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The Black Origins of Philosophy

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  Philosophy is often presented in surveys as beginning with ancient Greek thinkers such as Thales, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Yet this framing obscures a deeper and broader lineage of critical thought that emerged before and alongside the Greek tradition. Many of the earliest philosophical ideas in recorded history were articulated in Black African civilizations — especially in Ancient Egypt (Kemet) and the Nubian world, as well as through enduring traditions in West and Central Africa such as Ifá , Akan thought, and Mande epistemologies. These traditions formulated systematic questions about existence, ethics, knowledge, fate, and the nature of reality long before their European counterparts. The goal of this essay is not to diminish Greek philosophy, but to center the Black origins of philosophy and clarify that philosophical reasoning did not begin in a vacuum. Rather, it developed in multiple regions and societies — with Egypt playing a foundational role — and inf...
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The Richmond Jail as a Holding Pen for Interstate Slave Traders

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In the historiography of American slavery, the focus has often rested on plantations as the central sites of exploitation. Yet the machinery of slavery—particularly during the nineteenth-century domestic slave trade—relied just as critically on urban infrastructures of confinement. Among the most notorious of these was the Richmond Jail , a city jail that functioned not merely as a penal institution but as a crucial holding pen for interstate slave traders . Located in the commercial heart of Virginia, Richmond became one of the principal hubs linking the Upper South to the booming slave markets of the Deep South. The Richmond Jail stood at the center of this human trafficking network, embodying the fusion of state power, private profit, and racial domination. In this presentation we examine the Richmond Jail’s role in the interstate slave trade, situating it within the broader political economy of slavery, the rise of professional slave traders, and the transformation of incarcerati...
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The Hypocrisy of Liberty: How Thomas Jefferson Profited from Human Bondage

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  Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was one of the most influential figures in early United States history. He was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) , articulating Enlightenment ideals of natural rights, liberty, and popular sovereignty that shaped the American republic. Jefferson served as the third president of the United States (1801–1809), overseeing the Louisiana Purchase , which doubled the nation’s size and strengthened its strategic and economic future. Beyond politics, Jefferson was a polymath—an architect, philosopher, scientist, and founder of the University of Virginia , designed to promote secular and modern education. Yet his legacy is deeply contradictory. While he championed freedom and equality in theory, he enslaved over 600 African Americans during his lifetime and died in debt, leaving many enslaved families to be sold after his death. Today, Jefferson is remembered both as a visionary architect of American democracy and as a symbol o...
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