On July 28, 1868, the 14th Amendment granting African-Americans full citizenship rights became part of the U.S. Constitution. More than 80 years later, on July 20, 1950, the U.S. saw its first victory in the Korean War due to the African-American troops of the 24th Infantry Regiment. August 21 marks the 180th anniversary of Nat Turner leading a slave uprising in Virginia, and on August 30, 1983, Lt. Col. Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first African-American astronaut in space.
The President and His Constituents
Renowned for his cool reason on matters of racial discourse, Randall Kennedy, former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, offers essays on the complex relationship between President Barack Obama and his African-American constituency in The Persistence of the Color Line. |
