Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom. They remain an affirmation of identity and independence. In this electric demonstration, packed with live performances, choreographer, educator and TED Fellow Camille A. Brown explores what happens when communities let loose and express themselves by dancing together.
Slavery has occurred in many forms throughout the world, but the Atlantic slave trade-which forcibly brought more than 10 million Africans to the Americas-stands out for both its global scale and its lasting legacy. Anthony Hazard discusses the historical, economic and personal impact of this massive historical injustice.
Two memorials have been built in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation-one in 1896 and 1998. And while they both pay tribute to the same event, they depict the African Americans within them in very different lights.
Regarded as one of the most important speeches in American history, it was delivered by Booker T. Washington as a plea for racial cooperation in the South during a time of deep racial prejudice.
One of the earliest assaults on segregated transit in the South occurred in Louisville, Ky., in 1870-71. There, the city’s black community organized a successful protest that relied on nonviolent direct action, a tactic that would give shape to the modern civil rights movement nearly a century later.
In this interview, Luis Rodriguez describes how the systemic demoralization he faced in school and society at a young age drove him to join a street gang and how writing his book, Always Running, was an attempt to call his son and other young people in similar situations to change their lives.
Elizabeth MacQueen is the sculptor of Four Spirits, a monument built to memorialize the four girls killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. In her memoir, she discusses how the project revealed to her how sheltered she had been as a child growing up in Birmingham.
This essay places side by side the historical oppression of African Americans in the South and the recent surge of African Americans moving back to the South of their own free will. In her discussion, Maya Angelou questions why such choices are considered remarkable.