The road hasn’t always been easy. If you flip through these photos, below, you’ll see many different chapters from American history.
An illustration depicting freed men voting in New Orleans, after being herded to the polls. The shot, dated 1867, is from a series of pictures on the operations of the registration laws and Black suffrage in the South. In an aerial view from a drone, a large-scale ground mural depicting Breonna Taylor with the text"Black Lives Matter" is seen being painted at Chambers Park on July 5, 2020 in Annapolis, Maryland. The mural was organized by Future History Now, in partnership with Banneker-Douglass Museum and The Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture. The painting honors Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by members of the Louisville Metro Police Department in March 2020.
A woman with"BLM" written on her cheek poses for a picture during a demonstration on May 31, 2020 in Atlanta. Across the country, protests have erupted following the recent death of George Floyd while in police custody.On Dec. 7, 1953, crowds lined up in the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. to hear second-round arguments challenging the constitutionality of segregation in public schools. Cases from four states and the District of Columbia were being considered.
Civil rights marchers gather at Brown's Chapel in Selma, Alabama to begin the 50-mile march to Montgomery to protest race discrimination in voter registration, on March 21, 1965.Freed African-Americans in a southern town after the U.S. Civil War, circa 1870. American actress Esther Rolle, shown in the foreground of this photo, sings and claps during the Equal Rights Amendment March in Washington D.C., July 9, 1978. Among those visible in the background is NOW President Eleanor Smeal . Like many other supporters, they wear white in homage to the suffragists who had marched in Washington 65 years earlier.
The view of a line of Black Panther party members as they demonstrate, arms folded, outside the New York County Criminal Court on April 11, 1969. The demonstration was about the"Panther 21" trial, over jailed Black Panther members accused of shooting at police stations and a bombing; all of whom were eventually acquitted.