Cover photo: A Great Day in Hip Hop, Harlem, New York, by Gordon Parks, 1998 This year, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip Hop. Rap, a genre of popular music rooted in funk, disco, and soul that encompasses the cultures of Black and Brown people is one part of Hip Hop … Continue reading “To the Hip Hop and You don’t Stop”: A Tribute for the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop
Free Frank McWorter was an American frontiersman who found fortune, became the first African American to register a town, and spent his life liberating his family. He was born enslaved in 1777 in South Carolina. His mother, Juda had been kidnapped from West Africa and his father is thought to be her enslaver[1]. Frank moved … Continue reading Free Frank McWorter – Father of Freedom
Today’s post was written by Nathanial Patch, Subject Matter Expert for Navy Records and Reference Archivist at the National Archives in College Park. From Carrier to the Thick of the Fight Corsair Airplanes Aboard the USS Leyte (CV-32) in Korean Waters (NAID 178141084) On a cold and bleak day in December 1950 off the coast … Continue reading Blue Star Turned to Gold: The Loss of Ens. Jesse L. Brown
This June, the National Archives Say it Loud! African American Employee Affinity Group, Houston Public Library's African American Library at the Gregory School, and the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC) teamed up to create an online exhibit celebrating one of the most eloquent and preeminent women to come out of the great state of Texas, … Continue reading The Keynote Speaker – Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
Tintype Images of Wounded Civil War Union Soldiers from Pension Application Files in the U.S. National Archives **Please note that the following post contains graphic images that may be disturbing to some readers.** This is an excerpt from two posts about personal tintype images of wounded soldiers in the Civil War Pension Application Files from … Continue reading Beneath His Shirt Sleeves: Evidence of Injury
Today's post was written by Grace Schultz, archivist at the National Archives at Philadelphia. A companion lesson plan can be viewed in DocsTeach. The fight to desegregate schools started long before the Supreme Court’s decision in Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al. (NAID 561058), and it continues today. As … Continue reading Equalization and its Role in Dismantling Racial Segregation in Virginia Public Schools
Today's post was written by David R. Hardin, archivist at the National Archives at St. Louis Veteran's Administration Hospital, Tuskegee, AL (NAID 102252457) On February 12th, 1923, Veteran’s Hospital #91 opened in Tuskegee, Alabama. Initially the hospital’s focus was treating service-related respiratory and mental health issues of African American veterans. However, the hospital would grow … Continue reading The Trials and Triumphs of Dr. Joseph H. Ward
First Lieutenant James R. Europe and the 369th Infantry Regiment Band playing for patients in the American Red Cross Hospital No. 9, Paris, France, September 4, 1918. (NAID: 55200536 Local Identifier: 111-SC-20417) The musical career of American jazz bandleader, composer, and arranger James Reese Europe (1881-1919) was as influential and unique as it was tragically … Continue reading James Reese Europe: America’s Jazz Ambassador
This blog is part of the #1950CensusCountdown. The 1950 Census will be released by the National Archives on April 1, 2022. The genealogy bug bit me about a decade ago while briefly cross-training with the Archives unit formerly known as the Research Support Services Branch at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. This branch had … Continue reading It’s All Relative: Locating Family in Federal Records and Genealogy Research Strategies
This is the final post in a series about the 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps and their missions to test the effectiveness of bicycles for military use. Voyage to St. Louis (final leg), July 16-24, 1897, ~1900 miles (3058 km) For the 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps, the roads across Missouri were bad and hilly, and with … Continue reading Iron Riders, The 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps, Part IV
