In the 19th century, slaveholders advertised widely for runaway slaves and often hired men to track and capture fugitives. African-American communities offered sanctuary space to the runaways.
Nationalist protests will be more welcome than anti-government protests from now on.
Kacper Pempel/Reuters
Chelsea Johnson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Natural hair has become a political rallying point for women across the African diaspora. For these women, wearing natural hair is way to resist Eurocentric norms and “post-racial” political thought.
Protesters call for the arrest of an officer who shot dead unarmed motorist Terence Crutcher.
REUTERS/Nick Oxford
Protests erupted against the killing of black men by police in Tulsa and Charlotte. This roundup looks at research on racial violence and explains where there might be potential solutions.
Women line the Atlantic City boardwalk to protest the 1968 Miss America pageant.
Feminist Theories & Art Practices
For decades, the Miss America pageant had excluded minorities while celebrating a very narrow definition of womanhood. Then two separate protests – a women’s liberation picket and the lesser-known Miss Black America pageant – said ‘enough is enough.’
Johannesburg skyline: the challenge is to create a city that is liveable, safe and resource efficient.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Laws that restrict who can vote are facing challenges in several states. A historian explains how people mobilized against voting restrictions of the 1960s, and why their strategy is still important.
The Cannon Street All-Stars watch from the stands at the 1955 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
1955 Cannon Street All-Stars/Facebook
Charleston’s Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars thought they’d have a chance to compete for a spot in the coveted Little League World Series. But South Carolina’s Little League director had other ideas.
Police armored cars drive down a Baltimore street following the death of Freddie Gray in 2015.
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
The Baltimore Police Department is found to have violated the civil rights of poor blacks. A historian explains why those findings are eerily similar to how the city treated blacks in the 1800s.
Some fear that Chinese investment will lead to a painful trade-off between Ukraine’s desperate economic needs and its long-standing democratic dream.
Sasha Maksymenko/flickr
Ukraine desperately needs Chinese investment but, like many other countries in this position, this is giving rise to concerns about the consequences for its fragile democracy.
Blacks faced violent attacks led by white Confederates after the Civil War ended.
Wikimedia Commons
The struggle for equal rights for black citizens in the U.S. today is backed by the promise of the 14th Amendment. A historian takes us back to the grassroots movements that led to its passage.
Policy changes and face-to-face conversations are part of the plan.
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
The massacre at an Orlando gay club is a savage reminder that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people still face harsh prejudice in America and lack full equal protections under the law.
Dublin’s General Post Office on fire after the 1916 Easter Rising.
Kmann999
Irish immigrants and their descendants played a leading part in the Easter Rising of 1916 and Ireland’s subsequent rebellion. But the inspiration worked in the other direction as well.
An artist’s representation of how different people are involved in bullying.
Edmonton Public Schools
When Clinton and Sanders first came of age politically, neither was a natural fit for the Democrats. How they and the party have changed helps explain their philosophical divide today.
Martin Luther King Jr. statue.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
If Flint, Michigan were an affluent suburb, would residents have been exposed as long to drinking toxic water? Pioneering scholar Robert Bullard calls Flint’s crisis a classic case of environmental discrimination