History

December 5, 2012 - U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms died in 2008 without ever disavowing his support for racial segregation, which is why some are protesting a bill to name a post office after him in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C. But there's something apropos about the proposal, as Helms pioneered the use of the postal service to promote his divisive politics.

November 15, 2012 - Three days after an election that saw numerous attempts to suppress the minority vote, the high court agreed to hear Shelby County, Ala.'s challenge to the Voting Rights Act.

November 12, 2012 - Amid all the talk of a "New South," the region remains plagued by the old problems of entrenched poverty and racism.

October 29, 2012 - The authors of the 1968 Fair Housing Act wanted to reverse decades of government-fostered segregation. But presidents from both parties declined to enforce a law that stirred vehement opposition.

October 1, 2012 - Today marks 50 years since James Meredith became the first black person to enter the University of Mississippi, sparking a riot that some have called "the last battle of the Civil War." Now 80, he has continued to baffle admirers and detractors throughout his life.

September 27, 2012 - A remembrance of Victor Bussie, a longtime Louisiana labor leader who fought anti-union laws and whose home was bombed by the Klan.

August 13, 2012 - When the CIO launched a campaign to organize Southern workers in 1946, the region's elite fought back by exploiting fears about race and communism -- and fear remains the biggest obstacle to organizing today, as the UAW's campaign to unionize Nissan's Canton, Miss. plant shows.

July 4, 2012 - The War of Independence was waged by American colonists seeking liberty from British rule, but freedom remained elusive for African Americans -- even for the thousands who fought on both sides.

May 28, 2012 - The tradition behind Memorial Day can be traced back to 1865, when former slaves in Charleston, S.C. held a funeral procession to honor Union soldiers who died in a local Confederate prison camp.

May 23, 2012 - A new documentary produced by students at Duke University in collaboration with the voting-rights watchdog group Democracy NC puts recent laws restricting the minority vote in historical context.