Civil rights

Roger Hudson on the vitriolic reaction to Paul Robeson's open-air concert in Peekskill, New York, 1949.

Graham Noble explains why the issue of equal gender rights has been so controversial in the history of the United States.

The black activist Malcolm X was not a civil rights leader. Nor was he a victim of the mass media. He was its beneficiary, in life and death, argues Peter Ling.

Andrew Boxer demonstrates the ways in which external events affected the struggles of African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s.

The English philanthropist was born on August 24th, 1759. Ian Bradley explains how his reputation as a champion of the abolition of slavery, evangelical and politician has undergone a series of reassessments.

The author Graham Greene journeyed to West Africa in 1935, ostensibly to write a travel book. But, claims Tim Butcher, it was a cover for a spy mission on behalf of the British anti-slavery movement which was investigating allegations that Liberia, a state born as a refuge for freed US slaves, was guilty of enslaving its own people.

The killing of 69 black South Africans on March 21st, 1960 was a turning point: the world judged apartheid to be morally bankrupt and the political agitation that ensued would eventually overturn white supremacy, writes Gary Baines.

John A. Kirk recalls the dramatic events at Little Rock, Arkansas, fifty years ago this month, when a stand-off over the granting of black students access to integrated education brought the civil rights agenda to international attention.

Andrew Boxer traces the origins of a historical issue still as controversial and relevant today as in past centuries.

White South Africans who fought in the long ‘Border War’ to maintain apartheid now find themselves in a country run by their former enemies. Gary Baines examines their continuing struggle to come to terms with the conflict and their efforts to have their voices heard.

Despite the rise of Barack Obama, many African-Americans still feel like second-class citizens. John Kirk charts the progress of the civil rights movement through its most prominent body, the NAACP, which celebrated its centenary in February 2009.

Jim Downs says that the Democrats should blame history for the dilemma they face in having to choose between Clinton and Obama for this year’s presidential nomination.

The civil rights leader was shot dead on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4th, 1968.