The 1925 trial of John Scopes in tiny Dayton, Tennessee, remains a defining moment in American history. This "trial of the century"--a "media event" before the term was coined--addressed issues that still affect our society today, such as control of the school curriculum, the ongoing tensions between science and faith in public schools, and the ramifications of teaching evolution and human origins.This book is the first encyclopedic treatment of the Scopes Trial. The text draws on ...

This extraordinary New York Times bestseller reexamines a pivotal event of the civil rights movement—the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till—“and demands that we do the one vital thing we aren’t often enough asked to do with history: learn from it” (The Atlantic).* A New York Times Notable Book * A Washington Post Notable Book * Longlisted for the National Book Award * Winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award

Winner of the National Book Award for NonfictionFinalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for HistoryFrom the leading historian and Guggenheim fellow, an electrifying story of the sensational murder trial that divided a city and ignited the civil rights struggle.Arc of Justice is a necessary contribution to what seems like an insoluble moral dilemma: race in America.” —Paul Hendrickso...

"A history cum memoir by Lena Horne's daughter tells the story of her forebears . . . eloquently conveys . . . how politics and prejudice can shape a family." — The New YorkerIn The Black Calhouns, Gail Lumet Buckley—daughter of actress Lena Horne—delves deep into her family history, detailing the experiences of an extraordinary African American family from Civil War to Civil Rights.Beginning with her great-great...

**The instant New York Times bestseller and companion book to the PBS series.“Absolutely brilliant . . . A necessary and moving work.” —Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., author of Begin Again“Engaging. . . . In Gates’s telling, the Black church shines bright even as the nation itself moves uncertainly through the gloaming, seeking justice on earth—as it is in heaven.” —Jon Meacham, New York Times Book ReviewFrom the New York Times bestselling...

A biography series featuring some of the most important people from history and today.I helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott. I am only 34 when I give the "I Have a Dream" speech. I am Martin Luther King Jr.Learn all about this heroic man, whose accomplishments are truly inspiring, in Scholastic's biography series: I AM. This book will feature illustrations throughout, a timeline, an introduction to the people you'll meet in the book, maps, sidebars, and a top ten list of imp...

**A PBS NewsHour Best Book of the YearA Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year in NonfictionWinner of the 2022 Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss AwardA brilliant scholar imparts the lessons bequeathed by the Black community and its remarkable artists and thinkers.**Farah Jasmine Griffin has taken to her heart the phrase "read until you understand," a line her father, who died when she was nine, wrote in a note to her. She has made it central to...

An examination of the unsolved mystery of the Jack the Ripper-style serial killer who terrified early 20th century Atlanta, Georgia.As Atlanta finished rebuilding after the Civil War, a new horror arose from the ashes to roam the night streets. Beginning in 1911, a killer whose methods mimicked the famed Jack the Ripper murdered at least twenty black women, from prostitutes to working-class women and mothers. Each murder attributed to the killer occurred on a Satur...

A prizewinning historian pens this biography of C.L. Franklin, the greatest African-American preacher of his generation, father of Aretha, and civil rights pioneer.

"The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home." So begins an American standard, first published as a minstrel song, that became dear to the hearts of millions and ultimately was enshrined as the Kentucky Derby's sonic centerpiece—a popular selling point for Kentucky tourism. Emily Bingham's masterful decoding of Stephen Foster's 1853 ballad reveals that the song was always about slavery and how white Americans wanted to remember it. Acknowledging her own entanglement in this legacy, Bing...

A “masterful” (The American Spectator) history of the iconic attorney Clarence Darrow and the famous Scopes Monkey Trial, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Russia Hoax and Witch Hunt.Nearly a century ago, famed liberal attorney Clarence Darrow defended schoolteacher John Scopes in a blockbuster legal proceeding that brought the attention of the entire country to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. Darrow’s sem...

Intimate, in-depth portraits, interviews, and essays of America's black leaders-from the founding of the nation and Frederick Douglass to the 2008 presidential race and Barack Obama. Each figure is interconnected with the next, exploring themes of family and intergenerational community, spirituality, and diligence, activism, and struggle. These remarkable portraits reveal the true spirit of the American pioneers who forged much of the heart of this nation, but whose achievements have been ...