History Archives

I headed down to Charleston over the holiday break just to get away for a bit. The houses downtown were old and huge and stunning, the former mansions of statesmen and powerful merchants.  My girlfriend and I stayed in an inn on a sprawling plot of land on the edge of the city that spent the first Read More

After reading the homie Frannie Kelley’s glowing review of the original cast soundtrack for Hamilton, the much-hyped hip-hop-meets-American-history musical by the newly minted genius Lin-Manuel Miranda, I decided to give it a listen. Sigh. So over the last few days, I have been banging this in the crib loudly — like, really, really loudly — and Read More

G.D. went home to Philly last week to try and fill in some blanks in my understanding of the police bombing of Osage Avenue back in 1985.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his assassination, Malcolm’s daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, wags her fingers at today’s young protesters.

The legacies of Our Greatest Presidents™ as they pertained to black folks were in many ways, complete catastrophes. Washington was a wealthy planter and a son of Virginia  — and thus deeply invested in the institution of slavery (By the end of his life, he owned hundreds of human beings at his plantation at Mount Vernon.) Because Washington was the Read More

Yes, HBCUs can do a better job of alumni outreach and customer service for their students. But that alone isn’t going to ameliorate the problems of history.

Here’s Ta-Nehisi on Jordan Davis’ shooting, and his killer escaping punishment — for now at least: I wish I had something more to say about the fact that Michael Dunn was not convicted for killing a black boy. Except I said it after George Zimmerman was not convicted of killing a black boy. Except the parents of black boys Read More

  Brad Paisley was kind enough to pen a tribute to my childhood. I’d like to think that I’m the man who works “in the Starbucks down on Main.” Or rather: I’m the kid who shudders a bit and starts biting his nails upon walking into an auto parts store far flung from the interstate, finding Read More

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