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Inheritance
A project about American history, Black life, and the resilience of memory
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Support for this project provided by Salesforce
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Introducing Inheritance
•Too much knowledge has been lost, too many stories distorted, too many people forgotten. We mourn for all we do not know. Yet the vision and resilience of Black America are shaping this nation. Our future demands that we unbury the past.
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Credits
•VideoKhalik AllahArchival Video ProductionRenata Cherlise, Black ArchivesVideo FootageGetty Images and Florida Memory
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Where Memories Live
•Chapter 2Place is a foundational aspect of our history: It shapes who we are, what we know, and what stories we pass along.
The Barn On Drew Ruleville Road
•In 1955, just past daybreak, a Chevrolet truck pulled up to an unmarked building. A 14-year-old child was in the back. His name was Emmett Till.
How We Became Free
•This year’s Juneteenth commemorations must take a deeper look at the history of Black self-liberation to understand what emancipation really means—and how far the country still has to go.
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How 24 Hours of Racist Violence Caused Decades of Harm
•A century after a white mob attacked a thriving Black community in Tulsa, digitized census records are bringing the economic damage into clearer focus.
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The Neighborhood Fighting Not to Be Forgotten
•One hundred years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, community members still can’t get the federal government to recognize Greenwood's significance.
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Why Confederate Lies Live On
•For some Americans, history isn’t the story of what actually happened; it’s the story they want to believe.
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‘One Oppressive Economy Begets Another’
•Louisiana’s petroleum industry profits from exploiting historic inequalities, showing how slavery laid the groundwork for environmental racism.
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The Problem With Patriotism
•I can’t ignore what this country has done to Black people. How do I find my place in it?
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The Original Kings of Esports
•Black players pioneered what we now call esports. The industry hasn’t paid them back.
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The Game Is Changing for Historians of Black America
•For centuries, stories of Black communities from the past have been limited by racism in the historical record. Now we can finally follow the trails they left behind.
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The Stories We Tell Ourselves
•Chapter 1Our future demands that we unbury the past.
“Inheritance”: A Live Virtual Event
•Atlantic writers brought the project to life at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 18.
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America’s Political Roots Are in Eutaw, Alabama
•When I think about the 1870 riot, I remember how the country rejected the opportunity it had.
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The 1970s Black Utopian City That Became a Modern Ghost Town
•What the demise of an experimental Black town reveals about the struggle for racial equality today
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The Magazine That Helped 1920s Kids Navigate Racism
•Mainstream culture denied Black children their humanity—so W. E. B. Du Bois made The Brownies’ Book to restore it.
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When America Truly Became a Democracy
•The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally delivered on the stated ideals of this country. Now it hangs by a thread.
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Everybody Knew Teenie
•Charles “Teenie” Harris captured at least 125,000 people during the 40 years he documented Black life for The Pittsburgh Courier.
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Curt Flood Belongs in the Hall of Fame
•His defiance changed baseball and helped assert Black people’s worth in American culture.
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A Forgotten Founder
•Prince Hall was a free African American in Boston at a time of revolutionary fervor—and a transformative figure whose story deserves to be reinserted into the tale of America’s creation.
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The Stories I Didn’t Learn in School
•The accounts of ordinary people who survived slavery provide an all-too-rare link to our past.
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A Priceless Archive of Ordinary Life
•To preserve Black history, a 19th-century Philadelphian filled hundreds of scrapbooks with newspaper clippings and other materials. But now, underfunding and physical decay are putting archives like this one at risk.
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Support the Atlantic’s most ambitious journalism.
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Support the Atlantic’s most ambitious journalism.
From on-the-ground reporting to rigorous fact-checking, our work depends on our subscribers. Join us today, starting at less than $1 a week.