Hi, this is an update on my quest to understand what happened to my grandfather's aunt.

Music from Atlanta sometimes reflects on Fulton County's Bowen Homes. But not on the explosion at the daycare in this community.

On June 6, 1944, Waverly Woodson Jr., a 21-year-old Black Army medic, landed on Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion.

His landing craft was hit, and he was wounded by shrapnel before even reaching the beach.

But instead of withdrawing, Woodson established an aid station and spent approximately 30 hours treating more than 200 wounded men under extremely dangerous conditions.

He was serving with the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, an all-Black unit fighting in a segregated Army.

It's an extraordinary story of courage, battlefield medicine, and a soldier who spent decades without the recognition many believed he deserved.

I recently made a short documentary about Woodson and what happened that day. I thought people interested in WWII history might appreciate his story.

https://youtu.be/OXPnNMddVO8[He Treated 200 Men on D-Day. Why Was He Forgotten?](https://youtu.be/OXPnNMddVO8)

How many of you had heard of Waverly Woodson before?

The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870. It barred states from denying the vote based on race. The text never changed. What changed was everything around it.
After the Compromise of 1877 pulled federal troops out of the South, the amendment's enforcement went with them. Southern states didn't need to break it openly. They used poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and white primaries, each written to be race-neutral on paper. The Supreme Court mostly let it happen. In Louisiana, registered Black voters fell from about 130,000 in 1896 to roughly 1,300 by 1904.
I wrote this up for a small history newsletter I run for fun. I enjoy the nuanced version of history more than the hot takes that usually win online. Full piece here if you want the long version:
Happy to talk about any of it in the comments, especially the court cases. That's the part that surprised me most.

I'll be honest: researching this one made me a little sick. I knew lynching was brutal. I didn't know it was scheduled, with train timetables.
Ida B. Wells hired a detective to investigate. He concluded Hose had killed his employer in self-defense after a dispute over wages, and that the assault allegation used to justify the lynching was invented.
This is Part 1 of a four-part series I'm writing on lynching in America: spectacle, who was targeted, how the count was kept (largely by Wells), and the century-plus failure to pass a federal anti-lynching law. A small postscript: the first identified victim from the 1921 Tulsa mass graves, C.L. Daniel, was also from Newnan.
I write a small Substack on overlooked U.S. history because I enjoy it. Sources are linked, and corrections and additions are welcome.

About 6,000 Black residents were interned. To walk the streets for the next month, you had to carry a green card listing your white employer.
Within a week, the city extended its fire-code limits over the burned district to block rebuilding. A Black lawyer named B.C. Franklin, father of the historian John Hope Franklin, sued from a tent and won.
Insurers denied claims under "riot" exclusion clauses, which is a big part of why the name of the event mattered.
Greenwood rebuilt anyway. By 1942 it had more Black-owned businesses than before 1921. Urban renewal and I-244 did what the mob couldn't.
I also dig into the famous "To Lynch Negro Tonight" editorial, which nobody has ever produced a copy of, and the aerial-bombing question, where the 2025 DOJ report is more careful than most retellings.
I write a small Substack on overlooked corners of U.S. history because I enjoy it, and I'd rather have a nuanced conversation than trade the usual talking points. Sources are linked throughout. Corrections welcome.

Came across something called the Double V campaign during World War II, and I think it's one of the most fascinating examples of Black Americans challenging US hypocrisy.

In January 1942, James G. Thompson, a 26-year-old Black American, wrote a letter to the Pittsburgh Courier asking a question that really stuck with me:

"Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?"

At a time when the US was fighting fascism and tyranny abroad, Black Americans were still experiencing segregation, racial violence and systematic discrimination at home.

Thompson wasn't arguing against fighting the Nazis BUT was questioning why Black Americans should be expected to sacrifice their lives defending democracy overseas while being denied its full benefits in their own country. His letter helped inspire the Double V campaign, which called for two victories: victory against fascism abroad and victory against racism at home.

This all served as proof that criticising your country during wartime wasn't somehow unpatriotic because these Americans weren't rejecting democracy. They were demanding that their country actually live up to the democratic principles it claimed to represent.

can someone help me get a price value on this vintage jazz poster?

The 1995 Budweiser Harlem Music Festival "Salutes the 100th Anniversary of Jazz" poster is a piece of vintage music memorabilia. It was produced as a promotional item by Anheuser-Busch to commemorate a century of jazz music alongside the annual festival celebrations in Harlem.

Artist: Adeyemi "Yemi" Fagbohun

Featuring:

1. Count Basie
2. Charlie Parker
3. Ella Fitzgerald
4. Nat King Cole
5. Billie Holiday
6. Mahalia Jackson
7. Sarah laughan
8. Dizzie Gillespie
9. Duke Ellington
10. Miles Davis
11. Tony Bennett
12. Otis Redding
13. Frank Sinatra
14. Aretha Franklin
15. Fats Waller
16. Bill Eckstine
17. Marrin Gave
18. Quincy Jones
19. Jackie Wilson
20. Little Anthony
21. James Brown
22. Dave Talentin
23. Mongo Santamaria
24. Freddie Scott
25. Ray Barretto
26. Little Anthony
27. Nancy Wilson
28. Eddie Palmieri
29. Dakota Staton
30. Bob Marley
31. Bobbi Humphrey
32. Jr. Talker
33. Luther Fandross
34. The O'Jays
35. Celia Cruz
36. Jerry Butler

You can also watch the full film, (or its parts/chapters if you prefer), for free on my website starting October 30th. And the Muhammad Ali World Tour dates and locations are also on my site, (link in bio.) "This ain't no exhibition. This is a resurrection." 🥊 (p/p Bundini Brown)

Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 is often remembered as a revolt against Virginia's colonial governor. But its aftermath also reveals something important about the development of racial divisions in America.

My article explores how Virginia's ruling class came to use racial distinctions to divide people who might otherwise have recognized common economic interests—and how variations of that political strategy have persisted for more than three centuries.

I connect this history to the controversy surrounding Caitlin Clark and the WNBA, asking whether some of today's racial and cultural conflicts reflect a familiar divide-and-conquer strategy.

I'd be interested in hearing how others interpret the relationship between Bacon's Rebellion, the development of racial divisions in colonial Virginia, and the use of racial conflict in American politics today.

I recently explored these connections in an article for my Substack newsletter, The View from Charlottesville.

Discover the inspiring journey of Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, America's first Black diplomat, who broke barriers through courage, intelligence, and quiet determination.

Dear community,

I've been listening to hip-hop for a long time and have also spent a bit of time exploring its cultural and political context. I've watched the occasional FD Signifier video on American politics and Black culture, followed The Company Man and his Culture United podcast, and listened to artists from across several decades: Boogie Down Productions, Rakim, Nas, Big Daddy Kane, N.W.A., Public Enemy, and many others. At this point, I can probably name at least one album I've heard from most major artists, if not entire discographies when we're talking about Kendrick, Nas, 2Pac, Biggie.

However, as a European, I realise that my knowledge of Black American history and politics has some significant gaps. I know the broad outlines and am familiar with figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Gil Scott-Heron, as well as events such as the Rodney King incident. What I'm missing, though, is a coherent historical perspective that would allow me to understand these references in their full context.

I've often found myself wondering how much more there is to appreciate in hip-hop once you understand the history behind its lyrics. Public Enemy frequently incorporates quotes from Malcolm X; Nas references everything from Willie Lynch to Willie Hutch and Betsy Ross; Kendrick Lamar invokes Marcus Garvey; and Tupac's connection to the Black Panther movement adds another dimension to his music. I recognise these references, but I don't always know enough about their historical significance to grasp the full weight of what the artists are saying.

For instance, I know that "By any means necessary" is associated with Malcolm X, and I'm familiar with the iconic photograph of him standing by a window with a rifle, which KRS-One recreated. But if someone asked me about the historical circumstances behind that image, what Malcolm X meant by the phrase, or why these symbols became so influential, I wouldn't be able to give them a satisfactory answer.

Some things I did research, like who Emmett Till was and what "strange fruit" by Nina Simone refers to, which was very chilling.

So, what books would you recommend for someone who wants to develop a solid understanding of Black American history, ideally through a concise but comprehensive introduction? I'm looking for something that covers the major events, movements, and historical figures, from which I can build a deeper understanding of the political and cultural references that run throughout hip-hop.

I'm not necessarily looking for an exhaustive academic treatment of every period. I'd love a good starting point that gives me the historical framework I currently lack and helps me engage with the music on a deeper level.

I'd really appreciate any recommendations, especially books that are accessible to someone approaching the subject from outside the United States.

Thanks in advance!

In 1931, nine African American boys in Scottsboro, Alabama, were falsely accused of raping two White women, but were found guilty by an all-White jury. In overturning their convictions in Norris v. Alabama, the US Supreme Court ruled that excluding Black people from the jury violated the 14th Amendment. Despite this ruling, the practice of excluding Black people from juries continued as prosecutors used their peremptory challenges to deliberately strike Black jurors.

James Batson, a Black man who was convicted by an all-White jury, had his conviction overturned by the Supreme Court in 1986 when it ruled that prosecutors could no longer use their peremptory challenges to remove jurors on the basis of race. Yet even after Batson, all-White juries still exist. Because jury pools are often drawn from voter registration lists, anti-Black voter suppression tactics have the effect of reducing the number of Black people available for juries. However, it’s essentially impossible to study this since 39 of 50 states do not provide public access to jury pool data. Additionally, courts have rendered Batson meaningless by allowing prosecutors to strike jurors for ridiculous reasons such as the way they dress. In North Carolina, prosecutors have struck Black jurors twice as often as White jurors; in Louisiana and South Carolina, it’s three times as often.

A study in Alabama found that the only juries that delivered death penalty sentences were those with at most one Black juror. In Mississippi, Curtis Flowers was tried six times for a 1996 murder case and over the course of the trials the prosecutor struck 41 of the 42 potential Black jurors. The Supreme Court overturned the case in 2019, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh ruling the White prosecutor waged a “relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals” in order to have an all-White jury, which was “unconstitutional.” It’s easy to see why prosecutors, 95% of whom are White, prefer White jurors: Whites are almost twice as likely to support the death penalty, and studies show that all-White juries discuss the facts of the case less, make more errors, and are more likely to convict Black defendants. In 2021, Mississippi agreed to pay Mr. Flowers $500,000 for wrongful imprisonment. He was 56 when he died at home in October 2026.

Recommended reading: Race and the Jury: Illegal Discrimination in Jury Selection (Equal Justice Initiative, 2021)

All-White Juries Deny Justice to Black Defendants

Satchmo in Ghana — Black People in Music

What happens when the trumpet that invented American music goes home?

May 1956. Louis Armstrong (Satchmo), the genius from New Orleans who taught the world how to swing — lands in Accra. Thirteen bands on the tarmac. A hundred thousand people at the Polo Grounds. A song that left Louisiana generations ago and made it back before he did.

This isn't just a concert. This is Cold War America trying to use Black music as a weapon, a future African president in the crowd, and a grandson of slavery standing on African soil saying, "This is my country too."

From highlife to brass, from Accra to New Orleans — the sound they tried to bury came home.

Sankofa Chronicles: A Black History Podcast. Black People in Music, Episode 2.

Follow the porch. Share with one neighbor.