African American History

Mary McLeod Bethune in 1949

U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall Collection Will Get Its First State-Commissioned Statue of a Black American

A statue of educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune will replace a statue of a Confederate general

Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee, was a historically black college founded in 1866.

First Museum Committed to Sharing the Stories of Historically Black Colleges Opens

The HBCU Museum in Washington, D.C., launched March 9 and has plans to expand to a second location in Atlanta

In 2003, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Les Payne is pictured delivering the traditional charge to University of Connecticut undergraduates during commencement exercises at The Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.

Pioneering Black Journalist Les Payne Has Died at Age 76

The fearless Pulitzer Prize-winning <i>Newsday</i> reporter and editor, who was a founding member of NABJ, paved the way for journalists of color

William Still and a recent street view image of the row house where conservationists believe he and his wife Letitia once lived.

Underground Railroad Safe House Discovered in Philadelphia

Preservationists say they have identified the home of famed black abolitionist William Still, who offered refuge to hundreds of freedom seekers

The names of 50 victims of the 1887 Thibodaux massacre in Louisiana are among those inscribed on the new memorial.

A New Memorial Remembers the Thousands of African-Americans Who Were Lynched

Next month's opening of the monument in Alabama will be a necessary step in reckoning with America's deadly past

The Stephen Foster statue will be replaced with a monument in honor of an African American woman who made an outsized impact on Pittsburgh.

Monument to a Historic Black Woman Will Replace Racist Statue in Pittsburgh

A city task force is asking the public to help decide who should be honored

Charles Syphax was among the slaves taken to George Washington Parke Custis’ plantation in Arlington, Virginia. He ran the dining room at the huge mansion known as Arlington House (above), which still stands on the grounds of the cemetery.

How the African-American Syphax Family Traces Its Lineage to Martha Washington

Resources at the African American History Museum deliver a wealth of opportunity for genealogical research

The Library of Congress recently digitized this portrait of John Willis Menard, the only known photograph of the African-American trailblazer.

The International Vision of John Willis Menard, First African-American Elected to Congress

Although he was denied his seat in the House, Menard continued his political activism with the goal of uniting people across the Western Hemisphere

Choctaw chief Greenwood LeFlore had 15,000 acres of Mississippi land (above, his Mississippi home Malmaison) and 400 enslaved Africans under his dominion.

How Native American Slaveholders Complicate the Trail of Tears Narrative

The new exhibition 'Americans' at the National Museum of the American Indian prompts a deeper dive for historic truths

"Now," says the American Indian Museum's director Kevin Gover (right with Lonnie Bunch, director of the African American History museum) "some of these institutions are able to produce excellent scholarship that tells a vastly different story from what most Americans learn.”

Two Museum Directors Say It’s Time to Tell the Unvarnished History of the U.S.

History isn’t pretty and sometimes it is vastly different than what we’ve been taught, say Lonnie Bunch and Kevin Gover

Anna Murray Douglass helped Frederick escape from slavery, and continued to support his abolitionist work for the rest of her life.

The Hidden History of Anna Murray Douglass

Although she’s often overshadowed by her husband, Frederick Douglass, Anna made his work possible

Scene from the 1967 Detroit riot.

Study Shows Little Change Since Kerner Commission Reported on Racism 50 Years Ago

An update to the landmark study finds there is now more poverty and segregation in America

President Lyndon Johnson constituted the Kerner Commission to identify the genesis of the violent 1967 riots that killed 43 in Detroit and 26 in Newark (above, soldiers in a Newark storefront), while causing fewer casualties in 23 other cities.

The 1968 Kerner Commission Got It Right, But Nobody Listened

Released 50 years ago, the infamous report found that poverty and institutional racism were driving inner-city violence

Slave sale, Charleston, South Carolina

When Emancipation Finally Came, Slave Markets Took on a Redemptive Purpose

During the Civil War, the jails that held the enslaved imprisoned Confederate soldiers. After, they became rallying points for a newly empowered community

Malcolm X by Copain, c. 1967

Is It Time for a Reassessment of Malcolm X?

A Smithsonian Channel film, "The Lost Tapes," challenges misconceptions about the charismatic leader

How One Amateur Historian Brought Us the Stories of African-Americans Who Knew Abraham Lincoln

Once John E. Washington started to dig, he found an incredible wealth of untapped knowledge about the 16th president

The Bond Between Mary Todd Lincoln and Her Seamstress

The connection between first lady Mary Todd Lincoln and her African-American seamstress Elizabeth Keckley was a remarkably strong one

The scholar, educator, and political activist Angela Davis was the nation’s most iconic revolutionary for a generation.

Angela Davis' Archive Comes to Harvard

The papers illuminate her rise from philosophy professor to global icon and activist

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s New York Times Bestseller introduces young readers to impactful black inventors and innovators.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Travels from Court to Classroom to Highlight History of African-American Inventors

The NBA all-star says he hopes young students realize the power and influence they can achieve in STEM-related fields

Both Kehinde Wiley and Obama said they were struck by parallels in their life stories. “Both of us had American mothers who raised us, with extraordinary love and support,” Obama said.

Artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald Capture the Unflinching Gaze of the President and First Lady

The nation's first African-American presidency is marked by two prominent African-American portraitists

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