Throughout the history of slavery in the Americas, music carried messages of survival, rebellion, and solidarity. Enslaved people composed songs that were far more than laments—they were calls for liberty a ...

Scholarship on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century religious periodicals, particularly Black publications, remains sparse and often focuses on the theological contributions of male writers. Race Literature: ...

Clyde Kennard (1927–1963) was a determined and soft-spoken man whose fight to enroll at Mississippi Southern College (now the University of Southern Mississippi) in the 1950s highlighted the broader struggle f ...

Before it was Jackson State University®, it was Natchez Seminary, a school built on a vision of education and empowerment. In 1877, H. P. Jacobs and Black ministers from the Mississippi Baptist Missionary ...

James P. Johnson (1894–1955) is one of the most important figures in twentieth-century American music. However, few people other than scholars and serious fans know of his life and work. Rare jazz aficionados k ...

Since the publication of The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo by Tom Feelings, more African American creators have used graphic narratives to explore key moments in colonial and US history. These ...

During a dramatic three-day period in March 1961, nine students from historically Black Tougaloo College staged sit-ins at the all-White Main Library in Jackson, Mississippi. The students conducted their ...

Throughout US history, only three Black women—Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun, and Kamala Harris—have given successfully recognized bids for the office of president of the United States. In A Black ...

Jazz legend Cootie Williams left home to start his career as a professional musician at the age of fifteen. In 1940, after eleven years as one of the major soloists with the Duke Ellington orchestra, ...

Born to a formerly enslaved mother and a white planter father, P. B. S. Pinchback (1837–1921) became the first African American governor in the United States. His tenure as governor of Louisiana was brief—a m ...