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 […]
History
Posted inCulture, History
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 […]
Posted inCulture, History
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 […]
Posted inCulture, History, Partner Content
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 […]
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Activist Recounts the Forgotten History of Black-Native Solidarity
In 1966, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Black mega-celebrity and activist Dick Gregory was sentenced to 90 days in the Thurston County jail in Washington for illegal net fishing. As a coordinated movement of sit-ins for voting rights and desegregation spread across the South like wildfires, “fish-ins,” an effort for increased native […]
Posted inCulture, History, Partner Content
Louisiana sisters fight to protect their community’s health and enslaved ancestors’ history
Originally published by The 19th We’re telling the untold stories of women, women of color and LGBTQ+ people. Sign up for our daily newsletter. WALLACE, La.— There are only a handful of homes situated on Alexis Court, but there are a whole lot of memories. At one end of the short street, facing the Mississippi […]
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The Fight to Stop the Erasure of Historic Black Towns
The Rev. Darryl Johnson rejoiced when he received a text message that a deal to sell the remaining 100 acres of the historic Robert Hungerford Preparatory High School property in Eatonville, Florida, fell through a week ago. After hearing the news that a developer dropped out of the controversial plan to buy the land, the […]
Posted inCulture, History
Once an ‘All-Black Utopia,’ Eatonville Residents Say New Development Could Erase History
Millard Livatt takes pride in knowing the literary destination he’s called home for more than 50 years is still standing. Made famous by the late Zora Neale Hurston, Eatonville, Florida, is one of the oldest Black-incorporated towns in the U.S. Despite high poverty rates, limited job opportunities and food insecurity, Livatt said he looks beyond […]
