The growth of the cotton economy and the internal slave trade in America forced families to separate and migrate once again.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. makes a case for saving racist imagery that worked in tandem with Jim Crow laws.

Who originated the concept of the "Talented Tenth" black leadership class?

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.

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