slavery Hundreds of Wrecked Slave Ships Have Never Been Found. These Divers Want to Find Them Historians estimate about 1,000 slave ships wrecked in the Atlantic Ocean during the slave trade, but fewer than 10 of the wrecks have been found and documented. “There is just a whole part of our history…that is missing. I think that those stories deserve to be told,” says Tara Roberts. She and the group Diving With a Purpose go looking...
genealogy She Traced Her Roots Through Slavery to Africa — and Discovered a New Sense of Self For African Americans, attempts to trace ancestral lines through the slave trade can lead to dead ends and heartbreak. However, with the help of an African Ancestry DNA test, NBCLX’s Brittney Williams was able to discover her roots in Africa — and find a new sense of community and self.
juneteenth Let's Not Make Juneteenth Another ‘Hallmark Holiday,' Professor Says After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, slaves in Texas were not told they were free. Things didn’t change until 1865 when troops arrived to ensure that. “You can in fact be free, but if you don’t recognize it, you’re going to live like an enslaved person,” Emory University professor Andra Gillespie says about the history of Juneteenth.
race Stereotypes of Black Strength Come Up in Derek Chauvin Trial There are myths dating back centuries that Black people have thicker skin or a higher pain tolerance than white people. Now in the Derek Chauvin trial, defense attorneys have said Chauvin couldn’t overcome the strength of George Floyd. Edwin Lindo, assistant dean for social and health justice at University of Washington, breaks down the history behind the myths.
colorism Colorism Is More Insidious Than Racism, But Just as Damaging Colorism is the term for when a person is favored or disadvantaged based on the shade of their skin. It’s a worldwide problem that affects Black and Asian communities especially, and is still apparent in skin lightening creams marketed internationally and in the subtle favoritism shown to lighter skinned people in culture and media. Colorism may be less obvious than...
underground railroad The Southern Underground Railroad Was the Route to Freedom That History Forgot We all know about the Underground Railroad —the network that Harriet Tubman and others used to bring enslaved people from the South to the northern free states in the years through the Civil War. But you likely haven’t learned about the alternate route to freedom that ran through Florida and existed with the help of the Black Seminoles. This is...
reparations Could Reparations for Slavery Be Paid in Education Rather than Checks? This California Assemblywoman Thinks So Much of the controversy about reparations stems from no one being clear on what manner reparations would take.
reparations Slavery Reparations for Black Americans Are About More Than Just Money Following a year of massive protests against systemic racism, the long-discussed possibility of slavery reparations for Black Americans is closer than ever to becoming reality. But how would that work, and what would it cost? As Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors told NBCLX’s Chase Cain, reparations are about more than just money.
1776 commission The 1776 Commission: How Trump's Slap at The 1619 Project Stifles, Rather Than Promotes, Free Thought in Education When President Trump announced the creation of the 1776 Commission for education, he billed it as a program that will promote American values and honor U.S. history. But the commission was seen as a direct attack on The 1619 Project, a venture from The New York Times that looked to shine a light on the legacy of slavery and racism...
Movies ‘Emperor' Star Dayo Okeniyi Hopes New Movie About Slave Rebellion Will be ‘Cathartic' Dayo Okeniyi plays the historical character Shields Green in “Emperor,” which he described as a “fairy tale retelling” of the pre-Civil War slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry. Okeniyi joined LX News to talk about why the movie is more relevant today than he ever expected.
