Kathy Roberts Forde

In the aftermath of the Civil War, Memphis was a city in political upheaval in which policing became a method of reasserting white supremacy. 

The War on Black Studies Isn't "Culture War" – It's Part of a Long Political Battle

by Robin D.G. Kelley

"Who’s afraid of Black Studies? White supremacists, fascists, the ruling class, and even some liberals. As well they should be. Black Studies was born out of a struggle for freedom and a genuine quest to understand the world in order to change it."

Texas Politicians Want to Erase What Happened Between Juneteenth and Jim Crow

by Jeffrey L. Littlejohn and Zachary Montz

Joshua Houston, long enslaved by Sam Houston, recognized that the collective work of securing freedom only began with the announcement of emancipation, and that teaching the state's history honestly was part of the struggle for an egalitarian society against people determined to stand against it. 

Juneteenth has Gone National—We Must Preserve its Local Meanings

by Tiya Miles

Juneteenth celebrations have long been couched in local Black communities' preserved rituals that express particular ideas about heritage and the meaning of freedom. While a national commemoration of emancipation is welcome, history will be lost if local observances are swamped by a national holiday.

Review: J.T. Roane Tells Black Philadelphia's History from the Margins

by Charles W. McKinney

Roane picks up a challenge offered by W.E.B. DuBois in his pioneering "The Philadelphia Negro" to understand the spaces of alternative and underground social life as important and formative parts of Black urban life in the Great Migration. 

Blair L.M. Kelley Tells Black Working Class History Through Family

When the historian set out to write the history of working-class African Americans, her own family's stories proved the best place to begin. 

Health Researchers Show Segregation 100 Years Ago Harmed Black Health, and Effects Continue Today

Census data analysis by demographic historian J. David Hacker and health researcher J’Mag Karbeah correlate indexes of racial segregation with child mortality rates as a proxy for overall population health and conclude that the gap between black and white infant mortality grew the more segregated a city was. 

Rachel Swarns Traces the Ties of Slavery and the American Catholic Church

Following up on a blockbuster 2016 Times article, Swarns's book examines the histories of families with ancestors who were sold by Maryland Jesuits to shore up the order's finances (including the fledgling Georgetown University). 

J.T. Roane Reconstructs the Historical Spaces of Black Philadelphia

Roane examines the ways that Black Philadelphians between the Great Migration and the Black Power era created and used "underground" and spiritual spaces to stake claims to life in the city, and asks what places can fill that role today. 

Can the Left Take Back Identity Politics?

by Umut Özkırımlı

Recovering the liberatory potential of identity politics means going back to the term's source—the Combahee River Collective—and recognizing its radical roots and embrace of coalition-building and politics.

Progress Digitizing the Johnson Publishing Archive, a Vast Resource in African American History

Kara Olidge of the Getty Research Institute says making millions of images from the publishing company behind Ebony and Jet magazines accessible will help people to learn about Black history even if state legislatures restrict teaching it in schools. 

Commemoration of the Tulsa Massacre Has Put Symbolism Over Justice for the Victims

by Victor Luckerson

"The neighborhood’s historical fame has become a kind of albatross slung over Black Tulsans’ necks, as efforts at building concrete pathways toward justice are buried under hollow symbolism."

Determined to Remember: Harriet Jacobs and Slavery's Descendants

by Koritha Mitchell

Public history sites have the potential to spark intellectual engagement because when they make embodied connections between people and the sites they visit—even when those connections evoke the cruelty of the past. 

The Tulsa Race Massacre was an Attack on Black People; Rebuilding Policies were an Attack on Black Wealth

by Brentin Mock

Victor Luckerson looks to the aftermath of the deadly attacks on the Greenwood district to argue that Tulsa's white leadership, in combination with federal highway and urban renewal programs, thwarted the efforts of Black Tulsans who were determined to rebuild. 

Scholars Stage Teach-in on Racism in DeSantis's Back Yard

Yohuru Williams and the Institute for Common Power, directed by Terry Anne Scott, convened a 24-hour teach-in in St. Petersburg to draw attention to the connections between inclusive history lessons and functioning democracy. 

Massachusetts-Based Historians: Book Bans in Florida Affect Us, Too

Kellie Carter Jackson and Kerri Greenidge explain how the push to restrict books and teaching on racism in Florida will affect teaching even in blue states. 

If Football is America's Religion, Jim Brown was its Leading Saint

Dave Zirin, a Brown biographer, says that the hall of famer's complicated politics, advocacy for players in the pre-union era, and mistreatment of women all demand treating his life as a subject of study, not veneration.

Dept. of Ed Charges Georgia Book Removal May Violate Civil Rights

A review by the department's civil rights unit concludes that Forsyth County, Georgia may have created a hostile learning environment for Black and LGBTQ students through its book removal policies. 

For the Shakurs, Black Liberation Became the Family Business

Santi Elijah Holley traces the lines connecting Afeni Shakur's Black Panther Party activism to the musical and political messages of her son Tupac.