From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909
Peruse an extensive collection of pamphlets related to African-American life leading up to, during, and following the Civil War.
Shaping the Constitution
What role did Virginia play in defining the U.S. and upholding rights we now consider basic and essential?
Slavery in Canada
Slavery in Canada? Who were these people? What were their lives like?
In Pursuit of Freedom
Frederick Douglass approached the abolition of slavery from within the confines of the Constitution.
Black Confederates
Most African Americans (free or slaves) never joined the ranks of the Confederacy. Are there cases where individuals did?
Divided Allegiance
Being born in the United States was not always a guaranteed path to citizenship.
Keep Your Top Eye Open
Boston abolitionists on the lookout for slave-catchers in 1851.
Selling a Slave
The obstacles and restraints on disposing of one’s human “property.”
The Disaster of Innovation
How the cotton gin revolutionized the use of slaves and the production of cotton in the Southern United States.
Trade Routes and Emerging Colonial Economies
The direct and indirect impacts of various trade routes during the 16th through 19th centuries.
Forty Acres and a Mule
The origin of the “Sherman Reservation” in Special Field Order No. 15, by which the Southern coastal low country was set aside for resettlement by ex-slaves.
African and Native Americans in Colonial and Revolutionary Times
African Americans and Native Americans have had a long and complex relationship, often characterized by their similar exclusion from the fruits of freedom envisioned during the American Revolution.
A Clear Shot across the Continent
President Polk, the fortunes of war, territory, and the ever-present compromises of history.
Senatorial Division
A Congressional balance of power between North and South on slavery
With or Without Slavery?
Forcing the issue in Bleeding Kansas. The Lecompton Constitution, slavery, and children born to slaves.