By Brian MacQuarrie, The Boston Globe — David Debias passed explosives to the thundering guns of the USS Constitution on the night of Feb. 20, 1815. He heard US Marines shooting from the masts, watched razor-sharp splinters gash his comrades, and basked in the Constitution’s resounding victory over two British warships in its final battle, 180 miles southwest of Gibraltar. Debias was from Beacon Hill. He was 8 years old….
Del. Wanika Fisher (D-Prince George’s) wants the state to consider reparations for ancestors of Maryland slaves. By Hannah Gaskill, Maryland Matters — Maryland’s 250-year history of legal slavery came to…
By Roy E. Finkenbine, HNN — The history of slavery in America is, to a great extent, the history of erasure. For most of the century and a half since…
By Jeremiah Poff, The College Fix — Panelist says institutions should get used to losing money. Though most were founded long after the transatlantic slave trade ended, Christian colleges have…
Activists and preservationists are changing the kinds of places that are protected—and what it means to preserve them. By Casey Cep, The New Yorker — No one knows what happened to Gabriel’s body. Born into slavery the year his country declared its freedom, he trained as a plantation blacksmith and was hired out to foundries in Richmond, Virginia, where he befriended other enslaved people. Together, they absorbed, from the revolutionary…
By Associated Press — RICHMOND (AP) — After months of research, a university in Virginia’s capital city has confirmed that part of its campus was probably built over the graves…
Building a digital archive for decaying paper documents, preserving centuries of records about enslaved people. By Daniel Genkins — Paper documents are still priceless records of the past, even in a…
Antonia Eliason continues to make waves in her bid for the First Congressional District seat in Mississippi. By Frank Corder — The self-described Democratic Socialist candidate has already voiced support for Medicaid expansion, the Green New Deal, marijuana legalization, and the “Squad.” Now Eliason is pushing for reparations. In a tweet on Tuesday, Eliason wrote, “Reparations for slavery are long overdue. One of the gravest betrayals in American history is the unfulfilled…
Liverpool could introduce plaques to give an “honest account” of places connected to the slave trade. By BBC News — Much of the city’s 18th Century wealth came from the trade involving British slavers transporting Africans across the Atlantic. Mayor Joe Anderson said paintings, street names and buildings in the city were “important parts of the historical record which should not be concealed”. He is calling for new signs to…
By Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor — The term “American Descendants of Slavery” (ADOS) was created in 2016 to describe and distinctly separate Black Americans/African Americans from Black immigrant communities (Africans, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, etc). The movement claims to advocate for reparations on behalf of Black Americans. However, this movement’s leadership is linked to right-wing media and white supremacists that have a history of attempting to cause divisions in the Black community.
By Dwayne Wong (Omowale) — The slave trade not only physically separated African Americans and Africans, but it created a psychological separation as well. At the root of this continued…
The Associated Press — American colleges and universities are increasingly discussing the idea of reparations linked to their historical ties to slavery. Until now, schools have created monuments, changed building names and issued…