Early American Slave Culture

Description

In this lecture, historian Philip D. Morgan compares the Lowcountry and Chesapeake slave cultures and reveals much about the way of life of some of the earliest African Americans. Although South Carolina in the 18th century was built by slave labor, Virginia only began to "recruit" slaves in large numbers at the beginning of that century. Consequently, there were substantial differences in the black cultures that emerged in the two regions.

African-American Perspectives: Pamphlets from 1818-1907

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Image, Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907
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Nineteenth-century African American pamphlets and documents, most produced between 1875 and 1900, are presented on this website. These 350 works include sermons, organization reports, college catalogs, graduation orations, slave narratives, Congressional speeches, poetry, and play scripts.

Topics cover segregation, civil rights, violence against African Americans, and the African colonization movement. Authors include Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Benjamin W. Arnett, Alexander Crummel, and Emanuel Love. Publication information and short content descriptions accompany each pamphlet.

The site also offers a timeline of African American history from 1852 to 1925 and reproductions of original documents and illustrations. A special presentation "The Progress of a People," recreates a meeting of the National Afro-American Council in December 1898. This is a rich resource for studying 19th- and early 20th-century African American leaders and representatives of African American religious, civic, and social organizations.

Africans in America

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Image for Africans in America
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Created as a companion to the PBS series of the same name, this well-produced site traces the history of Africans in America through Reconstruction in four chronological parts. The site provides 245 documents, images, and maps linked to a narrative essay.

"The Terrible Transformation" (1450–1750) deals with the beginning of the slave trade and slavery's growth. "Revolution" (1750–1805) discusses the justifications for slavery in the new nation. "Brotherly Love" (1791–1831) traces the development of the abolition movement. "Judgment Day" (1831–1865) describes debates over slavery, strengthening of sectionalism, and the Civil War. In addition to the documents, images, maps, and essay (approximately 1,500 words per section), the site presents 153 brief (150-word) descriptions by historians of specific aspects on the history of slavery, abolition, and war in America. The site provides a valuable introduction to the study of African-American history through the Civil War.

The Slave Trade

Description

Bill White, Executive Producer and Director of Educational Program Development at Colonial Williamsburg, discusses the range of the slave trade and its importance to the colonial and global economy, as well as Colonial Wiliamsburg's efforts to educate on the slave trade and slavery in general.

In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience

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Image for In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience
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Migration, both forced and voluntary, remains a prominent theme in African American history. This website is built around the history of 13 African American migration experiences: the transatlantic slave trade (1450s–1867), runaway journeys (1630s–1865), the domestic slave trade (1760s–1865), colonization and emigration (1783–1910s), Haitian Immigration (1791–1809), Western migration (1840s–1970), and Northern migration (1840s–1890).

Twentieth-century migrations include the Great Migration (1916–1930), the Second Great Migration (1940–1970), Caribbean immigration (1900–present), the return South migration (1970–present), Haitian immigration in the 20th century (1970–present), and African immigration (1970–present). More than 16,500 pages of texts, 8,300 illustrations, and 67 maps are included. An interactive timeline places migration in the context of U.S. history and the history of the African Diaspora.

From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909

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Address, Negro education not a failure, Booker T. Washington, 1904, LoC
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From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909 is precisely what it says, a collection of 396 pamphlets written by African Americans or by non-African Americans writing about slavery, Reconstruction, the colonization of Africa, and other pertinent topics.

According to the website, "[. . . t]he materials range from personal accounts and public orations to organizational reports and legislative speeches." Prominent authors include, but are certainly not limited to, Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington.

Material can be browsed by title, author, or subject; or you can run a key word search. If you need more material than what is available in the collection itself, there is a list of external resources with related content.

Diversity, Urbanization, and The Constitution, Part One: The Great Migration, Urbanization, and the Constitution

Description

Eric Arnesen, Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Chicago addresses the interplay between the African-American experience between Reconstruction and the Great Migration, the U.S. Constitution, and shifting democratic ideals.

Audio and video options are available.

AIDS at 20 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/14/2008 - 11:31
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Image for AIDS at 20
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A 1981 reference to an unusual pneumonia in Los Angeles, California, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention marked the beginning of public discussion of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, known as AIDS. More than 350 selected New York Times articles from 1981 to 2001 related to the AIDS epidemic are available on this website. Materials also include nine articles specifically related to the course of the epidemic's devastation in Africa.

There are nine videos, six multimedia presentations, five fact sheets, and four in-depth reports on such subjects as HIV medications, AIDS in New York City, HIV and teens, women and AIDS, the Federal response to the crisis, and the history of AIDS. The in-depth reports cover a diverse range of people affected by AIDS, including those of different ethnic backgrounds, and cover a wide range of locations within the U.S., including rural and urban areas.