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 […]
Black history
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 […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Chemical Plants Destroyed These Black Towns. The EPA Hopes New Regulations Will Help.
As the Environmental Protection Agency moves to curb the amount of cancer-causing pollution spewed out by 218 of the country’s largest oil and chemical plants, environmental leaders and Black residents in some Southern states say the proposal doesn’t go far enough. Roughly two-thirds of these plants are sprinkled across Texas and Louisiana, where many of […]
Posted inCulture, History
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 […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Rasheem Carter’s Death Shows the Fault Lines of Jim Crow Still Run Through Mississippi
The investigation into the killing of Tiffany Carter’s son sheds light on a rigid pattern in which Black Americans find themselves at odds with the very institutions they’re supposed to trust. While Rasheem Carter’s death wasn’t the result of officer-involved violence — and while there are many unknowns about what happened — the case has […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
How Slavery and Sharecropping Created a Sewage Crisis in Alabama’s Black Belt
In Alabama’s Black Belt, many residents have to hold their breath every time they attempt to flush their toilets because there’s a great chance that sewage will be sent back through their toilet bowls, bathtubs, and sinks. A group of environmental justice organizations filed a civil rights complaint last week against the state of Alabama, […]
Posted inEducation, K-12
The College Board’s Race Problem
History teacher Valanna White found herself in a quandary last fall when an administrator at her Tennessee high school pulled her syllabus for Advanced Placement U.S. Government. The course is designed to give students an analytical perspective on American government and its political system. But it was the unit on civil rights and civil liberties […]
