Writer and journalism professor Jelani Cobb discusses the importance of historically Black colleges and universities and the role they have played since before the Civil War, educating Black luminaries like Thurgood Marshall and many others.
Jelani Cobb reveals the direct relationship between African Americans in the South and voter suppression efforts after the Civil War. Black Americans did not achieve all the rights of full citizenship until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project, shares how Black American resistance has historically been a major democratizing force in America, and offers insight on the complicated relationship between Black citizens and patriotism.
Civil Rights lawyer and NAACP Legal Defense Fund President Sherrilyn Ifill explains the 14th Amendment and how in making emancipated people full citizens, it also allowed for birthright citizenship and the "nation of immigrants" narrative.
Sherrilyn Ifill explains how Black Americans' civil rights were curtailed through white supremacists' reactions to the 14th Amendment. The Civil Rights Acts unraveled gains made during Reconstruction, and Jim Crow laws were enacted in the South.
Explore the achievements of three exemplars of Black intellectualism and cultural leadership: legendary scholar W. E. B. Du Bois, activist Booker T. Washington, and intrepid investigative reporter Ida B. Wells.
Discover how Black children were educated before the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, from the creation of common schools to the impact of school desegregation on Black children who were never intended to be assimilated into public schools.
Black Liberation Movement icon Angela Davis speaks to the importance of thinking about enslaved people as people much like us-and not objectifying them strictly as victims of a violent, inhumane economic system.