National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Kongo, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Eight watercolor drawings and an accompanying narrative from an Italian Catholic missionary about the peoples in the Kingdom of Kongo (present-day Angola).
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Plantation, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Numerous photographs of a Virginia plantation (taken in 1960), an autobiographical account of life on a Mississippi plantation from the nineteenth century, and an interview with a former slave about a Louisiana plantation recorded in 1937.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Runaways, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Several accounts by slaves of running away from bondage, written in the nineteenth century and also recorded in the 1930s, as well as newspaper advertisements seeking information about fugitive slaves in the eighteenth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Enslaved Family, Making of African American Identity: Vol. 1
This site offers two letters and a memoir from the mid-nineteenth century, and interviews from the early-twentieth century, about the importance and the roles of enslaved families.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Plantation Community, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Various retrospective oral accounts from the early-twentieth century and two narratives from the mid-nineteenth century that examine the work, interrelationships, dangers, and lives of slaves on southern plantations.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Religion, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
A series of songs, narratives, and memoirs that examine the spiritual beliefs of and experiences with religion among slaves in southern plantation communities.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Fugitives, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Oral and written narratives of the experiences of the Underground Railroad and documents identifying efforts by northern societies to free slaves during the 1850s.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Slave to Free, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Interviews with and narratives from former slaves who became free and letters from former slaves reflecting on their freedom.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Booker T. Washington, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
A summary and questions related to an autobiography in which Booker T. Washington describes his early experience of freedom. A link to this full text is provided here as well.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: African Americans in the British New World
Read about the transit of Africans from their homeland to the American British colonies to work on plantations in the south as part of leg in the triangular trade.
Other
Accord Freedom Trail: Freedom Trail St. Augustine Civil Rights Movement
The city of St. Augustine, Florida played a part in The Civil Rights Movement. The early background of African Americans and slavery issues is documented, followed by noted people, events, and battles in the St. Augustine area during the...
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Harriet Tubman
View this engaging online exhibit to learn about Harriet Tubman, an outspoken advocate for African American and women's rights.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Slavery and the Making of America: Freedom & Emancipation
Using primary documents, oral histories and other historical resources, learn about the African American reaction to emancipation and to events from the Reconstruction period following the Civil War.
The History Place
The History Place: The Dred Scott Decision
This site from The History Place provides an account of the history of Dred Scott, an African-American slave, who took his suit for his freedom to the Supreme Court. The information is somewhat brief, but worthwhile.
Info Please
Infoplease: Timeline: Key Moments in Black History
A timeline of African-American history from when the first African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619 up to the present.
Washington State University
Washington State University: Frederick Douglass: Life & Works
A clickable list of student resources for researching the life and work of this 19th century African American civil rights leader and abolitionist.
Other
Indigenous History: Indigenous Slavery in the American Southeast
It is fairly well-accepted that American slavery of the 19th century developed from three distinct traditions of slavery that were mutated into a new, racialized, institutionalized form: European indentured servitude, West African...
Library of Congress
Loc: Slaves and the Courts
Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 contains just over a hundred pamphlets and books (published between 1772 and 1889) concerning the difficult and troubling experiences of African and African-American slaves in the American colonies and...
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Harriet Tubman
This article overviews Harriet Tubman's involvement with the Underground Railroad, her service in the military during the Civil War, and her fight as an activist for African-American and women's rights.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1844 1877: Life for Enslaved Men and Women
During the nineteenth century, enslaved African Americans worked on large plantations in the US South under brutal conditions.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Slavery & Making of America: The Slave Experience: Men, Women & Gender
Learn about issues related to slave gender roles at this PBS series site that features illustrations and documents dating back to the Colonial, Antebellum, and Reconstruction periods in American history.
Georgetown University
Georgetown: Georgetown Slavery Archive I Know That My Bennett Ancestors
Chapter two of Louis Diggs, Surviving in America: Histories of 7 Black Communities in Baltimore County, Maryland (Uptown Press, 2002), includes fascinating interviews with African Americans in Granite, Maryland, including several...
Digital History
Digital History: The Diversity of Colonial Slavery
Read about the three distinct systems of slavery that developed in the colonies based primarily on the crops that were grown in each region. See how the system affected the way the culture of slaves grew out of the region.
Other
New York Historical Society: Slavery in New York
Take a tour of this exhibit on the history of slavery in New York City.