A public history platform · New blogs every week

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Archival collage of a mid-century American civil rights march

Black History Matters

The Past is Present

History written for readers, not for footnotes.

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Black History Now

Latest from the blog

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Hale Woodruff, Artist and Muralist

Black History Now

Hale Woodruff, Artist and Muralist

Hale Woodruff joined the ancestors (Aug 26, 1900 - Sept 6, 1980). Artist known for his murals, paintings, prints. He studied with Henry Ossawa Tanner and also fresco painting with Diego Rivera in Mexico. He painted the ‘Amistad Murals at Talladega College

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Our Purpose

Why this platform exists

Historianspeaks is a public history project devoted to making the Black past reachable — free of jargon, free of paywalls, and free of the flattened, one-note version of the story most of us were handed in school.

Through essays, conversation, and archival material, this site treats history as a working tool: something that explains the present and helps chart what comes next.

Collage of archival photographs, letters, and books from Black history

Blog

Black History Now

Weekly blogs on Black history—past and present that shape our contemporary lives.

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Collage of vintage microphones, vinyl records, and Black musicians and broadcasters

Podcast

The Historianspeaks Podcast

Long-form conversations running from Reconstruction politics to popular culture. Latest episode: Juneteenth and a legacy of song.

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Across the Centuries

A collage of the Black past, in color

From the marketplaces of West Africa through the age of sail, plantation colonies, Reconstruction classrooms, the Harlem street, and today’s block parties.

The African past: Kingdoms, scholars, and markets

The African past

Kingdoms, scholars, and markets

15th century: Coastal trade and early contact

15th century

Coastal trade and early contact

16th century: Arrival and resistance in the Americas

16th century

Arrival and resistance in the Americas

17th century: Arrival and resistance in a new world

17th century

Arrival and resistance in a new world

18th century: Artisans and free communities

18th century

Artisans and free communities

19th century: Freedom schools after emancipation

19th century

Freedom schools after emancipation

20th century: City life, music, and movement

20th century

City life, music, and movement

21st century: Culture and community today

21st century

Culture and community today

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One dispatch a week: a new essay, a podcast episode, and something from the archive worth a second look.