By M. Marie Maxwell Earlier this month millions of Americans voted. Voting is one of the hallmarks of our democracy, and one method to make their elected officials accountable to the people. Government accountability, for the elected and the unelected, is also found through peaceful protest, letters, petitions, journalistic exposes, court actions and other expressions … Continue reading NAACP vs the Washington DC Police Department: A 1957 hearing before the DC Board of Commissioners
Category: Cultural and Ethnic Heritage
Including, but not limited to, Asian Pacific American, Jewish American, LGBTQ, and other minority groups.
Seymour J. Pomrenze: A National Archives Monuments Man
This is the third in an ongoing series of posts on real-life Monuments Men by Dr. Greg Bradsher. See also his posts on Sir Charles Leonard Woolley and Walter J. Huchthausen. The forthcoming movie, The Monuments Men, has focused great attention on the Monuments Men (and women) and their work during and after World War II. Of course … Continue reading Seymour J. Pomrenze: A National Archives Monuments Man
A Slap’s a Slap: General John L. DeWitt and Four Little Words
Today's post is written by Alan Walker, a processing archivist at Archives II in College Park. Lt. General John L. DeWitt was in charge of the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command in 1942 and was instrumental in the development of Executive Order 9066, which directed the internment of all Japanese Americans living on the West … Continue reading A Slap’s a Slap: General John L. DeWitt and Four Little Words
African Americans and the American War for Independence
Today's post is by Dr. Greg Bradsher. Englishman Nicholas Cresswell, during July 1777, wrote in his journal that the American army was composed of a “ragged Banditti of undisciplined people, the scum and refuse of all nations of earth.” Baron Curt von Stedingk, a Swedish colonel in French service, described the American army in Savannah … Continue reading African Americans and the American War for Independence
Halloween at the Tule Lake Relocation Center
By Jason Clingerman 70 years ago today, Japanese Americans at the Tule Lake Relocation Center celebrated a harvest festival by wearing costumes. At the Tule Lake Relocation Center, later the Tule Lake Segregation Center, over 24,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned because of suspected disloyalty to the U.S. government under Executive Order 9066. Starting in 1943, Tule … Continue reading Halloween at the Tule Lake Relocation Center
The Blue Arrow Head
Today's post is written by Judy Luis-Watson, volunteer coordinator at Archives II in College Park, Maryland. During World War I (WWI), more than 12,000 American Indians served in the armed forces of the United States. In the army, their many roles included serving as gunners, snipers, patrol workers, messengers, scouts, medical personnel, radio operators, as … Continue reading The Blue Arrow Head
Irish American Heroes
By Alfie Paul Tomorrow we are all Irish. So, to celebrate St. Patirck's Day I had a look around our holdings to see how The Text Message could celebrate Eire. As always I used our Online Public Access (OPA) system and found some expected things: Consular records in RG 84 (Records of the Foreign Service Posts … Continue reading Irish American Heroes
That Cognac Can Get You Into Very, Very Bad Trouble!
As Black History Month draws to a close, nothing illustrates the great progress of the civil rights movement more than a glimpse at a bleaker era. The work we do every day at the National Archives is for the express purpose of preserving historical context, even the disturbing parts, as exemplified in today’s post, written … Continue reading That Cognac Can Get You Into Very, Very Bad Trouble!
The CIA in Guatemala
By Jason Clingerman In June 1954, Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was overthrown in a coup that was orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and carried out by the Guatemalan exile Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. Arbenz was targeted in large part because of his land reform policies that affected U.S. companies, namely the United … Continue reading The CIA in Guatemala
Legends in the “Twin Territories”
This post was written by Katy Berube, who was a summer intern in textual processing. When Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves began to sing softly to himself, people who knew him ran for cover. An uncommon reaction, you might think, but from many accounts it was best to steer clear of a singing Bass Reeves as … Continue reading Legends in the “Twin Territories”