Civil Rights

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From Fannie Lou Hamer to Shirley Chisholm, these extraordinary Black woman changed the world forever.

Preparedness matters before attending a demonstration. Here’s everything you need to know about how to stay safe during a protest, from what to bring to what your rights are, and more.

While they might not have been old enough to drive, they were old enough to steer history.

Three of the four acts expired shortly after they were signed into law in the late 1700s. One remains active—and it’s been at the center of constitutional debates ever since.

The deeply unpopular war led to the biggest and most consequential protest movement in U.S. history. Here are the key events and reactions.

Civil disobedience and nonviolent protests have moved mountains. Here are just a few examples of when people took back power.

The MLK quote “a riot is the language of the unheard” came from his 1967 speech on the two Americas.

With a letter opener protruding from his chest, Martin Luther King Jr. reassured everyone that everything was ok. One sneeze later, it would not have been.

The act of protesting has a long and productive history.

This common phrase is often used during times of political uncertainty, and has even been described as an ancient Chinese curse. History says otherwise, though.

The Stonewall Riots were a watershed moment for the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S., but here are some important facts you might not know about the uprising.

Is Juneteenth a federal holiday? Yes—and we have Opal Lee to thank for that.

See how your neighborhood is faring.

How Johann Sebastian Bach and the Little Rock Nine inspired one of The Beatles’ biggest hits—and one of the most covered songs ever recorded.

You know Harry Belafonte's hits—here are some facts about the artist behind them.

Hundreds of civil rights activists calling themselves Freedom Riders bravely held the nation accountable to its rules against segregation in 1961. Here are the facts you need to know.

For two decades, the original copy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic speech was stashed inside a Harry Truman biography for safekeeping.

Rosa Parks changed the world on December 1, 1955, when she stood up for civil rights by sitting down. But who was the bus driver on the other side of history?

Emmett Till’s murder—and his mother's fight for justice—will be recognized across three sites in two states.

By the age of 34, Lorraine Hansberry was already the author of two plays that had appeared on Broadway. She should have been on course for a long and successful career—but tragically, that wouldn't happen. Still, her legacy has endured.

While co-founding two of the most influential HIV/AIDS organizations in the U.S., he still had time to pen a landmark play and be nominated for an Academy Award.