The Transatlantic Slave Trade is not just Black history—it is American history, and Black Americans lived it. Their ancestors were violently torn from their homes, forced into brutal labor, and stripped of basic humanity. That legacy of injustice echoes loudly in every aspect of our society—because the slave trade wasn’t just cruel, it was foundational.

Yet today, that truth itself is under attack. President Donald Trump denounced the Smithsonian Institution as allegedly “out of control” for telling the unvarnished history of slavery—claiming museums focus too much on how bad slavery was and not enough on “brightness” or success, even as his administration reviews exhibits and threatens funding cuts to sanitize the narrative. He dismissed honest reflection as “woke,” arguing it undermines national pride.

We are re-rerunning this series, which we originally published in 2019, each day because confronting our painful past is urgent—and because critics who erase suffering do so to keep oppression alive.

A people without the knowledge of their history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots — Marcus Garvey.

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

The night of Aug. 22 to Aug. 23, 1791, in Santo Domingo – today Haiti and the Dominican Republic – saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

The slave rebellion in the area weakened the Caribbean colonial system, sparking an uprising that led to the abolition of slavery and gave the island its independence. It also marked the beginning of the destruction of the slavery system, the slave trade, and colonialism. Each year, on Aug. 23, the United Nations hosts an International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition to remind the world of the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade.

U.N. officials said it provides an opportunity to think about the historic causes, the methods, and the consequences of the slave trade. Experts said it’s important to never forget. And, with the approaching 500th anniversary of the date Africans were first forced into slavery in America, many like Felicia M. Davis, the director of the HBCU Green Fund, which invests in sustainable campus solutions for historically black colleges and universities, said she believes African enslavement demands reexamination.

“The fact that slavery was underway for a century in South America before its introduction in North America is not widely taught nor commonly understood,” Davis said. “It is a powerful historical fact missing from our understanding of slavery, its magnitude, and global impact. Knowledge that slavery was underway for a century provides deep insight into how enslaved Africans adapted,” she said. Far beyond the horrific “seasoning” description that others have provided, clearly generations had been born into slavery long before the introduction in North America, Davis argued. “It deepens the understanding of how vast majorities could be oppressed in such an extreme manner for such a long period of time.  It is also a testament to the strength and drive among people of African descent to live free,” she said.

The history of the United States has often been described as the history of oppression and resistance to that oppression, said David B. Allison, the editor of the book, “Controversial Monuments and Memorials: A Guide for Community Leaders.” Slavery and the resulting touchstones stemming from slavery throughout the history of the United States run as a consistent thread that illuminates the soul and essence of America, said Allison, a historian with a master’s degree in U.S. History from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.’ “From the compromises and moral equivocation in the founding documents during the Revolutionary Era – statements like ‘All men are created equal’ were written by a man who kept Black men and women as decidedly unequal as slaves – to the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement, the tragedy and terror of slavery are fundamental to the history of the United States,” Allison said.

Today, the fallout from the events of Aug. 2017 in Charlottesville – brought about by a white supremacist rally and touched off the debate around the potential removal of a statue to a leader of the Confederacy – continues to weigh down the collective psyche of this nation, Allison continued. “Moreover, the rise in police profiling and brutality of Black men and the resulting rates of incarceration for African Americans highlight the ongoing oppression that was initially born in the crucible of slavery,” he said. Allison added that it’s “absolutely essential to understand and remember that 2019 is the 500th anniversary of slavery in the United States so that we can understand both how our country became how it is now and how we might envision a more just future for all citizens.”

Each year, the UN invites people all over the world, including educators, students, and artists, to organize events that center on the theme of the International Day of Remembrance. Theatre companies, cultural organizations, musicians, and artists take part in this day by expressing their resistance against slavery through performances that involve music, dance, and drama. Educators promote the day by informing people about the historical events associated with the slave trade, the consequences of the slave trade, and promoting tolerance and human rights. Many organizations, including youth associations, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations, actively take part in the event to educate society about the negative consequences of the slave trade.

Here in America, many organizations, activists, and scholars are focused on 2019 as the anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans to be enslaved in Jamestown and 160 years since the last slave ship arrived, Davis said. Also, there’s a growing list of apologies for slavery from colleges and universities, local governments, and corporations. Efforts are underway by the HBCU Green Fund to organize a national convening under the theme “Sankofa Remix” with three tracks: past, present, and future. The goal is to examine history from an African American perspective, explore current impacts, including backlash from the election of the first Black president, and craft a vision that extends at least 100 years into the future that features presentations from artists, activists, technology, scholars, and other creative energy. “It is encouraging to know that BlackPressUSA is focused on this topic.  It is our hope that plans are underway to cover activities throughout the entire year,” Davis said, noting that 2019 also marks the 100th anniversary of the Red Summer Race Riots.

“The UN Decade of African Descent 2015-2024 should also be highlighted as the BlackPressUSA leads this important examination of history,” she said. “Interestingly, the first and last slave ships to arrive in the U.S. both arrived in August. The HBCU Green Fund is working to put together a calendar of dates and observances. “We would love to work with Black Press USA to promote a year-long observance that helps to reinvigorate and support the important role that the Black press plays in the liberation of Black people across the globe. “We would be honored to have Black Press USA as a Sankofa Remix partner organization and look forward to collaboration opportunities,” Davis said.

Up Next: The Catholic Church Played a Major Role in Slavery

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent

Following the direction of President Trump, the Smithsonian Museum Institution (The Smithsonian), the world’s largest museum, education and research complex, is being reviewed by lawyers who are tasked with identifying content that could be considered “woke,” particularly as it applies to the subject of slavery.

The president declared that he does not want the nation viewed in a negative light — either in the present or the past. As a result, a disproportionate portion of the review will be focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), affectionately known as the “Blacksonian.”

The Smithsonian comprises nineteen museums and galleries and the National Zoo. Eleven of the sites are on the National Mall and include the Lincoln Memorial and the NMAAHC.

NMAAHC curators and staff research and assemble exhibits that accurately present history based upon fact. This includes some exhibits that truthfully depict aspects of the horrors of slavery.

It is no secret that a large percentage of the generational wealth enjoyed today by some of white America would not exist without the exploited free labor of enslaved Africans in this nation’s sugarcane and cotton fields and in other areas.

However, the White House has issued a statement saying that President Trump is right about the Smithsonian being “out of control,” saying that as it “increasingly prioritizes exhibits that undermine our values and rewrite the American story through a lens of grievance and exclusion, the Smithsonian’s embrace of woke ideology distorts history and erodes public trust.”

The statement provides examples of the Smithsonian’s “woke” agendas and exhibits, including a few that many might see as politically motivated, like the National Portrait Gallery commission of a stop-motion drawing animation that examines the career of Anthony Fauci.

Additional examples include:

• The National Museum of African American History and Culture debuted a series to educate people on “a society that privileges white people and whiteness,” defining “white dominant culture“ as “ways white people and their traditions, attitudes, and ways of life have been normalized over time” and portraying the terms, “the nuclear family,” “work ethic,” and “intellect” as white qualities rooted in racism. The exhibit featured content from Ibram X. Kendi, whom The Federalist described as a “purveyor of Woke History.”
• As part of an inclusive purview that the New York Times termed anti- “Wealthy, Pale, and Male,” the National Portrait Gallery featured a choreographed “modern dance performance“ detailing the “ramifications“ of the southern border wall and commissioned an entire series to examine “American portraiture and institutional history… through the lens of historical exclusion.”
• The American History Museum prominently displays the “Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag” at its entrance, which was also flown alongside the American flag at multiple Smithsonian campuses.
• The National Portrait Gallery features art commemorating the act of illegally crossing the “inclusive and exclusionary” southern border — even making it a finalist for one of its awards.
• The National Museum of African Art displayed an exhibit on “works of speculative fiction that bring to life an immersive, feminist and sacred aquatopia inspired by the legend of Drexciya,” an “underwater kingdom populated by the children of pregnant women who had been thrown overboard or jumped into the ocean during the Middle Passage.”
• The American History Museum’s “LGBTQ+ History” exhibit seeks to “understand evolving and overlapping identities such as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer, transsexual, transvestite, mahu, homosexual, fluid, invert, urning, third sex, two sex, gender-bender, sapphist, hijra, friend of Dorothy, drag queen/king, and many other experiences,” and includes articles on “LGBTQ+ inclusion and skateboarding“ and “the rise of drag ball culture in the 1920s.”
• The National Museum of the American Latino features programming highlighting “animated Latinos and Latinas with disabilities” — with content from “a disabled, plus-sized actress” and an “ambulatory wheelchair user” who “educates on their identity being Latinx, LGBTQ+, and disabled.”
• The National Museum of the American Latino characterizes the Texas Revolution as a “massive defense of slavery waged by ‘white Anglo Saxon’ settlers against anti-slavery Mexicans fighting for freedom, not as a Texan war of independence from Mexico,” and frames the Mexican-American War as “the North American invasion” that was “unprovoked and motivated by pro-slavery politicians.”
• According to the National Museum of the American Latino, “what unites Latinas and Latinos“ is “the Black Lives Matter movement.”
• The American History Museum’s exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX includes examples of biological men competing in women’s sports and argues in favor of “transgender” athletes competing in sports against the opposite biological sex.
• An exhibit at the American History Museum depicts migrants watching Independence Day fireworks “through an opening in the U.S.-Mexico border wall” and says America’s founders “feared non-White immigration.”
• The American History Museum features a display that refers to the founding of America as “a profound unsettling of the continent.”
• The American History Museum’s “American Democracy” exhibit claims voter integrity measures are “attempts to minimize the political power” of “new and diverse groups of Americans,” while its section on “demonstrations” includes only leftist causes.
• An American History Museum exhibit features a depiction of the Statue of Liberty “holding a tomato in her right hand instead of a torch, and a basket of tomatoes in her left hand instead of a tablet.”
• The National Museum of the American Latino features an anti-American exhibit that defines Latino history as centuries of victimhood and exploitation, suggests the U.S. is stolen land, and characterizes. history as rooted in “colonization.”
  • The exhibit features writing from illegal immigrants “fighting to belong.”
  • The exhibit displays a quote from Claudia de la Cruz, the socialist nominee for president and a director of an anti-American hate group, as well as another quote that reads, “We didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us.”
  • The exhibit remains prominently featured on its website alongside a quote from the Communist Party USA’s Angela Davis, who was once among the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives.
• The National Museum of the American Latino describes the post-Mexican-American War California describes a “Californio” family losing their land to American “squatters.”
• The Museum of American Art uses American sculpture “to invite dialogue and reflection on notions of power and identity.”
• The American History Museum’s “Upending 1620” exhibit claims Pilgrims are a “myth,” instead framing them as colonizers.
• The American History Museum’s exhibit about Benjamin Franklin focuses almost solely on slavery, directing visitors to learn more about his “electrical experiments and the enslaved people of his household,” noting his “scientific accomplishments were enabled by the social and economic system he worked within.”
• The National Portrait Gallery was set to feature a “painting depicting a transgender Statue of Liberty” before the artist withdrew it.
• The former interim director of the future Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum declared the museum will be “inclusive” of biological men posing as women.

In a nation that was at least partially founded on the concept of free speech, the administration’s position challenges the boundaries of censorship at the same time that it begs the question, “Are there limits to the types and content of speech that is federally funded? If so, who should be the determinant of those limits?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BlackPressUSA.com or the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

Part of Public Welfare Foundation’s Legacies Rooted in Resistance and Resilience Series

By Tonia Wellons

My name is Tonia Wellons, and I am the daughter of Rendell and Carol Wellons, the granddaughter of Ruth and James Lane, the great-granddaughter of St. Paul and Julia Wellons, the great-great-granddaughter of Hack and Maria Holloman, and the third great-granddaughter of Jason and Maria Holloman.

This lineage, which was spoken aloud at our 71^st family reunion this month and has been spoken aloud at every family reunion for seventy years, carries the weight of our collective memory and the power of our shared triumph.

When I trace my roots back through eight generations to Temperance Brown, born around 1805 in Ivor, Virginia, I am not just recounting names and dates—I am honoring a legacy of resilience, faith, and unwavering commitment to family and community that defines who I am today.

In a society that often erases African American narratives, my family has insisted on remembering, on speaking our truth, on ensuring that future generations know they come from greatness. In a moment where the telling of Black history is facing a very real, very direct threat in this country, proudly sharing our stories is an act of both resistance and necessity. Our history must be preserved.

Temperance Brown was born into bondage, yet she became the foundation upon which our family’s American story was built. Her daughter, Maria Brown, later known as Martha, married Jason Holloman, and together they exemplified the courage and defiance that would become our family’s hallmark. When Jason, described in our oral history as “a proud and courageous man who refused to be beaten by his master,” was sold away to Alabama, never to be seen again, Maria faced the unimaginable—raising three sons alone while enslaved. The year was around 1830, just one year before Nat Turner’s rebellion would shake the very foundations of Virginia’s plantation system.

What happened next reveals the extraordinary character that runs through our bloodline. After the Civil War ended, Maria’s three sons—Hack Hanson, James Henry, and Julius—did something revolutionary: they purchased the very plantation where they had once lived as slaves. “Overhome ,” as it was known, became more than just land; it became a symbol of transformation, a place where the formerly enslaved became landowners, where the oppressed became community leaders.

The values that sustained our family through these trials were rooted in faith, community, and an unshakeable belief in justice. Hack and James Henry, according to our family historians, were “very outspoken and stood up for the rights of others.” They weren’t politicians, but they stayed informed about political activities, riding their “jumper”—a one-seat buggy—to Courtland whenever issues demanded their attention. As the first Black landowners in Southampton County and among the first Black voters in the county, they understood that their freedom was meaningless unless they actively participated in shaping their community’s future.

The tradition of family gatherings – first during Thanksgiving and beginning over 70 years ago on the 4^th Saturday in July wasn’t just about family fellowship; it was about preserving our story, ensuring that each generation understood where we came from and what we had overcome. In those gatherings, family members shared “reminiscences of the old slavery days” and stories of hardship, but also of triumph. These weren’t just memories—they were lessons in resilience, blueprints for survival, and testimonials to the power of faith and family unity.

This legacy of activism and community leadership flows directly through my veins. The same courage that enabled Jason to resist his master, that drove Maria to raise three sons alone, that inspired Hack and James Henry to become community leaders, lives on in my own commitment to justice and service. When I engage in community work today, I carry forward their understanding that personal success is incomplete without collective progress. Their example teaches me that true freedom requires not just the absence of chains, but the presence of opportunity, dignity, and voice for all.

Faith was the cornerstone that held our family together through centuries of struggle. The strict moral teachings of our ancestors, their emphasis on respect and faith, created a foundation strong enough to withstand the storms of slavery, Jim Crow, and beyond. This spiritual grounding didn’t make them passive; instead, it empowered them to act with purpose and conviction. Today, my faith continues to guide my work, providing both the moral compass and the inner strength needed to confront injustice wherever I find it.

The preservation of our family history through oral tradition speaks to another core value: the understanding that our stories matter. For seventy-one years, we have gathered in Ivor, Virginia – the place where I was born and raised – to honor our past and strengthen our bonds. This commitment to storytelling and memory-keeping influences how I approach my own work—with the understanding that representation matters, that voices need to be heard, and that history must be preserved.

What makes our family story particularly powerful is not just that we survived slavery, but how we transformed that experience into strength, leadership, and service. From Temperance Brown’s quiet endurance to Hack and James Henry’s bold land ownership, from their roles as community leaders to their commitment to voting rights, our family has consistently chosen engagement over withdrawal, hope over despair, action over resignation.

Today, as I continue their legacy, I understand that my American story is both deeply personal and universally significant. It represents the broader American experience of trauma and triumph, of roots that run deep in American soil watered by both tears and determination. The values of activism, community work, faith, and family that sustained my ancestors through slavery and its aftermath continue to guide my steps today.

Standing on the shoulders of eight generations, I carry forward not just their DNA, but their dreams, their courage, and their unwavering belief that this country, for all its flaws, is our home. We helped build it, we fought for it, and we continue to perfect it. That is my American story—one of transformation, resilience, and the unbreakable bonds of family that have sustained us for over two centuries.

Tonia Wellons is the President & CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the largest public foundation in the region with over $500 million in assets and $70 million in annual grants.

This is the second essay in the Public Welfare Foundation’s Legacies Rooted in Resistance and Resilience Series.

Statement from the Joint Coalition of Churches & National Action Network:

On August 28, 2025 in solemn commemoration of the historic 1963 March on Washington, a united coalition of churches and the Black Press led by Dr. Boise Kimber, Bishop J. Drew Sheard, and Dr. Samuel C. Tolbert, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr, President and CEO of NNPA: The Black Press of America will join Civil Rights icon Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, to lead a protest march on Wall Street in New York City, the epicenter of economic power and privilege. The march will feature prominent religious and Civil Rights leaders and activists, who will speak and much more.

As our communities face a mounting economic crisis disproportionately devastating African Americans and the marginalized, we declare that now is the time for the faith community to rise and speak with moral clarity. Just as Dr. King before us, today’s religious leaders must carry the mandate and mantle to fight for social and economic justice for all people.

The march not only honors the legacy of those who came before us but also confronts the urgent injustices of today. Economic disparity is not just a political issue; it is a moral one. We will not be silent. We will not yield to systems or policies that rob our people of opportunity, dignity, and basic human rights.

This is more than a moment; this is a movement. Together, we will stand. Together, we will march. Together, we will speak. Together, we will rise.

Joint Coalition of Churches & National Action Network (NAN).

Nashville, TN — July 25, 2025: In a historic announcement, a coalition of leading Black faith organizations and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) unveiled a strategic partnership and plan to confront systemic disparities impacting African American communities nationwide.

Dr. Boise Kimber, President of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.; Bishop J. Drew Sheard, Pre- siding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC); Dr. Samuel Tolbert, President of the National Baptist Convention of America; and Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., veteran civil rights leader and President of the NNPA, are leading this collaboration between the Black church and Black Media.

“There is strength in unity. There is power in our collective voice. There is hope in our actions,” said Dr. Boise Kimber.

For generations, African American communities have endured deep-rooted inequities in healthcare, education, criminal justice, economic opportunity, and access to capital. These challenges are not new. The coalition intends to put an end to fragmented responses and speak with one clear, concise and consolidated voice.

The Black Church and Black Media, two institutions that have long anchored and uplifted Black America, are now coming together with renewed focus and purpose.

This partnership is grounded in shared values, spiritual conviction, cultural empowerment, and an unwavering commitment to truth, justice, and progress.

The coalition will focus on five core initiatives:

• Shaping a unified national narrative that challenges harmful stereotypes and amplifies stories of Black resilience, excellence, and innovation
• Mobilizing faith-based and media networks to address community disparities through solutions-focused advocacy and outreach
• Holding corporate America accountable by demanding responsible reinvestment in Black communities through sustainable partnerships, economic equity, and community-led development
• Empowering the next generation by reclaiming our narratives and creating new pathways for education, leadership, and entrepreneurship
• Holding elected officials accountable by spotlighting those whose policies do not align with the interests of the Black community. To earn our votes, they must heed our voices.

“This is more than a symbolic gesture; it is a strategic and spiritual alignment.” When the Black Church and Black Media speak as one, we can ignite a movement. When we organize as one, we can shift the narrative. When we act as one, we cannot be ignored or denied,” the coalition stated.

The coalition invites all stakeholders, faith leaders, media professionals, community organizers, educators, business leaders, and concerned citizens to join this movement for unity, justice, and progress.

Coalition Leaders,

Dr. Boise Kimber, President
National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.

J. Drew Sheard, Presiding Bishop
Church of God in Christ

Dr. Samuel C. Tolbert, President
National Baptist Convention of America

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. President and CEO
National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)
Civil Rights Leader and Publisher

By April Ryan
Black Press USA Washington, DC Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent

A packed White House briefing room of reporters heard the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, lay out her claim against former President Barack Obama and his top officials. Gabbard offered that the nation’s first Black president worked to subvert a Trump 2016 presidential win with claims that Russia negatively impacted that presidential election, almost 10 years ago.

Even though Donald Trump defeated his opponent Hillary Clinton, Gabbard told reporters that Obama and his National Intelligence officials “knowingly lied” in their 2017 intelligence assessment of Russian election collusion.

During Gabbard’s speech to the press, familiar names were dropped on the mic like Hillary Clinton, who Gabbard alleged was on “tranquilizers daily.”

During the briefing, several warnings were issued from the podium over this latest Trump administration controversy.  Gabbard, wearing all white before the press, concluded her statement by saying, “The implications of this are far-reaching and have to do with the integrity of our Democratic republic.”

President Obama refuted the allegations this week through a press representative, calling it “ridiculous.”  However, Gabbard says, “It has to do with an outgoing president, taking action to manufacture intelligence to undermine” Donald Trump.

White House press Secretary Karoline Leavitt weighed in several times during Gabbard’s question and answer period with the White House press.  The 27-year-old Leavitt said, “While publicly pretending to engage in a peaceful transfer of power, in private, former President Obama went to great and nefarious lengths to…sabotage his successor President Trump.”

Leavitt went as far as to chastise the press, particularly those who won awards for reporting on the Obama Russian intelligence report. Speaking for the administration,, Leavitt said those winning journalists must be “stripped” of their awards.

And when asked if Friday’s Obama report from the DNI was to help heal her relationship with President Trump, Leavitt said, “The only people who are suggesting that the Director of National Intelligence would release evidence to try to boost her standing with the President are the people in this room who constantly try to sow distrust and chaos amongst the President’s cabinet, and it is not working.”

Leavitt said, “He [President Trump] has the utmost confidence in Director Gabbard. He always has.”  That statement stems from the recent rift with Gabbard and President Trump when Gabbard disagreed with the intelligence that Trump received in the lead-up to the US military strikes against Iran.