Stopping someone against their will can be false imprisonment or even kidnapping. There are laws that determine who is acting as a hero and who is acting as a vigilante.
These highways displaced many Black communities. Some Black activists are using mapping to do the opposite: highlight hidden parts of history.
Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division
How politicians have cynically used metaphor to imply meaning through language.
Joshua Houston leads a Juneteenth Parade in Huntsville, Texas, in a photo circa 1900.
Sam Houston Memorial Museum and Republic of Texas Presidential Library
For the formerly enslaved Black people in Texas, Juneteenth meant more than freedom. It meant reuniting families and building schools and developing political power.
Carolyn Bryant Donham, left, reads newspaper accounts of the Emmett Till murder trial in 1955.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
While Bryant Donham was never charged for her involvement in Till’s death, the Justice Department continued to investigate the case and consider the potential for an arrest as recently as 2021.
Till-Mobley watches the body of her son, Emmett, being lowered into his grave.
Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images
More Americans are learning about the 1921 massacre in the prosperous Black section of Tulsa known as the ‘Black Wall Street.’ For Gregory Fairchild, it is a part of his family history.
Theodore Roosevelt was one of many U.S. presidents who was racist.
Bettman/Getty
President Woodrow Wilson told Black leaders, ‘Segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen.’ He was one in a long line of racist American presidents.
Armed white citizens and police have historically worked together in the U.S., though it’s not clear whether that’s what’s happening here.
George Frey/Getty Images
More Americans are learning about the 1921 massacre in the prosperous black section of Tulsa known as the ‘Black Wall Street.’ For Gregory Fairchild, it is a part of his family history.
Ahmaud Arbery’s best friend, right, and his sister speak at a memorial event for Arbery on May 9, 2020.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
The US has a centuries-old tradition of killing black people without repercussion – and of publicly viewing the violence. Spreading those images can disrespect the dead and traumatize viewers.
The Proud Boys outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.
Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Shannon M. Smith, College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University
White supremacists’ protests against COVID-19 lockdowns reflect the US history of political leaders encouraging white supremacist groups to challenge or overthrow democratic governments.
A funeral held in July 1945 for two victims of the Ku Klux Klan, George Dorsey and his sister, Dorothy Dorsey Malcolm, of Walton County, Georgia, held at the Mt. Perry Baptist Church Sunday.
Bettman via Getty
Religion was no barrier for Southern lynch mobs intent on terror. White pastors joined the KKK, incited racial violence and took part in lynchings. Sometimes, the victim was a preacher.
Some say Till’s body was dumped from the Old Black Bayou Bridge in Glendora, Mississippi. Others dispute this detail.
cmh2315fl/flickr
Scholars continue to debate what, exactly, happened to Emmett Till the morning of his murder. But that hasn’t stopped a poor Mississippi community from trying to profit off one version of the story.
During Super Bowl LIII, will Atlanta’s long struggle for racial equality be highlighted or glossed over?
Peter Ciro/flickr
Violence against journalists is on the rise. Many people don’t realize that such acts have a long tradition in the US, where partisan rancor was once a hallmark of American journalism.
National Memorial for Peace and Justice.
AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
Although fewer black women were lynched in the US than men, their stories have been marginalized. Will a new memorial in Alabama help make their sacrifices known?
Covered statue of Stonewall Jackson in Charlottesville, Virginia.
REUTERS/Justin Ide