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Black America's Promised Land: Why I Am Still a Racial Optimist
Hope and pessimism have defined two traditions of American thinking about race. Fully acknowledging recent setbacks, the author makes the case for the tradition of hope.
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AP Photo/Charles Harrity
Martin Luther King Jr.: The Prophet as Healer
Whether by example or by strategy, Dr. King always looked for opportunities to build bridges.
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3
The Making of Ferguson: How Decades of Hostile Policy Created a Powder Keg
Long before the shooting of Michael Brown, official racial-isolation policies primed Ferguson for this summer’s events.
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AP Photo, File
The Socialists Who Made the March on Washington
The story of the radicals behind—and in front of—the demonstration that changed America
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(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Trump’s Great American Whitewash
Why do so many white people believe that the president has their best interests at heart?
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6
AP Photo
Martin Luther King Jr. 50 Years After
Dr. King was a prophet. Even more importantly, he was a strategist. Both lessons endure.
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Black Culture and History Matter
It took 150 years after America officially abolished slavery to get a national museum on the black experience.
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Edwin Remsberg/VWPics/AP Images
#WeAreAllBaltimore
As The Baltimore Sun wrote, it’s better to have a few rats than to be one.
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9
Library of Congress
Reckoning With White Supremacy
After the Civil War, equality meant different things for blacks and whites.
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10
An Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century
In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt proposed constitutional amendments to guarantee Americans’ fundamental economic rights. It was never adopted—and today, is more necessary than ever. Here’s an adaptation of his program for our time.
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Stevie Sings for Martin Luther King
How Stevie Wonder and Coretta Scott King worked in perfect harmony to beat Jesse Helms and create a national holiday.
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Foot in the Door
Martin Luther King Jr.'s fight for black Americans opened the doors for other minority groups to demand equality.
Remembering MLK and Celebrating His Legacy
Stories on civil rights, activism, and the meaning of MLK Day, from the Prospect’s archive
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