Immortal Cells The “HeLa” cell line is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line in scientific research. They were used to test the first polio vaccine, instrumental in eradicating Polio. HeLa genes were some of the first ever mapped, which helped create the Human Genome Project – the discovery that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. This immortal cell line, so called because the cells never die, was the first ever cloned, used to create cancer medications, the

Image credit: Base of Statue of Liberty with broken chains at her feet; Liberty Island, New York Harbor When the statue was conceived in the aftermath of the American Civil War, its creator intended for Lady Liberty to hold broken chains in her hands, a clear representation of the end of slavery in the United States, begins the Black Untold video called The Chains and the Statue of Liberty. Sections of this blog post excerpt the video’s transcript. However, as the project p

Black congressman of Reconstruction, image credit: Mobituraries Podcast If you grew up in the United States, do you remember learning in primary or secondary school about a period directly after the Civil War in the mid-1800s when there were Black senators and congressmen in the House of Representatives such as the men posed in this blog’s headline image? You know, those pictures showing the abolition of slavery when newly freed enslaved Black people received land and more th

Image credit: The Bulwark, Tim Miller interviews Clint Smith Tim Miller interviews Clint Smith on The Bulwark podcast. Tim Miller: How are you processing where we’re at today and the backsliding we’ve done recently? There are probably going to be some Americans out there not contemplating deep historical weight of what’s happening and gleefully enjoying fireworks and hot dogs. My guess is if you’re listening to this podcast right now, you’re not one of those people. So, I’m

Image credit: Kettering Foundation This blog post excerpts the transcript of Alex Lovit interviewing Nikole Hannah-Jones in May 2026. Image credit: Kettering Foundation This interview is the conclusion of our three-part series called Democracy Under Construction. We’ve been commemorating America’s 250th by examining US history and asking where our patriotism should lie, who we should be lifting up as national heroes, and how history helps us find a path toward a more inclusiv

At the 1936 Olympics, in Berlin, Germany, 18 African American’s challenged discrimination on the world stage. And won eight gold medals. It wasn’t only Jesse Owens, you ask? Nope. The American narrative of the 1936 Olympics is about one Black athlete named Jesse Owens. Like most narratives, there’s more to the story. ◊ ◊ ◊ The documentary, “Olympic Pride, American Prejudice explores the experiences of 18 African American Olympians who defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitle

Image credit: National Memorial of Peace and Justice dedicated to lynching, Equal Justice Initiative. The National Memorial documents the most active era of racial terror lynchings from 1877 to 1950 including Emmett Till. On a hilltop overlooking Montgomery is the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. It is the first public reflection space to acknowledge the history of racial terror lynchings in America; the nation’s first comprehensive memorial dedicated to the legacy of

Image credit: Legacy Museum Image credit: Equal Justice Initiative “When I moved to Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1980s there were 59 monuments and memorials to the Confederacy,” says Bryan Stevenson. “You could not find the word slave slavery or enslavement anywhere in the city landscape. And the absence of any acknowledgment of that history bothered me. I saw it as a problem, but it wasn’t a priority then. It wasn’t a focus then. “I was focused on trying to get people who w

Image credit: Legacy Museum Image credit: Equal Justice Initiative Renowned human rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, reflects on why efforts to erase or soften Black history are intensifying, how fear and false narratives have shaped American law and culture for generations, and why preserving historical truth is essential to the country’s future. Image credit: The Grio In the Grio interview excerpted in this blog

Image credit: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth124054/ “246 years. Nearly two and a half centuries. That is how long slavery lasted in what is now the United States of America,” wrote Isabel Wilkerson on Facebook in June 2026. “This is the day that we commemorate the moment that the last enslaved Americans were finally freed in the slavery stronghold of Texas on June 19, 1865. They had toiled for two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation and mon

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Listen to Jayne Cortez , renowned jazz poet spit “You Know” and “There It Is,” live at the San Francisco Poetry Center, 1985. In addition to publishing a number of collections , Jayne released several recordings throughout her lifetime, many of which feature her band, the Firespitters. ◊ ◊ ◊ Listen and Read Bernice Johnson Reagon Listener ◊ ◊ ◊ Toni Morrison Listener ◊ ◊ ◊ Chris Cooper Reader ◊ ◊ ◊ Leonard Cohen Reader ◊ ◊ ◊ Gloria Steinem Reader ◊ ◊ ◊ Tom Robb

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Image Credit: Gina Greenlee, paint, ink, collage For more of my take on growing up on New York City’s Lower East Side: Black and Blintzes: Growing Up Not Quite Jewish on the Lower East Side Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments in New York Hush Life, a novel No Tears for Frankie: A Memoir on the Life of an Essay ◊ ◊ ◊ Take a YouTube tour of my hometown. The background song is the 1977 hit Native New Yorker , performed by Odyssey . The lyrics, shared in this

African American Studies Professor Dr. Daniel Black treated graduates to an EXPERIENCE at the 2024 Spring Commencement Ceremonies at Clark Atlanta University.

Bessie Stringfield impressed people with her accounts of being chased off the road as she traveled through the segregated South in the...

Interviewer : You don’t think you will ever change and write books that will incorporate White lives into them substantially? Toni : I...

Image credit: Aphton Corbin My March 11 post got me Googling: “Drawing black people features in cartooning.” Image credit: Aphton Corbin...