#ClaudetteColvin, who refused to give up her seat on a segregated Alabama bus 9 months before Rosa Parks made history, has died at 86.
#CivilRights #UShistory
https://apnews.com/article/claudette-colvin-died-a447e8e70f0decf2463565241179d11f?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2026-01-13-Civil+rights+pioneer
#ClaudetteColvin, who refused to give up her seat on a segregated Alabama bus 9 months before Rosa Parks made history, has died at 86.
#CivilRights #UShistory
https://apnews.com/article/claudette-colvin-died-a447e8e70f0decf2463565241179d11f?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2026-01-13-Civil+rights+pioneer
The #NationalPortraitGallery removed a swath of text that mentioned Trump’s 2 #impeachments & the #Jan6, 2021, #insurrection as it swapped out a prominent photo of him this week.
#Trump & the White House posted on social media Fri & Sat to highlight the updated portrait in the “America’s Presidents” exhibition, which now features a framed B&W photo by White House photographer Daniel Torok.
#UShistory #whitewashing #revisionism #censorship #propaganda #dictatorship
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2026/01/10/national-portrait-gallery-trump-photo/
As U.S. Thanksgiving begins to wind down, here's a reminder from @TheConversationUS that communal celebrations of gratitude didn't begin with the Plymouth Pilgrims. "The emphasis on the Pilgrims’ 1620 landing and 1621 feast erased a great deal of religious history and narrowed conceptions of who belongs in America," writes Thomas Tweed, a professor emeritus of American Studies and History at the University of Notre Dame.
#History #USHistory #Thanksgiving #NativeAmericanHistory #Indigenous
Then this summer, they came upon items on land the #Rappahannock Tribe has been working to reclaim. The archaeologists are now revealing their discoveries of roughly 11,000 artifacts — some dating to the 1500s — ranging from tiny beads & shards of pottery with detailed markings to pieces of stone tools & pipes.
It was physical proof of the Rappahannock towns & villages that #JohnSmith had described.
#archeology #UShistory #NativeAmerican #genocide #NationalDayOfMourning
#ViolaFletcher, who as a child in 1921 saw her affluent Black neighborhood torched by white citizens in what became known as the #TulsaRaceMassacre — one of the most violent acts of racial violence in #AmericanHistory — & who, a century later, testified in #Congress to the terror she witnessed in the hope of winning #reparations, has died. She was 111 & the oldest survivor of the attack.
#UShistory #BlackHistory #WhiteSupremacy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/us/viola-fletcher-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
As U.S. Thanksgiving begins to wind down, here's a reminder from @TheConversationUS that communal celebrations of gratitude didn't begin with the Plymouth Pilgrims. "The emphasis on the Pilgrims’ 1620 landing and 1621 feast erased a great deal of religious history and narrowed conceptions of who belongs in America," writes Thomas Tweed, a professor emeritus of American Studies and History at the University of Notre Dame.
#History #USHistory #Thanksgiving #NativeAmericanHistory #Indigenous
…Fones Cliffs sits on the north side of the #Rappahannock River & is geologically unique because of its distinctive white diatomaceous earth—formed from fossilized remains of aquatic organisms from 5 million years ago when a shallow sea covered much of the area, acc/to Julia King, chair of the anthropology department at St. Mary’s College. #Wildlife experts said it’s a rare spot because its #wetlands are largely untouched & serve as an ideal habitat for bald eagles, fish & other animals.
The #Rappahannock tribe once lived in villages & towns in the lush region, long before English settlers arrived, said Richardson & tribal elders & historians. They grew corn, squash & beans, hunted deer & rabbits, & harvested berries & plants. At the tribe’s peak in the mid-to-late 1500s, its #land encompassed more than 350,000 acres along the river valley, & its population reached nearly 2,400.
#archeology #UShistory #NativeAmerican #genocide #NationalDayOfMourning
Then this summer, they came upon items on land the #Rappahannock Tribe has been working to reclaim. The archaeologists are now revealing their discoveries of roughly 11,000 artifacts — some dating to the 1500s — ranging from tiny beads & shards of pottery with detailed markings to pieces of stone tools & pipes.
It was physical proof of the Rappahannock towns & villages that #JohnSmith had described.
#archeology #UShistory #NativeAmerican #genocide #NationalDayOfMourning
“ #Indian people have long known of the #land & our #history & presence here,” said Anne Richardson, chief of the roughly 300-member #Rappahannock Tribe, which is primarily in King & Queen County. “But so often things aren’t considered ‘real’ until they’re found or ‘discovered.’ This validates what we’ve long known.”
#archeology #UShistory #NativeAmerican #genocide #NationalDayOfMourning
Then this summer, they came upon items on land the #Rappahannock Tribe has been working to reclaim. The archaeologists are now revealing their discoveries of roughly 11,000 artifacts — some dating to the 1500s — ranging from tiny beads & shards of pottery with detailed markings to pieces of stone tools & pipes.
It was physical proof of the Rappahannock towns & villages that #JohnSmith had described.
#archeology #UShistory #NativeAmerican #genocide #NationalDayOfMourning
Viola Ford Fletcher, one of the last known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, died today at age 111. After decades of silence for fear of reprisals, she wrote a book about her experiences, "Don't Let Them Bury My Story," which was published in 2023. “I could never forget the charred remains of our once-thriving community, the smoke billowing in the air, and the terror-stricken faces of my neighbors,” she wrote. Here's more from @AssociatedPress.
#ViolaFordFletcher #MotherFletcher #Tulsa #TulsaRaceMassacre #History #USHistory #InMemoriam #RIP #BlackHistory #BlackMastodon
#ViolaFletcher, who as a child in 1921 saw her affluent Black neighborhood torched by white citizens in what became known as the #TulsaRaceMassacre — one of the most violent acts of racial violence in #AmericanHistory — & who, a century later, testified in #Congress to the terror she witnessed in the hope of winning #reparations, has died. She was 111 & the oldest survivor of the attack.
#UShistory #BlackHistory #WhiteSupremacy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/us/viola-fletcher-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Viola Ford Fletcher, one of the last known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, died today at age 111. After decades of silence for fear of reprisals, she wrote a book about her experiences, "Don't Let Them Bury My Story," which was published in 2023. “I could never forget the charred remains of our once-thriving community, the smoke billowing in the air, and the terror-stricken faces of my neighbors,” she wrote. Here's more from @AssociatedPress.
#ViolaFordFletcher #MotherFletcher #Tulsa #TulsaRaceMassacre #History #USHistory #InMemoriam #RIP #BlackHistory #BlackMastodon
According to that law, it was a crime to "entice, persuade or induce any slave to escape from the service of his master or owner, in this Territory" (plus a bunch of other similar acts). & It became a crime to, in speech or writing, "assert or maintain that persons have not the right to hold slaves in this Territory" or to write or locally circulate "any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet or circular, containing any denial of the right of persons to hold slaves in this Territory".
4/n
That's how it was phrased. It wasn't phrased as "it's illegal to tell people their rights." It was phrased in a way that presupposed particular falsehoods regarding who had what rights, and then prohibited stating certain facts or denying the falsehoods.
5/5
Lincoln points out that the Kansas territorial legislature has passed a law prohibiting -- on penalty of death -- informing Black people of their legal rights. That's "The Act to Punish Offences Against Slave Property", passed ten days before Lincoln's letter.
https://www.kansasmemory.gov/item/display.php?item_id=6835&f=00972354
Morbidly fascinating how the law phrases that.
3/n
According to that law, it was a crime to "entice, persuade or induce any slave to escape from the service of his master or owner, in this Territory" (plus a bunch of other similar acts). & It became a crime to, in speech or writing, "assert or maintain that persons have not the right to hold slaves in this Territory" or to write or locally circulate "any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet or circular, containing any denial of the right of persons to hold slaves in this Territory".
4/n
The Kansas territory was north of the 36°30′ parallel, so, per 1820's Missouri Compromise, a *free* territory (that is, a territory where slavery was prohibited).
That's the basis for Lincoln saying in this letter: "By every principle of law, ever held by any court, North or South" (as of August 1855), any Black person who's entered Kansas -- including slaves brought there by their owners -- is free.
But proslavery forces wanted to change that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleeding_Kansas
2/n
Lincoln points out that the Kansas territorial legislature has passed a law prohibiting -- on penalty of death -- informing Black people of their legal rights. That's "The Act to Punish Offences Against Slave Property", passed ten days before Lincoln's letter.
https://www.kansasmemory.gov/item/display.php?item_id=6835&f=00972354
Morbidly fascinating how the law phrases that.
3/n
Recently read (reread?) Abraham Lincoln's letter to Joshua Speed from August 1855
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:339
which includes that "When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty" line.
There's a line in there that led me to https://www.kansasmemory.gov/item/display.php?item_id=6835&f=00972354 .
1/n
The Kansas territory was north of the 36°30′ parallel, so, per 1820's Missouri Compromise, a *free* territory (that is, a territory where slavery was prohibited).
That's the basis for Lincoln saying in this letter: "By every principle of law, ever held by any court, North or South" (as of August 1855), any Black person who's entered Kansas -- including slaves brought there by their owners -- is free.
But proslavery forces wanted to change that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleeding_Kansas
2/n
Recently read (reread?) Abraham Lincoln's letter to Joshua Speed from August 1855
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:339
which includes that "When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty" line.
There's a line in there that led me to https://www.kansasmemory.gov/item/display.php?item_id=6835&f=00972354 .
1/n
