April 4, 2018

Fifty years ago today, on April 4, 1968, American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. The killing shocked the world and dealt a major blow to the civil rights movement in the United States. Numerous events are being held to remember King’s life and legacy, including a solemn 50th anniversary commemoration at the National Civil Rights Museum, which is built around the Lorraine Motel where King was killed. The commemoration is part of a yearlong program of events at the museum called MLK 50.

American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated 50 years ago today on April 4, 1968. Credit: © Flip Schulke, Corbis

Martin Luther King, Jr., was the most prominent leader of the civil rights movement, which sought to end discrimination against African Americans. While organizing a campaign against poverty, King went to Memphis to support a strike of black garbage workers. At about 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, King stood on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. A bullet struck King in the neck, killing him. James Earl Ray, a white drifter and escaped convict, pleaded guilty to the crime in 1969.

The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, is built around the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in 1968. The wreath on the balcony outside room 306 marks the spot where King was shot. Credit: © F11 Photo/Shutterstock

People throughout the world mourned King’s death. The assassination produced immediate shock, grief, and anger. African Americans rioted in more than 100 cities. A few months later, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibited racial discrimination in the sale and rental of most housing in the nation.

In March 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to killing King. Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later tried to withdraw his plea, but his conviction was upheld. Ray died in 1998. Although Ray confessed to King’s killing, many people doubted that Ray had acted alone.

Following the shooting, the owner of the Lorraine Motel kept King’s room, 306, as a memorial. In 1991, the motel became the centerpiece of the National Civil Rights Museum. The Memphis museum preserves King’s room in period detail. Events at the museum marking King’s death began at 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 2017, and will continue through the end of April 2018.

February 23, 2018

World Book’s celebration of Black History Month continues with happy birthday wishes for African American leader W. E. B. Du Bois <<doo BOYS>>, who was born 150 years ago today on Feb. 23, 1868. During the first half of the 1900′s, Du Bois was the leading black opponent of racial discrimination in the United States. He also won fame as a historian and sociologist. Modern day historians still use Du Bois’s research on blacks in American society.

W. E. B. Du Bois was born 150 years ago today on Feb. 23, 1868. Credit: Library of Congress

Du Bois was one of the first African Americans to express the idea of Pan-Africanism. Pan-Africanism is the belief that all people of African descent have common interests and should work together to conquer prejudice. In 1900, Du Bois predicted that humanity’s chief problem of the new century would be “the color line.”

Credit: © African American History Month

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born on Feb. 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He graduated from Fisk University in 1888. In 1895, he became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. degree at Harvard University. From 1897 to 1910, Du Bois taught history and economics at Atlanta University. In 1900, he attended the First Pan-African Conference in London, England. He later organized Pan-African conferences in Europe and the United States.

To fight racial discrimination, Du Bois founded the Niagara Movement in 1905. In 1909, he helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). From 1910 to 1934, he was editor of the NAACP magazine, The Crisis. Du Bois left the NAACP in 1934 and returned to the faculty at Atlanta University. From 1944 to 1948, he again worked for the NAACP. After 1948, Du Bois became increasingly dissatisfied with the slow progress of race relations in the United States. He moved to the west African country of Ghana in 1961. Du Bois died in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, on Aug. 27, 1963.

February 21, 2018

On Feb. 21, 1965, 53 years ago today, influential African American leader Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City. Malcolm X, an important defender of black rights, was once a prominent voice of the Nation of Islam (also called Black Muslims). The Nation of Islam is a religious group in the United States that preaches black nationalism. Malcolm X left the group, however, and was killed by Black Muslims who felt he had betrayed the group and its leader at the time, Elijah Muhammad.

Malcolm X, an influential African American leader, died 53 years ago today on Feb. 21, 1965. Credit: © Frank Castoral, Photo Researchers

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a follower of Marcus Garvey, a black leader who worked to establish close political and economic ties to Africa. In 1931, Malcolm’s father was found dead after being run over by a streetcar. Malcolm believed white racists were responsible for his father’s death. When Malcolm was 12 years old, his mother was committed to a mental hospital. Malcolm spent the rest of his childhood in foster homes, and he was discouraged by the prevalence of racial prejudice around him.

In 1946, Malcolm was arrested for burglary and joined the Nation of Islam while in prison. The Nation of Islam taught that white people were “devils.” After Malcolm was released from prison in 1952, he adopted X as his last name. The letter stood for the unknown African name of Malcolm’s slave ancestors.

Malcolm X quickly became the Nation of Islam’s most effective minister. He was a fiery orator, urging blacks to live separately from whites and to gain equality “by any means necessary.” But he became dissatisfied with the Nation of Islam, in part because the group avoided political activity.

Credit: © African American History Month

In 1964, Malcolm X broke with the Nation of Islam. Soon afterward, he traveled to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. He met Muslims of many ethnic backgrounds and rejected the view that all white people are devils. Malcolm X adopted the Muslim name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. After returning to the United States, he formed his own group, the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

Malcolm X rejected nonviolence as a principle, but he sought cooperation with Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights activists who favored militant (aggressive) nonviolent protests. But by this time, some Black Muslims had condemned Malcolm X as a hypocrite and traitor because of his criticisms of Elijah Muhammad. On Feb. 21, 1965, Malcolm X was fatally shot while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of the crime. Malcolm’s views reached many people after his death through his Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965).

The Audubon Ballroom closed after Malcom X’s death. It was renovated and reopened as the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center in 2005.

February 8, 2018

In honor of Black History Month, today World Book looks at the Whitney Plantation, an open-air historical museum near New Orleans, Louisiana, dedicated to the victims of slavery in the United States. The sprawling Whitney Plantation Historic District includes fields of sugar cane, a French Creole barn, the opulent “Big House,” quarters in which enslaved people lived, and haunting ceramic statues of the “children of Whitney.” Whitney Plantation is one of many sites featured on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.

Statues of slave children await visitors to the Antioch Baptist Church which was relocated to Whitney Plantation. Credit: Corey Balazowich (licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0)

Whitney Plantation was originally known as Habitation Haydel after the family who owned it from the late 1700′s until after the American Civil War (1861-1865). According to an 1819 document, the Haydel family owned 40 men, 21 women, and 9 children. By 1860, there were 101 people enslaved on the Haydel property. The slaves worked the sugar cane and rice fields, maintained the many plantation buildings, and cooked, cleaned, and cared for the Haydel family—as well as for one another. After the war ended and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution officially abolished slavery in the United States in December 1865, distilling and sugar magnate Bradish Johnson purchased Habitation Haydel and renamed it in honor of his grandson, Harry Payne Whitney.

Credit: © African American History Month

New Orleans attorney and real estate developer John Cummings purchased the Whitney Plantation in 1999. He soon began turning it into a museum, and set about restoring the grounds, constructing new buildings, hiring artists and scholars, and digging into the plantation’s historical records. Cummings’s staff at Whitney obtained the oral histories of about 4,000 Louisiana slaves compiled by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930′s. Memorial walls constructed at Whitney list the single names of thousands of Louisiana slaves, and a “Field of Angels” remembers the many slave children who died at Whitney and other Louisiana plantations. Other installations and placards re-create the harsh lives of the slave population. The Whitney Plantation opened to visitors in 2014 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992.

January 25, 2018

Tomorrow, January 26, is Republic Day, a national holiday in India. Republic Day marks the occasion when the Constitution of India became the nation’s governing document on Jan. 26, 1950. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders chose January 26 to enact the constitution in honor of the day in 1930 when India had first declared its independence from the United Kingdom. The independence process was interrupted and slow, however, and India did not officially become independent until 1947, an event now marked by India’s Independence Day on August 15.

Soldiers parade on camelback during the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, India. Credit: Lawrence Jackson, White House

Tomorrow morning in New Delhi, the Indian capital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin the Republic Day festivities by placing a floral wreath at the India Gate war memorial. A large parade follows, rich with colorful floats, flags, and marching battalions from India’s air force, army, and navy. Other cities will host Republic Day parades as well, and people throughout the nation will celebrate with private parties and family gatherings.

The United Kingdom influenced much of India’s history beginning in the 1600′s. For nearly 260 years, the British East India Company controlled much of India’s commerce and influenced its government and political system. In 1858, the British government took direct control of India after rebellions against the company’s rule. Indians did not generally feel content about British rule in India, however. Indians were discriminated against in their own homeland, where they were not allowed to advance to high positions in government service or to become officers in the army.

New Delhi’s India Gate is a war memorial originally dedicated to the more than 74,000 Indian soldiers killed during World War I (1914-1918). Credit: © Rakesh Nayar, Shutterstock

During World War I (1914-1918), more than 1 million Indian troops fought under British command in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. After the war, promised social and political reforms were slow in coming, and violent protests erupted in many Indian cities. By 1920, Mohandas K. Gandhi had become a leader in the Indian independence movement and in the Indian National Congress, India’s most important political organization. Gandhi persuaded the Congress to adopt his program of nonviolent disobedience.

On Jan. 26, 1930, members of the Indian National Congress officially declared Purna Swaraj, (complete self-rule), a declaration of independence from British authority. The declaration was nonbinding, but Indian people did gain more political and social freedoms in the 1930′s. The onset of World War II (1939-1945), however, disrupted progress. The Indian National Congress refused to support the British war effort, demanding instead immediate independence. Despite this refusal, many Indian soldiers fought with the British (and some against them) during the war. The British promised that they would grant India independence after the fighting stopped.

In 1947, Indian and British leaders agreed to divide the country into Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan. The leaders saw no other way of ending violence between Hindus and Muslims, which had taken place for many years and hindered the independence process. India became an independent nation on Aug. 15, 1947. Pakistan had become an independent nation the day before. The two new nations then fought a bloody war for control of the contested border area of Kashmir.

Jawaharlal Nehru, a close associate of Gandhi, became India’s first prime minister after independence. A constituent assembly drew up a new constitution. The assembly approved the constitution in November 1949. It went into effect on Jan. 26, 1950.

December 8, 2017

Mississippi’s bicentenary takes place this Sunday, on Dec. 10, 2017. Throughout the year, bicentennial celebrations and local events commemorated Mississippi’s entrance to the Union as the 20th state in 1817. To mark the anniversary weekend in December 2017, two new museums opened to much fanfare in Jackson, the state capital: the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

Jackson is Mississippi’s capital and largest city. Known as the Crossroads of the South, it serves as a center of commerce, industry, and transportation. Credit: © John Elk III, Alamy Images

Mississippi has a long and sometimes troubled history. In the 1500’s and 1600’s, Spanish and French explorers encountered the Native Americans of the region—often with tragic results. The Mississippi area came under British control in 1763, Spanish control in 1781, and eventually American control in the mid-1780’s and early 1790’s. The Congress of the United States organized the Mississippi Territory in 1798, with Natchez as the capital. Winthrop Sargent became the first governor of the new territory. Adding bits of land at a time, the Mississippi Territory extended over all present-day Alabama and Mississippi by 1812.

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Mississippi. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

In 1817, Congress carved Alabama from the Mississippi Territory, and on December 10, Mississippi became the 20th state. The first Mississippi state governor, David Holmes, had been territorial governor since 1809. The state capital bounced between Columbia, Natchez, and Washington until landing for good at Jackson in 1822.

Mississippi, a state that allowed slavery, seceded from the Union in 1861 and fought with the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Mississippi reentered the Union in 1870, but racial strife in the state continued for another 100 years.

September 26, 2017

Yesterday, September 25, marked the 60th anniversary of the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. On Sept. 25, 1957, nine African American students—remembered as the Little Rock Nine—were escorted into the previously all-white school by United States Army troops. Three years earlier, in 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States had ordered states with segregated schools to open them to all races. Many Southern communities, however, including Little Rock, acted slowly in desegregating their public schools. Central High School’s integration came after numerous legal challenges, heated racial tensions, and the open defiance of Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. The Little Rock Nine gained worldwide attention, and the event was a landmark moment of the civil rights movement in the United States.

On Sept. 25, 1957, U.S. Army troops escort nine African American students into the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The event was an important moment in the civil rights movement in the United States. Credit: © United Press Int.

To mark the event’s 60th anniversary, a special commemoration ceremony took place at Central High, and a new sculpture called United was dedicated on the school’s front lawn. A “Reflections of Progress” symposium was held at the Clinton Presidential Center, and numerous other panel discussions, fundraisers, and religious services also took place.

In the 1954 decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The next year, the court ordered that public school desegregation be carried out “with all deliberate speed.” The Little Rock School Board adopted a plan to begin integrating Central High School in the fall of 1957.

By August 1957, school authorities had selected 17 black students from a group of about 80 students who had applied to integrate Central High. Of the 17 students selected, 8 decided to attend the all-black Horace Mann High School. The remaining 9 were Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Pattillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls. All of the members of the Little Rock Nine had previously attended all-black schools.

On the morning of Sept. 4, 1957, the Little Rock Nine were scheduled to enter Central High. However, Arkansas National Guardsmen blocked their way on orders from Governor Faubus. Faubus had warned that “blood will run in the streets” if the black students tried to enter the school. The students planned to attempt to enter the school together, but one of the students, Elizabeth Eckford, did not receive word of the plans. She tried to enter the school on her own but could not. Photographs of Eckford, who appeared calm in the face of threats and taunts from a white mob, made her a symbol of the struggle for civil rights in the United States.

White protesters jeer 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford as she attempts to enter Little Rock’s Central High School on Sept. 4, 1957. Credit: © Everett Collection/Alamy Images

On September 24, President Dwight D. Eisenhower put the National Guard troops of Arkansas under federal control and sent the U.S. Army to enforce the court-ordered integration of Central High. The following day, troops of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division escorted the students into the school. Protests continued, however, and Army troops remained at the school for two months to keep peace. The Little Rock Nine endured much hostility at Central High, which closed the following year during further attempts to stop integration.

Central High School reopened in 1959, but segregation continued in other schools and public facilities in Little Rock. It was not until the 1970’s that all public schools in Arkansas were integrated. In 1999, the members of the Little Rock Nine received the Congressional Gold Medal. The medal is one of the nation’s highest civilian awards.