In support of Black History Month, we've curated some of our best historical essays, and have published many new pieces, too. For The Progressive, every month is Black History Month. Take a look:
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Black History
Striking Steel
“No matter how many centuries have been devoted to the official story that black people are shameful, we have been the grace note of American history. And yet if I am honest, shame is what I feel. Not in blackness though, in Americanness.” Read more
Timuel Black’s ‘Typical’ Life
An activist and historian recalls his 100 years on the streets of Chicago. Read more
Erin Robinson
A Letter to My Niece
As a baby, you knew nothing of the definitions the world was going to press onto you later in life—black, female, Southern. The world had not yet told you who you were, who you could or should be. You just were. Read more
Landesarchiv Berlin
Martin Luther King and ‘God’s Children’ on Both Sides of the Border Wall
What would Martin Luther King Jr. think of Donald Trump’s border wall? Read more
From If Beale Street Could Talk
‘If Beale Street Could Talk’
Finally, James Baldwin’s big screen U.S. debut. Read more
David Lee / Focus Features
Infiltrate Hate: Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman”
The movie is Lee’s best and most radical film in decades, and a lot of fun as well. Read more
Andre White
In memory of Ron Dellums: “Black, Radical, and Hopeful.”
When Dellums talked about peace, he meant peace—withdrawal from the mentality that relies on death and the threat of death as a national way of life. Read more
Dennis Brack/UT Austin’s Briscoe Center for American History
America’s Poverty Crisis Is a Failure to Heed the Demands of Resurrection City
Among fiftieth anniversaries from the seismic year of 1968, a lesser-known episode has powerful lessons for today. Read more
NPS
The Public Education of Linda Brown
Her father’s name is on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, a milestone in ending racial segregation in public education. Read more
Jon S
Fifty Years After the Kerner Report, We’re Still Missing Stories
The 1968 report cited that media coverage was framed “from the standpoint of a white man's world.” Half a century later, white media gatekeepers have maintained the disturbing status quo. Read more
Steven Shames Photographic Archive/Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
The Other Side of the Black Panther Revolution, in Pictures
A new exhibit illustrates the lesser-known side of an organization whose image is often only portrayed as militant. Read more
Marvel Entertainment
Wakanda: A Nation Without Chains
The mythical African nation in ‘Black Panther’ is allowed to thrive on its own terms—offering a fascinating and rooted alternative to existing Western notions of nation-building. Read more
How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday
Holiday, who throughout her career called public attention to the devastating impact of white supremacy, drew the notice of the Commissioner for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He ordered her to stop singing the song... Read more
Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute
How Education Reformers Get Black History Wrong
Fostering pride in one’s own achievement is worthwhile, but pursuing it in isolation of the gospel of the black freedom struggle is like building on quicksand. Read more
US Marine Corps
What’s Wrong with Black History Month?
Black History Month shouldn’t be an excuse to ignore African American history for the other eleven months of the year. Read more
Wikimedia Commons
To See How Black History Month is Evolving, Go to School
Black Lives Matter at School Week is a direct extension of the work of Carter Woodson, often called ‘the father of black history.’ Read more
Francisco Laso, The Laundress, 1858. Image Public Domain.
‘We Mean Business or No Washing’: The Atlanta Washerwomen Strike of 1881
The strike—a group of black women organizing against omnipresent discrimination to demand recognition and respect for their work—stands out in union history as a most unlikely success. Read more
Wyomia Tyus, Hidden Figure
February is Black History Month; 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of 1968, a sacred year for activist athletes. Tyus was a star on the Olympic world stage, a time when women weren’t supposed to be athletes, and black people were treated second class. Read more
Wochit News YouTube
Trump’s Racism Toward Haiti Is not an Aberration
In the wake of Trump’s comments, politicians and media figures rushed to defend Haitian and African immigrants, asserting how hardworking they are. But this just allows Trump and similar anti-immigration rhetoric to dictate the terms of the argument. Read more
