The Transformative Justice Coalition and the Voting Rights Alliance, in honor of Black History Month 2023, revived the daily special series devoted to sharing the legacies and stories of the sheroes, heroes, and events in the fight for Black suffrage. This series was created in 2017 and this year, added a total of 7 NEW articles. In addition to these daily newsletters all February long, this series also incorporates daily social media posts; an interactive calendar; and, website blog posts to spread the word broadly.

Thank you for following our #VRABlackHistory series, where for 28 days we have honored, recognized, and educated about a person, organization, or event, spanning over 5 centuries and told in chronological order about those moments that forever changed the movement for African-American suffrage. Below is the list of all 28 articles that were published this year.

We encourage everyone to share this series to your networks and on social media under the hashtag #VRABlackHistory. You can also tweet us @TJC_DC to share your own facts.

This is the 5th year we have done the series since 2017. The Transformative Justice Coalition thanks those who have been republishing our articles, on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, your websites, and as articles. Over these past 28 days, these Black History emails have been opened over 76,000 times, with over 3,700 individual clicks. You have responded with gratitude and an eagerness for knowledge, despite this being one of the most controversial Black History Months in recent times. In light of the recent attempts to ban Black History, we are even more pleased to share these stories this year and have encouraged everyone in the 18 states that are banning Black History to share these stories broadly!

We want to extend our gratitude for your appreciation of the history this series shares.

This article is written by Caitlyn Cobb. All the sources are linked throughout the article with a full reference list at the end of the full article which can be read by clicking the button at the bottom of the page). This is an introductory summary page.

Today, we honor the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. “The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr., founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, is one of America’s foremost civil rights, religious and political figures. Over the past forty years, he has played a pivotal role in virtually every movement for empowerment, peace, civil rights, gender equality, and economic and social justice.” The Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. marched in Selma with Martin Luther King, Jr.; was a major-party presidential candidate twice; and, still advocates for many of the original causes on which he campaigned. 

“[Jackson] is a tireless worker who is fiercely committed to his causes, even when bedridden—Jackson suffers from sickle-cell trait…He has become the leading spokesman for Americans forgotten by the power brokers of the political process, especially blacks. In his speeches Jackson often relates his vision of hope for these Americans: ‘We have come from the slaveship to the championship, from the guttermost to the uttermost, from the outhouse to the courthouse, and from the statehouse to the White House.’”