The Archive

Unfiltered stories of Black resistance, erased heroes, and hidden truths. We connect the past to today’s fights so the next generation never has to ask “why didn’t they teach us this?”

Series 1: Slavery Adapted

Slavery in the United States did not simply disappear. It changed form.
This series traces how systems of control evolved after emancipation, from Black Codes and convict leasing to segregation, mass incarceration, and modern policy decisions. Each post connects past structures to present outcomes, showing how inequality is maintained over time.
The goal is not just to revisit history, but to understand how it continues to shape the world we live in.

Throughout American history, the Bible was used both to defend slavery and to challenge it. Religious leaders interpreted scripture in different ways, showing how faith and religious authority could be used to support oppression or demand freedom.

How Christianity Was Used to Justify Slavery in America

The same religious tradition was used to defend slavery and challenge it. The historical record reveals how institutions, economic interests, and religious authority became intertwined. I’ve been thinking about something that many of us learned growing up. We were taught that taking the Lord’s name in vain meant saying something like “Oh my God” or “God damn.” Even saying those phrases could get you in trouble.

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Oct 228 min read

A documentary-style archival composition titled “Who Gets Repaid? Reparations and American History.” Three historical government documents represent different approaches to compensation: the 1862 D.C. Emancipation Act, which compensated qualifying enslavers; the 1988 Civil Liberties Act, which provided redress to eligible Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II; and Florida’s 1994 Rosewood legislation, which compensated survivors of the 1923 racial massacre. Set against a background of aged records, historical photographs, and government imagery, the composition examines how American institutions have determined whose losses deserve recognition and financial compensation.

America Has Paid Reparations Before. Why Not for Slavery?

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, formally acknowledging the federal government’s mistreatment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, approximately 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom were American citizens, were forcibly removed and incarcerated. Families lost homes, businesses, income, and their freedom because of government decisions.

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Oct 177 min read

Near Moore’s Ford Bridge in Georgia, a historical marker commemorates the July 25, 1946 lynching of George Dorsey, Mae Murray Dorsey, Roger Malcom and Dorothy Malcom. The FBI interviewed 2,790 people, and a federal grand jury subpoenaed 106 witnesses. No one was ever charged with their murders. The image contrasts the quiet landscape today with archival representations of the investigation, highlighting how racial violence could go unpunished despite extensive federal scrutiny. *Illustrative composite, not an archival photograph.*

Moore’s Ford: 2,790 Interviews and No Justice

There’s a historical marker near Moore’s Ford Bridge in Georgia that commemorates the deaths of four Black Americans who were lynched on July 25, 1946: George Dorsey, Mae Murray Dorsey, Roger Malcom and Dorothy Malcom. There’s another number that isn’t as easy to fit onto a historical marker: 2,790. That’

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Oct 147 min read

The cruelty created fear. The spectacle spread the warning. Institutions made it clear that Black people would not be protected. Cruelty to Control examines lynching not simply as an act of violence, but as a system designed to keep Black people in their place.

Cruelty As a Form of Control

I’ve been concerned about the reports of Black people found hanging recently. Some of these deaths were quickly described as suicides. While I understand that Black people do die by suicide, including by hanging, I struggle with that explanation because of the history behind lynchings.

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Sep 46 min read

The trauma isn't only in the loss. It's in being told not to believe what we've seen with our own eyes.

Black People Are Exhausted

Black people are tired. I am tired. We are tired of being told we don’t see what’s happening to us with our own eyes. We are tired of being told not to trust what we’ve experienced for generations. We are being murdered. Whether it’s by the police, ICE, or at the hands of people we considered friends, we are being murdered. Yet this country expects us to become desensitized to it. We are expected to accept whatever narrative is offered to explain away another Black death. We

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Aug 54 min read

Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B Du Bois

This Book Rewrites Reconstruction. Most People Never Learned It This Way.

Discover how W.E.B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America reframes one of the most misunderstood periods in U.S. history. Explore the real forces behind Reconstruction’s collapse, the central role of Black Americans, and why these patterns still matter today. Get your copy from our bookstore and join the conversation on social media.

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Apr 192 min read

The Archive

Series 1: Slavery Adapted

How Christianity Was Used to Justify Slavery in America

America Has Paid Reparations Before. Why Not for Slavery?

Moore’s Ford: 2,790 Interviews and No Justice

Cruelty As a Form of Control

Black People Are Exhausted

This Book Rewrites Reconstruction. Most People Never Learned It This Way.

SMART BROWN GIRL