Stories Archives - Picturing Black History

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. waits to address the combined session of the Massachusetts State Legislature at the Massachusetts State House in Boston on April 23, 1965.

The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Preaching peace, yet struck down by violence, the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reshaped America’s urban spaces and fundamentally changed how the country remembers this civil rights leader.

Singer and actor Harry Belafonte speaks at a news conference at the United Nations Headquarters to announce the formation of Artists and Athletes Against Apartheid. At left are actors Gregory Hines and Tony Randall and tennis notable Arthur Ashe.

African Americans and the Fight Against Apartheid

African Americans were closely involved in the fight against South African apartheid, with cultural icons, legislators, civil rights activists, and athletes all playing their part to call attention to the issue and to ultimately pass sanctions against South Africa.

Heavyweight champion George Foreman (r) and Muhammad Ali (l) exchange punches during their world heavyweight title boxing match in 1974.

The Rumble in the Jungle

In one of the most iconic and celebrated heavyweight fights, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman clashed in Zaire in 1974.

A photograph of three African American women who were identified as domestic helpers waiting for a street car, all three women are wearing coats and hats, two men and a woman who are white are also waiting on transportation, Atlanta, Georgia. 1939. From the New York Public Library.

Black Women’s Work and Leisure in the Black Mecca

The everyday lives and struggles of Black women in Atlanta reveal the roots of their activism.

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784). Portrait of American poet seated at a desk writing with a quill pen. Undated hand-tinted color engraving with an original caption which reads: "Phillis Wheatley, Negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston."

Picturing Early Black Women Leaders

From Phillis Wheatley Peters to Ida B. Wells-Barnett, leading Black women activists defined their public images through their portraits to advance their ideas.

PARIS - JANUARY 1974; Black Panther and writer Eldridge Cleaver, an exile from American justice, and wife Kathleen sit in their apartment in Paris France during their exile circa 1974

The Life of Eldridge Cleaver

Author of Soul on Ice and one of the most recognized activists for Black internationalism, Eldridge Cleaver went from militance to obscurity.

Singer Mahalia Jackson speaking at the Illinois Rally for Civil Rights at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Over 70,000 persons attended the rally.

Mahalia Jackson and the Music of the Movement

A photograph of Mahalia Jackson in 1964 offers a window on the role of music in the civil rights movement.

Florida-Prisoners in a chain gang building a road. Undated photograph.

Convict Leasing After Slavery

Slavery ended in 1865. But many Black Southerners remained unfree laborers under the convict leasing system.

Leaning on a porch rail, waiting for their turn at morning exercises are (l-r): 2nd Lts. Joan L. Hamilton, Marjorie S. Mayers, Prudence L. Burnes, and Inez E. Holmes. All are military nurses training to be sent to advanced posts on the Southwest Pacific.

The Integration of the American Military

Hoping to court Black voters in the 1948 Presidential election, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981, an act that significantly changed the armed forces and the Black experience in America.

Aerial shot of some of the more than 100,000 people demonstrating in protest of racial discrimination, jam Woodward Avenue, from curb to curb in a huge, but orderly "Walk to Freedom." Most of the marchers entered and surrounded Cobo Hall and Arena to hear Martin Luther King Junior speak.

Dreaming in Detroit

For one day in June 1963 Detroit was the center of the civil rights movement.

Picturing Black History

Photographs and stories that changed the world

Stories

Untold stories and rarely seen images of the Black experience