Calling Donald H. Rumsfeld energetic was like calling the Pacific wide. When others would rest, he would run. While others sat, he stood. But try as he might, at the pinnacle of his career as defense secretary he could not outmaneuver the ruinous politics of the Iraq war.

Some of the nation’s largest metropolitan regions have become increasingly segregated in the last 30 years, underscoring racial inequalities that have led to poorer life outcomes in Black and brown neighborhoods, according to a study released Monday.

In 1921, Georgiana Rose Simpson became America’s first black woman to graduate with a Ph.D. How her trailblazing achievement is being honored at her alma mater through the new group GRO.

Parades, picnics and lessons in history were offered Saturday to commemorate Juneteenth in the U.S., a day that carried even more significance after Congress and President Joe Biden created a federal holiday to observe the end of slavery.

President Joe Biden signed a bill Thursday that was passed by Congress to set aside Juneteenth, or June 19th, as a federal holiday. Here’s a look at the holiday and its history.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the law Wednesday at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, where a rare copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by the country’s 16th president is currently on display.

The move by Florida’s state Board of Education was widely expected as a national debate intensifies about how race should be used as a lens in classrooms to examine the country’s tumultuous history.

Illinois would become the first state to require public schools to teach Asian American studies if the governor signs a bill that cleared the state Legislature. Lawmakers have proposed similar mandates this year in Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin.

Christina Shutt will be the fifth executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the first person of color to hold the title.

Though it may have been one of the quirkier bills passed by the General Assembly, the designation recognizes the role Illinois played in the development of one of the world’s greatest wonder drugs: penicillin.

U.S. history is filled with dark events — often involving racism and racial violence — that haven’t been made part of the national fabric. Many involved Black Americans, of which the Tulsa Race Massacre is considered among the most egregious in its absolute destruction.

Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday became the first openly gay woman to deliver the White House press briefing and only the second Black woman in history to take on the role.

One year ago, the world watched a horrific, pivotal video of George Floyd gasping for air under the knee of former police Officer Derek Chauvin. We reflect on the lessons of the past year as local and national organizations continue their push for social justice and equity.

Newton Minow, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, played a key role in public media. Here’s what he thinks about television today — six decades after his famous “vast wasteland” speech.

It’s a story many Chicagoans know, but since the Oscar-nominated film “Judas and the Black Messiah” was released, more people are learning about the life and death of Fred Hampton. We talk with his widow and his son. 

This month’s Black Voices Book Club selection traces the civil rights trail blazed by Dr. C.T. Vivian. We discuss Vivian’s legacy with Steve Fiffer, the co-author of “It’s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior.”