We Had Sneakers, They Had Guns: Kids Who Fought for Civil Rights in Mississippi

Description

From the Library of Congress website:

"As an illustrator and journalist, Tracy Sugarman covered the nearly one thousand student volunteers who traveled to the Mississippi Delta to assist black citizens in the South in registering to vote. Two white students and one black student were slain in the struggle, many were beaten and hundreds arrested, and churches and homes were burned to the ground by the opponents of equality. Yet the example of Freedom Summer resonated across the nation. The U.S. Congress was finally moved to pass the civil rights legislation that enfranchised millions of black Americans.

Blending oral history with memoir, We Had Sneakers, They Had Guns chronicles the sacrifices, tragedies and triumphs of that unprecedented moment in American history."

Law Day 2009: Emancipation Proclamation

Description

From the Library of Congress website:

"What effect did the Emancipation Proclamation have on the Civil War? Did it have a broader effect on the slave trade throughout the Americas? In celebration of Law Day, these questions and many more were discussed by Congressman G.K. Butterfield, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., Dean Kurt Schmoke and Professor Emeritus Roger Wilkins, with PBS Newshour's congressional correspondent Kwame Holman moderating."

The Enduring Emancipation: From President Lincoln to President Obama

Description

From the Lincoln Online Conference website:

"For a nation at war over slavery, President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was inevitable. Its timing and content, however, were not without great struggle. The 'how' of the proclamation was just as critical as the 'when,' but it began a chain of events that changed not just our Constitution but the face of the nation. Lonnie Bunch, Founding Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, will examine Lincoln's challenges to introduce a document that became a cornerstone event for communities of all races for generations to come."

Free registration is required to access the webcast.

The Coming of the Civil War

Description

Donald L. Miller, with Pauline Maier; Waldo E. Martin, Jr.; and Stephen Ambrose, looks at the growing tensions, from 1846 to 1861, that finally led to the Civil War. The presentation examines the issue of slavery and its expansion; the Compromise of 1850; the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin; reactions to the Fugitive Slave Act and the U.S. Supreme Court Case Dred Scott vs. Sandford; John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry; and the election of Abraham Lincoln as leading to the South's secession.

Slavery

Description

Donald L. Miller, with Pauline Maier and Louis P. Masur, looks at the institution of slavery in the United States, from 1819 to 1854. The presentation examines economic differences between the North and the South; slave culture; slave resistance, including Turner's Insurrection; and the depiction of slavery and slaves in art and media.

Growth and Empire

Description

Donald L. Miller, with Pauline Maier and Virginia Scharff, follow the growth of the British American colonies from 1663 to 1763, examining the expansion of the economy (and of the slave trade), population increase, the development of slave culture, social structure (particularly in the city of Philadelphia), political trends, the life of Benjamin Franklin, and the French and Indian War.

A Forgotten History: The Slave Trade and Slavery in New England

Description

In 37 short video clips, ranging in length from 43 seconds to over three minutes, scholars James Campbell, Keith Stokes, Joanne Pope Melish, Gordon Wood, and Michael Vorenberg look at the triangle trade that brought Africans to the U.S. as slaves and at perceptions of slavery in colonial New England, particularly examining the views of abolitionists. Intended to accompany the Choices Program's curriculum A Forgotten History: The Slave Trade and Slavery in New England, these clips may still be used independently.

Registration is required, but free.

Traveling the Freedom Road: From Slavery and the Civil War Through Reconstruction

Description

Linda B. Osborne discusses her book, Traveling the Freedom Road, which draws on interviews with former slaves in the Library of Congress collections to convey the aspirations, sorrows, courage, and hopes of ordinary people living through this period. More than 80 archival images complement the text. Major events covered include the rise of the domestic slave trade, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Republican Congress' Reconstruction policies.