William Sturkey (Author)

Mississippi Freedom Summer activists and contact list.

What the Civil Rights Act Really Meant

An overlooked effect of the legislation, passed 60 years ago this week, was its powerful message of hope for Black Americans.

by William Sturkey via The Atlantic on July 5, 2024

A member of the Una Sewing Co-op making a doll

Blocks for Freedom

Sewing for voting in post-Jim Crow Mississippi.

by William Sturkey via Southern Cultures on April 15, 2024

The Quiet Courage of Bob Moses

The late civil-rights leader understood that grassroots organizing was key to delivering political power to Black Americans in the South.

by William Sturkey via The Atlantic on July 28, 2021

African American men in suits, sitting outside of a drugstore

The Game Is Changing for Historians of Black America

For centuries, stories of Black communities have been limited by racism in the historical record. Now we can finally follow the trails they left behind.

by William Sturkey via The Atlantic on May 4, 2021

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Warnock’s Win Was 150 Years In the Making — But History Tells Us It Is Fragile

The selection of African American Sen. Hiram Revels in 1870 offered great hope — but it was soon dashed.

by William Sturkey via Made By History on January 18, 2021

The Geer Cemetery: A Lesson in Black History

Move beyond the Confederate monument debate and recognize the black people whose lives and labor laid our society's foundations.

by William Sturkey via The News & Observer on February 3, 2019

Why White Southern Conservatives Need to Defend Confederate Monuments

Confederate monuments were essential pieces of white supremacist propaganda.

by William Sturkey via Black Perspectives on March 3, 2018