Past Voices – Martin Henry Freeman (1826 -1889) – Russell W. Irvine
Martin Henry Freeman’s life can be divided into two periods: his 37-year residence in America and his 25-year stay in Liberia, Africa. Freeman was born…
Past Voices
Past Voices – The Brown v. Board Decision : “The Impact of the Desegregation Process on the Education of Black Students ” (1983) – Russell W. Irvine and Jacqueline J. Irvine
Few, if any, events in this century have rivaled the impact of the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education. l The decision…
Past Voices – Andrew Jackson’s Adopted Indian Son – Rebecca Onion / Slate
Was bringing home an Indian boy after slaughtering his family an act of compassion or of political expedience? Read more
Past Voices – Negroes and the Gun: A Winchester “in every Black home” – Nicholas Johnson / Wash Post
Past Voices – Cornelius Johnson and a Forgotten US Protest Against Hitler at the 1936 Olympic – Steven J. Niven / The Root –
Past Voices – Discovering a different side of black history in the archives of the black press – Rebecca Onion / Slate
‘Roller Skating Socials and a Black Rosie the Riveter.’ The black press has been the subject of several recent books, including James McGrath Morris’ Biography…
Past Voices – Richard Allen (1760 -1831) Founder of the AME Church
You must leave this section now.” “Wait until the prayer is over and I will go,” softly replied the black man, kneeling in prayer. “No,…
Past Voices – Barbara Jordan (1936 – 1996) ‘She Always Did Sound Like God’ – Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos
She always did sound like God.” That is a quote from Molly Ivins, syndicated newspaper columnist and political commentator, in “Barbara Jordan: Brains, Courage And Pragmatism”…
Past Voices – Nina Simone ( 1933 – 2003 ) Interview
Nina Simone discussed black rights and the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. in July 1968, a few months after his assassination, in an interview…
Past Voices – Hubert Harrison (1883 -1927) A Pioneering African – American Radical
The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the Color Line. But what is the Color Line? It is the practice of the…
Past Voices – My Dungeon Shook: Letter To My Nephew…. James Baldwin (1924 -1987)
The Fire Next Time is a book by James Baldwin. It contains two essays: “My Dungeon Shook — Letter to my Nephew on the One…
Past Voices – In 1865, a writer took aim at the deadly dehumanization of black lives that plagued the US then as it does today – Taylor Lewis /The Nation
“It’s shocking how relevant this 150 year old denunciation of American racism is today.” Richard Kreitner Read the story
Past Voices – Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy ( 1925 – 1968) / On Guns and American Violence
“I have saved this one opportunity to speak briefly to you about this mindless menace of violence in America which again stains our land and…
Past Voices – William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs on ‘Black Rage’ / KRON News Footage From 1968
KRON News footage from September 2nd 1968 featuring views of William H. Grier & Price M. Cobb walking down Fillmore Street in San Francisco (between McAllister…
Past Voices – The Speech That Defined the Fight for Voting Rights in Congress – Jim Rutenberg / NYT
Fifty years ago today, on Aug. 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which effectively ended centuries of black disenfranchisement by…
Past Voices – Souls of White Folks – W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
“Souls of White Folks.” Originally published in 1920 as the second chapter in “Darkwater – Voices From Within the Veil.” I’m Intrigued “High in the tower,…
Past Voices – Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln
Delivered at the Unveiling of The Freedmen’s Monument in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C. April 14, 1876 The Occasion Friends and Fellow-citizens: “I warmly congratulate you…
Past Voices – The Story of Denmark Vesey – Thomas Wentworth Higginson / June 1861 Issue – The Atlantic
On Saturday afternoon, May 26th, 1822, a slave named Devany, belonging to Colonel Prioleau of Charleston, South Carolina, was sent to market by his mistress—the…
Past Voices – “The Negro Question” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
This text was written by Albert Einstein in 1946. I am writing as one who has lived among you in America only a little more…
Past Voices – Remarks by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays (1894-1984), President, Morehouse College, at 42nd Annual Convention of the NAACP, Atlanta, Ga. June 27, 1951
Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, theologian, philosopher, educator, civil rights activist, and mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King discusses: “The Emerging New South in the Area of…
Past Voices – President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973). Commencement Address at Howard University: “To Fulfill These Rights.” June 4, 1965
Introductory Comment “In far too many ways American Negroes have been another nation: deprived of freedom, crippled by hatred, the doors of opportunity closed to…