Race and Racism in the Scottsboro Era (1930's)
This case of African American youths caught in the web of southern injustice, sentenced to death, thrown into a prison system that refused to recognize their humanity or their inalienable rights, shocked citizens of this country and people all over the world. At home Scottsboro intruded into the cultural, political and intellectual development of millions, particularly whites who had hardly given racial matters much thought... {Read more}

Africans and Indians: Only in America
Alex Haley's successful tracking of Kunte Kinte gave the hunt for African ancestors a needed shove forward. But driven by their stubborn will and searching eye, as researchers fanned out in pursuit of African connections, another vision appeared. First as a recurring distraction, then a source of wonder, geological detectives stumbled on Native American ancestors. Alex Haley was hardly alone when he also discovered Native American roots to his family tree... {Read more}

Black History Month: The Black West
In the nineteenth century scholars transformed our frontier saga from a grim duel with nature that unleashed the worst and best in people into a national mythology to honor Europeans for building a nation in the wilderness. This revised tale was not subject to Indian claims. It forever omitted people of African descent, and denied them a place in dime novels, school texts and tales of pioneer life... {Read more}