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African American
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"Normal" People Made History Commentary
Why would I want to study peasants, when I can study kings?”, asked a fellow historian. “Kings,” he continued, “made history.” He was reacting to my comment that it’s important to study “normal” people. My friend thought I trumpeted the usual, social history mantra. But I meant something different.
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African American Innovation During Difficult Economic and Discriminatory Times Commentary
On November 10, 1898, a disgraceful event in North Carolina occurred: as part of the White Supremacy campaign of the 1890s, Democratic leaders in Wilmington overthrew leading black and white Republicans and Populists to regain control of Wilmington’s government. What happened in Wilmington, many assert, “suppressed the political, social, educational and economic development and aspirations of African-Americans in this state for over ninety years.” Although innovative blacks worked in unfair circumstances during the late 1800s and early 1900s, such assumptions reveal a 1960s Revisionist focus on failure instead of an emphasis on black agency and fortitude that reveals how African Americans remarkably achieved success during difficult times.
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Asking The Right Questions Commentary
Some people never ask the right questions. Or even ask anything. Take science and government intervention, for example. Many progressive actions (whatever progress is, no one has defined it sufficiently for me) are nothing more than barbarism revived. Case in point: the eugenics movement in 20th-century North Carolina.
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Compensation for Victims of Eugenics Gains Notice Commentary
During the past legislative session, the General Assembly seriously debated whether to divert funds to compensate sterilization victims of North Carolina’s eugenics program. Long before many other organizations discussed the issue, John Locke Foundation staff penned commentaries in 2005 and 2007 and made presentations from 2008-10 about the history of the movement and called for compensating living victims.
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