As the 20th century’s preeminent scholar-activist on race, W.E.B. Du Bois would not be surprised by modern-day attempts at whitewashing American history. He saw them in 1930s and 1940s.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
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Bayard Rustin led a long and complicated life dedicated to the fight for equal rights. Targeted by the FBI, Rustin became a close adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.
The Supreme Court is a leading player in enacting policy in the US. But it has no army to enforce its decisions; its authority rests solely on its legitimacy.
As editor of the magazine for 24 years, Du Bois featured articles about biology, evolution, archaeology in Africa and more to refute the rampant scientific racism of the early 20th century.
The influential civil rights group got its start following a wave of brutal white-led violence against Black people in Springfield, Illinois.
Suffering a pandemic and the aftermath of a war that killed 50 million, the world in 1920 faced a turning point as it negotiated a new political order. As today, the key issue was racial inequality.
The founder of a black hair-care empire supported the NAACP and the Tuskegee Institute, helped preserve Frederick Douglass’s home. She also tried to used her prominence to stop lynching.
Was a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the Supreme Court by five Democratic senators a legal argument – or a political threat?
While the Brown vs. Board of Education case is often celebrated for ordering school desegregation, history shows many black people in the city where the case began opposed integrated schools.
From spirituals about the trials of slavery to the fight for civil rights and the modern rhythms of swing music, Duke Ellington told a story about black life that was both beautiful and complex.
The first NAACP meeting was held in Canada but there is no mention of Black Canadians in the books. This historical absence is a symbol of the invisibility of anti-Black racism in Canada.
Thousands marched in silence against racial violence after a riot left hundreds of blacks dead and thousands homeless. The demands of black people in 2017 remain the same as they did in 1917.
In the US and South Africa, “passing” as another race has a long and painful history. Controversial American Rachel Dolezal’s “passing” to justify her identity makes a mockery of such histories.
Today’s radical right is remaking its profile, using online communications to spread its message farther and deeper into our society than ever possible before.
Rosa Parks was a hero in the fight against segregation … but she was just one of many.
The novel’s two main characters represent the constitutional conundrum that many Americans grappled with in the pre-civil rights era.
Blacks need allies, not avatars.
The civil rights movement produced many different types of leaders. Thurgood Marshall, argued successfully before the Supreme Court that racial segregation laws violated the US Constitution. Diane Nash…
Top contributors
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Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Brandeis University
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Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College
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William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College
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Paul and Charlene Jones Chair in Law, University of Alabama
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Professor of American History, University of Sussex
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Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Pace University
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Tutor, MA student, University of Cape Town
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Associate Professor of Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University
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Senior Director of Inclusive Culture and Initiatives, University of Colorado Boulder
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Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon
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Assistant Professor, Anthropology, University of Manitoba
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PhD Student Department of Sociology; RA - Migration and Diaspora Studies, Carleton University
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Assistant Professor of English, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Professor and Mohamed S. Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace, American University School of International Service
