The perpetually contemporary Williams, as Ellington famously described her, mastered the language of swing. By Natalie Weiner “The greatest woman jazz pianist in captivity.” “The greatest woman jazz pianist in the world.” “Highly acclaimed as a deluxe tickler of the ivories.” “One of the foremost swing pianists of either sex.” By 1936, then-25-year-old Mary Lou[…]
Bessie’s voice was elemental, a force set free from deep inside the world. It was a hot show that night, in that big tent out in the muddy field. Everybody had fun, though most people were tired; it was the end of a long T.O.B.A. circuit tour for the acts and of a long day[…]
The South was allowed to go back to their old ways of bigotry. The American Story is not an easy one to tell. As Americans, we have superb war stories, we have stories of major sporting events, and we have the stories that will haunt us forever. I speak of course of the treatment of[…]
Andrew Johnson lacked Lincoln’s political skills and instead exhibited a stubbornness and confrontational approach. Introduction President Johnson and Congress’s views on Reconstruction grew even further apart as Johnson’s presidency progressed. Congress repeatedly pushed for greater rights for freed people and a far more thorough reconstruction of the South, while Johnson pushed for leniency and a[…]
The spread of Christianity in the Early Middle Ages (from the fifth to tenth centuries) marked the boundaries of slavery throughout Europe. Before New World expansion, concepts of race and racial hierarchies did not define who could and could not be enslaved in Western Europe. Instead, the spread of Christianity in the Early Middle Ages[…]
Slavery, for many civilizations throughout human history, has been an inescapable fact. By Harrison Kavanagh Like all of history’s great empires, the existence of the Roman Empire, and all its grandeur and dominance came at a great humanitarian cost. That the city was reportedly founded on the fratricide of Remus by his brother Romulus is[…]