It took more than two years for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach the last enslaved people in Texas – and though it may take as long to win wide acceptance for the new federal holiday, supporters say they intend to keep raising awareness. Read more»

A legal scholar speaks about her family’s history and how she hopes Juneteenth - long celebrated by millions of Black Americans and established as a federal holiday last year by President Joe Biden - will shape discussions about the nation’s legacy of slavery. Read more»

Research shows that any attempt to address inequitable treatment of Black Americans should also account for the ways in which racial discrimination has impacted mental health outcomes among this particular population. Read more»

Problems emerge in education when laws seek to control what teachers can say about whether a state or a nation itself was racist from inception, or whether the U.S. or any states sought to promote white supremacy through their laws. Read more»

Many of the ideas Americans may think they know about the Declaration of Independence are wrong, and historian Woody Holton offers six surprising facts about the nation’s founding document – including that it failed to achieve its most immediate goal and that its meaning has changed from the founding to today. Read more»

President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, declaring a legal public holiday annually on June 19, the date of the end of slavery in the U.S. Read more»

Americans argued over what to teach children about U.S. history since at least Reconstruction, the turbulent period that followed the Civil War, but as the nation has splintered along political and geographic lines, the fights have intensified and compounded the challenges facing social studies education. Read more»

From statehouses to Congress, Republicans have launched into a fight against the teaching of “critical race theory,” which just a year ago was a niche academic term. Read more»

More than two dozen Republican attorneys general, including Arizona AG Mark Brnovich, are voicing their disapproval over the Department of Education’s proposed priorities for teaching K-12 students about American history and civics education because they would include references to systemic racism and how the history of slavery has shaped the U.S. Read more»

The Arizona Department of Education won’t act on a request from a Republican state lawmaker to take funding away from a Phoenix school district that serves low-income students because it adopted curriculum from “The 1619 Project,” which examines the legacy of slavery in the U.S. Read more»

Robert J. Johnson, commander of the Arizona Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, wrote this guest opinion in response to the commentary about Confederate flags in the Tucson Rodeo Parade submitted last week by Councilwoman Lane Santa Cruz. Read more» 1

The most familiar emblem of the Confederate army won't be allowed in the annual Tucson Rodeo Parade anymore, after a public outcry sparked by an op-ed by Councilwoman Lane Santa Cruz. But organizers said they won't eliminate another rebel banner from the color guard. Read more»

"The Confederate flag is a symbol of slavery, oppression, and white supremacy. Yet, year after year, the Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee embraces the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and displays it with the color guard leading the parade." — Tucson Councilwoman Lane Santa Cruz Read more» 10

For those who think slavery exists only in history books, Tucson resident Beth Jacobs has a message. “Trafficking does not discriminate. It will find you at home, at church, or on the Internet,” said Jacobs, who said she was forced into prostitution as a teenager. “It can find you anywhere.” Read more»

If it hadn’t have been for Spike Lee, I might have blissfully ignored "Django Unchained," the much-talked-about Quentin Tarantino movie about a revenge-minded slave set in pre-Civil War America. There's nothing like a race-based pop culture contretemps to provoke racial chatter. Read more»