Slavery

Letting Go of Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee University

Letting Go of Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee University Letting Go of Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee University

It is going to get increasingly hard to persuade high school students who care about diversity to attend a university named after a Confederate general.

Jun 25, 2020 / StudentNation / Toni Locy

Black men and women dressed for an emancipation day celebration in Texas

It’s Time to Make Juneteenth a National Holiday It’s Time to Make Juneteenth a National Holiday

Marking the end of slavery with a federal holiday would be more than a symbolic gesture. It would provide space for growth as a nation.

Jun 19, 2020 / Rep. Jamaal Bowman

NYPD officers line bridge in riot gear

The Violence Didn’t Start With the Protests The Violence Didn’t Start With the Protests

Violence has been a constant throughout American history and is woven through countless American systems today.

Jun 12, 2020 / Column / Kali Holloway

The Making of the Radical Republicans

The Making of the Radical Republicans The Making of the Radical Republicans

How did the struggle for emancipation become a mass politics?

May 5, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner

The Racial Politics of ‘Return’

The Racial Politics of ‘Return’ The Racial Politics of ‘Return’

Tourism initiatives in Ghana and beyond leave out black people without the economic means to travel.

Apr 10, 2020 / Edna Bonhomme

Since Emancipation, the United States Has Refused to Make Reparations for Slavery

Since Emancipation, the United States Has Refused to Make Reparations for Slavery Since Emancipation, the United States Has Refused to Make Reparations for Slavery

But in 1862, the federal government doled out the 2020 equivalent of $23 million—not to the formerly enslaved but to their white enslavers.

Mar 23, 2020 / Feature / Kali Holloway

Slavery, and American Racism, Were Born in Genocide

Slavery, and American Racism, Were Born in Genocide Slavery, and American Racism, Were Born in Genocide

Martin Luther King Jr. saw something essential about our nation: Imperial expansion west over stolen Indian land shaped and deepened the American Revolution’s relationship to slave...

Jan 20, 2020 / Greg Grandin

Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell

The Reasons Republicans Are Still Backing Trump The Reasons Republicans Are Still Backing Trump

The party Trump has inherited is hell-bent on continuing America’s long tradition of racism and imperialism.

Dec 6, 2019 / Rebecca Gordon

Eric Foner’s Story of American Freedom

Eric Foner’s Story of American Freedom Eric Foner’s Story of American Freedom

Charting the ironies of freedom won and lost during and after the Civil War, the American historian has also helped us better understand the ambiguous consequences of what were alm...

Dec 2, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Michael Kazin

Tamara Lanier

A Lawsuit at Harvard Pries Open Debates About Science and Reparations A Lawsuit at Harvard Pries Open Debates About Science and Reparations

Since 2011, Tamara Lanier has been battling the university over the ownership of daguerreotypes of her enslaved ancestors. Her fight tells us a lot about the racist roots of Americ...

Nov 28, 2019 / Eamon Whalen

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