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Unearthing Sally Hemings’ legacy at Monticello
Visitors have long come to Monticello to see and admire Thomas Jefferson's mansion, but a new silhouette and exhibition bring a largely hidden life into the open. No portrait exists of Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman who had a decades-long…
‘American history is a crazy-quilt experience’: Monticello descendants talk ancestry and race
In a long-anticipated move, signage, tours and public statements at Thomas Jefferson's historical Monticello estate now indicate without a doubt that Jefferson fathered the six children of enslaved woman Sally Hemings, and offer new insight into their lives. Jeffrey Brown…
How a massive database could help people find their enslaved ancestors
To help families and scholars, search for enslaved individuals and their descendants, Michigan State University researchers are launching a new project called "Enslaved: The People of the Historic Slave Trade."…
This South African poet is helping a Maryland church protect a historic black cemetery
Members of the Macedonia Baptist Church in Bethesda, Maryland, believe the remains of some of the first freed African Americans are buried under ground nearby.
Riley Temple was walking his dog around his Washington, D.C., neighborhood where he has lived for the past 25 years when a confrontation with the police made him break the rule that all black people are told to obey in…
Rallies on Friday and Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia that were reminiscent of Ku Klux Klan gatherings shook people who have for generations fought for civil rights in Virginia and across the country. Activist, writer and educator Leontyne Peck with the…
Leontyne Peck has helped interpret several notable artifacts, many of which are now featured in a permanent exhibit at Montpelier called "The Mere Distinction of Colour."…
In chef and culinary historian Michael Twitty's new book, ancestry -- both his own and that of Southern food -- is a central theme. With "The Cooking Gene: A Journey through African-American Culinary History in the Old South," Twitty addresses…
