The Bold Accomplishments of Women of Color Need to Be a Bigger Part of Suffrage History An upcoming Smithsonian exhibition, “Votes For Women,” delves into the complexities and biases of the nature of persistence Image: Anna Julia Haywood (Cooper), by H.M Platt, 1884 (Courtesy of Oberlin College Archives) (Smithsonian) The history of women gaining [...]
Explore the Underground Railroad’s ‘great central depot’ From Harriet Tubman to Gerrit Smith, abolitionists in central New York ushered thousands of escaped slaves to freedom. (National Geographic) A mere mention of Harriet Tubman or Fredrick Douglass conjures up images of former slaves, abolitionists and the struggle for freedom for enslaved Africans. Both New York [...]
Story of slave, Alamo hero recounted in new book Image: In this sketch by artist Gary Zaboly, a wounded Joe is forced at the point of a bayonet to identify key members of the Alamo garrison after the final attack of March 6, 1836. (Image courtesy of Lee Spencer White) (Houston Chronicle) Texans who [...]
In Search of George Washington Carver’s True Legacy The famed agriculturalist deserves to be known for much more than peanuts Photo: Botanist George Washington Carver, seen here in a 1940 photo, donated $33,000 in cash to the Tuskegee Institute to establish a fund to carry on the agricultural and chemical work he began. (Bettmann) (Smithsonian) [...]
7 black composers who changed the course of classical music history (Classic FM) From Scott Joplin to Florence Price, the music of these brilliant composers has too long been neglected in Western classical music tradition. In Black History Month, we’re celebrating the most famous and influential black composers in classical music history. 1. Joseph [...]
Life Aboard a Slave Ship (History.com) Video: TV-PG, 4:02 (graphic content) From approximately 1525 to 1866, 12.5 million Africans were forcibly transported across the Middle Passage to serve as slaves in the New World. Life aboard slave ships was agonizing and dangerous; nearly 2 million slaves would perish on their journey across the Atlantic. [...]
The Racism of 19th-Century Advertisements Illustrated advertising cards invoked ethnic stereotypes, using black women as foils in order to appeal to white consumers. Image: A trade card for Dilworth's Coffee, Philadelphia via Flickr (JSTOR Daily) After decades of presenting the archetypal American consumer as white and female, advertisers are slowly broadening their imagery to include [...]
The Little-Known Southern Underground Railroad Into Mexico Is an Important Piece of Black History Image: Routes of the underground railroad (Remezcla) In July 1863, numerous local newspapers throughout Texas reported that three enslaved Africans “stole a bale of cotton” and used the bundle to float across the Rio Grande and into neighboring Mexico, where [...]
He Fought for His Freedom in the Revolution Then His Sons Were Sold Into Slavery Jude Hall was one of the most revered black veterans of the American Revolution. That didn't stop the kidnappers from targeting his boys. (History.com) Born into slavery before the American Revolution, Jude Hall fought valiantly in several of the war’s [...]
The Underground Kitchen That Funded the Civil Rights Movement Georgia Gilmore’s cooking fueled the Montgomery bus boycott. Photo: Georgia Gilmore poses for photographers after testifying as a defense witness in the bus boycott trial of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., March 21, 1956, in Montgomery. (Associated Press) (Atlas Obscura) On December 5, 1955, four [...]
