How Harry S. Truman went from being a racist to desegregating the military Photo: U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Edward Williams, right, shakes hands with President Harry S. Truman at a casual meeting during the president’s morning walk. (Harry S. Truman Library and Museum) (The Washington Post) Harry S. Truman didn’t start out as [...]
Legends reflect on how Corpus Christi led way to integrate high school football in Texas Miller Bucs star Bobby Smith and others from the Corpus Christi area helped lead the way to integrating high school football in Texas (Corpus Christi Caller-Times) One Saturday morning in the fall of 1959, Bobby Smith would’ve been found [...]
The Electoral College’s Racist Origins More than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern white voters, the system continues to do just that. Photo by Frank Scherschel/The Life Picture Collection/Getty (The Atlantic) Is a color-blind political system possible under our Constitution? If it is, the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights [...]
Enslaved Couples Faced Wrenching Separations, or Even Choosing Family Over Freedom Loved ones could be sold away at any time. Here's how married couples coped. Photo: Soldier and Companion, c.1861-65 (tintype with brass mat & leather case), American Photographer, (19th century)/Detroit Institute of Arts, USA/Founders Society Purchase, DeRoy Photographic Acquisition Endowment Fund and Coville [...]
The Complexities of Slavery in the Nation's Capital Image: In this drawing from around 1815, the enslaved pass the United States Capitol wearing shackles and chains. (Library of Congress) (The White House Historical Association) For the first seventy-two years of its existence, the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., harbored one of America’s most difficult historical [...]
How Dorie Miller’s bravery helped fight bigotry in the Navy Image: Doris Miller was an African-American Sailor who earned the Navy Cross for bravery during the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II. (Navy) (Navy Times) Among the pantheon of America’s heroes, none might seem more improbable than the black son of Texas [...]
Bass Reeves Finally Gets His Hollywood Moment in HBO’s ‘Watchmen’ The legend of the former Texas marshal figures prominently in Damon Lindelof’s new series. Photo credit: ilbusca/Getty, Public Domain (Texas Monthly) The series premiere of HBO’s Watchmen opens with a black-hooded figure in hot pursuit of a lawman; he quickly finds himself lassoed in [...]
The Long Story of East 11th and 12th Streets Takes a Turn Austin's historically black neighborhood continues to stand at the crossroads of growth Photo: Harold McMillan and Greg Smith at Kenny Dorham's Backyard (Photo by David Brendan Hall) (Austin Chronicle) Dr. Charles Urdy, at 86, can still remember the names of long-gone nightclubs [...]
They were once America’s cruelest, richest slave traders. Why does no one know their names? Isaac Franklin and John Armfield committed atrocities they appeared to relish Photo: The exterior of the Franklin and Armfield Slave Office, today the Freedom House Museum, in Alexandria. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post ) (The Washington Post) The two most [...]
The Battle to Rewrite Texas History While a new generation of scholars is correcting the historical record, supporters of the traditional narratives are fighting to keep their grip on the public imagination. Illustration by David Palumbo (Texas Monthly) On the mild, cloudy day of April 14, 2015, exactly 150 years and five days after [...]
