History remembers empire-builders in different ways. Some are celebrated in statues and street names. Others are remembered, when they are remembered at all, for the suffering they left behind. Gustav Adolf von Götzen belongs firmly to the second group....
History often remembers inventors for the machines they built, but some left behind a legacy that went far beyond their patents. Thomas Elkins was one of them. Long before his name appeared on U.S. patent documents, he was helping...
In January 1895, King Koko of Nembe launched one of the most daring attacks against British interests in nineteenth century West Africa. Leading about 1,500 warriors in 22 war canoes, he struck the Royal Niger Company’s headquarters at Akassa,...
Long before the Scramble for Africa formally divided the continent among European powers, a prince from the Kingdom of Kongo publicly condemned Portuguese interference in African affairs. Prince Dom Nicolau de Água Rosada, also known as Dom Nicolau of...
In November 1733, the island of St. John in the Danish West Indies erupted in one of the most remarkable slave revolts in the history of the Americas. By the time it was over, an enslaved man named Franz...
In 1934, in the Jim Crow South, a Black man could lose his life for almost anything. Looking a white person in the eye, refusing to step off a sidewalk, or arguing with a white man could be enough...
When European colonial powers conquered Africa, they did not only seek political control. They also attempted to reshape African societies by imposing European systems of government, education, and religion. Across the continent, many traditional rulers came under intense pressure...
When European powers carved Africa into colonies in the late nineteenth century, they faced an immediate economic problem: the people they intended to exploit had no reason to work for them. Africans across the continent were largely self-sufficient, farming...
For decades in the mid 19th century, a brick slave jail in Lynchburg, Virginia, functioned as one of the busiest holding points in the domestic slave trade of the Upper South. Enslaved Africa men, women, and children were confined...
Throughout American history, politicians, plantation owners, lawyers, and religious leaders all offered different arguments in defense of slavery. Some claimed it was necessary for the economy, while others argued that it maintained social order. Few, however, relied as heavily...
