Inside a Report on Slavery and Its Legacy

A New York Times reporter investigates how, in the 1840s, New York Life, the nation’s third-largest life insurance company, sold 508 policies on enslaved men and women — and discovers who the beneficiaries were and locates some of the descendants of those insured slaves.

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Did a Fear of Slave Revolts Drive American Independence?

FOR more than two centuries, we have been reading the Declaration of Independence wrong. Or rather, we’ve been celebrating the Declaration as people in the 19th and 20th centuries have told us we should, but not the Declaration as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams wrote it. To them, separation from Britain was as much, if not more, about racial fear and exclusion as it was about inalienable rights.

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Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation”, Hollywood Clapback or Just Another Slave Movie?

By Riley Wilson and Shantrelle P. Lewis, Colorlines.com In this point/counterpoint about Nate Parker’s buzzy directorial debut, two Black independent filmmakers wrestle with the notion of seeing more chains, whips and nooses on the big screen.  Riley Wilson: “The Birth of a Nation” Didn’t Change the Game …On the one hand, we have a film written, directed, and starring…

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A Rare, Firsthand Account of an African Muslim Enslaved in Brazil

Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua described his capture and enslavement in Brazil during the 19th century and his journey through Haiti, upstate New York, Canada and England. While a legally free in these places, he was homesick for Africa and desired to return home. His detailed account includes his Islamic faith, his experiences, and life after his escape.

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