PRIMARY ELECTION DAY (National Archives Identifier 545384) Election Day is the annual day set by law for the election of public officials. It is statutorily set by the Federal Government as “the Tuesday after the first Monday in the month of November.” In the records of the National Register of Historic Places, there are about … Continue reading Vote Early, Vote Often! Election Day Records in the National Register of Historic Places
An earlier post discussed a late 1949/early 1950 exchange of correspondence between the Department of Defense and the Department of State about potential international implications of the integration of the U.S. armed forces in the late 1940s. Defense officials wanted to know if there were “political objections to the stationing of individual Negroes or non-segregated … Continue reading The Question of Integrating U.S. Forces in Greenland, 1948
Today’s post was written by Grace Schultz, archivist at the National Archives at Philadelphia. Special thanks to Rose Buchanan and Cody White, Subject Matter Experts for Native American Related Records, for their feedback and expertise during the process of writing this post. The following piece along with associated archival records discuss forced sterilization, racist slurs … Continue reading An Indigenous Woman’s Legal Fight After Forced Sterilization
Today’s post was written by Grace Schultz, archivist at the National Archives at Philadelphia. A companion lesson plan can be viewed here on DocsTeach. The fight to desegregate schools started long before the Supreme Court’s decision in Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al., and it continues today. As can … Continue reading Equalization and its Role in Dismantling Racial Segregation in Virginia Public Schools
The 1956 motion picture Giant was exactly that. Three hours and 17 minutes long. Directed by George Stevens. Filled with stars: Elizabeth Taylor. Rock Hudson. James Dean (in his last film). Sal Mineo. Dennis Hopper. Carroll Baker. Jane Withers. Chill Wills. Mercedes McCambridge. Rod Taylor. Music by Dimitri Tiomkin. “Giant” received 10 Academy Award nominations, … Continue reading Cutting “Giant” Down to Size
Archbishop Desmond Tutu greets Vice President Al Gore, May 10, 1994 (NAID 24717040) Bishop Desmond Tutu died on December 26, 2021. He was best known for his human rights and nonviolence activities while the Anglican bishop of Johannesburg and then the archbishop of Cape Town, the first Black person to hold either position. Tutu was a hero of … Continue reading Desmond Tutu, October 1931-December 2021
Today’s post was written by Lynn Nashorn, textual processing and accessioning archivist at the National Archives at College Park. In 2020, the United States marked the 40th anniversary of the Mariel boatlift that brought approximately 125,000 Cubans to the United States in the course of just over six months. The journey to this mass exodus … Continue reading Castro, Cuba, and a Fleet of Fishing Boats: The Causes and Effects of the Mariel Boatlift
Today’s post is by Anita Solak, Archives Technician at the National Archives in Washington, DC. For several weeks in June this year the streets of Washington, DC filled with protests, marches, and demonstrations as Americans of all backgrounds came out to voice their opposition to systemic racism in the aftermath of the killing of George … Continue reading Tadeusz Kościuszko: For Our Freedom and Yours
This post is part of an ongoing series featuring records from the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records, 2013 – 2017 (NAID 20812721), a series within Record Group 79: Records of the National Park Service. One room schoolhouse in Haskell County, Kansas (NAID 522142, Local ID: 83-G-41953). Growing up in … Continue reading Back to School: From One-Room Schools to Great Halls with the National Register of Historic Places
Today’s post is written by Daria Labinsky, an archivist at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and a member of NARA’s Women’s Affinity Group. President Carter signed a proclamation in honor of Women’s Equality Day on August 26, 1977, to commemorate the certification date of the 19th Amendment, “guaranteeing that the right of United States citizens … Continue reading A Suffragist at the Carter White House: 1917 Meets 1977
