Bomb Threats Didn’t Stop Lady Bird’s Fight for Civil Rights

Lady Bird Johnson was a committed supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, in word and deed, touring the country to speak against racism

Kim Novak and Sammy Davis Jr.'s relationship endangered both of their careers.

Hollywood Loved Sammy Davis Jr. Until He Dated a White Movie Star

A decade before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of interracial marriage, the Rat Packer risked losing his career—and his life

Rashid Johnson, "Thurgood in the House of Chaos"

Brooklyn Museum’s ‘Legacy of Lynching’ Exhibition Confronts Racial Terror

Video testimony and research findings supplement selections from the museum’s holdings

William Maples holds a bone fragment during a presentation about the Romanov Investigations, circa 1992.

William R. Maples Popularized Forensic Anthropology Long Before CSI

Maples worked on a number of high-profile cases that helped to bring the field of forensic anthropology to prominence

Firemen fight to control blazing buildings in Detroit on July 25, 1967. The city was filled with gunfire, looting and police officers for five days that July.

Understanding Detroit’s 1967 Upheaval 50 Years Later

For five days in July, the Motor City was under siege from looters and soldiers alike

The anti-Chinese cap pistol carries the phrase “The Chinese Must Go” and shows a presumably white man kicking a Chinese man.

Artifacts Show the Sometimes-Violent Nature of American Democracy

From a KKK hood to an anti-Chinese pistol, a new exhibition shows America’s fraught history of deciding who to include in democracy

The only way Robert Smalls could ensure that his family would stay together was to escape.

The Thrilling Tale of How Robert Smalls Seized a Confederate Ship and Sailed it to Freedom

He risked his life to liberate his family and became a legend in the process

Damian Le Bas' "Globe IV" (2016) on display at the launch event for the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture.

Trending Today

First-Ever Roma Cultural Institution Opens in Europe

It’s a step toward cultural inclusion for Europe’s largest minority group

Hattie McDaniel was the first black actor to ever win an Oscar, but she was criticized for the roles she played.

What Hattie McDaniel Said About Her Oscar-Winning Career Playing Racial Stereotypes

Hattie McDaniel saw herself as a groundbreaker for black Americans

The sperm in the Repository for Germinal Choice was intended to create ideal children, but for some prospective parents, it just offered them control over the process of having a child.

The “Nobel Prize Sperm Bank” Was Racist. It Also Helped Change the Fertility Industry

The Repository for Germinal Choice was supposed to produce super-kids from the sperm of white high achievers

Monument Avenue In Richmond, Virginia

What Richmond Has Gotten Right About Interpreting Its Confederate History

And why it hasn’t faced the same controversy as New Orleans or Charlottesville

Belle Boyd in an image taken between 1855 and 1865.

Belle Boyd, Civil War Spy

The so-called “Siren of Shenandoah” stole weapons and carried letters in service to the Confederacy

Drinking fountain on the Halifax County Courthouse (North Carolina) in April 1938.

New Research

Racism Harms Children’s Health, Survey Finds

Racism may not be a disease, exactly. But a growing body of research finds that it has lasting physical and mental effects on its victims

From 1921 to 2000, no black jockeys competed.

How African-Americans Disappeared From the Kentucky Derby

Black jockeys won more than half of the first 25 runnings of the Kentucky Derby. Then they started losing their jobs

Students for a Democratic Society was the largest – and arguably most successful – student activist organization in U.S. history.

What Was the Protest Group Students for a Democratic Society? Five Questions Answered

Todd Gitlin, former president of Students for a Democratic Society, shares his perspective on protest in the 60s and now

This New Orleans monument to a white supremacist riot no longer exists.

Trending Today

New Orleans Tears Down Controversial Confederate Monuments

A 35-foot obelisk in memory of a white supremacist uprising is no more

Billie Holiday sung 'Strange Fruit' throughout her career after first performing the song in 1939.

Billie Holiday’s Label Wouldn’t Touch ‘Strange Fruit’

The emotive song about lynching in the American South is both a classic and a warning

Workers at Lockheed Jet Bomber Plant, Marietta, Georgia, 1953

These Photos Offer a Glimpse Into the Racial Politics of the 1950s South

Before he became a sports photographer, John G. Zimmerman captured a past that feels all too present

Sneak Peek: The Lost Tapes: LA Riots

On April 29, 1992, Los Angeles erupted into chaos after four white LAPD officers were acquitted for beating African-American motorist Rodney King

No images of Casor survive to the present day. Tobacco fields like this one, however, would have been what he saw daily.

The Horrible Fate of John Casor, The First Black Man to be Declared Slave for Life in America

Black people in early America weren’t slaves. After this lawsuit, they could be

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