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Category: Civil Rights

Louis Armstrong, in a white shirt, blows into his trumpet during a concert. His eyes are closed.

“Just Jazz,” The Trailblazing Radio Show, Now at the Library

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

From 1961 to 1976, Ed Beach hosted “Just Jazz” on WRVR-FM in New York City. Beach played jazz — soloists, bands, traditional, modern — ranging from the early 1920s to the 1970s.  He featured artists who achieved great fame — Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Max Roach — along with musicians new to his audience. The show is now preserved online by the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, a joint project of the Library of Congress and the Boston public broadcaster GBH.

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Writing African Americans into the Story

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Jesse Holland wears a lot of different hats: he’s an award-winning political journalist, he’s a television host, he’s a professor and he’s a comics aficionado — he wrote the first novel about the Black Panther for Marvel in 2018. African American history is yet another of his passions — in particular documenting long-overlooked contributions of …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

An 1848 Christmas Story: The Gift of Freedom

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by Lavonda Kay Broadnax, digital reference specialist in the Library’s Research and Reference Services Division. December is a month of holidays and festivities that bring families and friends together to celebrate their good fortune and look forward to the year ahead. For the enslaved couple William and Ellen Craft, the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

World War I: Armistice Day

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by Ryan Reft, a historian in the Manuscript Division, to mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice ending World War I. “Everything for which America has fought has been accomplished,” wrote President Woodrow Wilson on Nov. 11, 1918, in a statement addressed to his “fellow countrymen.” The …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Hispanic Heritage Month: Mexican-Americans and Baseball

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by Ryan Reft, a historian in the Manuscript Division. The post celebrates both National Hispanic Heritage Month and the Library’s ongoing exhibition Baseball Americana. “I remember traveling to Lake Elsinore, which was a long way in those days. … [T]he only ride we could get was from a friend who …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Pic of the Week: Mandela Grandson Shares Lessons He Learned from His Grandfather

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Ndaba Mandela, the grandson of South African leader and humanitarian Nelson Mandela, spoke in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress on June 27 with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden about his recently published memoir, “Going to the Mountain: Life Lessons from My Grandfather.” Drawing on the memoir, Mandela talked about growing up under …