James McCune Smith was the first African American to receive a medical doctorate from a university. He dedicated his life to fighting injustice.
A trade card with printed black type for the domestic slave traders Hill, Ware and Chrisp.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
By the time slavery ended, over 1 million enslaved people had been forcibly moved in the domestic slave trade across state lines. Hundreds of thousands more were bought and sold within states.
Jubilee singers at Fisk University, in Nashville, Tennessee, pose for
promotional photograph, circa 1871.
William L. Clements Library
Cameras played a critical role in the quest for social equality for Black Americans in the post-slavery era.
The Proud Boys outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., 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
The protests that ended in the storming of the US Capitol included members of white supremacy groups, the latest example of such groups being encouraged by politicians to challenge government.
Segregation cells at Dorchester prison in New Brunswick.
(Senate of Canada)
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.
Jean Marcellis Destine, dressed as Haitian independence hero Jean-Jacques Dessalines, heads to a protest against President Jovenel Moïse in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 4, 2019.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who freed Haiti from French colonial rule in 1804, is revered as a spirit in the Haitian religion. Now he’s become an icon of the uprising against President Jovanel Moïse.
Guards take apart the death penalty chamber at San Quentin State Prison on Wednesday, March 13, 2019.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP
2019 - 2021 Joyce Bonk Fellow at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan and current graduate student at U-M School of Information, University of Michigan