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An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Some Exhibits to Come – One Hundred Years of Jim Crow
Mammy Statue JC Museum Ferris
Bibliography – One Hundred Years Of Jim Crow
Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.
Freedom’s Heroes During Jim Crow: Flossie Bailey and the Deeters
Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.
An Iconic Lynching in the North
Lynching Quilt
Claxton Dekle – Prosperous Farmer, Husband & Father of Two
Joshua Glover Plaque
Some Exhibits to Come – Three Centuries Of Enslavement
Harriet Tubman, "The Conductor," with fugitive slaves in Underground Railroad station
Bibliography – Three Centuries of Enslavement
Ancient manuscripts about mathematics and astronomy from Timbuktu, Mali
Some Exhibits to Come – African Peoples Before Captivity
Shackles for Adults & Children from the Henrietta Marie
Some Exhibits to Come – The Middle Passage
Slaveship Stowage Plan
What I Saw Aboard a Slave Ship in 1829
Arno Michaels
Life After Hate: A Former White Power Leader Redeems Himself

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A coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 caused the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China before spreading worldwide in 2020. This global pandemic was not equally destructive, however. The virus itself was more harmful to elderly people and those with pre-existing health conditions. However, economic and racial inequalities prevented some people from accessing necessary screening, treatment, or vaccines or following medical advice such as social distancing or quarantining. Medical racism also played a role during COVID-19, and some Black patients formed support groups after the medical system ignored them.  The pandemic also highlighted how some medical equipment worked poorly for Black patients.

Nearly 7 million people died of COVID globally, with millions more surviving the disease that raged for multiple years. In the United States, Black people remained at risk while others decreased their concern, which was entirely warranted. African Americans experienced a higher death rate due to COVID-19 than other races, and many struggle with the effects of long COVID. Lingering illness and disability have removed some people from the workforce, while others struggle financially under the weight of caring for or losing others in their households. Funding intended for Black Americans to help mitigate these harms resulted in lawsuits. Similarly, money intended for COVID-19 support was rerouted to prisons, which had already contributed to the rapid-fire spread of COVID-19.

The pandemic prompted a shift to virtual learning, working, and communication. While some welcomed this shift, it further highlighted economic disparities for others. This also resulted in learning setbacks for students. Meanwhile, COVID-19 resurfaced distrust between the Black community and the medical establishment that stems, in part, from the Tuskegee experiment.

COVID-19 was also the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement, which grew after video of the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer surfaced online.

Why I don’t feel safe wearing a face mask

April 22, 2020

Black men are feeling conflicted about wearing masks in the time of COVID-19. Wear a mask and risk being mistaken for a thief and possibly killed. Not wearing a mask and risk contracting and dying from the virus.

Republicans tried to suppress the vote in Wisconsin. It backfired

April 14, 2020

Despite a US Supreme Court decision not to postpone elections, Wisconsin voters braved the cold and coronavirus to elect a democratic supreme court justice.

Stop Blaming Black People for Dying of the Coronavirus

April 14, 2020

America continues to blame Black Americans for whatever ills may befall them. The coronavirus is another example of blaming the victim instead of systemic racism, that permeates all aspects of society.