“It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness… one ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two un-reconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” ~ W. E. B. Du Bois RG 79 "W.E.B. Dubois photo from NAACP Collection" … Continue reading Happy Birthday Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois!
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 Joshua Schroeder, archives technician at the National Archives at College Park. On September 6th, 1950, Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman triumphantly reported to President Harry Truman that Washington, D.C.’s public pools had been successfully and peacefully integrated. A body of digitized records from the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library … Continue reading “It Is Our Earnest Hope That You Will Give Every Support to Our Plea for Democracy in the Nation’s Capital:” Ending Jim Crow in Washington, D.C.’s Public Pools
Today’s blog was written by Stacey Chandler, textual reference archivist at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American to serve as United States Supreme Court Justice. It was a milestone etched in the American memory in part because of the infamous fight to push Marshall’s … Continue reading “The Long Siege”: Thurgood Marshall’s Other Court Nomination Battle
Today’s post was written by Dr. Tina L. Ligon, Lead Archivist at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus to a white man. She was arrested and charged with violating the city’s segregation laws. Her act of civil … Continue reading 60th Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Today’s Tribute was written by Dr. Tina Ligon, Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland “I do think that some of us began to realize that this was going to be a long struggle that was going to go on for decades, and you'd have to knuckle down. A lot of people … Continue reading Julian Bond, A Soldier for Civil Rights
Today’s blog was written by Dr. Tina L. Ligon, Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland During the World War II years, thousands of southern African Americans relocated to the West Coast in search of employment in the defense industries and to escape the Jim Crow South. Many of the migrants made the … Continue reading DOJ Litigation Case File on the Watts Riot (August 11-17, 1965)
This blog post was written by Dr. Tina L. Ligon, Supervisory Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act. This act helped disenfranchised African Americans to register to vote and gave the federal government power to oversee … Continue reading 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Today's blog was written by Dr. Tina L. Ligon, Archivist and Kevin Bradley, Archives Technician at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland In 1941, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt demanding that African Americans be used in roles other than messmen in … Continue reading USS Mason, USS PC-1264, and the African-American Crews during World War II
Today's blog is written by Netisha Currie, Archives Specialist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland There are many episodes of disappointment in American history when disparate groups of citizens seek out the interference of help from the Federal Government and are turned away because there is no way … Continue reading When the Government Can’t Help
