In 1858, the luxury yacht Wanderer smuggled 409 Africans from the Congo region into Georgia despite federal laws that had outlawed the transatlantic slave trade decades earlier. Owned by wealthy Southern elites, the vessel used status, privilege, and deception to avoid scrutiny from anti-slavery patrols. Federal investigators eventually uncovered evidence and prosecuted those responsible. Despite witnesses, counterfeit documents, and multiple trials, no convictions were secu

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, debates over history, patriotism, education, race, and democracy are intensifying across the country. According to America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversary by Eddie S. Glaude Jr., major American anniversaries have historically reflected the political tensions of their era. The 1876 Centennial reflected the collapse of Reconstruction. The 1926 Sesquicentennial reflected white nationalism and immigration

Latasha Harlins was fifteen years old when she was killed in a Los Angeles convenience store in 1991 after being accused of stealing orange juice. Security footage later showed she had money in her hand. Thirty-two years later, fourteen-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton was killed in South Carolina after being accused of stealing bottles of water. Investigators argued the accusation itself was unfounded. Although the cases occurred decades apart, they raise many of the same ques

Debates about race often intensify during major American anniversaries because race has always shaped the country’s institutions, politics, and national identity. According to America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversary by Eddie S. Glaude Jr., celebrations like the 1876 Centennial, 1926 Sesquicentennial, and 1976 Bicentennial reflected the racial conflicts of their time.

Franklin and Armfield became one of the largest slave trading companies in the United States during the 1830s. Operating primarily from Alexandria, Virginia, the company purchased enslaved Black people in the Upper South and transported them to the Deep South, where the cotton economy created enormous demand for labor.

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, debates over patriotism, education, race, and national identity are intensifying. According to America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversary by Eddie S. Glaude Jr., this pattern is not new. America’s major anniversaries have historically reflected the racial and political tensions of their time. The 1876 Centennial celebrated national unity while Reconstruction collapsed and racial violence spread across the

American history rarely moves in a straight line. Many of the country’s largest expansions of civil rights have been followed by organized backlash, legal restrictions, or institutional retreat. After the Civil War, Reconstruction expanded Black citizenship through constitutional amendments, voting rights, and federal enforcement. That progress was followed by Jim Crow, voter suppression, segregation, and organized racial violence.

The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission was a state government agency created in 1956 to resist desegregation and monitor civil rights activism during the civil rights era. Following the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, Mississippi officials established the commission under the stated goal of protecting the state’s sovereignty from federal intervention.

The Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 were federal laws passed during Reconstruction to protect Black Americans’ constitutional rights after the Civil War. Following the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan used violence and intimidation to prevent Black citizens from voting and participating in government. Local authorities often refused to intervene.

Accurate historical understanding is essential for interpreting current systems and policies. When Black history is simplified, misrepresented, or omitted, it creates gaps in public understanding. These gaps influence how people think about inequality, policy decisions, and social outcomes. Without a clear understanding of historical context, it becomes easier to misunderstand or dismiss present-day issues.

Martin Luther King Jr. argued that the greatest obstacle to civil rights was not extremist groups, but moderate individuals who prioritized order over justice. He described people who agreed with equality in principle but resisted the disruption required to achieve it. This pattern continues today. Public attention often drives engagement with social issues. Topics trend, people respond, and then attention shifts before meaningful change occurs.

In many discussions about racism, the responsibility to explain the issue often falls on those directly affected by it. This creates an additional burden that extends beyond the original harm. The information needed to understand racism is widely available through research, historical records, and policy analysis. Despite this, conversations frequently restart from the beginning, requiring repeated explanations.

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.

Civil rights history is often taught as a story about legal equality, voting rights, desegregation, and access to public spaces. While those changes were significant, many civil rights leaders expanded their focus to include economic inequality. Martin Luther King Jr. organized the Poor People’s Campaign, focusing on jobs, wages, and housing. Malcolm X began connecting domestic inequality to global economic systems. Fred Hampton built coalitions based on shared economic cond

Many practices often labeled as “superstitions” in Black communities originated as survival strategies. During slavery and segregation, behavior was shaped by risk, surveillance, and limited access to resources. Actions like limiting movement at night, being cautious with speech, and strictly protecting possessions were practical responses to those conditions. Over time, these behaviors were passed down, but the original context was often lost.

Historical amnesia doesn’t require deleting history. It works by simplifying it. When key details are removed, events lose context. Without context, people can’t connect past decisions to present outcomes. This affects how issues like voting rights, education, and inequality are understood. Policies that follow long patterns begin to look new. Structural problems begin to look individual. That shift reduces accountability.

David French wrote that one of the saddest aspects of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti is that they seemed to believe they were operating inside a “normative state,” a world where police usually respond with discipline and restraint. For Black Americans, the normative state has historically included violence with limited consequence. From slave patrols to modern policing, enforcement has been uneven by design. Accountability has been selective. Discipline has been d

America tends to treat decline as something that simply happens. Baldwin warned that it’s something the nation moves toward through repeated decisions. “America will destroy itself not because of what Black Americans do but because of what white Americans refuse to do.”