Although President Abraham Lincoln had issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862 (after the Battle of Antietam), and the final proclamation on January 1, 1863 (the same day as the Battle of Galveston), they actually had a minimal immediate impact on the lives of most of the millions of the nation’s enslaved African Americans, especially the slaves in Texas.
Your history books may have covered notable African-American trailblazers like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Harriet Tubman but Black history expands much further. So, we’ve put together a list of little-known but significant heroes in...
In 1619 -- a date that the New York Times has recently made famous and essential--a group of 32 African men, women, and children arrived on the shores of Virginia. They had been kidnapped in the royal...
In 2018 the Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commemoration placed 13 statues around the city of Rochester, NY to commemorate Frederick Douglass's 200th birthday. On the anniversary of one of his famous speeches, one of those 13 statues was torn down. On July 16,...
It may surprise you to know that the basis for Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was not only social commentary. There is a real person underpinning the tale: Josiah Henson.
The lowly pelican is prominently featured on the Louisiana state flag. While this unique Gulf Coast bird is ubiquitous along the state’s waterways, is it really the most popular animal? It turns out...
The state of Ohio claims more than forty vanished communities that were occupied by people of color. So-called “Negro” settlements, or colonies, as they were called, were primarily agrarian and separated from urban centers. And among the...
While Austin is the Live Music Capital of the World, its big sister, Houston, is the historic heart of Texas music. For decades, amateur blues and jazz musicians went to Houston to make it big, and established...
When you picture the art and culture associated with New Orleans, the sight and sound of the city’s signature brass bands probably tops the list, and with good reason. After all, true New Orleans natives never pass up an...
The following article is written by Tony Kail, author of A Secret History of Memphis Hoodoo
The practice of Hoodoo, a set of folk practices incorporating magic, spirituality and healing has a distinct heritage...
