Medgar Evers, the famed civil rights activist, was born 96 years ago this month in a small town in Mississippi. He was assassinated by a white supremacist in 1963, but his legacy has only grown in the decades since his death.
The Library recently acquired courtroom artist Mary Chaney's sketches from the trials of Rodney King in Los Angeles from 1992-1994. The Black motorist was beaten viciously by white police officers after a high-speed chase in 1991. The acquittal of the officers in state court set off days of deadly riots and became a touchstone in American society.
The Feb. 2021 set of Free to Use and Reuse Photographs in the Library's collections highlights African American Women Changemakers. We highlight the careers of Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer and Charlayne Hunter-Gault.