african american history

Historian and preservationist Michael Allen has been tapped by a British newspaper, The Guardian, to help atone for its recently discovered role in the transatlantic slave trade.

Margaret Seidler thought she knew her family’s history. Then, a genealogical search on-line led her to connect with a cousin who, unlike Margaret, was Black. Determined to find as much as she could about her lineage, Margaret soon came face to face with more than just an expanded family tree. And what she found led her to devote years to historical research and many difficult conversations about the centrality of the institution of slavery in Charleston, and the part some of her ancestors played in helping it flourish. This week we talk with Margaret Seidler about how this journey into history challenged her and about her new book, Payne-ful Business: Charleston’s Journey to Truth (2024, Evening Post Books).In the book, Seidler has written about the realities of Charleston’s racial history while highlighting the historians, journalists, and community members who work to reconcile those truths. And the enslaved individuals whom she found advertised for sale in ante bellum newspapers are brought to vivid life by artist John W. Jones. He truly uncovers the humanity hidden beneath those detached advertisements.

“S” is for Segregation. Segregation, the residential, political, and social isolation of African Americans was accomplished in South Carolina by a long and varying effort in the aftermath of emancipation and Reconstruction.

“S” is for Segregation. Segregation, the residential, political, and social isolation of African Americans was accomplished in South Carolina by a long and varying effort in the aftermath of emancipation and Reconstruction.

“R” is for Robinson, Bernice Violanthe (1914-1994). Educator, civil rights activist. The workshops that Bernice Violanthe Robinson created helped transform the political and economic status of thousands of disenfranchised Blacks in the American South.

“R” is for Robinson, Bernice Violanthe (1914-1994). Educator, civil rights activist. The workshops that Bernice Violanthe Robinson created helped transform the political and economic status of thousands of disenfranchised Blacks in the American South.

This week we're talking with Joseph McGill and Herb Frazier, authors of Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery (2023, Hachette).Since founding the Slave Dwelling Project in 2010, Joseph McGill has been spending the night in slave dwellings throughout the South, but also the in North and in the West, where people are often surprised to learn that such structures exist. Events and gatherings arranged around these overnight stays have provided a unique way to understand the complex history of slavery. McGill and Frazier talk with us about how the project got started and about the sometimes obscured or ignored aspects of the history in the United States.

In his book, The Garretts of Columbia: A Black South Carolina Family from Slavery to the Dawn of Integration, David Nicholson tells the story of his great-grandparents, Casper George Garrett and his wife, Anna Maria, and their family.A multigenerational story of hope and resilience, The Garretts of Columbia is an American history of Black struggle, sacrifice, and achievement - a family history as American history, rich with pivotal events viewed through the lens of the Garretts's lives.

“E” is for Evans, Matilda Arabella (1872-1935). Physician. Matilda Arabella Evans’s walk-in clinics and hospitals were the first available for many Deep South Blacks.

“E” is for Evans, Matilda Arabella (1872-1935). Physician. Matilda Arabella Evans’s walk-in clinics and hospitals were the first available for many Deep South Blacks.