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.
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.
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
Elizabeth Lynne Cheney (; born July 28, 1966) is an American attorney and former politician who was the U.S. representative for Wyoming's at-large congressional district from 2017 to 2023, and served as chair of the House Republican Conference from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she is known for her vocal opposition to Donald Trump. Cheney is the elder daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney and second lady Lynne Cheney. She held several positions in the U.S. State Department during the George W. Bush administration. She promoted regime change in Iran while chairing the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group with Elliott Abrams. In 2009, Cheney and Bill Kristol founded Keep America Safe, a nonprofit organization concerned with national security issues that supported the Bush–Cheney administration's positions. In 2014 she was briefly a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming, challenging incumbent Mike Enzi before withdrawing. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2016, holding the same seat her father had held from 1979 to 1989. Regarded as a leading ideological neoconservative in the Bush–Cheney tradition as well as representative of the Republican establishment, Cheney is known for her pro-business stances and hawkish foreign policy views. She was critical of the foreign policy of the first Donald Trump administration while consistently voting in favor of Trump's overall agenda. Cheney supported the second impeachment of Donald Trump following the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol. Her impeachment vote and criticism of Donald Trump led to her eventual removal from Republican leadership in May 2021. In July 2021, Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Cheney to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. Two months later, she was made vice chair of the committee. Her role on the committee resulted in the Wyoming Republican Party revoking Cheney's membership in November 2021 as well as censure from the Republican National Committee in February 2022. In 2022, Cheney lost renomination in Wyoming's Republican primary to Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman in a landslide, garnering just 28.9% of the vote. Cheney has said that she intends to be "the leader, one of the leaders, in a fight to help to restore" the Republican Party. She later endorsed and campaigned for Kamala Harris's unsuccessful run in the 2024 presidential election. In 2024, she was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by Joe Biden and pardoned from potential future prosecution. As of March 2023, she is a professor of practice at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Elise Marie Stefanik ( stə-FAH-nik; born July 2, 1984) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 21st congressional district since 2015. From 2021 to 2025, she served as chair of the House Republican Conference. Stefanik was elected as a moderate Republican but aligned herself with Donald Trump during his first term as president. Stefanik strongly opposed the first impeachment of Trump in 2019 and objected to Pennsylvania's electoral votes in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Stefanik was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in May 2021 after Liz Cheney was removed from the position for her vocal opposition to Trump. In 2023, Stefanik gained national attention for her aggressive questioning of university presidents during a widely televised U.S. congressional hearing on antisemitism, which contributed to the resignation of Liz Magill as the president of the University of Pennsylvania. Stefanik was awarded the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Defender of Israel Award by the Zionist Organization of America. In January 2025, President Trump nominated Stefanik to serve as the United States ambassador to the United Nations. Trump withdrew the nomination in March over concerns that her departure from the House would affect the thin House Republican majority. In November 2025, Stefanik announced her candidacy in the 2026 New York gubernatorial election, but ended her campaign the following month and announced she would not run for re-election to Congress.
The 2016 United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming was held on November 8, 2016, to elect the U.S. representative from Wyoming's at-large congressional district, who would represent the state of Wyoming in the 115th United States Congress. The election coincided with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Cynthia Lummis decided to retire instead of seeking a fifth term. Liz Cheney was elected to the seat to succeed Lummis. The filing period for candidates lasted from May 12 to 27, 2016, and the primaries were held on August 16. Republican attorney Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney, and Democratic energy executive Ryan Greene won their respective primaries.
The 2018 United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the U.S. representative from Wyoming's at-large congressional district, who would represent the state of Wyoming in the 116th United States Congress. The election coincided with the 2018 U.S. mid-term elections, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. Key 2018 races in Wyoming included elections for governor, secretary of state of Wyoming, U.S. Senate, 15 of the 30 seats in the Wyoming State Senate, and all 60 seats in the Wyoming House of Representatives. Incumbent Republican Liz Cheney won reelection to a second term. Primary elections to determine each party's nominee for the general election were held on August 21, 2018.
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 →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.