Candice Hammons’ curiosity about the history of the maternal side of her close-knit family unearthed a mystery along Texas’ Neches River. It all started with a simple ancestry test in 2018. Her niece had just completed a DNA kit from 23andMe and her excitement was contagious. For Hammons, it wasn’t just about learning where she […]
History
Posted inCulture, History
How to Find the Roots of Your Family Tree
From the inception of the United States, Black families have been displaced and ripped apart. It’s been difficult to track Black lineage because of limited data and written documents that erased Black folks. Over the years, and more recently, descendants have uncovered their histories, which have led to reclaiming stolen land, holding onto historical land, […]
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Black Tribal Members’ Battle for Citizenship Continues
Black Creeks’ quest for tribal recognition isn’t over yet, as the Muscogee (Creek) Nation appeals a decision that could open up a path to citizenship for hundreds of people. A judge for the tribe in Oklahoma recently ruled that Rhonda Grayson and Jeff Kennedy — two descendants of Black people who had been enslaved by […]
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The Man Behind the March on Washington
When Bayard Rustin is remembered at all, he’s remembered as the architect of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. But the gay, pacifist radical — the subject of a new biographical drama that’s out on Netflix this week — was more than “Mr. March on Washington,” as he was affectionately called. His […]
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This Book Uses Horror to Explore Florida’s Overlooked Civil Rights Movement
On their 25th wedding anniversary on Christmas night in 1951, Florida teachers Harry T. and Harriette Moore were fatally injured when a bomb exploded under their bed. It took more than half a century to identify the Ku Klux Klan members who had targeted the two civil rights advocates, who played a key role in […]
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The Sacred Ground Where Black Americans Search for Their Roots
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Exactly where the bodies lie underneath Jacqueline Hayes’ feet on the acre of land at 2698 South Drive is somewhat of a riddle waiting to be solved. Most of the graves are unmarked, and although published obituaries name some of those buried at the site, it’s impossible to know precisely where. Still, Hayes […]
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How This Infamous Civil Rights-Era Church Bombing Still Haunts America
Lisa McNair never knew her sister, Denise. But Denise’s story has always been with her. Sixty years ago, on Sept. 15, 1963, members of the Ku Klux Klan planted some 15 sticks of dynamite under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which was a nucleus of the Civil Rights Movement. […]
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Racist Policies, Racist Attack: Jacksonville Deplores Lack of Black History Education
JACKSONVILLE — Just after 6 p.m. Monday, chants rang out from James Weldon Johnson Park. Black fists waved in the air as cheers and claps mobilized the crowd that had gathered downtown for a rally against white supremacy. “Black lives matter!” they yelled from underneath trees that provided little shade from Florida’s summer heat. It had […]
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Tulsa Massacre Survivor Becomes Oldest Woman in the World to Release a Memoir
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published by The 19th in 2023. Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, died at 111 years old Monday. More than 100 years later, Viola Fletcher can still vividly remember the smell of her thriving neighborhood — dubbed America’s “Black Wall Street” — burning. Fletcher, now […]
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The Next Phase of the Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors’ Legal Battle
The three known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre refuse to stop fighting for restitution, even after a Tulsa County District Court judge tossed out their lawsuit seeking reparations. “The dismissal of this case is just one more example of how America’s — and specifically Tulsa’s — legacy of racial harm, racial distress, is […]