Photographs and stories that changed the world

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Roller Skating and the Black Freedom Movement

Ledger Smith roller skated 700 miles from Chicago to Washington, D.C. in August 1963 to join the March on Washington. His journey, supported by the NAACP, drew national media attention and was an act of resistance against segregation and racism.

Paul Robeson, singer, performer and civil rights activist, is welcomed in Russia, Moscow, Russia, January 19, 1935.

Paul Robeson in the Soviet Union

Between the 1930s and 1960s, the famous singer and actor made many visits to the world’s first socialist country, which made a lasting impression on his art and politics.

African-American children in a segregated swimming pool at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland, 1955.

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With integration a legal right, swimming pools became a new battleground in the segregation fight.