An Early Case For Reparations
Two new books tell the stories of people kidnapped and sold into slavery. One of them sued successfully.
Slavery
How Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Novel Reckons With the Past
“The Water Dancer” comes out of a powerful examination of the legacies of slavery today.
Colson Whitehead, American Escape Artist
"The Nickel Boys" frees voices imprisoned in a forgotten past.
America, We Need to Talk
In a rebuttal to Mitch McConnell—and possibly Joe Biden—Ta-Nehisi Coates helped House Democrats start a conversation on slavery, racism, and reparations.
The Impossibility of Impeachment
Andrew Johnson’s opponents discovered the difficulties of removing a president.
When Violence Broke Out in Congress
A new book documents the legislative turmoil that led to the Civil War.
Witnesses for the Future
Zora Neale Hurston’s drive to tell the story of the slave trade’s last survivor
The Persistence of Whitewashing
How can Americans have such different memories of slavery?
Wake Up, Mr. West!
How Kanye's ignorant comments fortify the most pernicious lies of white supremacy.
No Reconciliation Without Truth
A new museum and lynching memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, constitute a watershed moment in the way America remembers its racist past.
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Uneasy Hope
The writer's critics call him a cynic. But as a new anthology shows, his thinking has matured in subtle ways over the years.
The Making of an Antislavery President
Fred Kaplan's new book asks why it took Abraham Lincoln so long to embrace emancipation.
The Young Black Activists Targeting New Orleans’s Confederate Monuments
The group Take ‘Em Down NOLA has an ambitious goal—to rid the city of all its tributes to slavery’s defenders.
Divided We Fall
The Founders knew that economic inequality would destroy America's democracy. So why can't the Constitution save us?
Does Neil Gorsuch Believe in Liberty and Equality for All?
The judge's selective approach to constitutional originalism raises serious questions about his respect for the Second Founding after the Civil War.
The Birth of a Nation’s Blunt-Force Trauma
The Sundance sensation may not be great art, but its snarling urgency makes it a movie for our times.
How Bad Is Dinesh D’Souza’s Hillary’s America? A Conversation.
Two lefties discuss the latest "documentary" by the right wing's favorite conspiracy theorist.
Ripping the Veil
Slave narratives have always been popular—and predictable. Can a new generation rewrite the rules?
Thomas Jefferson’s Double Life
A new biography explains the contradictions in a man who defended equality while owning slaves.
When All Men Were Created Separate, But Equal
After the revolution, former slaves and native populations were forced to segregate from the new Republic.
