Slavery

Do people in Belgium honor King Leopold II by making chocolates and cookies in the form of human hands, representing the severed limbs of Congolese people and children who were brutally punished or killed in the colonial era for not meeting a quota for rubber production? No, that's not true: The sweets called Antwerp Handjes were first introduced in 1934…

Does a birth certificate or a Social Security number turn a person into the property or a ward of the state? No, that's not true: The claim misrepresents the nature of a highly publicized case in New Zealand in which the judge ruled that a baby should receive a needed blood transfusion so doctors could perform heart surgery despite his…

Were there eight presidents of the United States before George Washington and did several Black presidents serve before Barack Obama was elected in 2008? No, that's not true: Washington was the first elected American president. There is a lack of historical evidence; plus, examples of genealogical research and, more recently, DNA testing that show no president prior to Obama was…

Did the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Gen. Valery Zaluzhnyi, wear a bracelet with a Nazi insignia? No, that's not true: The motifs and clasp on his bracelet resemble a design series that is marketed as a Viking Bracelet, and the charm in question is called a Solomon's knot. It is an ancient design that has been used…

Do social media videos show a man protesting at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022? No, that's not true: The video is from a 2007 service at Westminster Abbey marking the 200th anniversary of the act to abolish the slave trade in Britain. Human rights campaigner Toyin Agbetu interrupted the commemorative service. One of the claims…

Was a child saved from being abducted by the actions of a street-smart ice cream vendor who saw something suspicious? No, that's not true: This is a dramatic skit produced as if it were a security-camera view of a close call caught on tape. Although filmed from an elevated perspective, the footage does not appear to be from a mounted…

Is a post saying "Harriet Tubman is not a real person" accurate? No, that's not true: Multiple historians told Lead Stories this claim is false. One of them, the author of "Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom," wrote, "I can suggest that the notion that Harriet Tubman was not a real person, but a manufactured piece of fiction is categorically…

Was the founder of the Timberland boot company an 18th-century slave owner in Mississippi named Timberland Hawkins who hung slaves he couldn't auction from a tree in his field that's still standing and is now featured as the Timberland company logo? No, none of that is true: This post is a spinoff from earlier false social media rumors that the…

Did former President John F. Kennedy give a speech seven days before he was assassinated about a plot to enslave every man, woman and child? No, that's not true: According to the communications manager at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, it is a common question that the organization "has found no truth to." No other source has…

Was the Black lawn jockey statue used as a signal to guide escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad? No, there is no primary evidence to support this claim, according to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia and a professor emeritus at Ohio State University's Department of African American and African Studies. The claim originally appeared as a Facebook post…