Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
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In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
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
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball franchise based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays (formerly the Tampa Bay Devil Rays) compete in the American League East division. Since the franchise was established in 1995, the Rays have selected 36 players in the first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 Draft is Major League Baseball's primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks. The First-Year Player Draft is unrelated to the 1997 expansion draft in which the Rays filled their roster. Of the 36 players the Rays have selected in the first round, 10 have been outfielders and 12 have been drafted exclusively as pitchers. Of the 12 pitchers, eight were right-handed and four were left-handed. The Rays have also drafted five shortstops, four third basemen, two catchers, one second baseman, and one first baseman. In addition to these, one player (2017 pick Brendan McKay) was drafted as both a left-handed pitcher and a first baseman. Twenty players were drafted out of high school, 12 were drafted out of four-year colleges, and one was drafted from a junior college. Two players were drafted from Rice University in Houston, Texas in consecutive years. None of the Rays' first-round picks have won a World Series championship with the team, and no pick has been named the Most Valuable Player. Evan Longoria (2006) won the Rookie of the Year Award in 2008, the only Rays player to do so. The Rays have made the first selection in the draft four times, drafting Josh Hamilton (1999), Delmon Young (2003), David Price (2007), and Tim Beckham (2008). The Rays have made nine selections in the supplemental round of the draft since their establishment in 1995. These additional picks are provided when a team loses a particularly valuable free agent in the previous off-season,[V] or, more recently, if a team fails to sign a draft pick from the previous year. The Rays have failed to sign one of their first-round picks, LeVon Washington (2009), a client of Scott Boras who could not come to an agreed contract with the team. The Rays received the 31st pick in 2010 as compensation.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1976 with the Seattle Seahawks. Every April, each NFL franchise adds new players to its roster through a collegiate draft at the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", more commonly known as the NFL Draft. Teams are ranked in reverse order based on the previous season's record, with the team with the worst record having the first selection. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous season's Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion is the last team to select and the Super Bowl runner up selects right before them. This order is subject to teams trading away selections to other teams for different selections, players, cash or a combination thereof. Thus, it is common for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have multiple or no draft picks the first round due to trades. The Buccaneers have had the first overall pick on six occasions. Twice in 1978 and 1984, they traded it away. Three eventual Hall of Famers were selected by the Buccaneers. The Buccaneers' first selection as an NFL team was Lee Roy Selmon, a defensive lineman from Oklahoma. The team's most-recent first-round selection was Rueben Bain Jr., a linebacker from the University of Miami.
The Seattle Seahawks joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1976 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They participated in their first draft, the 1976 NFL draft and selected Steve Niehaus, a defensive tackle from Notre Dame. The team's most recent first-round selection was in 2026, which was the selection of Jadarian Price, a running back. Every year during April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft known as "the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", which is more commonly known as the NFL Draft. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first, and the second worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion always picks 32nd, and the Super Bowl loser always picks 31st. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades. The Seahawks have never selected the number one overall pick in any draft, although they have selected the second overall pick twice, the third overall pick three times and the fourth overall pick twice. The team's four selections from Notre Dame are the most chosen by the Seahawks from one university.
The Chicago Bears are an American football franchise based in Chicago, Illinois. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference North Division. The franchise was founded in Decatur, Illinois, on September 20, 1919, became professional on September 17, 1920, and moved to Chicago in 1921. It is one of only two remaining franchises from the NFL's founding in 1920, along with the Arizona Cardinals, which was originally also in Chicago. The team played home games at Wrigley Field on Chicago's North Side through the 1970 season; they now play at Soldier Field on the South Side adjacent to Lake Michigan. The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings; the teams with the worst win–loss records receive the earliest picks. Teams that qualified for the NFL playoffs select after non-qualifiers, and their order depends on how far they advanced, using their regular season record as a tie-breaker. The final two selections in the first round are reserved for the Super Bowl runner-up and champion. Draft picks are tradable and players or other picks can be acquired with them. In 1936, the league introduced the NFL draft after team owners voted on it in 1935. The intention of the draft is to make the NFL more competitive, as some teams had an advantage in signing players. From 1947 through 1958 the NFL designated the first overall selection as a "bonus" or "lottery pick". The pick was awarded by a random draw and the winner who received the "bonus pick" forfeited its selection in the final round of the draft and became ineligible for future draws. The system was abolished prior to the 1959 NFL draft, as all twelve teams in the league at the time had received a bonus choice. Since the first draft, the Bears have selected 99 players in the first round. The team's first-round pick in the inaugural NFL draft was Joe Stydahar, a tackle from West Virginia University; he was the sixth overall selection. The Bears have held the first overall pick three times and selected Tom Harmon in 1941, Bob Fenimore in 1947, and Caleb Williams in 2024. In the most recent draft, held in 2026, the Bears selected Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman. The Bears did not draft a player in the first round on nine occasions, most recently in 2022. Eleven of the team's first-round picks—Dick Butkus, Jim Covert, Mike Ditka, Dan Hampton, Chuck Howley, Sid Luckman, Walter Payton, Gale Sayers, Joe Stydahar, Clyde Turner, and Brian Urlacher—have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Three of the team's first-round picks—Dave Behrman, Steve DeLong, and George Rice—chose to sign with the NFL's pre-merger direct competitor, the American Football League (AFL), instead.
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.