Antiracism, Cultural Competency & Civil Rights

A project about American history, Black life, and the resilience of memory

Slavery has marked everything from the Capitol to the alcohol Americans consume.

Twenty-two years ago, LaTosha Brown ran for State Board of Education in Alabama. Throughout the campaign, the Selma native recalls making speeches at churches and being asked to speak from the floor. The incumbent, a male minister, spoke from the podium. “I sit squarely at the intersection of racism and sexism,” Brown said. “There was

In 1915, at 26 years old, Lillian Hall became the first formally trained Black librarian in Indiana, managing branches in Indianapolis and Evansville.

Colgate, Cream of Wheat and Mrs. Butterworth are the latest brands reckoning with racially charged logos...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Long a symbol of pride to some and hatred to others, the Confederate battle flag is losing its place of official prominence 155 years after rebellious Southern states lost a war to perpetuate slavery...

Officers’ groups say 84-year-old Sundiata Acoli, convicted of murder of New Jersey state trooper, poses no threat to public safety

UArizona historian Tyina Steptoe discusses the history of the holiday that recognizes emancipation, and why more people than ever may celebrate it this year and in the future.

For decades, when it was discussed at all, the killing of hundreds of people in a prosperous black business district nearly a century ago was referred to as the Tulsa race riot.

Protesters in Baltimore pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus and hurled it into the city's Inner Harbor on Saturday night, adding to the list of monuments toppled during nationwide demonstrations against racism and police brutality.

Asian Americans Out Loud, our project highlighting people who are leading the way forward in the face of trauma and fear in Asian communities across America.

Conversations about cultural property usually revolve around questions of ownership, conservation, national patrimony and public access. From a legal perspective, the origins and provenance of individual artworks or artifacts are of primary importance. Yet from

NEW YORK (AP) — Following a year of professional milestones born of her work on America’s history of slavery, Pulitzer Prize-winning Black journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones said she is clear-eyed about her mission to force a reckoning around the nation’s self-image.

Mid-summer, every big election year, Montgomery activist Kynesha Brown’s after-work schedule starts to fill up. In normal times, Rollin to the Polls, the grassroots voter mobilization organization she helped start as part of her work with Montgomery’s Delta Sigma Theta Alumnae Chapter, would be running voter registration drives, vote reclamation clinics for Alabamians convicted of

Images from the Prints & Photographs Division’s collections help to illustrate the sustained contributions of Black Americans to the United States through military service over the course of the nation’s history. We hope you can join us for one of two “Finding Pictures: African Americans in the Military” webinar sessions this month (details at the …

In The Muse: Performing Arts Blog. A blog from the Library of Congress.

I initially set out to assemble this booklet in an attempt to form something of a comprehensive history of Asian American civil rights, but soon realized that our history cannot be smartly categorized by ethnicity and then chronologically listed and detailed. Our history is full of overlaps and parallel struggles. Our history is not neat. And to so many Asian Americans coming of age today, it is unfamiliar.

In the 20th century, African American women formed the backbone of the modern Civil Rights Movement. They were the critical mass, the grassroots leaders challenging America to embrace justice and equality for all. This program discusses women’s critical roles in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Little Rock’s Central High School integration, and the little-known women behind the scenes of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Join us to explore the Civil Rights Movement through the perspectives of its women leaders.

Empowering teachers & students to think critically about history & to understand the impact of their choices.

The Slavery in America and the World database is particularly special because of the meticulous development and organization that went into its development, opening up opportunities for unique browse and search tools. Learn how to use these tools in this guide.

“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. BLL-SIS is honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his vision for America. We can all look to Dr. King’s…

With more than 450 protests occurring in towns and cities of the United States and across three continents, some are calling this the biggest civil rights movement yet. Join us as we explore past civil rights movements in U.S. history, and what changes have occurred as a result.

Guest post from Nicholas Mignanelli, University of Miami   The “culture wars,” such as they are, have come to The Bluebook. Of course, The Bluebook is a cultural produ…

February is Black History Month, and the Muse Law Library is proud to present our celebration of Black achievement in the law. Here you will find the full collection of the 47 slides exhibited throughout the Library this month, each one documenting a different Black trailblazer or icon. The people featured here all displayed resounding courage and perseverance as they struggled against injustices and abuses at the hands of an oppressive, bigoted system. You will find lawyers and judges, writers and artists, and civil rights activists all connected by the common thread of a dedication to racial justice.

In a recently published piece in the Nation magazine, author and scholar Barbara Smith proposes a a comprehensive racial justice program even more sweeping than the Marshall Plan to combat white supremacy and resulting systemic racism. Smith talks to HMM correspondent Corinne Carey about her proposa

Michelle Singletary has an honest conversation about affirmative action. And, we take your questions about voting this year, starting with a listener in California.

A new five-part series about building a better school system, and what gets in the way. New episodes of “Nice White Parents” are available here, brought to you by Serial Productions and The New York Times.

Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik, The Intercept’s Murtaza Hussain, and historian Kathleen Belew are this week’s guests.

What can we learn from the writings of James Baldwin, a Civil Rights era thinker who, in exploring injustice, treated the whole person, body and soul, as subject?

A moment at last week's Senate Judiciary Hearing on policing reform underscored a persistent and common misunderstanding about the difference between personal and systemic racism.