The waters in and around the United States have had a long history of claiming Black life since the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Along the Kansas and Missouri border, a small, unassuming creek is a part of this lineage, researchers say. For years, Johnson County, Kansas, residents believed the Big Negro Creek that cut through their […]
Culture
Posted inLGBTQ, Partner Content, Sports
Brittney Griner’s Return to the School That Didn’t Always Embrace Her
Originally published by The 19th When basketball star Brittney Griner left Baylor University in 2013, she was one of the most decorated student-athletes in the school’s history, with accolades that included NCAA Division I Defensive Player of the Year and NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player. But Griner had a complicated relationship with her Baptist […]
Posted inLGBTQ, Partner Content
Leaving the Church Isn’t So Simple for LGBTQ+ Black Christians
Originally published by The 19th When Karmen Michael Smith moved to New York City in 2003, he joined a new progressive Baptist church. He was raised with the understanding that if he wanted to find community in a new place, he needed to find a “church home.” But in a city known for progressive views, […]
Posted inCulture, History
One Family’s Quest for Reparations: ‘We Owe it Gracie’
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 […]
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, […]
Posted inCulture, History
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 […]
Posted inCulture, History
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 […]
Posted inCulture, History
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 […]
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. […]
