I love to take advantage of any opportunity to learn, and Spring Break is no exception. While my boys and I are on a mission to visit as many National Parks as possible before my oldest turns 18, I make sure each trip has some element of diverse American history. Last year we went to…
Right after the Civil War and the end of legalized enslavement, disgruntled racists were upset that they could not subject African-Americans to forced labor, so they decided to use their power to create new “legal” ways to keep them from advancement. What are Poll Taxes? Amendment 15 was ratified on February 3, 1870, allowing freed…
“No Pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” – Marsha P Johnson Who Was Marsha P. Johnson? Marsha P Johnson was a Black transgender woman, drag queen, and activist. She was assigned male at birth on August 24, 1945, and recognized early on that she was more comfortable wearing clothing traditionally…
Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen? The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of pilots and crew most well known for their contributions during World War II. From 1941-1949, the Tuskegee Experience trained and sent out over one thousand pilots in the country’s first all-Black airmen crew. During World War II, this group of pilots, the 332nd…
Why Do We Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr Day? Martin Luther King, Jr. day is traditionally celebrated on the third Monday of January, to put it close to his birthday of January 15. He was born in 1929, the son of a preacher at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. In church, he learned about…
The History of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Military Policy You might be familiar with the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy from the 1990s, but have you ever wondered how we got there? In the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy, leader of the fear-based anti-communism campaign known as the “Red Scare,” launched the “Lavender Scare.” A…
A Brief History of the KKK What is the history of the KKK? It all starts with the Civil War. On March 21, 1861, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stevens declared in his Cornerstone Speech: “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea {of the United States’ Constitution declaring equality for everyone}; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone…
Native American Residential Schools in the United States Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania was the first Native American Residential School in the United States. The school was founded by U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, a self-proclaimed Christian who wanted to “save” Native American children through cultural genocide. Across the United States and parts of Canada, over…
History of Forced Sterilization in the United States When we think of the term “genocide,” we think of Hitler and his 1930s-1940s eugenics campaign, but the part that is not taught in schools is that Hitler was inspired by none other than the practice of forced sterilization in the United States. What Are Eugenics? The term “eugenics”…
Tuskegee Syphilis Study The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was started in 1932 at the Tuskegee Institute in Macon, Alabama. Sponsored by the U.S. Public Health Service, the subjects were mostly undereducated sharecroppers who were enticed to join the program by benefits like hot food and complimentary visits to a healthcare clinic. Out of around 600 participants, the control group of syphilis-free…