Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
q2K BHP
Black History Portal
THE BHP WIRE —
HIDDEN TRUTHS
What's New!
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to "dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes: to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor to maintain neutrality in an ongoing conflict as a peace mechanism that is part of a peace process to resolve an armed conflict to limit the ability of an actor to inflict violence on others to weaken a country's military capabilities before a foreign intervention
As a reaction to the ongoing conflict and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Somalia, the United Nations Security Council imposed an open ended arms embargo on Somalia in January 1992. The embargo was amended to allow arms supplies to Somali Government Forces in February 2007. On 15 November 2019 the Security Council renewed the mandate until 15 December 2020, while also extending exemptions for the arms embargo and enforcement authorizations for the ban on illicit trade. On 1 December 2023 after 31 years the Security Council lifted the longest arms embargo on the Somali Armed Forces and the Somali federal government, while continuing sanctions against the Al-Shabaab militant group.
Since 7 October 2023, several countries such as Italy, Japan, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands and Belgium have ceased the sale of weapons to Israel. Key United States allies such as Britain have debated it. However, the US, as the major supplier of Israel's arms imports, keeps supplying weapons in spite of growing international condemnation of the mounting civilian casualties. Campaign groups and some Western politicians insist that arms sales to Israel must stop because civilians have been killed during the Gaza war, Israeli atrocities and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and the Gaza genocide.
A United States embargo has prevented U.S. businesses and citizens from conducting trade or commerce with Cuban interests since 1960. Modern diplomatic relations are cold, stemming from historic conflict and divergent political ideologies. U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba are comprehensive and impact all sectors of the Cuban economy. It is the most enduring trade embargo in modern history. The U.S. government influences extraterritorial trade with Cuba. The embargo has faced international condemnation for its adverse impact on Cubans, including by the United Nations who have formally condemned it intermittently since 1992. The U.S. government first launched an arms embargo against Cuba in 1958, with their energy and agricultural sectors targeted in 1960. Following the Cuban Revolution, there were nationalizations and a trade war between the two countries. In October the Cuban government responded with seizure of American economic assets, including oil refineries. The U.S. retaliated with a total embargo on Cuban trade, with exceptions for food and medicine. Cuba held nuclear missiles for the Soviet Union during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which resulted in the U.S. fully blockading the island. The embargo was loosened during the Cuban thaw from 2015 to 2017, but was tightened sharply again thereafter. The embargo is enforced mainly through the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuban Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms–Burton Act of 1996, and the Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. Relations remain tense due to stark differences on immigration, counterterrorism, civil and political rights, human rights, electoral interference, disinformation campaigns, humanitarian aid, trade policy, financial claims, U.S. foreign policy, and Cuban foreign policy.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →The Greenwood District.