Kidada E. Williams

“Forced labor” conflates different forms of labor throughout history and minimizes the uniquely brutal conditions of chattel slavery.

Two new books ask us to shift our attention away from the white vigilantes of Jim Crow and instead focus on what it meant for the survivors.

First-person accounts of those scarred in many ways by the era’s violence suggest Reconstruction did not fail, it was overthrown by violence.

"Once a mask is involved, people understand it as a sign of weakness. That the government has something to hide."

Commitment to racial justice, not conciliation, is needed to save democracy.

Exploring freedpeople’s struggle against police brutality during Reconstruction.