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.
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.
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.
The writings and social activism of civil rights icon Rosa Parks, as read and remembered by Bryan Stevenson, Condoleezza Rice, Ken Burns, Jacqueline Woodson, Sharon Robinson and others in this short documentary.
In a March 25 ceremony, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and National Museum of African American History and Culture Director Lonnie Bunch unveiled the photo album of abolionist Emily Howland, featuring a previously unknown portrait of Harriet Tubman. The portrait, taken around 1868, captures Tubman in her mid 40s, years younger than most surviving photographs that show her late in life