1619-2019: 400 Years of Resilience

"Some years later, when [Spottswood] Robinson joined with Thurgood Marshall and others to try to end Jim Crow, he remembered [Pauli] Murray’s paper, fished it out of his files, and presented it to his colleagues—the team that, in 1954, successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education.
By the time Murray learned of her contribution, she was nearing fifty, two-thirds of the way through a life as remarkable for its range as for its influence."

By Sam Lefebvre, 2019. "Farmworkers harvesting onions. Picketing Teamsters rejecting student sympathizers. Oakland high-schoolers protesting the police shooting their peer. Black Panthers serving breakfast.
They’re just a few scenes from a newly digitized African American Museum & Library Oakland collection of scarcely if ever seen footage documenting California activism and organized labor in the 1960s and 1970s."

By M Trammell, D Drake, E Baker, I Ahmed, R Kenner, 2013.
"Music provides a window into history, and history provides a window into music. Here is a chronological survey of the twenty-five most important Civil Rights moments in music history. And vice versa."

Create a free account with Facing History to watch this mini series, originally broadcast on PBS. A free study guide is also available with a login.
"[T]his comprehensive 14-part television documentary series about the American Civil Rights Movement utilizes rare historical film and interviews with participants from pivotal moments in the struggle for civil rights."

By Gregory Downs, Talking Points Memo, 2018.
"Rebels in the post-Civil War South perfected the art of excluding voters, but it was yankees in the North who developed the script."

By Tre'vell Anderson, 2019.
"When I think of the notable Black History Month figures I was taught about in grade school very few openly queer people come to mind. Sure, folks like James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker, and Bessie Smith were sometimes mentioned, but their LGBTQ+ identities usually weren’t."

The IAAM Center for Family History is a one of a kind, unprecedented research center with a special focus on African American genealogy. Website offers digital collections (including marriage records, obituaries, photos, pension files, bible records, and historical files), a blog, and a learning library (including tips on beginning genealogical research, using records, and genealogical research problem solving).

By Ben Norton, 2016
"While Prince was renowned for challenging gender norms, he was not particularly well-known for dabbling in politics. Every once in a while, however, he did speak out. Here are some of his most political, and historic, moments."

"Prince accepted a standing ovation as he strolled out carrying a cane and rocking an Afro to present the 2015 Grammy for album of the year. Then he stole the show with a line that reminded everyone he was more than just a pop superstar; he was a black activist.
"Albums still matter," he said. "Like books and black lives, albums still matter. Tonight and always.""

By Wes Ferguson, 2019
"Descendants of slaves who escaped across the southern border observe Texas’s emancipation holiday with their own unique traditions... he morning before Juneteenth, Corina Harrington and her sister Miriam Torralba left San Antonio shortly after sunrise and headed south to Mexico, retracing a portion of the same route their African American ancestors followed in 1850 when they escaped slavery in the United States and fled to freedom south of the border."

By E. James West, 2018
"...Nike unveiled a new advertising campaign to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of its “Just Do It” motto, a slogan that still ranks as one of the most famous in advertising history. Writing for Newsweek in 1998, Jolie Soloman contended that the slogan, coupled with Nike’s partnership with iconic African American athletes such as Michael Jordan, enabled the company to perform “the deftest of marketing tricks: to be both anti-establishment and mass market”...By centering the quarterback in its advertising, Nike can be seen to have expanded its “mythic tradition of appearing countercultural, rebellious and anti-establishment,” even as its own corporate practices belie such progressive signal-calling."

"The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. It was established by Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. To date, the Museum has collected more than 36,000 artifacts and nearly 100,000 individuals have become members." The 'Explore' allows you to search the collection, read stories about items in the collection, and learn about the current exhibits. There is also a blog.

"After a few terms in the House, [Charles] Diggs keenly felt the isolation endured by black Members due to their small numbers in Congress and, in some cases, an inability to connect on a personal level. Frustrated that black Representatives lacked a forum to discuss common concerns and issues, Diggs proposed the organization of the Democratic Select Committee (DSC) at the opening of the 91st Congress (1969–1971), maintaining that the DSC would fill a significant void by fostering the exchange of information among the nine African Americans then serving in Congress, as well as between black Representatives and House leadership."

By Walter Ray Watson, 2018
"Shirley Chisholm's celebrated win on election night, Nov. 5, 1968, still resonates with today's election cycle, 50 years later. She became the first black woman ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Over the years, her victory is often cited as inspiration for women running for public office." Includes an audio excerpt from Chisholm's acceptance speech.

"We are a collective of Black feminists who have been meeting together since 1974...The most general statement of our politics at the present time would be that we are actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression, and see as our particular task the development of integrated analysis and practice based upon the fact that the major systems of oppression are interlocking...As Black women we see Black feminism as the logical political movement to combat the manifold and simultaneous oppressions that all women of color face."

All Library of Congress publicly available digital collections under the subject of African-American History.

By Tyler Parry, 2019
"In various corners of the internet, memes circulate about a Black man identified as “Anthony Johnson,” believed to be a pioneer of American slavery and the first slave owner in North America...Though it is not the only myth attached to American slavery, the meme-ing of Anthony Johnson manifests the unique challenges scholars face in combating historical misinformation. As one of the few documented Black landowners in 17th-century Virginia, his unique story has morphed into a manipulative trope used by right-wing activists."

By Keelyn Bradley, 2019
"This post is part of our online forum to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of Marlon Riggs’s groundbreaking film, Tongues Untied."

"Last month, the Chicago Defender joined the long list of American newspapers that have ceased print publication in response to collapsing circulation and advertising revenue.
Reports on the paper’s transition to an online-only format have focused on its justly celebrated role in shaping the Great Migration and the fight against Jim Crow. But another element of its history is less well-known: Beginning in the 1950s, it provided extensive coverage of black queer life in Chicago..."

By Nell Irvin Painter, 2017
"The history of racism and exclusion in the United States is the history of whiteness...
Othering as a means of control is not just the practice of white people in the United States, for every group perfects its self-regard through exclusion."

"The changes of this period highlight the contradictions of a Civil Rights movement that had seen tremendous progress in securing legal rights and freedoms for African Americans in a region that still denied many the opportunity for equitable education or employment opportunities."

Brief description of famous local African Americans and areas of interest in and around Annapolis.

"Harriet Tubman was a deeply spiritual woman who lived her ideals and dedicated her life to freedom. She is the Underground Railroad’s best known conductor and before the Civil War repeatedly risked her life to guide nearly 70 enslaved people north to new lives of freedom. This new national historical park preserves the same landscapes that Tubman used to carry herself and others away from slavery." Visitor center is located in Church Creek, MD. The Harriet Tubman Byway begins in Cambridge, MD. The Harriet Tubman Museum and Education Center is located in downtown Cambridge, MD.