“And so, it’s not a thing of how many carries, but were you effective when you did carry.” Franco Harris On December 20, 2022, Pro Football Hall of Famer Franco Harris passed away at the age of 72  near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was best remembered for his role in the “Immaculate Reception,” during the AFC (American Football Conference) Divisional playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders, on December 23, 1972. Trailing the Raiders by 3 points, quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass with only seconds left in the game. The ball bounced off of another player ..read more

“I thought I would never live to get in the White House” ~ Virginia McLaurin Barack Obama and Michelle Obama Participate in a Photo Line with 106-Year-Old Virginia McLaurin in the Blue Room (NAID 235144670) On November 14, 2022, community activist, volunteer, and supercentenarian, Virginia Lugenia McLaurin passed away at age of 113, in Olney, Maryland. She became famous when a video was made public of her dancing with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at a Black History event held at the White House in 2016. McLaurin has received Community Volunteer Service Aw ..read more

Today’s blog was written by Dr. Tina L. Ligon, Supervisory Archivist in Augmented Processing at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland “Commitment separates those who live their dreams from those who live their lives regretting the opportunities they have squandered.” ~ Bill Russell President Obama getting a hug from Bill Russell. (NAID 222096181) On July 31, 2022, Civil Rights Activist and National Basketball Association (NBA) Hall of Famer William Felton Russell passed away at the age of 88, in Mercer Island, Washington. He was considered to be one of the best defensive basketball p ..read more

Today’s post was written by Netisha Currie, archives specialist at the National Archives in College Park. This June, the National Archives Say it Loud! African American Employee Affinity Group, Houston Public Library’s African American Library at the Gregory School, and the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC) teamed up to create an online exhibit celebrating one of the most eloquent and preeminent women to come out of the great state of Texas, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Barbara Jordan, Oct 18, 1976 (Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library, Local ID: B6015-20) The exhibit on Googl ..read more

Today’s blog was written by Dr. Tina L. Ligon, Supervisory Archivist in Augmented Processing at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland On the night of June 17, 1972, security guard Frank Wills was making his usual rounds when he noticed a piece of duct tape covering the lock of the back parking lot door to the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. As noted in the Security Officer’s Log (NAID 304970), he removed the tape, only to return thirty minutes later to find that another piece of tape had reappeared. Wills quickly contacted authorities about his strange observation. The ..read more

Tintype Images of Wounded Civil War Union Soldiers from Pension Application Files in the U.S. National Archives Today’s post was written by Jackie Budell, archives specialist at the National Archives in Washington, DC. **Please note that the following post contains graphic images that may be disturbing to some readers.** This is an excerpt from two posts about personal tintype images of wounded soldiers in the Civil War Pension Application Files from the Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs (Record Group 15). You can read the full blogs on The Text Message. It is the unspoken hope of ..read more

Today’s post was written by Grace Schultz, archivist at the National Archives at Philadelphia. A companion lesson plan can be viewed in DocsTeach. The fight to desegregate schools started long before the Supreme Court’s decision in Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al. (NAID 561058), and it continues today. As can be seen in case files held at the National Archives at Philadelphia, lawyers from the Virginia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) brought cases to U.S. District Courts across Virginia to attempt to equalize educati ..read more

Today’s post was written by Tina L. Ligon, Supervisory Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland On April 29, 1992, four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of all charges, in an East Ventura County Courthouse in Simi Valley, for the brutal attack on an unarmed Black motorist. Rodney Glen King was pulled over on March 3, 1991, by two California Highway Patrol Officers, after a high speed chase from an attempted traffic stop. As these patrolmen attempted to arrest King, four officers from the Los Angeles Police Department arrived on the scene and began to intervene. Se ..read more

Today’s post was written by David R. Hardin, archivist at the National Archives at St. Louis Veteran’s Administration Hospital, Tuskegee, AL (NAID 102252457) On February 12th, 1923, Veteran’s Hospital #91 opened in Tuskegee, Alabama. Initially the hospital’s focus was treating service-related respiratory and mental health issues of African American veterans. However, the hospital would grow to become a general hospital after June of 1924 when veteran’s benefits were liberalized to cover non-service related disabilities. When the hospital was proposed, land was donated by the Tuskegee Institute ..read more

Today’s post was written by Bob Nowatzki, Archives Technician in Research Services at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. First Lieutenant James R. Europe and the 369th Infantry Regiment Band playing for patients in the American Red Cross Hospital No. 9, Paris, France, September 4, 1918. (NAID: 55200536 Local Identifier: 111-SC-20417) The musical career of American jazz bandleader, composer, and arranger James Reese Europe (1881-1919) was as influential and unique as it was tragically short. He played a leading role in introducing early jazz music into the U.S. military as a lieut ..read more