Digital History
Digital History: America's Reconstruction: Rights and Power
This resource provides information about Reconstruction, the United States Government, slavery, and civil rights.
Ohio State University
E History: Lynching in America
Ohio State University gives a general discussion of lynching with links to numerous newspaper accounts of an 1897 lynching in Urbana, Ohio.
Digital History
Digital History: America's Reconstruction
An overview of Reconstruction provided by the University of Houston. Provides images and the political climate that occurred during this part of American History.
University of Michigan
Making of America Books
The complete online text of "My Bondage and My Freedom" by Frederick Douglass is available through University of Michigan Digital Library Text Collections.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Vcu Digital Libraries Collections: Through the Lens of Time
An impressive collection of photographs of African American life in Virginia, spanning the last half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. Included are photographs of various types of work, individuals, school groups, and...
PBS
Pbs: Africans in America: Shift From Indentured Servitude to Lifelong Slavery
This discussion by Prof. Peter Wood of Duke University explores what may have allowed the shift from indentured servitude to lifelong slavery for Africans and their children. Click on Teacher's Guide for teacher resources.
PBS
Africans in America: Olaudah Equiano
This site from PBS' Africans in America series provides a biography of Olaudah Equiano, one of the many Africans forced to travel the Middle Passage. Links to related entries.
PBS
Africans in America: Margaret Washington on the Earliest Africans in Va.
In a brief answer, Margaret Washington, Assoc. Professor of History at Cornell University, discusses where the first Africans to colonial Virginia were from, who they were, and what it may have been like for them.
PBS
Africans in America: "Defense of Slavery in Virginia"
From PBS's "Africans in America," Reverend Peter Fontaine's defense of slavery to his brother in 1757. Click to read the text of the actual document.
PBS
Africans in America: Virginia Recognizes Slavery
Here is a general description of the gradual change from using indentured servants to recognizing Africans as slaves and the laws reflecting this change.
PBS
Africans in America: Virginia Looks Toward Africa for Labor
This website explains why Virginia needed laborers, why it led to the use of African labor and how it was justified by Christians. Hyperlinks to related topics on the site.
PBS
Africans in America: Frontispiece of Equiano's Autobiography
At this website, see a photo of the frontipiece from Olaudah Equiano's autobiography, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African." This book was a best seller.
PBS
Africans in America: Map of the British Colonies
Map of British Colonies and information from PBS on slavery from about 1600 to 1750. Some timelining of African American's lives in the New World.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: A New African American Culture
All immigrants to America bring a part of their homeland with them. The same was true of slaves. See how vocabulary, arts, and music were knit into American culture.
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Olaudah Equiano
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read information about and an excerpt from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa as well as "African Migration to Colonial America" and answer paired text...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Urbanization 1870 1900: Great Migration and New European Immigration
What caused the influx of African Americans and European immigrants into urban centers in the late 19th century? Learn about some of the discriminatory and anti-immigrant laws that were enacted to restrict their rights. Includes a chart...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Lives on the Railroad: Salisbury, North Carolina 1927
Replica of the Salisbury, North Carolina railway station teaches about riding and working on the railroad in the 1920s when railroads were a central part of American life. Railroad lines crisscrossed the country. They carried people,...
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Langston Hughes
This resource focuses on the works of famous African-American author, Langston Hughes.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Becoming Visible: James Baldwin
James Baldwin is presented in this biography as a great African American contributor to the literary world during the civil rights movement. See "James Baldwin Activities" for more information.
PBS
Pbs American Masters: Scientific American: Following Muddy's Trail
This site has a lesson plan on Muddy Waters focused on the American Masters documentary about him. Parallels the Great Migration with the growth of the blues music movement in America. Click on Muddy's name to access a detailed biography...
US National Archives
Portrait of Black Chicago: John H. White
From June through October 1973 and briefly during the spring of 1974, John H. White worked for the federal government photographing Chicago, especially the city`s African American community. His photographs portray the difficult...
Other
Amistad Digital Resource: Harlem Renaissance
Read about the Harlem Renaissance, the 1920s rebirth of African American arts centered in the Harlem neighborhood in New York City.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: Colonial African American Life
Provides a few statistics on slaves in Maryland and Virginia and then contrasts the lives of field hand vs household or urban slaves.
Other
Amistad Digital Resource: End of World War Two
Narrative explores the role of African Americans after World War II ended and the state of the civil rights movement from the 1940s to the early 1050s.