President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who grew up in the South and understood the politics of racism from the inside, saw it in part as a ploy to divide and conquer.…
Category: Civil Rights Movement
The Remarkable Legacy Of Jane Bolin, The First Black Female Judge In The United States
By Genevieve Carlton | Checked By John Kuroski Published May 14, 2021 Updated July 26, 2021 On July 22, 1939, Jane Bolin was sworn in as a judge in New York City. She…
9 Unsung Civil Rights Leaders That You Didn’t Learn About In School
By Kaleena Fraga | Checked By Leah Silverman Published November 3, 2021 Despite their immense contributions to the civil rights movement, these activists were largely ignored by the history books…
The Woman Whose Tireless Efforts Helped Launch The Famed Tuskegee Airmen
By Monica Danielle March 31 , 2022 Mary McLeod Bethune’s friendship with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt led to the desegregation of pilot training programs. The names of many women who…
Elizabeth Eckford made history at age 15. Here’s the full story behind the iconic photo.
By Annie Reneau 02.05.22 On September 4, 1957, nine students arrived at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas for their first day of school. They were bright students, chosen…
Inside The Little-Known History Of America’s Sundown Towns — Which Banned Black People After Dark
By Bernadette Giacomazzo | Checked By Jaclyn AnglisPublished September 21, 2021 For much of the 20th century, thousands of all-white American towns forbade Black people from being within the city…
How Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” Shocked Listeners With Its Brutal Confrontation of Racism
BY KENNETH PARTRIDGE OCTOBER 6, 2021 According to recent findings by the Equal Justice Initiative, nearly 4000 Black individuals were lynched by white Southerners in the United States between 1877 and 1950. These…
Forgotten Heroine, Ethel Payne: Pioneer of the Black Press
Tammy Gibson, Contributing Writer October 8, 2021 Ethel L. Payne had a front seat in history. Known as the First Lady of the Black Press, Payne’s career as a ground-breaking…
How the Freedman’s Savings Bank Failed Formerly Enslaved Americans
By: Dave Roos | Feb 15, 2022 During the American Civil War, nearly 180,000 Black Americans fought for the Union, many of them escaped former slaves. They were paid for their service, albeit less than white…
How a 1946 dispute over a broken radio in Tennessee helped spark the civil rights movement
Mike Christen The Daily Herald COLUMBIA, Tenn. – A historical marker recognizing one of the most pivotal moments in Columbia’s history was installed in 2016 on a broken sidewalk in front of an abandoned building,…