BHM #19 – Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War (1865-1877)

Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War (1865-1877) From heart-wrenching personal letters to bills of lading for office supplies, this module offers remarkable insight into the early Reconstruction period in the American South. The correspondence of the U.S. Army’s Office of Civil Affairs reveals efforts to foster democracy and rebuild communities in the divided . . .Continue reading BHM #19 – Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War (1865-1877)

BHM #18 – Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Communist Party: Papers of James and Esther Cooper Jackson

Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Communist Party: Papers of James and Esther Cooper Jackson Who were James and Esther Cooper Jackson??  James Jackson (1914-2007) and Esther Cooper Jackson (1917-2022) were a married African American couple who devoted their lives to fight for equality.  The Jacksons saw a path to racial equality through the Communist . . .Continue reading BHM #18 – Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Communist Party: Papers of James and Esther Cooper Jackson

BHM #17 – Black Studies Center

BHM #17 – Black Studies Center

Black Studies Center –  This fascinating collection includes…  Almost 2,000 videos and images, from Langston Hughes’s performance of “The Weary Blues” with jazz accompaniment in 1950 to Roy Wilkins speaking about Civil Rights issues in 2014.  Articles from reference sources including The Routledge Encyclopedia of African Literature, The Handbook of African American Literature‎, and selections . . .Continue reading BHM #17 – Black Studies Center

BHM #16 – FBI Confidential Files and Radical Politics in the U.S., 1945-1972

BHM #16 – FBI Confidential Files and Radical Politics in the U.S., 1945-1972

Under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI vigorously investigated and tracked the activities of Communist groups, Communist-front groups, and other radical organizations in the United States. This module consists of records of the FBI and the Subversive Activities Control Board from 1945-1972. Highlights of this module include J. Edgar Hoover’s office files; documentation . . .Continue reading BHM #16 – FBI Confidential Files and Radical Politics in the U.S., 1945-1972

BHM #15 – Race Relations in America

BHM #15 – Race Relations in America

Race Relations in America –  This primary source collection from Adam Matthews offers…  Over 100 hours of audio recordings – speeches, panel discussions, dictations of reports, and the narration of the film slideshows ‘Of a New Day Begun’ and ‘Rebirth in Roxbury’  Images organized into thematic galleries such as Arts and Culture, Civil Rights, Education . . .Continue reading BHM #15 – Race Relations in America

BHM #14 – “We were prepared for the possibility of death …”

“We were prepared for the possibility of death” Freedom Riders in the South, 1961  Another primary source from Archives Unbound, this collection is sourced from the FBI.  It includes documents from 1961 when civil rights activists, “Freedom Riders”, rode interstate buses into the segregated South to test the United States Supreme Court decision in Boynton . . .Continue reading BHM #14 – “We were prepared for the possibility of death …”

BHM #13 – The Republic of New Afrika

The Republic of New Afrika (RNA) was a social movement organization that proposed three objectives: The creation of an independent Black-majority country composed of the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina and the Black-majority counties adjacent to this area in Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida. $400 billion in reparations for the injustices suffered . . .Continue reading BHM #13 – The Republic of New Afrika

BHM #12 – Africa and the New Imperialism

Africa and the New Imperialism,  part of the Adam Matthew collections of primary sources, documents the period of rapid colonial expansion by European powers across the African continent during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.    From the accounts of missionaries and European explorers navigating the interior of the continent in the early nineteenth century; . . .Continue reading BHM #12 – Africa and the New Imperialism

BHM #11 – Black Abolitionist Papers

  Black Abolitionist Papers  –This primary source collection details the extensive work of African Americans to abolish slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection presents the international impact of African American activism against slavery, in the writings of the activists themselves. The approximately 15,000 articles, documents, . . .Continue reading BHM #11 – Black Abolitionist Papers

BHM #10 – African American Communities

African American Communities – Pamphlets, photos, postcards. Political cartoons, illustrations, maps. Scrap books, legal documents, ephemera and more.   This collection, albeit somewhat small, contains a fascinating variety of primary source documents evidencing race relations across social, political, cultural, and religious arenas.   Examining multiple aspects of the lives of African Americans through the lens of . . .Continue reading BHM #10 – African American Communities