A moving visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, and the nearby Freedom Monument Sculpture Park there on the banks of the Alabama River, prompts a Massachusetts woman to reflect on the history of slavery in the...
Stephanie in Green Bay, Wisconsin, was puzzled when a colleague used the expression like grabbing a wolf by the ears to describe an impossible task. Like the idiom to have a tiger by the tail, it suggests the paralyzing difficulty of having hold of...
When writing textbooks about slavery, which words best reflect its cold, hard reality? Some historians are dropping the word slave in favor of terms like enslaved person and captive, arguing that these terms are more accurate. And raising a...
A San Diego, California, 12-year-old whose last name is Jones wonders: Why do so many African-Americans as well as European Americans share the same last name? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Common Name “Jones”” Hello, you...
The organization Historic Hudson Valley describes the African-American celebration of Pinkster in an exemplary way. It avoids the use of the word slave and instead uses terms such as enslaved people, enslaved Africans, and captives. It’s a subtle...
peculiar institution n.— «Alabama is now the fourth Southern state where modern-day lawmakers have apologized for slavery. In Mississippi, though, there has been no grand push to get an official acknowledgment of regret for what was once...
