Black History Matters
History written for readers, not for footnotes.
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Our power, our future. Eight deeply reported stories in Issue One — from Black Studies and Anita Hill to Sylvester, Haiti, Black Brazil, HBCU sports, and global racism. Join before November 1 and your $9.99/month rate is locked in for life.
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Black History Now
Global
From Birmingham and Detroit to the 2020 Black Lives Matter marches and France on October 17, 2026, the word "riot" has been used to bury a movement's demands, blame "outside agitators" and justify law and order.
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Black History Now
Britain's Black History Month turns 39 this October. Its 2026 theme, Honouring Our Communities, points to a history that goes far beyond Windrush.
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Black History Now
Florida's Democratic Senate nominee joins a century-long line of Black radicals, from Hubert Harrison and A. Philip Randolph to today.
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Black History Now
Andrew Gillum came within four-tenths of a percent of the Florida governor's office. Byron Donalds may win it instead — with a record that runs in the opposite direction.
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Black History Now
The party's Minister of Culture turned a weekly newspaper into the most widely seen Black art in America.
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Black History Now
Women made up much of the Black Panther Party's membership and ran its programs, defended it in court and, for three years, led it.
Continue readingOur Purpose
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.
Blog
Weekly blogs on Black history—past and present that shape our contemporary lives.
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Podcast
Long-form conversations running from Reconstruction politics to popular culture. Latest episode: Juneteenth and a legacy of song.
Listen nowAcross the Centuries
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
15th century
Coastal trade and early contact
16th century
Arrival and resistance in the Americas
17th century
Arrival and resistance in a new world
18th century
Artisans and free communities
19th century
Freedom schools after emancipation
20th century
City life, music, and movement
21st century
Culture and community today
Stay Current
One dispatch a week: a new essay, a podcast episode, and something from the archive worth a second look.
