Julia Scott is disappointed. Despite a judge granting her and other Gullah Geechee residents in St. Helena Island, South Carolina, access to the centuries-old Big House Cemetery, they must give the property owners — who put up a gate to block the entrance — written notice first. “It’s a start, but I am not pleased […]
History
Posted inCulture, Economy, Employment, Equity, History, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues
The Mississippi Delta Is a Testing Ground for the Nation
The majority-Black Mississippi Delta region is shrouded in both magic and myth for many outsiders, writer and essayist W. Ralph Eubanks says. Dubbed the “Most Southern Place on Earth,” the Delta’s rich culture and blues music brings millions of tourists to the region every year. The Magnolia State broke records in 2024 when about 44 […]
Posted inCourts, Economic Development, Eminent Domain, History, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues
Georgia Is Letting a Railroad Seize Land a Black Family Has Owned For 100 Years
SPARTA, Ga. — In 1850, Andrew Benjamin Tarbutton enslaved 25 people in central Georgia. A year later, he purchased more than a dozen additional people off the docks in Savannah and marched them toward his home, setting the foundation for his family’s generational wealth. Four generations later, a railroad company owned by one of his […]
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
Philadelphia Wins Court Fight Over Slavery Exhibit Removal
After a weekslong battle, Black Philadelphians and their allies have notched a victory: A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore a slavery exhibit at the President’s House Site in the city. Without warning, National Park Service workers in January removed panels about slavery from the President’s House Site, where George Washington […]
Posted inCulture, History, Politics & Policy
Remembering the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Impact and Civil Rights Leadership
The Rev. Jesse Jackson — a grandfather, husband, and storied civil rights icon — has passed away. Jackson died peacefully Tuesday morning, surrounded by family, according to a statement issued by the Rainbow People United to Save Humanity (PUSH) Coalition. Last fall, Jackson was hospitalized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where he received “good […]
Posted inHBCUs, History
Smithsonian Exhibit Highlights the Power and Joy of HBCUs
Photos by Kuwilileni Hauwanga/Capital B “Beautiful culture.” “Beautiful art.” “Great representation.” Those are phrases museum goer Dajanae Prude, 28, used to describe the new Black college exhibit at National Museum of African American History. The exhibit uses sounds, artifacts, documentaries and pictures to tell the story of how historically Black colleges and universities have remained […]
Posted inCommunity, Culture, History
The Mardi Gras Indian Tradition Carrying Generations of Black History
NEW ORLEANS — From the porch of his family’s home in Uptown New Orleans, Gerard “Little Bo” Dollis remembers being small enough to see only feathers — plumes of red and gold that blocked out the morning sun and the party bus idling behind his father. “You couldn’t even see the bus,” said Dollis, also […]
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
100 Years After a Black Family Was Forced Out, a Descendant Sues a California City
Sidney and Iréne Dearing, along with their two small children, faced lynching and bomb threats after they settled in a “sundown town” in California in 1924. As the first Black homeowners in Piedmont, a wealthy white suburb of Oakland, they endured a racial terror campaign that included a mob of 500 people showing up on […]
Posted inCulture, History, Partner Content
Detroit Heard King’s Dream First. These Black Women are Carrying It Forward.
This story was originally reported by Ebony JJ Curry of The 19th. Meet Ebony and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. Detroit was the first place Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered an early version of what would become his “I Have a Dream” speech. He recited it on June 23, […]
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
Stevie Wonder’s Battle for MLK Day and the New Challenges to King’s Legacy
Stevie Wonder’s new album, Hotter Than July, had been burning up the charts for months by Jan. 15, 1981. But something bigger than music was on the artist’s mind that day. Along with other Black cultural giants, the 30-year-old was leading a rally of approximately 100,000 people on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Years […]
