Global Black History Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/section/global-black-history/ a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship Sat, 17 Jan 2026 02:10:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.publicbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-favicon-2-300x300.png Global Black History Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/section/global-black-history/ 32 32 Rethinking Reconstruction: Kate Masur on “Freedom Was in Sight” https://www.publicbooks.org/rethinking-reconstruction-kate-masur-on-freedom-was-in-sight/ Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:00:16 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=59008 “Freedom Was in Sight” conveys that even as Reconstruction ended and the Jim Crow order took shape in the South, not everything was lost.

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]]> Archives of the Surveilled https://www.publicbooks.org/archives-of-the-surveilled/ Wed, 22 Jan 2025 16:00:36 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=58755 Arthur Huff Fauset’s elision from literary history was not merely a scholarly oversight but a reality constructed in advance by powerful forces.

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]]> “The World Didn’t Give It, but the World Can’t Take It Away”: Talking Black Joy and Black Freedom with Blair LM Kelley https://www.publicbooks.org/the-world-didnt-give-it-but-the-world-cant-take-it-away-talking-black-joy-and-black-freedom-with-blair-lm-kelley/ Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:00:50 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=58522 “Joy is a uniquely interesting Black experience. We talk about joy a lot, we sing about joy.”

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]]> Excavating New Archives of the Enslaved https://www.publicbooks.org/excavating-new-archives-of-the-enslaved/ Thu, 12 Dec 2024 16:00:49 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=58355 Three new books on how Africans shaped the Americas grapple with the politics of archival interpretation in constructing the histories of slavery and empire.

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]]> The Poverty of Homeownership https://www.publicbooks.org/the-poverty-of-homeownership/ Wed, 04 Dec 2024 16:00:09 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=58240 On both sides of the color line, to own one’s home remains synonymous with freedom—even as real estate has repeatedly been proven a relentless driver of inequality.

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]]> An Open Letter to Prison Officials on the Censorship of “Tip of the Spear” https://www.publicbooks.org/an-open-letter-to-prison-officials-on-the-censorship-of-tip-of-the-spear/ Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:00:13 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=58212 Your censorship of my book must be understood within a broader context.

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]]> The Porous Prison https://www.publicbooks.org/the-porous-prison/ Thu, 03 Oct 2024 15:00:33 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=57338 “People who may have conceived of a child on a conjugal visit, and changed that child's diapers and taught them how to fish inside prison, are now forbidden to give them a hug.”

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]]> White Mediocrity Empowers White Villainy: A Conversation with Koritha Mitchell https://www.publicbooks.org/white-mediocrity-empowers-white-villainy-a-conversation-with-koritha-mitchell/ Wed, 15 May 2024 15:00:29 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=56029 “Not only does whiteness empower folk to destroy entire communities; it empowers them to say to your face that the destruction doesn't have reverberating effects in the current moment.”

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]]> A Poetics of Living Rebellion https://www.publicbooks.org/a-poetics-of-living-rebellion/ Wed, 03 Apr 2024 15:00:59 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=55674 Rebellions cannot be studied with our traditional toolbelt of Western historical methods.

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]]> Tenuous Privileges, Tenuous Power https://www.publicbooks.org/tenuous-privileges-tenuous-power/ Tue, 19 Mar 2024 15:00:37 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=55461 In "The Vice President’s Black Wife," Amrita Myers paints freedom as a process in which Black women used the tools available to them to secure rights and privileges within a slave society.

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