SPECIAL EDITION: The Black history stories you haven’t heard

February 8, 2023
by RJ Hamster

In honor of Black History Month, we bring you stories about the Black experience you may not have heard: from the extraordinary life of the first Black U.S. senator, to the enslaved woman who left a lasting mark on American art, to the forgotten music empire in Chattanooga and the surprising history of the banjo.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JERRY PINKNEY

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The unappreciated legacy of Black inventors

Sarah E. Goode. James Forten. Lonnie Johnson. George Washington Carver. Lewis Howard Latimer. These trailblazers—and many others—lived complex lives in complex times. Yet in our eagerness to honor them, do we privilege their inventions over their humanity?

TRAILBLAZERS

WHY FEBRUARY? The story of how Black History Month came to be +

For a very long time there was this assumption that the banjo was about the whitest instrument that you could possibly imagine. … It is actually an instrument created by the African diaspora.

Rhiannon Giddens, Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and banjo and fiddle player

From “The Soul of Music,” a four-part podcast series focusing on music, exploration, and Black history.

ALBUM/GRANGER

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This quilt—and the woman who created it—inspired generations of artisans

The artist was Harriet Powers, an African American woman from Athens, Georgia. Born enslaved, Powers would transcend that to express her powerful, creative vision in stitched squares of fabric.

READ ABOUT HER LIFE

OVERHEARD AT NAT GEO

How do history and the natural world inspire art? Hear what happens when National Geographic Explorers sit down with some of our favorite musicians in this four-part series. In episode 1, available now, Rhiannon Giddens—a singer, songwriter, and banjo and fiddle player who is also biracial—says she felt like an outsider in folk and bluegrass music until she started researching the history of the banjo.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 1

PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE

What happens after you uncover buried history? The 1619 Project was a New York Times Magazine endeavor that explored the ways the legacy of slavery still shapes American society. National Geographic’s Overheard talks to journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones about how politics affected the project—and what it means to be in the middle of this social reckoning. Listen to the podcast, and watch the six-part docuseries on Hulu, streaming now.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

PHOTOGRAPH BY COURTESY OF THE BESSIE SMITH CULTURAL CENTER

Rediscover the history of Tennessee’s forgotten music empire

Music on Ninth Street in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was once as popular as the sounds on Beale Street and Bourbon Street. Community groups are working to keep its legacy alive: “There is such a gap in the knowledge of the African American community from its heyday here in Chattanooga.”

NINTH STREET

BEFORE THE TULSA MASSACRE: Black business was booming before a white mob destroyed it all, +

PHOTOGRAPH BY BABAK TAFRESHI, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

How reading the night sky helped Black Americans survive

From tracking the seasons to “following the gourd” to freedom, knowledge of the stars was imperative for enslaved Africans. Their descendants are reclaiming those ties.

RECRUITING THE FUTURE

BRADY-HANDY PHOTO COLLECTION, LOC

The first Black U.S. senator lived an extraordinary life

When Hiram Rhodes Revels traveled to Washington in 1870, he brought a historic piece of paper with him: a handwritten document certifying his right to serve in the United States Senate.

BARBER TO SENATOR

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE CARLOS

The unsung history of HBCUs and their alumni

Their list of achievements is endless, yet historically Black colleges and universities have been chronically misunderstood and underfinanced since their founding in the 1800s.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI

HAVE YOU HEARD THESE STORIES?

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Oregon once legally banned Black people. Has the state reconciled its racist past?

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This magician escaped slavery by mailing himself to freedom

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Why Black homeownership thrives in this special pocket of New York City

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The search for lost slave ships led this diver on an extraordinary journey

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RJ Hamster

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SPECIAL EDITION: The Black history stories you haven’t heard

SPECIAL EDITION: The Black history stories you haven’t heard

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