Yohuru Williams

Yohuru Williams is an American academic, author and activist. Williams is a professor of history and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) and a notable scholar of the civil rights movement.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. standing with Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy on April 3, 1968, on the Lorraine Motel balcony approximately in the same spot where he would be assassinated the following day. (Credit: Charles Kelly/AP Photo)

Jesse Jackson on MLK: One Bullet Couldn’t Kill the Movement

Rev. Jackson, who was part of King’s inner circle in 1968—and witnessed his assassination—weighs in on that shocking moment, its turbulent aftermath and carrying forth the dream.

Early 1900s postcard featuring slaves picking cotton. Bucolic images of slave life perpetuated the myth that blacks were better off under white people's oversight. (Credit: The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Most Damaging Myths About Slavery, Debunked

Why couldn't enslaved people have resisted—or pulled themselves up from their bootstraps after Emancipation?

American abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass. (Credit: Corbis/Getty Images)

Why Frederick Douglass Matters

He kept America focused on hard truths because he believed it necessary to a strong democracy.

The Anti-Slavery Passage Deleted from the Declaration of Independence

American Revolution

Why Thomas Jefferson’s Anti-Slavery Passage Was Removed from the Declaration of Independence

The Founding Fathers were fighting for freedom—just not for everyone.