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.
Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
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 People's Republic of China (PRC) is a country of origin, destination, and transit for human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery. Sex trafficking victims in the country are from all ethnic groups in China and foreigners. Chinese citizens have been sex trafficked to the various provinces of China, as well as other countries and different continents. Illegal organizations often lure Chinese women abroad under the guise of legitimate work in other countries. Once these women arrive in that country, they are forced into prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation. Some of the women trafficked from China to Thailand and Malaysia are from ethnic minorities like the Dai ethnicity from areas like the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province and they are trafficked by men of their own ethnicity. The Dai people are related to Thai people. Chinese women and girls are trafficked for the purpose of prostitution worldwide and are found in major cities abroad, construction sites, and places where Chinese laborers are present. They have been detected in overseas Chinese expatriate communities. China's internal migrant population, in the hundreds of millions, is particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking. Sex trafficked victims are abducted or deceived and forced into prostitution, marriages, and or pregnancies. They are threatened, physically and psychologically harmed. They contract sexually transmitted diseases from rapes, and abuses such as starvation are common. Some women and girls die from the poor conditions in captivity or are tortured or murdered. Foreign women and children mostly from Burma, Mongolia, North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam are trafficked to China for forced labor, marriage, and prostitution. Most of them are from vulnerable communities. Women and girls from northern Myanmar to China are sold from about $3,000 to $13,000 to Chinese families struggling to find brides for their sons. Experts relate China's serious sex trafficking with the country's one-child policy. They argue that the imbalance in the ratio of male to female births and the scarcity of women resulting from the policy has greatly contributed to the phenomenon of trafficking in women as brides. Sex trafficking and exploitation have permeated all levels of Chinese society. Male and female perpetrators in China come from a wide range of backgrounds and every social class. A number of traffickers are members of facilitated criminal organizations and gangs. Some government officials and workers, as well as foreigners, have profited from sex trafficking in China. Rising incomes in China have spurred increased consumption of many services, both licit and illicit. It has occurred in businesses linked to China's entertainment and tourism industries, as well as heavy industries and the mining sector. Some reporters suggest that the Belt and Road Initiative and globalization have led to an increase in sex trafficking in China. Chinese sex traffickers operate throughout the world. Cybersex trafficking is a growing problem in 21st century China. The global spread of high-speed internet and increase in computer, tablet, and smartphone ownership have fueled online or virtual forced prostitution and sex abuse and the creation of illegal pornographic videos purchased by users worldwide. The scale of sex trafficking in China is difficult to know because of the lack of primary research and data collection, the clandestine nature of sex trafficking crimes, the fact that only a small minority of cases are reported to the authorities, and other factors. Chinese government ministries, as well as international and domestic agencies and organisations, do some work to combat sex trafficking patterns, but this has not brought substantive improvements and responses have proved insufficient. The enforcement of sex trafficking laws and investigating and prosecuting of trafficking cases have been immobilized by interagency collaboration and coordination challenges, logistical difficulties, poor border management, language barriers of foreign victims, political dynamics, corruption, and apathy. Some Chinese police and officials, as well as overseas embassies and diplomatic missions, have been accused of negligence concerning counter-sex trafficking efforts and concern for victims. Available statistics indicate that China needs to devote greater resources and implement better policies and strategies designed to reduce sex trafficking in the country. It is difficult for trading partners of China to criticize the country's inadequate anti-sex trafficking efforts because of fears of tensions. Chinese civil society's efforts in countering sex trafficking are stymied by threats and coercion from criminal organizations and officials and the government's repression of women and human rights organizations, presses, and lawyers.
In 2007, the U.S. Department of State reported 31,833 rapes in the People's Republic of China (PRC), but no similar report by the PRC government has been made available. Same-sex sexual assault between male adults was made illegal in late 2015. Domestic and foreign victims of sex trafficking in China are raped.
Sex trafficking in Hong Kong is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a city of origin and a destination for sexually trafficked persons. The Government of Hong Kong denies that trafficking is a prevalent crime in Hong Kong, but the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranked Hong Kong as Tier 2 watchlist in its Trafficking in Persons Report in 2016, where, except in 2019 and 2023, it has remained. The Government has rebutted the reports on several occasions. Hong Kong women and children are victims of sex trafficking within the region. A lot of the prostitutes in Hong Kong are from Mainland China. Researchers and sources within the industry suggest many of them are trafficked. Traffickers recruit victims from Thailand, the Philippines, Mainland China, and countries in South America using false promises of lucrative employment and force them into commercial sex. Some foreign victims entered Hong Kong on two-week tourist visas, as part of a circuit of major cities in the region used by traffickers, including Bangkok and Taipei, and were coerced into commercial sex through debt-based coercion. Some employment agencies reportedly hired foreign domestic workers under false pretences and forced them into commercial sex. Women from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia are also sex trafficked into Hong Kong. Triads have been involved in sex trafficking in Hong Kong for many years. Thunderbolt 2023, a crackdown on Triads between 12 June and 21 September, resulted in 6,400. Some of these arrests were in connection with sex trafficking. 28 people, with connections to the 14K Triads, were arrested in November 2024 in connection with sex trafficking. NGOs report increasing occurrences of online commercial sex acts. Traffickers use coercive methods, such as threats of reporting victims to police or immigration authorities, withholding of identification documents, and blackmailing victims with threats of online distribution of photographs, to coerce them to engage in online commercial sex acts. Women from Hong Kong are trafficked into North America and the UK for commercial sex.
Sex trafficking in Mongolia is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the country. Mongolia is a source, transit and destination country for sexually trafficked persons. Mongolian citizens, primarily women and girls, have been sex trafficked within Mongolia and to other countries in Asia and different continents. Foreign victims are sex trafficked into the country. Children and persons in poverty are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking. Victims are deceived, threatened, and or forced into prostitution and their passports and other documents are often taken. Beatings and druggings are common. They suffer from physical and psychological abuse and are typically locked up or guarded. Victims tend to live in poor conditions and are forced to do unfree labour. A number contract sexually transmitted diseases from rapes without condoms. Victims are often traumatized and some commit suicide. Male and female traffickers are often members of or facilitated by crime organizations and gangs. Mongolian traffickers have operated outside of the country in China, Macau, South Korea, and elsewhere. Family members and friends are sometimes the perpetrators. The extent of sex trafficking in Mongolia is difficult to know because of the lack of data, underground nature of sex trafficking crimes, and other factors. The rapid growth of mining and other industries in twenty-first century Mongolia has led to an increase in sex trafficking in the country. Sex trafficked victims have been sent to businesses supporting transportation links, including coal routes, with China. The government of Mongolia has been criticized for not providing enough assistance to victims.
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 →Madam C.J. Walker