slavery

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Bill to Make Juneteenth Federal Holiday Passes House
US Has a New Federal Holiday
Jun 17, 2021 6:50 AM CDT

US Has a New Federal Holiday

Bill to make Juneteenth a holiday passes House; 14 Republicans voted against it

(Newser) - The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery. The House voted 415-14 on Wednesday to make Juneteenth, or June 19th, the 12th federal holiday, the AP reports. The bill now goes to President Biden’s desk, and he is expected to sign it...

Senate Passes Bill to Create 12th Federal Holiday

Juneteenth bill passed under unanimous consent agreement

(Newser) - The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would make Juneteenth, or June 19th, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The bill would lead to Juneteenth becoming the 12th federal holiday. It is expected to easily pass the House, which would send it to President...

What Critics Are Saying About The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad
Is Being Uniformly Hailed
TV REVIEW
May 14, 2021 8:28 AM CDT

The Underground Railroad Is Being Uniformly Hailed

Berry Jenkins adapts Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel for Amazon Prime

(Newser) - An enslaved girl flees a Georgia cotton plantation and its brutal owner, only to be pursued by a bounty hunter spurred by his failure to catch her mother years earlier in The Underground Railroad , a 10-hour limited series debuting Friday on Amazon Prime Video. Just how good is Moonlight director...

Vote Establishes Commission on Slavery Reparations

House Judiciary Committee advances bill HR 40

(Newser) - A House panel advanced a decades-long effort to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves by approving legislation Wednesday that would create a commission to study the issue. It's the first time the House Judiciary Committee has acted on the legislation, per the AP . Still, prospects for final passage...

Jesuits Promise $100M for Slavery Reparations

Trust will benefit descendants of enslaved people, including those sold by Jesuits in 1838

(Newser) - The Catholic order of Jesuit priests has pledged to raise $100 million for descendants of the enslaved people it owned in what the New York Times reports is "one of the largest efforts by an institution to atone for slavery." The order relied on slave labor and sales...

No Marker Honors First Black Person Lincoln Helped to Free

Nance Legins-Costley's case influenced future president's views on slavery, historians say

(Newser) - It's not easy to trace the amazing story of Nance Legins-Costley. It doesn't fill history books, and even her gravesite is unmarked. But her role in history is significant, USA Today reports. In 1841, she won her freedom in a case before the Illinois Supreme Court. Her attorney...

Teachers on Leave After 'Profoundly Thoughtless' Slavery Lesson

Wisconsin school district is apologizing after assignment asked: 'How will you punish this slave?'

(Newser) - On the first day of Black History Month, a Wisconsin middle school marked the moment with an assignment on ancient Mesopotamia. That lesson now has multiple teachers on leave, while the school district involved is staying tight-lipped on how it came to be in the first place. The Wisconsin State ...

Hamilton Wasn&#39;t Quite the Man We Thought He Was
Hamilton
Wasn't Quite
the Man We
Thought 
He Was
new paper
Nov 11, 2020 6:05 PM CST

Hamilton Wasn't Quite the Man We Thought He Was

Alexander Hamilton's 'abolitionist' reputation takes a knock

(Newser) - Alexander Hamilton, "uncompromising abolitionist"? Not according to a new research paper that depicts the celebrated Founding Father as a slaveholder for much of his life, the Guardian reports. "When we say Hamilton didn't enslave people, we're erasing them from the story," the paper's...

2 State Constitutions Allowed for Slavery. But No More
2 State Constitutions Allowed
for Slavery. But No More
ELECTION 2020
Nov 4, 2020 1:23 PM CST

2 State Constitutions Allowed for Slavery. But No More

Utah, Nebraska outlaw the practice, without exemptions

(Newser) - A person convicted of a crime in Utah or Nebraska could technically be punished with slavery under the state constitution, but no longer. Voters in both states chose to remove language describing the possible punishment on Tuesday. With passage of Amendment C, Article I, Section 21 of Utah's constitution—...

Barr Likens COVID Shutdowns to Slavery
Barr Floats Idea of Sedition
Charges Against Protesters
the rundown
Sep 17, 2020 12:02 PM CDT

Barr Floats Idea of Sedition Charges Against Protesters

Attorney general also says shutdowns are biggest intrusion on civil liberties since slavery

(Newser) - The attorney general is making all kinds of headlines this week as he slams COVID-19 shutdowns, considers a big charge against protesters, and faults prosecutors in his own Justice Department. Coverage about William Barr:
  • Volatile words: During a Q&A at Hillsdale College in Michigan on Wednesday, Barr was asked
...

Unmarked Graves of Former VP's Slaves Found on Campus

Clemson says it found more than 200 graves

(Newser) - Clemson University says it has discovered more than 200 unmarked graves on its campus—including those of enslaved people owned by former Vice President John Calhoun. The South Carolina university says researchers discovered at least 215 graves after students raised concerns about the site, a hillside at the university's...

Tom Cotton Calls Slavery 'a Necessary Evil'

Senator was criticizing 1619 Project

(Newser) - "As the Founding Fathers said, it was the necessary evil upon which the union was built." That's how Sen. Tom Cotton described slavery in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Friday. The Republican was speaking out against the 1619 Project, a New York Times-based curriculum examining...

DNA Slavery Study Yields Suprises
DNA Slavery Study
Yields Surprises
NEW STUDY
Jul 24, 2020 12:20 PM CDT

DNA Slavery Study Yields Surprises

More enslaved people came to the US from Nigeria than previously thought, researchers say

(Newser) - Using historical records has been the most traditional way to shed light on the dark stain of slavery in the United States. Now, per new research that the Scientist calls "the largest DNA study to examine African ancestry in the Americas," gene analysis is helping put more pieces...

Frederick Douglass Statue Toppled

Abolitionist gave 'What to the Slave is the Fourth of July' speech in Rochester in 1852

(Newser) - A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester, NY, on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches, delivered in that city in 1852. Police said the statue of Douglass was taken on Sunday from Maplewood Park, a site along the Underground Railroad where...

Gone With the Wind Is Back, With a New Explainer

Movie returns to HBO Max with introduction by Turner Classic Movies host Jacqueline Stewart

(Newser) - Gone With the Wind is back on HBO Max, but it's now got a nearly five-minute intro for context. "Eighty years after its initial release, Gone With the Wind is a film of undeniable cultural significance," Jacqueline Stewart, an African American host for Turner Classic Movies, notes...

Small Detail in UVa Logo Linked to Slavery
Reference to Slavery in
UVa Logo Is Edited Out
in case you missed it
Jun 21, 2020 10:30 AM CDT

Reference to Slavery in UVa Logo Is Edited Out

Sword handles undergo edit to remove reference to walls that hid slaves

(Newser) - The University of Virginia has altered its new athletics logo, revealed less than two months ago, over references to the school's history of slavery. The longstanding logo features a large "V" over crossed sabres, and in that April update, new detailing that was meant to "mimic the...

155 Years Ago Came the Message: &#39;All Slaves Are Free&#39;
The Original Juneteenth
Order Resurfaces
THE RUNDOWN
Jun 19, 2020 10:00 AM CDT

The Original Juneteenth Order Resurfaces

National Archives locates the 1865 document

(Newser) - Today is Juneteenth, and this year marks 155 years to the day since 2,000 Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, bringing news that slavery had been abolished some two years earlier. There hadn't been enough Union troops in Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation before that point, according...

Twitter CEO Announces New Company Holiday 'Forevermore'

Jack Dorsey says Twitter will make Juneteenth an official company holiday for US workers

(Newser) - As company after company puts out ads and sends out emails expressing their support for black Americans in the wake of the killing of George Floyd , Forbes notes that some, especially in the tech world, have been slammed for being all talk, no action. Twitter is looking to separate itself...

After 176 Years, City Removes Slave Auction Block

It sat on Fredericksburg corner for 176 years

(Newser) - A slave auction block has been removed from a street corner in downtown Fredericksburg, Va., some 158 years after the Emancipation Proclamation—and seven months after the city council voted 6-1 to remove it. The Washington Post reports that the 176-year-old block had been targeted during George Floyd protests, with...

First His Statue Came Down. Now His Body Will Be Removed

Bodies of Confederate general and his wife to be re-interred

(Newser) - In 2017, a Confederate general's statue was removed from a Memphis park (a move for which the city was punished ). Now, an even larger undertaking: The bodies of Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife will be removed from the park as well. The Sons of Confederate Veterans had...

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