Interested in learning more about African-American History? The texts listed below offers readers a glimpse into the lives of the first Africans to arrive in 1619 through the abolition movement, Civil War, Great Migration, the modern Civil Rights Movement and of course, to the present.
1. From Slavery to Freedom by John Hope Franklin
Throughout John Hope Franklin’s career as an historian, he was often challenged to “weave into the fabric of American history enough of the presence of blacks so that the story of the United States could be told adequately and fairly.”
In 1947, Franklin published the first edition of From Slavery to Freedom. Today, the text is in its ninth edition and includes chapters focused on African civilizations, the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, enslavement, rebellions in the United States as well as the Caribbean, African-American migration to the North and West, as well as the consistent struggle for racial and political equality. In addition, within these categories, the text features prominent African-American men and women, different philosophies of achieving equality, Pan-Africanism as well as documenting the election of Barack Obama in 2008. More »
2. The Black Book by Middleton Harris and Toni Morrison
In 1974, Middleton Harris and author Toni Morrison decided to compile items such as 17th century sketches of Africa, 19th century slave auction notices, sheet music used for work songs and freedom songs as well as posters for runaway slaves.
Leading a team of committed collectors, Harris and Morrison published The Black Book a comprehensive text that included more than 500 images that told vivid stories of African-American experience in the United States. In addition to the aforementioned items, the text also includes the harrowing transcripts from captured slaves’ trials to fiery speeches delivered by abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass to patents of African-American inventors to posters of “Black Hollywood” films produced in the 1930s and 1940s by companies such as the Lincoln Film Company. More »
3. Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African-American History, 1513 - 2008
Historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., provides readers with a comprehensive text that includes more than seven hundred images—maps, visual art, photographs, cartoons, posters and documents. These images are present to assist readers as they explore events such as the Red Summer of 1919 as well as debates such as those existing between W.E. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. From the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to enslavement, the Civil War, Great Migration and Civil Rights and black nationalist movements, this text shows readers the contributions that African-Americans have made to United States’ society. More »
4. Reading in African-American History by Thomas Frazier Jr.
Edited by Thomas Frazier, Jr., Reading in African-American History includes several historical documents arranged chronologically from the colonial period to the post-Civil Rights Movement. Chapters in the book include Africa and the Slave Trade which includes an excerpt of Oloudah Equiano's slave narrative; The African-American before 1800; Slavery in the Nineteenth Century, includes an excerpt of Confessions of Nat Turner; The Free Black Community: 1800 to 1860; The Civil War and Reconstruction; The Legal Segregation of Free People; The Organization of Protest; The Great Migration Brings a New Mood; School Desegregation and the Cold War; The Nonviolent Civil Rights Movement; The Militant Black Liberation Movement; and, Consolidation and Reaction. More »