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Article
US House of Representatives

History, Art, and Archives: Barbara Charline Jordan 1936 1996

For Students 9th - 10th
One of the first African-Americans elected from the Deep South and the first black Congresswoman ever from that region, read about how Barbara Jordan emerged as a powerful interpreter of the Watergate impeachment investigation.
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Website
Poetry Foundation

Poetry Foundation: Gwendolyn Brooks (1917 2000)

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of Gwedolyn Brooks, the first African American woman author to win the Pulitzer prize. With career information and links to many of her poems, some with audio. Listen to podcasts about her work and read articles about the...
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Website
American Academy of Achievement

Academy of Achievement: Sidney Poitier

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of actor Sidney Poitier. After a very humble beginning in life, Poitier struggled for years to overcome his lack of education and to break through racial barriers, eventually receiving recognition for his acting abilities. He...
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Handout
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Girls Changing History Alice Coachman

For Students 9th - 10th
A biographical view of Alice Coachman who was the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal, in 1948.
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Article
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Phillis Wheatley

For Students 9th - 10th
Encyclopedia Britannica provides a brief biography of Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784 CE), the first African-American to have a book of poetry published.
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Handout
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Condoleezza Rice

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn interesting facts about Condoleezza Rice, the first African American woman to hold several positions, including Secretary of State.
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Website
Other

Florence Beatrice Price: African American Composer

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the first African American women to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra. This resource lists information about her birth, her marriage and a list of nearly all of her compositions.
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Article
PBS

Africans in America: Margaret Washington on the Earliest Africans in Va.

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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Handout
York University

York University: African Canadian Online: Black Pioneers

For Students 9th - 10th
Black people have played an important part in the history of Canada from its earliest days when the first black man came to Canada in 1606. Learn about these pioneers and their accomplishments.
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Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs: Cet: Africans in America: The First Slave Auction at New Amsterdam in 1655

For Students 9th - 10th
This website contains a general description of the time and reason for the first large slave auction held in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Click on Teacher's Guide for teaching resources.
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Activity
The Washington Post

Washington Post: Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light

For Students 9th - 10th
A fascinating first chapter from the book, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light. Read about how African American laborers and troops were treated by their white American compatriots and see how that contrasted with the...
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: 1913: Fifty Years, Making of African American Identity: V. 2

For Students 9th - 10th
A poem, an address, and a blues song that express black life in the first fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The texts examine whether the true meaning of the proclamation carried forward to the lives African Americans.
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Freedom: Charles W. Chesnutt: African American Identity

For Students 9th - 10th
Short story that explores the cultural and linguistic resources that sustained African Americans in the first years of freedom. This resource focuses on Charles Chesnutt and the influence he achieved by writing about race for a white...
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Article
PBS

Africans in America: Equiano's Autobiography

For Students 9th - 10th
From a larger site from PBS' Africans in America, blurb about Olaudah Equiano and his autobiography with a link to text of this historical document.
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Primary
University of Michigan

Kellogg African American Health Care Project: William G. Anderson

For Students 9th - 10th
Interview with Dr. William Anderson, first president of the Albany Movement. Picture, biographical information and links to 40 other interviews with black medical personnel about their experiences with discrimination.
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Primary
African American Literature Book Club

African American Literature Book Club: Olaudah Equiano

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the African American Literature Book Club provides a great narrative on the life of Olaudah Equinao entitled, "They Carry Off As Many As they Can Seize." The text is somewhat in-depth and worth checking out on the subject.
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Article
PBS

Africans in America: Founding of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society

For Students 9th - 10th
A detailed account of the founding of the first Quaker abolitionist society in 1775 in Philadelphia by Anthony Benezet. The society became known as "PAS" or "Pennsylvania Abolition Society".
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Article
PBS

Africans in America: Lucy Terry Prince: Freed Slave and Poet

For Students 9th - 10th
This website describes the life of Lucy Terry Prince, first female African American poet. She obtained her freedom by marrying a wealthy free black man who purchased her freedom.
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Unit Plan
E-learning for Kids

E Learning for Kids: Math: African Village: 2 D Space and Capacity

For Students 2nd - 3rd
Visit this African village and learn about symmetry and parts of 2D shapes. Users can first watch a video that helps with the concepts of finding a vertex and a line of symmetry. They can then practice their knowledge on four activities...
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Article
PBS

Africans in America: Harriet Jacobs

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about Harriet Jacobs'(1813-1897 CE) childhood as a slave and her escape from slavery -- the experiences from which she created her slave narrative, "Indidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," which "Was one the first open discussions...
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Article
Other

Huffington Post: Meet Kamala Harris, Who Could Become the First Woman President

For Students 9th - 10th
On November 8, 2016, Kamala Harris became the first Indian-American and the second African-American woman elected to the United States Senate. Harris is currently the Attorney General in California.
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Handout
Understanding Slavery Initiative

Understanding Slavery: Atlantic Crossing: First Hand Accounts Case Study

For Students 9th - 10th
Read eye-witness accounts of the brutality and cruelty suffered by enslaved Africans as they traveled across the Atlantic on slave ships.
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Spirit of Nationalism: Phillis Wheatley

For Students 9th - 10th
Phillis Wheatley, an African-American slave, is featured for her neoclassical poetry of pre-nineteenth century America. Click on "Phillis Wheatley Activities" for more resources.
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Handout
Alabama Humanities Foundation

Encyclopedia of Alabama: Sports and Recreation: Satchel Paige

For Students 9th - 10th
The first African American to pitch in the major league, Satchel Paige led a full life of baseball. Satchel retired from the mound when he was sixty years old. Discover the successes and setbacks of this famed baseball player.