Past Voices
Twenty-five years ago, O.J. Simpson showed white Americans just how conditional their comfort with black athletes was. By Phillip Lamarr Cunningham / Wash Post
A former slave who was the first black Catholic priest takes a step toward sainthood. By Daniel Burke / CNN
African samurai: The enduring legacy of a black warrior in feudal Japan. By Emiko Jozuka and Natalie Leung / CNN
A Visit to the Unfathomable Past of Auschwitz. By Ralph Blumenthal / NYT
Slavery and the Family Tree. By Whitney Stewart / AAIHS
Documentary on the South’s first racially integrated Little League game in Orlando is on Netflix. By Annabelle Sikes / Orlando Weekly
HBO’s ‘What’s My Name’ expertly tells story of Muhammad Ali as fighter, thinker. By Richard Roeper / Chicago Sun Times
Before Jack Johnson or Jackie Robinson, there was Major Taylor. By Michael Kranish / The Undefeated
Columbus brought measles to the New World. It was a disaster for Native Americans. By Michael S. Rosenwald / Wash Post
Weeksville, a Haven for Free African-Americans Before the Civil War, Is Fighting for Survival. By Corina Knoll and Morgan Jenkins / NYT
The failure of Reconstruction was a ruthless act of sabotage. By Michael Gerson / Wash Post
Univ. of Alabama’s first black student receives honorary doctorate. By Ali Gostanian / NBC News
A symbol of slavery — and survival. By Deneen L. Brown / Wash Post
The Rich Legacy of African American Political and Intellectual History. By Robert Greene II / Black Perspectives
How African-Americans disappeared from the Kentucky Derby. By Katherine Mooney / Salon
What Ulysses S. Grant would tell Trump about Robert E. Lee. By Daniel Fried / Wash Post
Making the Monument. By Nicolaus Mills / Dissent
Recovering an erased history: The Chinese railroad workers who helped connect the country. By Chris Fuchs / NBC News
Kate Smith’s racist songs aren’t surprising, but we can do more than cover up a statue. By Michael A. Fletcher / The Undefeated
Duke Ellington’s melodies carried his message of social justice. Michelle R. Scott and Earl Brooks / The Conversation
Review: Essential History in ‘Reconstruction’ on PBS. By Mike Hale / NYT
When Slaveowners Got Reparations. By Tera W. Hunter / NYT
Vanderbilt Student Senate Approves Bill to Rename Calhoun Hall, Two More Buildings Due to Slave-Owning Past. By Jenni Fink / Newsweek
Jackie Robinson was asked to denounce Paul Robeson. Instead, he went after Jim Crow. By Johnny Smith / The Undefeated
The fight against white supremacy could learn something from America’s first war on terror. By Charles Lane / Wash Post
A Landmark Concert 75 Years Ago. By Brian Gilmore / The Progressive
Martin Luther King or Lonnie King, we all have the power to change America. By Paul Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick / USA Today
The Aftertaste of Slavery Still Haunts American Cooking. By Tom Philpott / Mother Jones
The Schools That Tried—But Failed—to Make Native Americans Obsolete. By Alia Wong / The Atlantic
Unearthing Black History at Green-Wood Cemetery. By Natalie Meade / The New Yorker
