Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive

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Photo, V. J. Gray and L. Cress, Herbert Randall, 1964, Civil Rights in Miss...
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These 150 oral history interviews and 16 collections of documents address the civil rights movement in Mississippi. Interviews were conducted with figures on both sides of the movement, including volunteers and activists as well as "race-baiting" Governor Ross Barnett and national White Citizens Council leader William J. Simmons.

Document collections offer hundreds of pages of letters, journals, photographs, pamphlets, newsletters, FBI reports, and arrest records. Approximately 25 interviews also offer audio clips. Users may browse finding aids or search by keyword. Six collections pertain to Freedom Summer, the 1964 volunteer initiative in Mississippi to establish schools, register voters, and organize a biracial Democratic party. One collection is devoted to the freedom riders who challenged segregation in 1961. Four explanatory essays provide historical context. Short biographies are furnished on each interviewee and donor, as well as a list of topics addressed and 30 links to other civil rights websites.

Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Digital Archive

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Image, Search page graphic
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A joint project between college students and a nonprofit organization, this site collects the documents, recollections, and other media relating to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. Many of the documents were submitted by visitors to the website, and the site actively solicits additional resources.

Materials include 10 documents, five video files that document interviews and panel discussions, and links to 15 outside Brown sites. The Interactive section features six interactive activities, including a map showing Jim Crow laws in various states and communities. The site includes relatively few primary sources, but the individual stories featured are valuable.

Atlanta in the Civil Rights Movement

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Logo, Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education
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This well-designed website explores the fundamental role of the churches, businesses, and institutions of Atlanta's Auburn Avenue, as well as the colleges and universities of the Atlanta University Center, in developing black leadership in the civil rights movement. The main section, "Atlanta's Story," is a timeline of Atlanta's civil rights movement between 1940 and 1970 with four essays: "Gradualism and Negotiation" covers the years 1940-1949; "Retrenchment and Redirection" discuses the events of 1950-1959; "Direct Action and Desegregation" examines the years between 1960 and 1965; and "The Quest for Black Power" explores 1966-1970.

Additionally, an extensive bibliography offers a list of more than 120 books and 50 articles both on the Atlanta Civil Rights movement and the movement in general. "Web resources" has more than 50 links to related websites. The site also provides a searchable inventory of special collections materials. Finally, the site offers a small photo gallery of 25 images. A useful starting point for anyone researching the civil rights movement or Atlanta.

Archives of African American Music and Culture

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Logo, Archives of African American Music and Culture
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This site introduces the Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC) at Indiana University. It provides information on holdings, exhibitions, and events sponsored by the AAAMC, which focuses on the post-World War II era. The site features listings of more than 70 links to sites featuring classical, religious, and popular music, including rock, blues, rhythm and blues, hip hop, jazz, and gospel, as well as topics dealing with African-American history and culture, organizations, and magazines. The site does not feature any audio presentations, and is useful mainly for its links.

African-Americans--Biography, Autobiography, and History

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Logo, The Avalon Project
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This section, recently added to the Avalon Project, contains complete copies of Martin Luther King Jr.'s August 28, 1963, "I Have A Dream" speech; Frederick Douglass' 1855 My Bondage and Freedom; The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, dictated by Sojourner Truth and edited by Olive Gilbert; W.E.B. Du Bois' 1903 The Souls of Black Folk; and Up From Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington. All of the transcripts are legible and available in HTML format.

The Cultural Civil War of the 1960s

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Historian Linda Gordon looks at family values during the 1960s, comparing and contrasting the institution of the family and perception of problems in family in the 1960s with such institutions and perceptions both past and present.

The provided site links directly to the Real Media audio file, as it is not associated with a visual webpage.

Rocky Hill Historical Society and Academy Hall Museum

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Formed in 1962, the Rocky Hill Historical Society's first mission was to save the Academy Hall. The Hall was built in 1803 as a navigation school to teach young sailors and future sea captains. Today the town's history is accessible to the public through the museum, library, and programs located in Academy Hall. The library contains book collections, manuscripts, stories, oral histories, photographs, and maps, and is open for research. The Academy Hall Museum displays artifacts, farm implements, military items, maritime history, technology, and costumes.

The museums offers exhibits and research library access.

9/11 and the War on Terror Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/04/2008 - 14:04
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Professor and author Noam Chomsky discusses the current "War on Terrorism" in the context of earlier perceptions of terrorism and national threat, including the Cold War and World War II.

The link provides direct access to the video, as no visual webpage exists as a gateway.

Radicalism and the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.A.

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Dr. Simon Hall, Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Leeds, lectures on the shift of some activists away from nonviolent protest to radicalism during the Civil Rights Movement. He looks at activists' disillusionment with the federal government and the change in focus of organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, which became the Student National Coordinating Committee).