Ardent segregationist Lester Maddox became governor of Georgia after earning the admiration of white voters by refusing to integrate his chicken restaurant.
Edward Blum stands in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 20, 2022.
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Without much scrutiny or fanfare, Edward Blum has led the attack against federal minority voter protection laws and the use of race in college admissions.
Martin Luther King Jr. (bottom right) listens to gospel singer Mahalia Jackson during the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.
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As the “Queen” of gospel music, Mahalia Jackson sang two songs during the historic March on Washington. But her most famous line may have been a suggestion to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Jim Brown takes a break during a 1963 Cleveland Browns football game.
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Throughout US history, a ‘white backlash’ has worked to keep Black officeholders and their constituents out of power. Atlanta DA Fani Willis is just the latest.
A protest led by the Black Student Union at the University of Washington at Seattle, 1968.
Emile Pitre Collection
Washington isn’t a state that typically comes to mind in discussions about student-led protests from the Civil Rights Movement. A Black history professor seeks to change that with a new book.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis campaigns for re-election during a rally on November 7, 2022.
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Hajar Yazdiha, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Conservatives have a long history of contorting the words of Martin Luther King Jr. to further political goals at odds with King’s vision of a colorblind society.
Bill Russell, left, celebrates with Celtics coach Red Auerbach after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers to win their eighth-straight NBA Championship, in Boston, April 29, 1966.
AP Photo/File
In the early 1960s, the McDonogh 19 school was the site of fierce opposition to racial integration. The building is now owned by one of the Black girls who first integrated the school.
In this 1998 photograph, former Iowa teacher Jane Elliott, center, speaks with two Augsburg University students about the problems of racism.
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Jane Elliott wanted her white students to experience what it was like for Black students. But instead of teaching about the root causes of racism, she engaged in cruelty and shame.
Sidney Poitier, seen here in a 1980 photograph.
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Poitier dazzled Hollywood with on-screen grace and bankability. His dignified roles and respectable values forever changed the image of Blacks, then mostly portrayed as maids, buffoons or criminals.
Archival image from 1967 shows protesters demonstrating while Ku Klux Klan members walk in a parade to support the Vietnam War.
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In principle, white Americans support efforts to end racism. But in practice, they have long been unwilling to support the fundamental change needed to do that. Will this year’s events change that?