Children and instructors at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning. (Erica Gunderson / WTTW News)

Every year, the Carole Robertson Center for Learning holds ceremonies and social justice activities in remembrance of Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carol McNair — the four little girls killed in a 1963 white supremacist attack on the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.

The Wisconsin Historical Society released this image from Lake Michigan. (Wisconsin Historical Society)

According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Trinidad was built for the Great Lakes grain trade between Milwaukee, Chicago, Buffalo and Oswego. The ship’s owners did not invest much money into its upkeep, leaving its career relatively short.

President Joe Biden speaks as he and Vice President Kamala Harris meet with organizers of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Aug. 28, 2023. (Susan Walsh / AP)

While meeting with civil rights leaders at the White House, including family members of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the president cautioned against the growing trend in red states across the nation – including Florida – of restricting the teaching of Black history.

(Eastland Disaster Historical Society)

The Eastland Disaster, often overlooked in history, occurred in 1915 when a passenger ship docked at the Clark Street Bridge tipped over in the Chicago River, leading to the deaths of 844 people.

(Courtesy of Mujeres Latinas en Accion)

The Pilsen Latina Histories Monuments Project is beginning the process of creating monuments that represent a fuller spectrum of history depicted by the Latinas who lived it.

Chicago artists Patricia Nguyen and John Lee’s design, “Breath, Form & Freedom,” has been selected for a public memorial dedicated to those who were allegedly tortured by former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge. (Credit: Patricia Nguyen and John Lee)

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced a $6.8 million grant to build eight new public monuments. Among them is a long-awaited monument to the Black men tortured by officers under the orders of disgraced former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge.

Chicago artists Patricia Nguyen and John Lee’s design, “Breath, Form & Freedom,” has been selected for a public memorial dedicated to those who were allegedly tortured by former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge. (Credit: Patricia Nguyen and John Lee)

Chicago officials will use a $6.8 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to build eight new public monuments, including a monument to the more than 100 Black men who were tortured by Chicago Police officers trained by Jon Burge, a disgraced Chicago police commander.

(WTTW News)

A touring exhibit is aimed at helping children understand the tragedy and legacy of Emmett Till’s life. Through photographs and artifacts, the exhibit shows how young Till’s lynching and his mother’s subsequent actions fueled the civil rights movement.

(WTTW News)
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Educator Ernest Crim III believes learning Black history saved his life — and now, through anti-racism workshops and TikTok videos, he wants to do the same for others.

Daniel Ellsberg speaks during an interview in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2009. (AP Photo / Nick Ut, File)

Daniel Ellsberg, the history-making whistleblower who by leaking the Pentagon Papers revealed longtime government doubts and deceit about the Vietnam War and inspired acts of retaliation by President Richard Nixon that helped lead to his resignation, has died.

People hold a sign in their car during a car parade to mark Juneteenth on June 19, 2021, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo / Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

For generations, Black Americans have recognized the end of one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history with joy, in the form of parades, street festivals, musical performances or cookouts.

(Courtesy of Alicia Odewale; Prints & Photographs Division – America National Red Cross Collection)

In her work, Tulsa-based archaeologist Alicia Odewale, Ph.D., is uncovering stories from Tulsa's Greenwood district, which was the site of a vicious racial attack in 1921.

(WTTW News)

In “A Few Days of Trouble: Revelations on the Journey to Justice for My Cousin and Best Friend, Emmett Till,” the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. gives a firsthand account of those terrible days.

In this undated photo 14-year-old Emmett L.Till from Chicago is shown. Till, whose battered body, a bullet in his head, and a weight around his neck was pulled from the Tallahatchie River in 1955. (AP Photo, File)

The bill, which passed the Senate in January, is meant to honor Till and his mother — who had insisted on an open casket funeral to demonstrate the brutality of his killing — with the highest civilian honor that Congress awards. 

Anthony Michael Tamez and Nikki McDaid Barry appear on “Chicago Tonight” on Nov. 23, 2022.

Thanksgiving brings families and friends together across the country, but for many Native Americans it’s also recognized as the National Day of Mourning.

Juan Dies and Seán Cleland join their traditional Mexican and Irish music together. (WTTW News)

During the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848, a group of Irish immigrants deserted the U.S. Army to fight alongside Mexican soldiers. However remarkable the story might be, it’s a chapter of history that’s not especially well known in the U.S.