Malcolm X's 'Ballot or the Bullet' speech emphasized the political power of Black voters

Malcolm X’s relationship with Dr. King gradually became less contentious over time

Malcolm X initially rejected Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent approach and integrationist strategy. Still, he gradually acknowledged shared goals, signaling a late-life openness to cooperation within the broader Civil Rights movement.

Black women played a central but often overlooked role in the suffrage movement

Although the women's suffrage movement is often portrayed as a white story, Black women like Truth, Ida B. Wells, and Mary Church Terrell fought for voting rights—frequently facing racism within the movement itself.

Listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. read his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail

Written in 1963 while jailed for nonviolent protest, Dr. King’s letter defends civil disobedience, rejects calls for patience, and argues that unjust laws must be confronted to expose injustice and force meaningful change.

Nelson Mandela delivered his famous anti-apartheid speech in court in 1964

During the Rivonia Trial, Mandela was charged along with several others for opposing South Africa's apartheid government, and expected to be sentenced to death. He showed up to court wearing traditional Xhosa attire and delivered an hours-long address against racial domination. Nelson said he hoped to live to see realized his ideal of a democratic and free society, but announced that he was prepared to die for his cause.

1978: Thurgood Marshall, commencement address at the University of Virginia

"Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on."

Learn about political conventions held before the Civil War by Black Americans to organize for civil rights

Beginning in 1830, free Black men and women across the US and Canada held "Colored Conventions"—state and national political meetings that served as a cornerstone of 19th-century Black organizing for civil and human rights.

Claude McKay's poem 'If We Must Die' criticized racial violence

The poem, a Shakespearean sonnet, is a critique of the violence that Black Americans faced at home in America. It was written in the summer of 1919, also known as "Red Summer," when several white supremacist attacks and race riots broke out across the country.

The rise of the campaign speech

What compels an audience shifts over time, meaning yesterday's popular speeches might not go over the same way if delivered today. However, impactful campaign speeches across time share some qualities, including taking the audience seriously, inviting listeners to engage with or respond to presented materials, and using everyday, informal language. Additionally, US political candidates typically promote themselves in their speeches, an approach initially considered vulgar in Australia and Britain.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address became one of the most famous speeches in American history

Delivered by Lincoln on Nov. 19, 1863, at the dedication of a national cemetery, the 272-word Gettysburg Address reframed the war as a struggle for equality. The speech would be cited as a moral touchstone for later movements such as women's suffrage and civil rights.

Southern race riots in 1866 galvanized support for more radical Reconstruction

In 1866, white mobs in Memphis and New Orleans killed dozens of Black residents and burned Black neighborhoods. The massacres horrified Northerners, convincing Congress that stronger federal action was needed to protect freedpeople's rights and enforce Reconstruction.

The 15th Amendment granted Black men the right to vote nationwide

Ratified in 1870, the 15th Amendment prohibited federal and state governments from denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude—enfranchising millions of Black men.

'Blowin' in the Wind' became a rallying cry for the Civil Rights Movement

The song is based on a spiritual titled "Many Thousand Gone," whose melody Dylan reworked. The result was popularized by the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary and from there became an anthem for the growing Civil Rights Movement, culminating in Dylan's appearance at the March on Washington.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a 1955-56 mass protest against bus segregation

Organized in 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott mobilized tens of thousands of Black bus riders to boycott city buses for 381 days, crippling the system and ultimately leading to desegregation through a Supreme Court ruling. A 26-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. was an organizer.

Voting in the US has shifted from days-long journeys to modern, secure ballots

In the early 1800s, voting was limited and arduous, often requiring long travel and in-person balloting. This illustrated resource traces how voting technology evolved to expand access, speed elections, and improve security over time.

Langston Hughes wrote a foundational text for the Harlem Renaissance

Although the 1920s artistic movement lacked formal leaders, Hughes' 1926 essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" established him as one of its figureheads. Hughes' piece argues that Black artists should not be ashamed of their race; instead, they should embrace it, while simultaneously pursuing their own individual artistic visions.

Brandenburg v. Ohio set the modern standard for when speech can be punished as incitement

A Ku Klux Klan leader's conviction for a threatening speech prompted the Supreme Court in 1969 to rule that speech is punishable as incitement only if it is directed at—and likely to produce—imminent lawless action.

In 1968, two American Olympians raised their fists while the anthem played

Tommie Smith won the gold medal in the 200-meter event at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, followed closely by his teammate John Carlos, who earned the bronze. When they stood on the winner's podium while the national anthem played, the athletes raised their fists, mirroring a popular Black Power gesture.

Britain's PM signaled the acceptance of African decolonization in 1960

This audio excerpt captures Harold Macmillan’s 1960 “Wind of Change” speech, in which he acknowledged rising African nationalism and declared that Britain would not resist decolonization—a pivotal moment signaling the Empire’s accelerating retreat from the continent.

The Civil Rights Act expanded the Department of Justice's enforcement powers

The 1964 bill empowered the DOJ's Civil Rights Division to challenge segregation, protect voting rights, and prosecute discrimination, thereby expanding its role in defending civil rights.

What do you know about WWI's only Black fighter pilot?

This in-depth article follows the life of Eugene Bullard, a Black American nicknamed the "Black Swallow of Death" for his work in WWI. Though much of Bullard's life is known, some pieces, like what happened to Bullard's brother who vanished in the Jim Crow South, continue to escape historical record.

'Shuffle Along' helped pave the way for Black theater on Broadway

The 1921 musical revue featured an all-Black cast and brought jazz music and dance to Broadway. It opened at the 63rd Street Theater and ran for over 500 performances, attracting white and Black audiences alike. It was so popular, in fact, that in 1948 Harry Truman used one of its songs in his presidential campaign. Theater historian Loften Mitchell later credited the show with effectively launching the Harlem Renaissance.

'A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.'

- Jackie Robinson, the first Black MLB player (1919-1972)

A 1986 Supreme Court ruling prohibited race-based jury strikes, but racial imbalance in jury selection persists

Batson v. Kentucky banned prosecutors from excluding jurors on the basis of race, but critics say it backfired. Prosecutors often use race-neutral pretexts to remove potential jurors that judges rarely reject, and some courts have never found a violation of the ruling.

Orwell warned readers about how abuse of language can lead to dystopias

In his 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language," Orwell argues that language is the primary tool of political control and is "designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." The essay warns readers that how they use and consume language will dictate what they permit—or prohibit—in society.

Marlon Brando sent Apache and Yaqui actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather to reject his Oscar

Each year at the Academy Awards, winners of the highest achievements in film give speeches expressing their gratitude, while also venturing into politics, humor, and emotion. Some speeches are met with boos, including Littlefeather's message from Brando refusing the award in protest of Hollywood’s treatment and portrayal of Native Americans in film. Others have remained memorable for their brevity, like Joe Pesci's six-word acceptance.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Watch what the Ebola virus does inside our cells and organs in order to spread and survive.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.