Top Websites for African American History
African-American History: General Sites
Here are some sites with general information, surveys of major historical events, and links to other African American history websites.
Black History Tour (http://library.thinkquest.org/10320/Tour.htm)
This website provides a survey of African American history from its African roots to “What the futures holds”. Even though most sections are short (typical for a website), there are a lot of different historical areas covered. A bibliography is included at the end of the page for future reference.
African American History (http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/)
This site, compiled by webmaster Lisa Cozzens, divides information into several categories including “Civil War to 1900” and “Early Civil Rights Movement” events. The site also includes descriptions/explanations of important events in African American history include the Dred Scott case and the famed Montgomery bus boycott. There’s also a 35-source bibliography provided for those interested in following up these topics with future reading.
African American History: Record of A Race of Indomitable People Surviving Diaspora (http://www.aawc.com/aah.html)
This site has links to some great, lesser-known pieces of African American history. For instance, one link leads to a site on African American soldiers who helped build the Alcan Highway during WWII, another to a site on Harry and Harriet Moore, two Florida civil rights workers killed in 1951. Also: the site has links to sites on Black Military history, historical events like the Springfield (Il) race riots and many other important but often unknown events.
A great starting point for inquiries.
African American Mosaic (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html)
This is the official Library of Congress resource guide on Black History and culture. Different sections of the site pertain to different historical eras and fields of research including African Americans during the Depression, the migration of Black Americans to Chicago and abolition. The site includes great historical photos from Library exhibitions and links for contacting the Library for more information.
Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture (http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html)
This is the website for nationally-known research library branch started in Harlem in the 1920s when African American Arturo Schomburg donated his personal collection of books and other academic items to the New York Public Library’s collection of Black literature and art. The site includes online versions of Center exhibits, images, a calendar of events and a list of the Center’s collections, among other items.
AFRO-Americ@: The Black History Museum (http://www.afro.com/history/history.html)
This site has online exhibits on African American history topics ranging from slavery resistance to Jackie Robinson. Links with articles go to other articles. There’s quite a lot of information here. Also includes “kids zone”. Connected to The Afro American Newspaper, a paper serving the Baltimore-Washington area.
Fathom Online Learning: African American Studies (http://www.fathom.com/special/bhm/index.html)
This website offers articles on specific subtopics of African American history, for instance, profiles of lesser known African American figures and events, research on African American language. There are also research links for further study and links to major universities’ Black Studies and African American studies programs.
African American History: Slavery
Slavery is a tragic, horrifici and essential part of American history and African-American history. Here are some websites for those looking into this long and dark period of America’s growth.
American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/wpa/wpahome.html)
Few historical analyses of events have the same power of a witness’ own words. This site is a collection of interviews with former slaves, conducted by white American interviewers in the 1930s. Included is a reading guide to help contemporary readers put the interviews in some context. They are taken from the book The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1972-79).
Spartacus Encyclopedia of Slavery (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAslavery.htm)
This website, based in the UK, has an extensive list of American slavery articles including: slave narratives, articles about the slave trade, articles on slavery-related legislation and court decisions, and biographies of abolitionists. The text is written so anyone from adolescent age up can comprehend it, but does not seem written “for kids”
United States National Slavery Museum (http://www.usnationalslaverymuseum.org/home.asp)
Official site for the projected U.S. National Slavery Museum, meant to be built in Virginia, the website includes interactive exhibits and a document archive. It also includes facts, quotes and information about this museum.
Also includes some history lesson plans.
Timeline of Slavery (http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/timeline/united.states.html)
This timeline, provided on the site for the Amistad slave ship exhibit at Mystic Seaport, is a good tool for learning the major events of African American slavery from it’s beginnings in 1619. The Amistad was made famous by the 1990s Spielberg movie starring Djimon Honsou and Anthony Hopkins.
Slavery In America (http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/geography/slave_census_1860.htm)
Sponsored by New York Life, this site includes slave narratives, maps and stats, and biographies of slaves and abolitionists. There are also references and lesson plans for teachers.
African American History: Abolition and The Civil War
Here are some websites concerning African Americans in America’s most deadly conflict and in the preceding fight for the abolition of slavery.
The Underground Railroad (http://www.africanamericans.com/UndergroundRailroad.htm)
This is a starting point site for information-seekers interested in the Underground Railroad. It begins with a timeline and then provides links to other in-depth sites.
University of Detroit Mercy Black Abolitionist Archive (http://www.dalnet.lib.mi.us/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?p=about&c=baa)
This website allows people to search for information on African American Abolitionists and the abolition movement. The site allows visitors to read primary sources, like speeches on abolition, in PDF form. There’s also a list of abolitionists with biographies attached.
Black Abolitionists (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/5653/part1.html)
Homepage with articles on figures and the progress of African American abolitionist movement. Sources cited at the end of the articles.
African American Odyssey: The Civil War (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart4.html)
This website contains images with brief articles pertaining to African Americans in the Civil War. There are also links to a section on the abolitionist movement.
African American Civil War Memorial Museum (http://www.afroamcivilwar.org/ourstory/index.html)
This site, connected to the “the first and only” museum dedicated to Black American civil war soldiers, located in Washington DC. This site allows people to check a soldier’s index, search for relatives who may have fought in the Civil War and explore the offerings of the museum and the monument.
Black Bostonians And The Civil War (http://www.nps.gov/boaf/54th.htm)
This Parks Services website features information on the famous African American 54th Massachusetts Regiment as depicted in the movie “Glory” as well as other historical information on “Blacks in Boston” during the war years.
Early 20th Century
After slavery was abolished, African American history continued to be filled with brutal racism and disenfranchisement. There were also great changes including a migration north and the popularization of African American music and culture with such things as Jazz, Ragtime and the literature of the Harlem Renaissance. Here are jus a few websites dealing with issues early 20th century Black America.
Lynchings In America (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchstats.html)
This website offers statistics and information on one of the most horrific aspects of African American history, post-slavery: lynching.
Jim Crow Image Gallery (http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/gallery.cgi)
This site contains several files of images from the Jim Crow south including racists cartoons, photographs from African American-run newspapers, and other photo portraits of middle-class African Americans. Parents may want to pre-browse before their kids.
Race, Voting Rights, And Segregation: Rise & Fall of the Black Voter 1880-1922 http://www.umich.edu/~lawrace/votetour4.htm)
This site provides articles and visual aids to explain the declining power of post-Civil War African Americans, particularly in the south.
PBS American Experience: Fatal Flood (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/peopleevents/e_sharecroppers.html)
Article, visuals, and video on the Great Migration and poverty which caused it. From the PBS series “American Experience”.
Also includes links to other portions of the series and to resources.
Univ. of Georgia: Sharecropper Narrative (http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/28/)
First-hand account of an African American man living in the South in the early 20th century, detailing his family’s life under strict, brutal labor laws in the south which created a situation which closely resembled slavery.
Academy of American Poets: A Brief Guide to The Harlem Renaissance (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5657)
A starting point article including the major figures of the Harlem Renaissance and links for addition research on this African American cultural movement.
The History Place: African Americans In WWII (http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/aframerwar/)
This site includes images and brief articles on African Americans in World War II, including officers, women who served, and some stats about African American involvement.
Civil Rights Era
The fifties and sixties saw great changes to life for African Americans. Here are some sites related to that tumultuous and nation-changing time.
Brown Vs. Board of Education: Interactive Exhibit (http://www.digisys.net/users/hootie/brown/)
This website details the main events surrounding this famed case, which aimed to eliminate “separate but equal” from the educational vocabulary of America’s schools.
Article On Harry And Harriet Moore (http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/120205MurderExcavation.html)
This article gives background on the murders of the Moores, two Florida activists killed in 1951. These little-known leaders are consider among the first martyrs of the civil rights movement, and were a sad harbinger of things to come, such as the assasinations of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, Jr.
We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement
(http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/change.htm)
This Park Services site features detailed descriptions of Civil Rights landmarks, historical events, and major “players” in the movement. Also includes images and links for future reference.
Civil Rights Movement Timeline (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html)
Detailed outline of major civil rights movement events form 1954. Good for getting facts and “cause and effect’ straight.
Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkspeeches.html)
Excerpts from text of Martin Luther King’s Letter from A Birmingham Jail, March on Washington, and Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance speech.
Sites for Notable African Americans
Obviously, there are too many important African American figures in our nation’s history to possible list. Here are just a few websites for some of the many who made their mark on America.
The HistoryMakers (http://thehistorymakers.com/)
The website has a large repository of biographies of African Americans in many fields from business to religion to art to medicine.
Crusaders and Leaders:
Nat Turner (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1518.html)
Part of PBS “Africans In America” series, this site details Turner’s life and the slave rebellion he led in 1831.
Frederick Douglas (http://www.nps.gov/frdo/freddoug.html)
Website for abolitionist leader’s home and museum, includes information on his life.
Harriet Tubman (http://www.nyhistory.com/harriettubman/)
Site for Underground railroad heroine Harriet Tubman’s home and museum, includes information on her life.
Sojourner Truth (http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/truth/1850/1850.html)
Contains excerpts from the narrative of her life as dictated to an author in the 1800s.
Marcus Garvey (http://www.marcusgarvey.com/)
Site devoted to the influential African American who advocated Black Americans repatriate to Africa.
Booker T Washington (http://www.historycooperative.org/btw/)
Website containing the papers of the “Up From Slavery” author and founder of the Tuskeegee Institute. Also try the site for the National Park of his home: http://www.nps.gov/bowa/btwbio.html
Ida B Wells (http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/wells.html)
Learn more about this passionate and courageous journalist and enemy of lynching with this brief article about her life.
W.E.B. DuBois (http://www.duboislc.org/html/DuBoisBio.html)
This “brief biographical sketch” is a starting point for information on the influential Black leader. Links and bibliography are included for further research.
Rosa Parks
See the official site for the woman who stood up by sitting down (http://www.rosaparks.org/)
Malcolm X
The civil rights and Black pride advocate has an official site: (http://www.cmgww.com/historic/malcolm/index.htm)
Martin Luther King, Jr & Coretta Scott King
Sites abound for this national leader and his wife. Start with the King Center site (http://www.thekingcenter.org/)
Artists and Athletes:
African American authors like Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Toni Morrison are profiled at The African American Book Club site (http://authors.aalbc.com/more_authors.htm)
The website for Ken Burns’ film on Jazz includes biographies for some of the greatest musicians of the African-American-created genre: (http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/)
Jackie Robinson Foundation (http://www.jackierobinson.org/) Learn more about the life and legacy of Major League Baseball’s first African American player.
Blackbaseball.com (http://www.blackbaseball.com/) provides a “comprehensive” source of information about the Negro Leagues, including the great players including hall of famers like Josh Gibson and Satche Paige.
Jesse Owens official site offers information on the man who won gold medals in the face of Naziism (http://www.jesseowens.com/index.php)
The first African American to win a tennis grand slam, Althea Gibson’s official site (http://www.altheagibson.com/) tells the story of her rise to success as a Black woman in sports in the 50s and about the foundation the bears her name.
Regardless of your own cultural background, you can learn from African American History. I hope these websites will help you begin a journey of discovery and understanding, of both the history and yourself.
