There are myths that persist about the Midwest: that it’s just a “naturally” white space, that Black folks haven’t lived here that long, that it doesn’t have the same histories of slavery, racism, and violence as the South. Last week, in the wake of police violence and white vigilantism in Kenosha, Smithsonian Magazine published an […]
Radio Chipstone: The Dave Project
Dave the Potter was an artisan enslaved in South Carolina from his birth in 1801 until the end of the Civil War. His impressive body of work includes 27 stoneware storage jars. Even more impressive was his ability to read and write, a skill that meant death for many enslaved people. Dave signed, dated and […]
Laboring Bodies: The Plantation Legacy
In the 16th and 17th centuries, a new type of agriculture began appearing in the new world: the plantation. Focused exclusively on cash crops for an international market, but lacking industrial technology, plantations were dependent on cheap, human labor in order to turn a profit. A lot of labor, the cheaper the better. After finding […]
The Dismal Swamp Revealed: A Pathway to Freedom
Learn how a southern wetland provided critical refuge along the journey to freedom on the Underground Railroad at a banquet on Wednesday, February 20th in Middleton: Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander will present a banquet presentation entitled, The Dismal Swamp Revealed: A Path to Freedom. As we honor both African American History Month in February and the […]
Slavery in the U.S. today
Is there slavery in the U.S. today? Yes — in prisons. And it’s legal! The 13th amendment forbids slavery, EXCEPT for people convicted of crimes. Ed Mead, editor of The Kite Newsletter, talks about the current prison strike against forced labor (among other demands).
Gerald Horne on the roots of slavery in the U.S.
Gerald Horne, Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and author of many books on the history of racism, talks with Jan Miyasaki about his most recent book “The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy and Capitalism in Seventeenth Century North America and the Caribbean”.
