Category: History

  • The quadroon concubines of New Orleans on Wanton Weekends Jude Knight 2015-10-25 Jude Knight In New Orleans at the end of the 18th Century, a wealthy white man would generally live on his plantation with his wife and children, but he would also have a townhouse in New Orleans where his other family lived: his…

  • Allyson Hobbs, A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life [Varlack Review] 49th Parallel Issue 37 (2015-11-19) pages 66-68 ISSN: 1753-5894 Christopher Allen Varlack, Lecturer Department of English University of Maryland Allyson Hobbs, A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014. 382 pp.…

  • A monumental moment in the history of the United States will be celebrated in December when the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery at the close of the Civil War, turns 150 years old. But despite the passage of time, the U.S. continues to struggle with racial inequality.

  • 128 RACE MIXTURE POLTCS University of California, Irvine School of Humanities Winter Quarter 2016 Jared Sexton, Associate Professor of African American Studies and Film & Media Studies This course explores the politics of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the United States from the antebellum period to the post-civil rights era, paying specific attention to…

  • “Most Fitting Companions”: Making Mixed-Race Bodies Visible in Antebellum Public Spaces Theatre Survey Volume 56, Issue 2, May 2015 pages 138-165 DOI: 10.1017/S0040557415000046 Lisa Merrill, Professor of Speech Communication, Rhetoric, Performance Studies Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York In the years leading up to the U.S. Civil War, free and fugitive persons of color were aware…

  • This Week in Civil Rights History New York State United Teachers 2015-09-20 September 20th – Maryland Passes First Miscegenation Law On this day in 1664, Maryland passed the first Miscegenation Law, banning inter-racial marriage in the United States. As African slavery became more widespread, both laws and customs became more restrictive. The impetus for the…

  • The Black Female Mathematicians Who Sent Astronauts to Space Mental Floss 2015-11-24 A. K. Whitney Katherine Johnson at NASA Langley Research Center in 1971. (Source NASA) Today, November 24, President Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom, considered the nation’s highest civilian honor, to 17 men and women. Among them is 97-year-old retired African-American…

  • Call for Papers: Negotiating Identities: Mixed-Race Individuals in China, Japan, and Korea University of San Francisco Center for Asia Pacific Studies 2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, California 2015-07-09 Negotiating Identities: Mixed-Race Individuals in China, Japan, and Korea, April 14-15, 2016 The University of San Francisco Center for Asia Pacific Studies is pleased to announce the…

  • NASA Mathematician Receives Medal of Freedom NBC News 2015-11-25 Katherine G. Johnson calculated the flight path for the first American mission to space. The 97-year-old was one of 17 Americans who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom Tuesday.

  • President Obama Names Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Office of the Press Secretary The White House Washington, D.C. 2015-11-16 WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama named seventeen recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially…