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    History

    Archives, memory, and the work of remembering what was almost erased.

    Essays
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    Contributors
    01

    The history archive

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    Booker T. Washington and the Architecture of Black Infrastructure — History essay by Editorial Desk02
    History10 min

    Booker T. Washington and the Architecture of Black Infrastructure

    History remembers him as the man who compromised. The record suggests he was playing a longer, more sophisticated game than his critics — or his admirers — fully recognized.

    Editorial Desk
    Robert Smalls and the Theft of Freedom — History essay by Editorial Desk03
    History10 min

    Robert Smalls and the Theft of Freedom

    He stole a Confederate warship in the middle of the night, sailed it past five checkpoints, and delivered it to the Union Navy. Then he went to Congress. The story of Robert Smalls is the story of what Black Americans did with freedom the moment it became possible to seize it.

    Editorial Desk