Using a 1904 African American family portrait as a starting point, this counterfactual asks: what if the US had treated Black citizens fairly by 1904?
african-american-history
Why Kids Dressed Like Adults in 1948 America
A 1948 photo of a boy in a tailored suit and fedora in Washington D.C. opens a window into postwar fashion, respectability politics, and Black middle-class life.
Linda, OCS 1977: A Barrier-Breaking Guard Officer
How Linda became the first Black woman to complete Delaware’s Army National Guard OCS in 1977, what Signal officers did, and why her quiet milestone mattered.
5 Things Spotswood Rice’s Defiant Letter Reveals
In 1864, ex-slave turned Union soldier Spotswood Rice wrote a searing letter to his former owner. Here are 5 things his words reveal about slavery and the Civil War.
Anna Julia Cooper and the Sorbonne PhD of 1925
In 1925, Anna Julia Cooper earned a doctorate from the Sorbonne. Here’s how a woman born enslaved became a major Black feminist scholar and educator.
When the Wichita Monrovians Beat the Klan at Baseball
In 1925, an all‑Black team, the Wichita Monrovians, beat a Ku Klux Klan team 10–8 in Kansas. Here’s what really happened, who these teams were, and why it mattered.