Photographs and stories that changed the world

A collaboration of and

Thurgood Marshall

The Irony of Racial Uplift

Despite Anita Hill accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991, the controversy surrounding him now is mainly about his politics. Yet, the story of Justice Thomas exemplifies a longstanding irony of racial uplift efforts: the elevation of Black figures who perpetuate the silencing or mistreatment of Black women.

Trinidad-born American Black activist Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture, 1941 - 1998) (centre, left) with officials at a meeting in honour of an International Day of Solidarity with the American Black Power movement, Hanoi, North Vietnam, 1967.

International Networks of the American Civil Rights Struggle

What do Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X, and Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) have in common? The internationalism of American civil rights activism.

Black children carrying signs and accompanied by four mothers, walk to Webster School, Hillsboro, Ohio, April 3, 1956.

Marching Mothers

Neither wind nor rain could stop a band of Ohio mothers from securing the education their children deserved.