In 1794, a Portuguese slave ship with the biblical name Saint Joseph (São José Paquete Africa) sank off the coast of present-day South Africa while carrying hundreds of captive Africans to Brazil. The wreck occurred near the Cape of...
The story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings stands at the center of one of the clearest contradictions in American history. Jefferson wrote that “all men are created equal,” yet he enslaved hundreds of people at his Monticello estate....
During the era of slavery in the Americas, many slaveholders encouraged enslaved Africans to adopt Christianity. Missionaries and pastors often preached to enslaved communities because slaveholders believed religion would make them more obedient. However, while enslaved Africans were encouraged...
Beneath the streets of some of America’s largest cities lie the graves of thousands of enslaved and freed Africans. Office towers rise above them and highways cut across them. In many places, people go about their daily lives unaware...
In 1979, W. Arthur Lewis made history when he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for pioneering research on economic development in emerging countries. With this award, he became the first Black person ever to win a...
George William Gordon is remembered today as one of Jamaica’s national heroes, but in his own lifetime he was viewed by the colonial authorities as a dangerous critic of British rule. His arrest and execution in 1865, during the...
In the early years of the United States, openly condemning slavery in the South could cost a preacher his position. This was the reality faced by James M. Gilliland, a Presbyterian minister whose opposition to slavery led to his...
Rodolfo Graziani was one of the most violent figures produced by European colonialism in Africa. An Italian general and senior official under Benito Mussolini, he became notorious for directing mass killings, chemical warfare, and terror campaigns during Italy’s invasion...
Richard Mentor Johnson, a powerful U.S. senator from Kentucky who would later rise to the vice presidency, built a remarkable political career in early nineteenth century America. But his life was shadowed by a relationship he refused to conceal....
Robert Lewis Dabney was among the most influential Southern Presbyterian theologians of the nineteenth century. A pastor, seminary professor, and Confederate officer, he became a central figure in the effort to defend slavery and racial hierarchy through Christian theology...
