Ida B. Wells and the Long Crusade to Outlaw Lynching
Born into slavery, Ida B. Wells later became an educator, an investigative journalist and an early civil rights activist, shedding light on the plight of Black Americans across the South. After the brutal deaths of three friends who were victims of lynching, Wells began chronicling mob violence, publishing her findings in articles and pamphlets.
The 1969 Occupation of Alcatraz Was a Catalyst for Indigenous Activism
In 1969, a group of young American Indians who wanted the world to know about the long history of discrimination, mistreatment and treaty violations against Native people took over Alcatraz Island in California, the site of an abandoned federal penitentiary.
“The occupation of Alcatraz was just to visibly put ourselves out there to take land back,” said LaNada Means War Jack, a Native historian who was one of the original occupiers.
From Women’s Suffrage to the ERA, a Century-Long Push for Equality
The Equal Rights Amendment, proposed in 1923, sparked debate from its very beginning, even among many of the women who had worked together for suffrage. It was finally passed by Congress in 1972, and within a year 30 of the 38 states needed had ratified it. In January 2020, Virginia became the latest state to ratify. Immediately, there were challenges.
How Black Women Fought Racism and Sexism for the Right to Vote
The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, barred states from denying American women the right to vote on the basis of their sex. It was a monumental achievement, won by one of the most powerful political movements in American history. But the amendment was not the end of the fight for suffrage for all Americans. For decades, many African-American women remained disenfranchised, despite having played a significant role in the struggle to gain the vote. Just a few of the obstacles they faced: State laws. Poll taxes. Grandfather clauses. Literacy tests. Whites-only primaries.
She Derailed a Fight for Equal Rights for Women
Even in the #MeToo era, many people don’t know that the Equal Rights Amendment never passed…because of one woman. Her name is Phyllis Schlafly.
Schlafly honed her political skills in the conservative movement of the 1950s and 1960s, then put them to work to stop the ERA. She traveled the country decrying the proposed amendment, which sought to ensure equal rights for women under law, as “anti-family” and un-American.
Rachel Carson’s Warning on D.D.T. Ignited an Environmental Movement
Rachel Carson is often credited with helping give rise to the environmental movement. And with Silent Spring – her treatise on the danger of pesticides – she forced Americans to rethink how their actions might damage the world around them. Regulations were passed that virtually banned the use of DDT in the United States; most other countries followed suit. And, although she died two years after the publication of Silent Spring, her legacy over the decades continued to grow.
She Rocked the Pentagon
After a sexual assault scandal at the Tailhook convention rocked the Navy in 1991, one female officer, Paula Coughlin, launched a campaign to change military culture. Tailhook was called the worst case of sexual harassment in the U.S. Navy’s history and led to promises of culture change. But decades later, how much has really changed?
Argentina’s Stolen Babies, and the Grandmothers Leading the Search
Estela de Carlotto has spent decades searching for her grandson, one of the estimated 500 babies who disappeared after their mothers were taken by the military regime in Argentina in the 1970s.
As many as 30,000 people were tortured and killed during the seven year military regime. They came to be known as the “disappeared.” Over time, it became clear that they were not coming back, but the question remained: what had happened to them and to the estimated 500 babies whose mothers were taken during pregnancy?