Black History Now
Mary Edmonia Lewis , Sculptor
Mary Edmonia Lewis joined the ancestors (c. Jul 4, 1844 - Sept 17, 1907). AKA "Wildfire", sculptor of African American and Native American heritage
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Black History Matters
The Past is Present
History written for readers, not for footnotes.
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Black History Now
Dr Lena Frances Edwards (Sept 17, 1900 - Dec 3, 1986). New Jersey physician
Dr. Lena Frances Edwards (Sept 17, 1900 - Dec 3, 1986). New Jersey physician, Dr Edwards graduated from Howard Medical School in 1924 and began a medical practice serving the immigrant population of Hudson County, NJ, but was not admitted to an OB/GYN residency until 1945
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Black History Now
Mary Smith Peake, Educator and the Founding of Hampton University
Sept 17, 1861: Mary Smith Peake gathered approximately 20 enslaved children under the branches of what is now known as the ‘Emancipation Oak’ in Hampton, VA, to hold their very 1st outdoor class.
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Black History Now
Four Little Girls: Denise McNair, September 15, 1963
Denise McNair joined the ancestors (Nov 17, 1951 - Sept 15, 1963). Denise was a student at Center Street Elementary School, she, along with Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14) was murdered by white domestic terrorists
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Black History Now
Four Little Girls: Addie Mae Collins, September 15, 1963
Addie Mae Collins joined the ancestors (Apr 18, 1949 - Sept 15, 1963🙏🏾🕊️). Addie Mae was killed by a bomb made by white domestic terrorists.
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Black History Now
Four Little Girls: Cynthia Wesley, September 15, 1963
Cynthia Wesley joined the ancestors (Apr 30, 1949 - Sept 15, 1963🙏🏾🕊️🕯️✨). Cynthia was one of four little girls (Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair), killed by white domestic terrorists who bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL
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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.
Blog
Black History Now
Weekly blogs on Black history—past and present that shape our contemporary lives.
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Podcast
The Historianspeaks Podcast
Long-form conversations running from Reconstruction politics to popular culture. Latest episode: Juneteenth and a legacy of song.
Listen nowAcross 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
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
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One dispatch a week: a new essay, a podcast episode, and something from the archive worth a second look.