357 Items Tagged

Black History

Martin Luther King with President Lyndon Johnson in 1966.

Peek Inside the 1977 Report Detailing FBI Misconduct While Surveilling Martin Luther King Jr.

A review of the Bureau’s assassination investigation uncovered the extent of an illegal counterintelligence program.

JPat Brown January 18, 2017

Central Park Was Once Seneca Village, Home to a Thriving Free Black Community

A graphic history of the community displaced for the vast public park in 1857.

Lucas Adams December 5, 2016

Permanently Closed

Rosa Parks angel on the Montgomery bus

Beloit, Wisconsin

Angel Museum

The world’s largest collection of angel figurines includes 600 black angels donated by Oprah Winfrey.

Permanently Closed

Meyers Ace Hardware.

Chicago, Illinois

Meyers Ace Hardware

An unassuming store hides relics of its former life as the jazz club that hosted some of the best black performers of the 1920s and '30s.

Permanently Closed

Indianapolis, Indiana

Museum of Psychphonics

A modern-day wunderkammer dedicated to Indianapolis history, Afrofuturism, and musical vibrations.

Hollie Tatnell's grave.

Grave in the Road

This one-woman cemetery was a small civil rights victory.

Part of abandoned historic downtown Cairo, Illinois.

Cairo, Illinois

Abandoned Town of Cairo, Illinois

A once-booming Mississippi River town with a history of racial violence is now eerie and mostly abandoned.

Outside the New Amsterdam Musical Association

Inside the Oldest Labor Union for Black Musicians

Founded in an era of segregation, the New Amsterdam Musical Association is one of New York's most fascinating—and unknown—cultural landmarks.

Atlas Obscura July 6, 2016

Members of World War II's 33nd Fighter Group attend a briefing in Ramitelli, Italy.

In the Early 1940s, the Red Cross Banned Black Blood Donors

Sometimes, the politics of who can give blood has less to do with medical limitations than cultural ones.

Cara Giaimo June 14, 2016

Joseph Bagley holds some18th and 19th century ceramic shards, unexpectedly unearthed at the Malcolm X House in Roxbury.

Musket Balls, Fake Teeth and More Found Beneath Malcolm X's Childhood Home

Your average city backyard holds an awful lot of history.

Cara Giaimo May 27, 2016

military history

Is a Raised Fist a Political Gesture, Or a Celebratory One?

The history of the hand movement shows a multiplicity of meanings

Jessie Guy-Ryan May 8, 2016

Ma Rainey in 1917, sporting one of her trademark beaded gowns.

The Queer Black Woman Who Reinvented The Blues

In the 1910s and 20s, Ma Rainey took the stage with an ostrich feather in one hand and a gun in the other.

Cara Giaimo April 27, 2016

Against the Odds, A 40-Year Old West African Village in South Carolina Has Thrived

"This is very much an American story."

Molly McArdle March 16, 2016

The Oscar for Best Forgotten Film Pioneer Goes to this Black Director

Stephanie Weber February 16, 2016

objects of intrigue

Object of Intrigue: a Jim Crow Era Guide for Black Travelers

Urvija Banerji February 9, 2016

Hackathon participant Nelly Rosaria, making the Wiki-world a more textured place.

Fighting Whitewashed History With MIT's Diversity Hackers

Cara Giaimo January 30, 2016

The Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in D.C.

Why MLK Day Is a Big Deal in Hiroshima

Martin Luther King Jr. was also outspoken against nuclear weapons.

Cara Giaimo January 18, 2016

The Oaks

Tuskegee, Alabama

The Oaks

Booker T. Washington's home at the Tuskegee Institute was a gem of splendor.