The singular singer released her groundbreaking album in 1963, the same year as the March on Washington, and used her art and appearance as weapons in the Civil Rights struggle.
slavery
The Masterless People: Pirates, Maroons, and the Struggle to Live Free
In the “bizarre and horrifying world” of the early modern Caribbean, maroons and pirates both prized their freedom above all else. And sometimes they worked together to safeguard it.
Home Is a Mixed Bag, Like America
Why would a successful black woman move from the Bay Area back to Mississippi?
An Igbo Slaver’s Descendants Reckon With History
Adaobi Tricia Nwaumbani reveals her Igbo great-grandfather’s history with the transatlantic slave trade.
Oral History Project Grounds Story of Monticello in the Lives of the Enslaved
“Monticello was a Black space. People of African descent shaped the entire landscape: how the food tasted, what the place sounded and felt like.”
The Enduring Legacy of the Willie Lynch Hoax
Why Kanye referenced a nonexistent slave owner.
The Unexpected Reemergence of an Elusive Strain of Rice
Hill rice was supposed to be extinct, until a South Carolina chef stumbled on it — in Trinidad.
Finding a Lost Strain of Rice, and Clues to Slave Cooking
Historians of African-diaspora cooking have considered hill rice a mythical, long-extinct staple. Then, one of them stumbled on it while walking in the Trinidadian countryside.
Uncovering Hidden History on the Road to Clanton
Documentary filmmaker Lance Warren interrogates the silence around lynching in the American South.
The Secret Women’s Organization Providing for Black Communities
Founded 150 years ago by two former slaves, the United Order of Tents has come through for black communities when white-run organizations have failed to.