They Introduced the World to Songs of Slavery. It Almost Broke Them. The Jubilee Singers were a global sensation. But an aggressive touring schedule would leave the young performers exhausted, underpaid, and in some cases, dead. (Topic Magazine) It was late December of 1871, and Henry Ward Beecher, the minister of Plymouth Church in

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, “The Black Swan” Born into slavery, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield broke barriers with every note she sang (JSTOR Daily) Her voice swooped and soared through complex operatic melodies, thrilling audiences in the antebellum North. She gave encore after encore to listeners who couldn’t get enough. She was Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, one of

The Statue of Liberty was created to celebrate freed slaves, not immigrants, its new museum recounts Lady Liberty was inspired by the end of the Civil War and emancipation. The connection to immigration came later. Photo: A close-up of part of the chains at the Statue of Liberty’s feet. (National Park Service) (The Washington

One of the Earliest Memorial Day Ceremonies Was Held by Freed Slaves At the close of the Civil War, freed slaves in Charleston honored fallen Union soldiers Photo: The clubhouse at the Charleston racetrack where the 1865 Memorial Day events took place. (Library of Congress) (History) Memorial Day was born out of necessity. After

The Truth Behind ’40 Acres and a Mule’ By Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  We’ve all heard the story of the “40 acres and a mule” promise to former slaves. It’s a staple of black history lessons, and it’s the name of Spike Lee’s film company. The promise was the first systematic attempt to provide

Exhibition to examine Balthazar, a Black African king in Medieval and Renaissance European art Curators seek your feedback on an exhibition-in-progress on one of the most prominent African figures in old master European painting Image: Detail of "The Adoration of the Magi" from a Book of Hours showing the magus Balthazar (right), about 1480–90,

A symbol of slavery — and survival Angela’s arrival in Jamestown in 1619 marked the beginning of a subjugation that left millions in chains Photo: The 1624-1625 Jamestown census lists an “Angelo a Negar.” (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) (The Washington Post) By the time Angela was brought to Jamestown’s muddy shores in 1619, she

She Survived a Slave Ship, the Civil War and the Depression. Her Name Was Redoshi. Photo: Redoshi, who was known as Sally Smith after she became enslaved, with her husband, called Uncle Billy or Yawith. (Credit, via Shirley Quarles) (New York Times) It has long been believed that a man named Cudjo Lewis was

How Reconstruction Still Shapes American Racism Image: First black legislators in Congress (Time) By Henry Louis Gates, Jr. During an interview with Chris Rock for my PBS series ­African American Lives 2, we traced the ancestry of several well-known African Americans. When I told Rock that his great-great-­grandfather Julius Caesar Tingman had served in

Historians expose early scientists’ debt to the slave trade Image: Hans Sloane collected this specimen of cacao in Jamaica in the 1680s. Sloane often collected on or near slave plantations, taking advantage of slavery’s infrastructure to advance his science. (NHM Images) (ScienceMag.org) At the dawn of the 1700s, European science seemed poised to conquer