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Black History

What was erased from the record. The Ledger documents the massacres, the coups, the destruction of Black communities, and the records of who they were before. With sources.

Greenwood Avenue at dusk on May 30, 1921. Brick storefronts lit warm from inside, with gas streetlamps along a brick-paved commercial street.
Featured Chronicle

Tulsa Burning1921

The Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma was the most prosperous Black community in America. Over two days in May and June 1921, it was destroyed. This is the chronicle of what was built, what was taken, and what comes next.

Chronicle + Record12 min read · 35 min chronicle
Begin the ChronicleRead the Record

All entries

  1. 02Colfax, 1873The deadliest single massacre of Reconstruction. Most of the Black defenders were killed after surrendering. The Supreme Court overturned the convictions, and gutted federal power to prosecute racial violence for a century.Single Record
  2. 03Elaine, 1919Black sharecroppers organized a union to demand fair payment for their cotton. Federal troops arrived and killed hundreds. Twelve Black men were sentenced to death. None of the white attackers were charged.Single Record
  3. 04Ocoee, 1920The largest incident of voting-day violence in American history. Mose Norman tried to vote. July Perry defended his home. The entire Black population of Ocoee was driven from the town permanently.Single Record
  4. 05Rosewood, 1923A self-sufficient Black town erased in seven days. The survivors hid in swamps. The town never returned. Florida paid reparations in 1994, the first such payment in U.S. history.Single Record
  5. 06Shelby County v. Holder, 2013The Voting Rights Act had blocked thousands of discriminatory election rules in jurisdictions with documented histories of voter suppression. The Court said the formula was too old. Twenty-four hours later, Texas implemented its voter ID law.Single Record
  6. 07The Civil Rights Cases, 1883The Civil Rights Act of 1875 prohibited discrimination in every public accommodation in America. The Supreme Court struck it down. It would be eighty-one years before Congress tried again.Single Record
  7. 08Wilmington, 1898An elected biracial government was overthrown at gunpoint. The perpetrators were celebrated as heroes. It remains the only successful coup d'état on American soil.Single Record

New entries are added every week. The history is not finished. Neither is the work.

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