This article considers a subset of lawsuits in which emancipated people sued to have their enslavers' bequests to them honored. It contends that we should see these suits as contests over reparations. By exploring this unappreciated history, this article argues that enslavers themselves believed reparations were due and were willing to pay them,…

Some Black histories are absolutely dreadful. When we consider enslavement, racial violence, the terrors in the lynching of Emmett Till, the destruction of Tulsa during the Race Massacre, and the intergenerational traumas these events left behind, the residues of dread are made visible. Black histories are in a contentious social-political moment…

As we write this paper in late 2023, Advanced Placement (AP) Black history, psychology courses and the use of diverse literature written for children and young adults is being banned by many school districts across the United States. Educators are being threatened, sanctioned, reprimanded, and fired. Despite this, some teachers stand steadfast in…

As scholars, teachers, and researchers within academe we have, at times, felt the gravity, nuance, and depth of Black feminist theories and epistemologies have resulted in articulations and manifestations so flat they are rendered illegible and almost always universally synonymous. While there are certainly deep and rich connections among and…

This article presents parallel narratives as a pedagogical strategy to increase awareness, facilitate critical reflection, and dialog about the role of Black social work pioneers in the development of the social work profession. Using this approach, history is reconstructed and presented in ways that decenter Whiteness and avoid marginalizing…

The great economic power of the United States of America allowed its attitude towards the African American population living on its land to be ignored for a long time. However, the lives of the African Americans and the time they have lived have started to manifest itself in music as well as various visual arts. Protest music is written and…

A deeper understanding of how slavery and colonialism fundamentally shaped the system of higher education in the United States has led colleges and universities to reexamine their histories and acknowledge harms committed and the need for repair. Campuses are experimenting with how to address racial justice and healing for faculty, staff, and…

This paper is part of a larger NSF funded research project that situates the lived experiences and narratives of African Americans and Black heritage in the K-12 science curriculum. This work contributes to research on the science capital, and on positive and empowering identity construction for the African Diaspora. This study takes the position…

The background and resources presented in this article support teaching about two Tent/Freedom Cities--in Fayette County, Tennessee, and in Lowndes County, Alabama--that were built as a form of civil rights resistance and for housing Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers evicted by oppressive white landlords for marching, attending mass…

The Re-membering Blackness Digital Archive at the University of Scranton shares the university's racial story as part of a campus-wide initiative devoted to reconciliation and collective memory. By bringing together archival records on Black history in a thematic digital collection, the project presents a corrective lens through which the…

Reparations policies that seek to make amends for a harm incurred face exigent challenges. In this article we focus on what makes reparations successful and what policy components are necessary, if not sufficient, for success. To study the success of reparations policy design we employ a case study approach. Our analysis investigates the…

Until the beginning of the 21st century, the Tulsa Race Massacre was omitted mainly from the social studies curriculum and state-mandated standards in the United States. However, the featured lesson provides a valuable springboard to explore the historical perspectives and injustices against the Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 31, 1921.…

This paper studies the impact of the First Great Migration on children. We use the complete count 1940 Census to estimate selection-corrected place effects on education for children of Black migrants. On average, Black children gained 0.8 years of schooling (12 percent) by moving from the South to North. Many counties that had the strongest…

"Countering Miseducation: Situating K-12 Social Studies Education within the Black Intellectual Tradition" combines two separate articles--Part I "Re-membering" The Teachings of PtahHotep: Educational Implications of the Oldest Book in the World" and Part II "Locating Early 20th Century K-12 Black Social Studies…

While critical methods have gained popularity in recent times, analysis of documents remains an under-explored area for developing methods of elevating the perspectives of oppressed populations. This is important given the agentic role documents play in systemic and institutionalized oppression. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to use a…