As a literary scholar and cultural historian who has spent a lifetime searching out African Americans' lost, forgotten and otherwise unheralded tales, I was honored to serve as a historical consultant on Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave," most certainly one of the most vivid and authentic portrayals of slavery ever captured in a feature film.

A report shows too few U.S. high-schoolers know about the Civil Rights movement.

Robinson's struggle for equality began in the Army, before he integrated baseball.

Seven common myths about the Underground Railroad, and how they have sometimes overwhelmed historical facts.

The senators in power after the Civil War had to settle a fundamental question when it came to seating Hiram R. Revels, the first black senator-elect, in 1870: Was it too soon, according to the Constitution, for any black man to be legally entitled to serve?