An African American associate professor of history at Cornell discusses the impact of the cotton gin on slavery.

A collection of five interactive maps that each focus on a different perspective of Sherman's March to the Sea. These include a factual map, one that looks at African Americans and Southern civilians, one about travel, one on soldiers,...

Focuses on slavery in North America, the worry about uprisings, and slavery's economic impact. Links to related information.

Excerpts from "The Official History of the American Negro in World War I" by Emmett J. Scott, depicting the impact of the Great War on African Americans at home. The doubts that whites voiced about African Americans' loyalty and military...

A lesson unit designed to outline the civil rights movement as seen through the eyes of African Americans, Chicanos, and Native Americans.

Two poems that explore the struggles of African Americans in the early-twentieth century. Links to both poems by Fenton Johnson are provided, and illustrate the struggles experienced as black man in white America in the 1910s

A painting and an appeal that explore the role business played in black uplift in nineteenth-century America. This resource focuses on the work of Edward Bannister (1828-1901), one of the leading black painters of the nineteenth century.

Several narratives of the capture of West Africans, including the famous autobiography of Venture Smith, from the eighteenth century, two accounts of conditions on slave ships, and an audio recording of the memories of the descendants of...

Interviews from the 1930s that reflect on African Americans' experience of the institution of slavery. A narrative with firsthands accounts is linked within this resource.

The African American inventor of a life-saving device, mechanical traffic signals, and more had to fight for recognition.

Describes the struggles of the Jamestown Colony to survive in its first years. Many died from disease and starvation, and things only began to turn when the colonists started to grow tobacco. The use of indentured servants and later,...

America honors Jackie Robinson's first year in baseball's major leagues. This site has a brief biography of Jackie Robinson and how he broke the race barrier.

Discusses the economics of slavery in South Carolina and its importance to the profitable growing of rice. It continues with ways the slaves were controlled and punished in South Carolina and Georgia. Click on Teacher's Guide for teacher...

The text of a speech given by abolitionist Angelina Grimke Weld on May 17, 1838.

A collection of primary source material from the modern age, explores the 1920s and how it relates to today. Section includes introductory notes, classroom discussion questions, and supplemental links to related resources.

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.

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.

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,...

Here is a brief article from PBS on the life and accomplishments of abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who risked her life on several occasions to ensure the freedom of others. Links to a teacher's guide and primary sources are provided.

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".

At this site from PBS you can read about the life of David Walker. Born in the late 18th century as a free black, he was most known for his pamplet, entitled "Appeal," which advocated slave revolt.

Photographs of slaves during the Civil War and war memories of former slaves during that conflict. Links to two separate resources can be found here, each focusing on the war memories of former slaves.

Unusual letters from black slave drivers, and in one case, letters in reply from the white slave owner, about crops, labor, and conditions on plantations in the mid-1850s.

Provides an overview of the traditional culture and lifestyle of Eritrean Americans. (Note: Content is not the most current.)