The Big Isms

The devastation of the Tulsa Race Massacre DeNeen L. Brown, May 28, 2021, The Washington Post On May 30, 1921, Greenwood was one of the wealthiest Black communities in the country, home to doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs. It boasted restaurants, grocery stores, churches, a hospital, a savings and loan, a post office, three hotels, jewelry and clothing stores, two movie theaters, a library, pool halls, a bus and cab service, a highly regarded school system, six private airplanes and two Black newspapers, according to the Greenwood Cultural Center. Two days later, it was all gone. continue   The fight to whitewash US history: ‘A drop of poison is all you need’  Julia Carrie Wong, 25 May 2021,  The Guardian On 25 May 2020, a man died after a “medical incident during police interaction” in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The man was suspected of forgery and “believed to be in his 40s”. He “physically resisted officers” and, after being handcuffed, “appeared to be suffering medical di

  Reblog from JUNE 2020 Lara Blog An Oklahoma lawyer details the attack by hundreds of whites on the thriving black neighborhood where hundreds died 95 years ago The ten-page manuscript is typewritten, on yellowed legal paper, and folded in thirds. But the words, an eyewitness account of the May 31, 1921, racial massacre that destroyed what was known as Tulsa, Oklahoma’s “Black Wall Street,” are searing. “I could see planes circling in mid-air. They grew in number and hummed, darted and dipped low. I could hear something like hail falling upon the top of my office building. Down East Archer, I saw the old Mid-Way hotel on fire, burning from its top, and then another and another and another building began to burn from their top,” wrote Buck Colbert Franklin (1879-1960). The Oklahoma lawyer, father of famed African-American historian John Hope Franklin (1915-2009), was describing the attack by hundreds of whites on the thriving black neighborhood known as Greenwood in the boomin

Steps from my front door is the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. This land was once called Black Wall Street. Imagine over thirty-five bustling blocks of mostly Black homes and businesses being firebombed, in one of the wealthiest Black communities in the United States. Imagine being one of hundreds detained, shot, or worse — killed blocks from your home or place of business. Imagine a city ordinance forbidding you to rebuild on your own land. Imagine a century of silence, with little to no trace of your relative, neighbor, friend, or partner. Imagine the bounty of fear and rumor. The Tulsa Race Massacre , formerly known as the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, took place from May 31 to June 1, 1921 in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. TOUCHING: 99 Years After the Tulsa Race Massacre, an Artist Reflects  

    It’s 2021. Why do I still have to convince people in power that Black stories are worthy of being taught? As a history teacher, a professional educator with years of experience in the classroom, my main job is to teach historical truths. Each year I attend so many professional development sessions that I sometimes don’t even turn in all of my continuing education credit certificates because I have surpassed the requirements for teacher recertification. In addition, I regularly connect with colleagues and organizations on social media to bring my students the most comprehensive and contemporary understanding of my content area. Finally, I often spend weekends at historical sites or walking trails while listening to the latest book talk on relevant topics. I do this so that I can be better, stronger, and know more for my students — and also because I have a passion for the study of history. GOOD READ: First Person: I am a history teacher. Let me teach history. - Chalkbeat

    Seth Lerer reflects on the performance of childishness and the legacy of racist content in children's stories. Professor Philip Nel of Kansas State University, in his book, Was The Cat in the Hat Black? , argued that this most iconic member of the Seuss menagerie was modeled on minstrel-show performances and African-American idioms.  GOOD READ: Letter from Whoville: On Dr. Seuss and Racism - BLARB Follow me on twitter:   Letter from Whoville: On Dr. Seuss and Racism https://t.co/eTXJEVFzy3 — Trace kalala Hentz (@StonePony33) May 28, 2021

Racism in America - PBS https://www.pbs.org /articles/2020/06/racism-in-america/ Race and Racism in America (2020) Watch a collection of films and specials that highlight and add context to the many aspects of race and racism in our country.   Photos: A look back at Bay Area protests after George Floyd’s death   IN THE NEWS⮟   What the US can learn from Africa about slavery reparations Kwasi Konadu, May 6, 2021, The Conversation The House Judiciary Committee voted on April 14, 2021, to recommend the creation of a commission to study the possibility of paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved people in the United States. The measure, H.R. 40, would establish a 15-person commission to offer a “national apology” for slavery, study its long-term effects and submit recommendations to Congress on how to compensate African Americans. Any federal reparations bill faces long odds of being enacted due to Republican opposition, but this is the furthest this effort has advan

Roberto Visani’s cardboard kits based on art historical depictions of enslaved people consist of flat pack sculptures that can be assembled and disassembled as easily as Ikea furniture. Two works from the series, currently on view at Geary Gallery in New York City, recreate famous symbols of the abolitionist movement designed by white artists: Josiah Wedgewood’s 1787 seal for the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and American sculptor Hiram Powers’s “ Greek Slave ” (1841-73).  KEEP READING

  When the Black Panthers and Young Lords Teamed Up to Fight Addiction with Acupuncture The documentary "Dope Is Death" chronicles the history of a first-of-its-kind detox center in the Bronx. This was just as Nixon’s War on Drugs was revving up, which was of course in fact a war on poor people by other means — on one end it’s been alleged that intelligence agencies funneled drugs into impoverished areas , while on the other end police incontestably used the presence of drugs as a pretense to brutalize those areas.  The story of a radical movement that sought to end heroin addiction in communities of color with acupuncture, led by Dr. Mutulu Shakur, the step father of Tupac.  "The producers of Dope is Death would like to acknowledge an error in the documentary: Gloria Fontanez has been misidentified as Iris Morales, both were members of the Central Committee of the Young Lords. We apologize for this error and we would like to honor both women for the

What Vincent Brown’s award-winning ‘Tacky’s Revolt’ can teach us about slavery, war, and enduring racism Kate Tuttle, May 10, 2021, The Boston Globe Tacky’s Revolt, a 1761 uprising in Jamaica that is the subject of Harvard history professor Vincent Brown’s most recent book, was the largest revolt by enslaved people in the 18th-century British empire. More than that, he argues, it was “a war within other wars, a kind of eddy in these transatlantic currents of warfare that convulsed the entire period.” Brown hopes the book will not only help place Tacky’s Revolt in its rightful context, but help readers understand their own histories as part of a larger picture, one shaped by warfare on many fronts, from Africa to Europe to the Americas to the very notion of chattel slavery itself. We talked with Brown on the occasion of “Tacky’s Revolt” winning a 2021 Anisfield-Wolf Award for nonfiction, which recognizes “books that have made important contributions to our understanding of

  How the Modern NRA Was Born at the Border Historians in the News tags: Second Amendment , racism , immigration , Mexican American history , National Rifle Association by Sierra Pettengill and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz In my new documentary,  The Rifleman , I use archival footage to tell the story of Harlon Carter (1913–1991), who led the National Rifle Association (NRA) from 1977 until 1985, during a period when it transformed from principally a sporting organization into a radical right political bloc. When he was seventeen, Carter, who grew up in the Texas borderlands, was convicted of murdering a thirteen-year-old, Ramón Casiano, after Casiano was supposedly seen on the Carters’ property. This kind of white nationalist violence would be a prominent feature of the rest of Carter’s life. After his murder conviction was vacated by the Texas Cour

Studying History Should not be Only for the Elite, Say Academics Prof Kate Williams, a popular historical author and presenter on UK TV history programmes including the BBC’s Restoration Home and Time Watch: Young Victoria, said: “I’ve heard people say, ‘Well, history is protected at the top Russell Group universities’. But that is a really dangerous route to go down. Are we saying that if people don’t get 3As, they don’t deserve to do history?” Williams, who is a professor of public engagement with history at the University of Reading, fears that working-class students who don’t want to leave home to go to university, or can’t afford to, may find themselves unable to study the subject. “It should be a degree that is open to all, and that means it must be available to those who want to study locally. Otherwise we might as well be going back to the Victorian period when this sort of university education was only for elite men.” Williams said she was angry that the governm

    The need in this country dwarfs the best of what Joe Biden has put on the table for changing our current condition. Source: Voting Trump Out Is Not Enough | The New Yorker ANOTHER GREAT READ: A conversation with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor , the Princeton professor and socialist activist.

This article is part of “ Inheritance ,” a project about American history and Black life.  To research and write the stories of Black and white southerners is to undertake almost two entirely different tasks. Black artifacts and records have long been systematically destroyed and marginalized. Like water fountains and public schools, the creation of historical archives was once racially segregated. Archives are usually supported by state governments or private institutions and include a wide range of personal, organizational, and government documents. Extant collections typically reflect the prejudice of past white southern archivists who didn’t believe that the Black people who shared their society lived lives worth studying. When white archivists set out to collect documents they thought future historians would find most important, they often gathered only the photographs, ledgers, diaries, and letters produced by wealthy, white citizens. Most of these archivists didn’t think someone

  The award-winning author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self brings her signature voice and insight to the subjects of race, grief, apology, and American history. Danielle Evans is widely acclaimed for her blisteringly smart voice and X-ray insights into complex human relationships. With The Office of Historical Corrections , Evans zooms in on particular moments and relationships in her characters' lives in a way that allows them to speak to larger issues of race, culture, and history. She introduces us to Black and multiracial characters who are experiencing the universal confusions of lust and love, and getting walloped by grief--all while exploring how history haunts us, personally and collectively. Ultimately, she provokes us to think about the truths of American history--about who gets to tell them, and the cost of setting the record straight. In "Boys Go to Jupiter," a white college student tries to reinvent herself after a photo of her in a C

  In the News   The Game Is Changing for Historians of Black America William Sturkey, May 4, 2021, The Atlantic I first saw the photo at a street fair in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in October 2011. I was at the Historic Mobile Street Renaissance Festival, an annual celebration of Hattiesburg’s Black downtown. That afternoon, Mobile Street filled with thousands of people spending their Saturday in the sun, drinking sweet tea and eating soul food with their friends and neighbors. I was new in town, and I was excited to join them. Sitting in the window of an abandoned shop was a black-and-white picture of 12 Black men. They appear in two rows, five seated and seven standing. Each man is wearing a suit and politely holding his hat off to the side. There are at least two generations present, as evidenced by their hairlines and facial features. Their faces carry mixed expressions. Most of them look serious, but some are smiling. One man even appears to be smirking, like he knows

A war rages on in America, and it didn’t begin with Donald Trump or the assault on the Capitol (Jan. 6, 2021). It started with slavery and never ended, through lynchings and voter suppression, the snarling attack dogs of Bull Connor and the insidious accounting of redlining.

:  psychiatry Dr. Benjamin Rush, the 18th-century doctor who is often called the “father” of American psychiatry, held the racist belief that Black skin was the result of a mild form of leprosy. He called the condition “negritude.” His onetime apprentice, Dr. Samuel Cartwright, spread the falsehood throughout the antebellum South that enslaved people who experienced an unyielding desire to be free were in the grip of a mental illness he called “ drapetomania ,” or “the disease causing Negroes to run away.” In the late 20th century, psychiatry’s rank and file became a receptive audience for drug makers who were willing to tap into racist fears about urban crime and social unrest. (“Assaultive and belligerent?” read an ad that featured a Black man with a raised fist that appeared in the “Archives of General Psychiatry” in 1974. “Cooperation often begins with Haldol.”) Now the American Psychiatric Association, which featured Rush’s image

  READ: Museums Are Filled With Stolen African Art. Is It Time To Return It? : 1A : NPR     Looters: Germany Agrees To Return Benin Bronzes To Nigeria Starting Next Year : NPR National : Hobby Lobby's Smuggled Artifacts Will Be Returned To Iraq  👇 Across Europe, Museums Rethink What To Do With Their African Art Collections Early in the movie Black Panther , a black visitor played by Michael B. Jordan confronts a white curator over African artifacts in a fictional British museum. "How do you think your ancestors got these?" the visitor asks. "You think they paid a fair price? Or did they take it — like they took everything else?"

By Cecily Hilleary April 25, 2018 Editor's note: This story contains images some readers may find disturbing. In 2018, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, opened to the public, paying tribute to thousands of African Americans who were lynched by white mobs from the close of the 19th century Civil War through the 1960s. While lynching is most commonly associated with blacks in the southern United States, little attention has been paid to the lynching of other minorities, among them, Native Americans. In his 2011 book, the Roots of Rough Justice: Origins of American Lynching, Michael J. Pfeifer, history professor at the City University of New York’s (CUNY) John Jay College of Criminal Justice, describes lynching as “informal group murder.” “The definition that I and many scholars have used stipulates that there has to be an illegally-obtained death perpetrated by a mob -- three or more persons -- and that the collected killing must be in service to jus

BIG NEWS? Yup... In the U.S, praise for Anglo-Saxon heritage has always been about white supremacy L.D. Burnett, April 26, 2021, The Washington Post On April 16, the news broke that Trump loyalists in the House were planning to form an “America First” caucus to defend the nation’s purported “uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.” The news sparked immediate widespread condemnation from activists, scholars and even other Republican politicians — so much so that plans for the caucus have been scrapped. The term “Anglo-Saxon” does some heavy lifting in the memo laying out the planned caucus’s creed, particularly because it appeared in the section on immigration policy implying that only some  people are capable of appreciating, embracing or defending American ideas of self-governance. But anyone can hold ideas. If immigration imperils “Anglo-Saxon” traditions in the view of the memo’s authors, that could only be because they view those traditions not as abstract concepts