Black History

For Black History Month in February, here is an updated list of sites relating to African-American history. Use them all year long as you study slavery and resistance, the civil rights movement, African-American art and culture, and more. See the bottom of this page for excellent video resources on Black History for Wisconsin teachers from the ECB.

Slavery and Resistance | Civil Rights | Culture | General | Instructional Video Series for Wisconsin Teachers

Slavery and Resistance

Designed for English and social studies teachers, Slavery in America includes essays, images, lesson plans and an encyclopedia. A multimedia exhibit called Roads to Freedom explores six of the most common avenues pursued by enslaved people: manumission, emancipation, self-purchase, insurrection, passing, and runaway.

A companion site to the PBS series, Slavery and the Making of America documents the history of U.S. slavery from beginnings in the British colonies to its end in the Southern states. An interactive timeline, primary resources, and a teacher guide are included.

Voices from the Days of Slavery features audiorecordings of former slaves telling their stories and sometimes singing songs learned during enslavement. This Library of Contress site includes photographs and quotes from many interviewees and links to the Library’s relevant American Memory collections.

African Americans in Slavery, from the National Park Service, traces the history of slavery from 1490 through abolition.

Black Resistance: Slavery in the U.S., from AFRO-Americ@’s Black History Museum, tells the stories of slaves who resisted slavery and fought for freedom.

American Visionaries: Frederick Douglass is an online National Park Service exhibit about the famous abolitionist’s life and work.

The Old State House Museum features “Them Dark Days”: The Arkansas Slave Narratives. Narratives can be searched by topic—education, punishment, religion, resistance, escape—or by last name.

From the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Museum, Remembering Slavery features excerpts from WPA slave narratives that were compiled for a radio series, produced by Smithsonian Productions, and aired on Public Radio International.

Aboard the Underground Railroad, from the National Park service, introduces the people and 35 sites associated with the Underground Railroad. A map of common escape routes also is provided.

The Underground Railroad site from National Geographic takes students on a harrowing virtual trip to freedom. The site also includes a timeline, brief biographies, and teaching suggestions.

The Underground Railroad Site, from the University of California-Davis, was designed for student use and includes personal narratives, literature,maps, and a bibliography.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center provides a timeline of slavery and resistance, biographies of those involved in the underground railroad, and a section where visitors can share family stories.

Amistad Online describes the 1839-1842 Amistad Revolt, a shipboard uprising off the Cuban coast. This multimedia site also explores the revolt’s effect on debates over the slave trade, slavery, and race in Africa and the U.S.

Learn about FFort Mose, the first free, legally existing African settlement in the United States. Established by the Spanish in current-day Florida, it gave sanctuary to Africans challenging enslavement in the English Colony of Carolina. Additional information is available at http://nps.gov/casa/home/ftmose.htm.

Civil Rights

The National Museum of American History presents Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education. It includes an extensive history section, timeline, and teacher guide.

Brown v. the Board of Education National Historic Site presents the site at Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, and gives detailed information about this and many related legal cases.

We Shall Overcome: Historic Places from the Civil Rights Movement, from the National Park Service, takes visitors on an electronic tour of places across the country.

Rosa Parks: Pioneer of Civil Rights includes a biography and the text of a 1995 interview.

Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights is an illustrated biography from Scholastic.

The Martin Luther King, Jr., site from the Seattle Times offers information about King and his legacy, including a history of the holiday, audio clips from King speeches, an interactive quiz, and a study guide.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project, from Stanford University, includes a large number of primary and secondary source documents on King.

King's Last March is a radio documentary from American Public Media. The Web site provides information on Dr. Martin Luther King's life and career, with audio excerpts from and complete transcripts of speeches. Students can also listen to or download a podcast of the complete documentary.

Culture

Heart and Soul: A Celebration of African American Music, from World Book Encyclopedia, is a guide to spirituals, jazz, blues, rock and roll, and classical music for children. It includes sound clips and biographies of influential musicians.

Creativity and Resistance: Maroon Cultures in the Americas, from the Smithsonian Institution, is an online exhibit featuring many photos and information on Maroon culture past, present, and future. An extensive teacher guide also is provided.

African Americans in the Visual Arts: A Historical Perspective, from theB. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library, presents general background information and historical context, as well as biographies of notable artists.

The Anacostia Museum’s Speak to My Heart: Communities of Faith and Contemporary African American Life is an electronic exhibit. Photographs and conversations examine the various ways in which African-American Christian churches and congregations of other faiths work in contemporary society.

Also from the Anacostia Museum, Online Academy encourages study of African American material culture. It provides video clips of scholars, collectors, and preservers, along with the database of artifacts in the museum's permanent collection.

The Million Man March Photo Documentary, from the Smithsonian, provides photographs and descriptions of this event.

Melanet’s Kwanzaa Information Center includes an explanation ofKwanzaa history and symbols, a national schedule of events, and multimedia files.

Juneteenth features information about the oldest known celebration for the ending of slavery.

General

The African Presence in the Americas, from the Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture, is an online exhibit designed to present anaccurate and comprehensive history of the place and role of African peoples in the development of the Americas and the Caribbean. Included are sections on identity, migration, work, culture, and resistance, as well as teacher guide developed by New York City teachers.

African American Odyssey is a comprehensive exhibit from the Library of Congress. The online exhibit displays primary source documents such as manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings,

Aetna’s African American History Calendarsonline allows users to click on any day to see events in African-American history. A printable version is available. The site also discusses various African-American history topics.

The African American Mosaic presents textual material, photographs, maps, and documents from the from the Library of Congress collection.

The companion Web site to a PBS series, Africans in America covers four periods in African-American history and includes narratives, maps, images, and a teacher guide.

Stamp on Black History is a student-created site that introduces important people in African-American history using U.S. Postal Servicecommemorative stamps.

The AFRO-Americ@’s Black History Museum offers interactive exhibits, including The Tuskegee Airmen, Jackie Robinson, The Black Panther Party, The Million Man March, the Scottsboro Boys, and more.

African American Freedom Fighters: Soldiers for Liberty profiles African Americans who fought in wars from the American Revolution to the Persian Gulf War, including Sojourner Truth and Colin Powell.

Legends of Tuskegee, from the National Park Service, highlights the lives and accomplishments of George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, and the Tuskegee Airmen.

Texas Buffalo Soldiers tells the story of the African-American troops who were involved in westward expansion of the United States.

Boston African American National Historic Site includes an interactive tour of the Black Heritage Trail and information on important events in black history.

The U.S. Census Bureau Bureau provides Facts and Figures on education, income, population and other demographic statistics on the African-American population.

U.S. African-American Population Statistics has graphs and tables interpreting census data. Good graphics help to make statistics meaningful.

Black History: Exploring African American Issues offers Web-basedactivities for students.

Black Facts Onlineenables students to search a database by date, subject, or key word to learn about African-American history.

Instructional Video Series for Wisconsin Teachers
Wisconsin teachers may tape these programs for classroom use. Click on each link to find information about the program, teacher guide and broadcast schedule from the ECB Instructional Database.

Follow the Drinking Gourd from Reading Rainbow (grades 1-4)

Martin Luther King Jr./Black History from America's Special Days (grades 2-3)

Float Like a Butterly and Freedom River from Beyond the Page (grades 2-4)

Which Way to Freedom? from Cover to Cover (grades 3-4)

Chevrolet Saturdays from Read On: Cover to Cover (grades 4-5)

Embracing Tradition and The Journey from Cultural Horizons of Wisconsin (grades 4-6) or

Embracing Tradition and The Journey from CulturalHorizons of North America (grades 4-6)

Liberty and Justice and Teaching in a Multicultural Society from My America (grades 4-6)

Divided and United from Tracks: Impressions of America (grade 5)

Benjamin Banneker and Mary McLeod Bethune from Portraits: The Americans (grade 5-8)

In the Land of Jim Crow (grades 7-12)

The African Slave Trade (grades 7-12)

Martin Luther King: The Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement and A Conversation with Rosa Parks from Events of the 20th Century (grades 9-12)

Black America from American Voices (grades 9-12)

Moving North to Chicago: 1900-1945 from Geography in U.S. History (grades 9-12)

The Struggle for Equal Rights from Voices in Democracy (grades 9-12)

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