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Category: Civil Rights

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

Rodney King Beating Was 30 Years Ago Today; Courtroom Sketches Now at Library

Posted by: Neely Tucker

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.

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

A Protester Who Changed America: Rosa Parks

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Rosa Parks launched one of the most influential protests in American history, chronicled at the Library and featured in the exhibit, "Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words." You can explore it online, even while the Library is closed due to COVID-19. The Parks papers and exhibit are part of the Library's role in preserving and presenting the lives of revolutionary American changemakers.

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

National Book Festival Presents: Carla Hayden and Lonnie Bunch

Posted by: Neely Tucker

In a National Book Festival Presents conversation that premieres tonight (June 5), Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie Bunch discuss the national protests that have roiled the nation after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

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 …