White Supremacy
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28April
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fair Ground Race Course, New Orleans28AprilDYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art28April8:00 AM - 12:00 AMDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library28April7:00 PM - 12:00 AMHOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED
Broadway Playhouse Chicago -
29April
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fair Ground Race Course, New Orleans29AprilDYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art29AprilAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library29AprilAll DayHOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED
Broadway Playhouse Chicago -
30April
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fair Ground Race Course, New Orleans30AprilDYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art30AprilAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library30AprilAll DayHOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED
Broadway Playhouse Chicago -
01May
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fair Ground Race Course, New Orleans01MayDYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art01MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library01May6:00 PMHistory of Black Milwaukee Presented by John Gurda
ABHM in Milwaukee, WI01MayAll DayHOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED
Broadway Playhouse Chicago -
02May
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fair Ground Race Course, New Orleans02MayDYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art02MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library02MayAll DayHOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED
Broadway Playhouse Chicago -
03May
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fair Ground Race Course, New Orleans03MayDYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art03MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library03MayABHM’s Jr Griot Program! Applications Due May 3rd
Virtual Event03MayAll DayHOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED
Broadway Playhouse Chicago -
04May
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fair Ground Race Course, New Orleans04MayDYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art04MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library04May9:00 AM - 2:00 PMBlack Men in White Coats Youth Summit: Milwaukee
Golda Meir Upper Campus04May2:00 PM - 3:30 PMCelebrating Black Composers Concert with the SPCO
Minnesota History Center04MayAll DayHOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED
Broadway Playhouse Chicago -
05May
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fair Ground Race Course, New Orleans05MayDYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art05MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library05May12:00 AM - 11:55 PMHOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED
Broadway Playhouse Chicago -
06May
DYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art06MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
07May4:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Same Game Different Smoker Opening Exhibition
ABHM in Milwaukee, WI07MayDYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art07MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
08May
DYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art08MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
09May
DYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art09MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
10May
DYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art10MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
11May
DYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art11MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library11May10:00 AM - 1:00 PMBetty Brinn Children’s Museum Wonder Wagon
ABHM in Milwaukee, WI -
12May
DYNAMIC RANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL TENNESSEN
Haggerty Museum of Art12MayAll DayDesere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
13MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
14MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
15MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
16MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
17MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
18MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
19MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
20MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library20May9:00 AM - 2:00 PMWisconsin Historical Society’s Metropolitan Affiliates Meeting
Wisconsin Black Historical Society in MKE -
21MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
22MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
23MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library23May6:00 PMABHM Book Club: Blues Legacies and Black Feminism by Angela Y Davis
Virtual Event -
24MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
25MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library25May8:00 AM - 12:00 AMOHIO BLACK EXPO
Columbus, Ohio -
26MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library26May12:00 AM - 6:00 PMOHIO BLACK EXPO
Columbus, Ohio -
27MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
28MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
29MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
30MayAll Day
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
31May12:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Desere Mayo: History Through Art
Meadowridge Library -
01June8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
2024 Midwest Regional Black Culture Fest
Washington Park
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White supremacy is the belief that white people are better than those of other races, making it a type of racism. It also includes actions that prevent other races from gaining power, which is known as white privilege, preserving that power for white people. The basis of white supremacy is the former erroneous belief that significant biological differences existed between people of different races. Although this belief focused heavily on the so-called Black inferiority in and around the slavery era, white supremacy historically and currently oppresses people of many races around the globe, especially indigenous peoples. Furthermore, definitions of who qualifies as white can vary.
This type of racism paved the way for racist hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the attempt by the self-named Confederate States of America to secede from the Union, and various race riots or massacres, including that in Greenwood, Oklahoma. White supremacy has also been solidified in American legislature through laws such as those preventing Black people from owning property, voting, holding office, and marrying (either at all or those of other races). In the 20th century, Jim Crow laws, which forced racial segregation, upheld the ideology of white supremacy. While laws have changed, institutions and individuals can still promote white supremacy up to and including racist violence.
This idea is closely related to white nationalism, in which being white becomes an identity. Supporters of white nationalism may endorse overthrowing the government to uphold their power. Overlap also exists between white supremacy and racist skinheads who discriminate against Jewish people. Some Christian beliefs and doctrines also align with white supremacy. White (male) supremacy can play a role in domestic terrorism incidents such as shootings like the one in Buffalo, New York.
While Donald Trump was president, this movement gained popularity, with as many as 600 groups currently existing in the United States, members of which typically supported Trump.
Although there is disagreement about how we can dismantle white supremacy, some white supremacists eventually see the error of their ways.
All of our articles, exhibits, and events about white supremacy can be found in the archive below.
On a hot August night in 1930, 15,000 people flooded into the small Indiana town of Marion to see a great spectacle. Three black teenagers were being lynched for supposedly raping a white woman and killing a white man. The boys were savagely beaten by a mob of men, women and children. One by one they were hanged. Two died – but with the rope already tightening around his neck, one boy was saved.
The souvenir photo taken of this “spectacle lynching” is very well-known. They say it inspired the song “Strange Fruit,” written by teacher Abel Meeropol and made popular by singer Billie Holiday.
Read MoreKaren Branan returns to her ancestral home in Georgia to discover the truth behind the lynching of three black men and a black woman in 1912 – including the complicity of her family. She tells the story in a new book, The Family Tree.
Read MoreA sundown town is a community that for decades kept non-whites from living in it and was thus “all-white” on purpose. Sundown towns are rare in the South but common in the rest of the country. Learn why sundown cities, towns, suburbs, and neighborhoods developed–and how they continue to shape the lives and relationships of black and white Americans today.
Read More“Jim Crow” refers to a five-part system developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s to support white supremacy and oppress black citizens. Although there were laws that discriminated against African Americans throughout the country, the Jim Crow system existed only in the South. This exhibit briefly describes the five oppressions of the Jim Crow system.
Read MoreThe system of basing slavery on a person’s race did not occur in the first years of European settlement in America. However, by the 1660s, slavery was instituted and reserved for Africans only. How did this happen?
Read MoreWith its store of family memories, Arkansas defines home for me. But embracing and claiming it as my own is prickly business. “Home” has closets of skeletons that are anything but comforting: the Lost Cause, Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings.
Read MoreThis exhibit features a video along with many links to resources that can help you better understand the phenomenon of lynchings. The video give a brief but very complete explanation of how and why racial terror lynchings took place and how they set the stage for current racial injustices.
Read More