Exhibit -- "Purchased Lives: The American Slave Trade from 1808 to 1865" Touring a Bullock Texas State History Museum exhibit with experts helps explain the stories behind the stories. (Photo: Oil painting of a slave auction scene from between 1830 and 1850. Contributed by Matilda Gray Stream Collection, Everygreen Plantation) (Austin American-Statesman) If your African-American [...]
From controversy to empowerment: the history of black dolls A landmark collection of black dolls showcases troubling stereotypes but also reveals how children have seen themselves reflected in the toys they played with. From the 1890s to the 1930s in Macon, Georgia, a black handyman named Leo Moss was a pioneer of black dolls. He [...]
The Many Lives of Pauli Murray She was an architect of the civil-rights struggle, the women’s movement, and the first African-American woman vested as an Episcopal priest. Why haven’t you heard of her? (The New Yorker) The wager was ten dollars. It was 1944, and the law students of Howard University were discussing how best [...]
The Two Lives of Eugene Bullard How the first black combat pilot escaped America, became a hero in France, and ended up an elevator operator in New York. (PBS) In his own words, Eugene Bullard was the “first known Negro military pilot.” That, at least, was what was printed on his business cards. By that time, [...]
Time Magazine: 100 Photos Collection -- The stories behind 100 images that changed the world Emmett Till, 1955, photograph by David Jackson "When people saw what had happened to my son, men stood up who had never stood up before." Mamie Till-Mobley In August 1955, Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, was visiting relatives [...]
'It Was Our Theater': 40 Years After The Harlem Burned Down, Its Memory Flickers On (KUT Austin, NPR) On a vacant lot at the corner of East 12th and Salina streets, Ada Harden sees a silver screen where a fence now stands. “Can you imagine a theater sitting right here?” she asks, giggling. She certainly can. The Harlem [...]
The Upshaws of County Line: 25 Years of Pictures from a Texas Freedom Colony Photographer Richard Orton will present on his new exhibit, "The Upshaws of County Line: An American Family," Thursday, March 23, 6-8 p.m. at the UT San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures. The Institute is located at 801 E. César E. Chávez [...]
A Glimpse Into the Life of a Slave Sold to Save Georgetown (New York Times) He was an enslaved teenager on a Jesuit plantation in Maryland on the night that the stars fell. It was November 1833, and meteor showers set the sky ablaze. His name was Frank Campbell. He would hold tight to that [...]
Authors Share Journey While Honoring Dallas' Black History (Pictured: Freedman's Cemetery Memorial, Dallas) Doctor Mamie McKnight and her daughter, Ginger McKnight-Chavers, shared their journeys during a recent visit to North Texas, while recognizing the history of blacks in Dallas. “My mother’s family and my dad’s family have been in Texas since slavery, and we’re just [...]
In the Alamo's shadow For one moment in time, a young black man captivated an audience comprised mainly of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The man's name was Joe, an American-born slave, and one of the few survivors of the March 6,1836, Battle of the Alamo. Joe's account of the grisly battle [...]
