U.S. Slavery

Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and the founder of the Legacy Sites. He wrote the introduction to a new companion book called "The Legacy Sites: A History Of Racial Injustice."

Burns' PBS documentary includes the perspectives of women, Native Americans, and enslaved and free Black people — all of whom were initially excluded from the declaration "all men are created equal."

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker directed both Black Panther films and Creed. Coogler's latest movie is a vampire thriller about twins who open a juke joint in Jim Crow Mississippi.

In Savings and Trust, historian Justene Hill Edwards tells the story of the Freedman's Bank. Created for formerly enslaved people following the Civil War, its collapse cost depositors millions.

The daughter of singer Lena Horne, Buckley who chronicled her family's history from enslavement to becoming a part of the Black bourgeoisie. She died July 18. Originally broadcast in 1986.

The award-winning playwright talks about his provocative Slave Play, which earned 12 Tony nominations. A new HBO documentary chronicles the making of the production. Originally broadcast June 2023.

Oyelowo plays a formerly enslaved man who went on to become one of the nation's first Black Deputy U.S. Marshals in the Paramount+ series Lawmen: Bass Reeves. Oyelowo also produced the series.

Journalist Alexia Fernández Campbell says some freed men and women were given titles to land following the Civil War — but after President Lincoln's death, the land was taken back.

In Black Folk, Blair Kelley portrays generations of Black workers — Pullman porters, domestic laborers, USPS employees, COVID-19 essential workers — who have contributed to the nation's prosperity.

Swarns' new book — The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church — expands on that article. It tells the story of the Church's history of enslavement in America, while illustrating the consequences by focusing on generations of one family that had several members among those 272 people sold by the Church in 1838.

Smith's poems, which are addressed to his young children, describe what their ancestors endured and escaped. He also examines the joy and anxiety of parenthood, especially as a Black father.

Imani Perry says the South can be seen as an "origin point" for the way the nation operates. Her book South to America traces the steps of an enslaved ancestor. Originally broadcast Jan. 25, 2022.

In How the Word Is Passed, author Clint Smith explored U.S. sites that deal with the legacy of slavery. Now, in The Atlantic, he writes about German memorials to the Holocaust.

Juneteenth celebrates the day slavery ended in Texas, June 19, 1865. Historian Annette Gordon-Reed studies the early American republic and the legacy of slavery. Originally broadcast May 25, 2021.

David Blight's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography traced Douglass' path from slavery to abolitionist and inspired HBO's documentary, Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches. Originally broadcast in 2018.

As editor of the New York Times' 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones fought against the erasure of African American history. But there's also been a backlash by conservatives who have vowed to keep the 1619 Project out of classrooms — including threats that have been made against her personally.

In her new book, All That She Carried, historian Tiya Miles tells the story of an enslaved woman who, upon hearing her child was to be sold off, hastily packed her a bag with a few personal items.

In his new book, How the Word Is Passed, Clint Smith visits eight places central to the history of slavery in America, including Thomas Jefferson's Monticello plantation and Louisiana's Angola prison, which was built on the site of a former plantation.

Juneteenth celebrates the day slavery ended in Texas, June 19, 1865. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed studies the early American republic and the legacy of slavery.

Director Barry Jenkin's new series is based on Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an enslaved teenage girl who escapes from a brutal Georgia plantation. He says it was the most difficult undertakings of his career.