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Black History is American History: Perspectives from Historical Primary Sources

Posted on 02/23/2023
by
William Stearns

Explore Black history and American history with these resources and articles for research, teaching and learning. Discover more in the Readex blog archives.

Sepia-toned portrait of Frederick Douglass. He wears a serious expression, a dark suit and tie
  
Celebrating the Remarkable Life and Work of Frederick Douglass

While America’s Historical Newspapers includes The North Star, the forceful anti-slavery newspaper Douglass began publishing in Rochester, New York, in 1847, America’s Historical Imprints contains a wealth of primary source material recording, remembering...More

 

Black-and-white 19th-century illustration of four well-dressed men surrounding a wooden crate. A Black man sits inside the open crate while two men behind him hold a large sheet or sign. One man gestures theatrically, and another carries a basket, suggesting a staged performance or prank.
'Forwarded as Merchandise': News Coverage of Henry Box Brown’s Remarkable Quest for Freedom 

As an enslaved man, Henry Brown’s experience was not atypical. His escape from slavery, however, was anything but typical. Details of Brown’s life...More

Title page of an 1838 pamphlet reading “The Little Western Against the Great Eastern; or, Brother Jonathan vs. John Bull: Being a Review by a Plebeian of the Western Hemisphere of Abolitionism, as Exposed by Doctor Sleigh.” Published in Philadelphia, 1838.
  
“A Blessing No Doubt”: Works of Parody and Satire in the Anti-slavery Cause

The March release of The American Slavery Collection, 1820-1922: From the American Antiquarian Society includes two works that employ parody and satire to counter the arguments of the pro-slavery faction...More

Woodcut illustration from “Rapp’s Comic Almanac, 1844” showing a chaotic crowd scene outside a building. A man in the foreground runs while people behind him push forward and wave their arms, suggesting a riot or frantic chase.
  
Illustrated Comic or Satirical Publications in Afro-Americana Imprints

Afro-Americana Imprints, 1535-1922: From the Library Company of Philadelphia includes several illustrated comic or satirical works published in the 19th century...More

 

  
Why de dickens?: The Lampooning of African Americans as an American Form of Entertainment 

Included in the second release of Nineteenth-Century American Drama: Popular Culture and Entertainment, 1820-1900, are several minstrel plays. Developed in the United States beginning in the 1830s...More

Color illustration of a busy waterfront ferry landing with boats and sailboats in the background. People gather along a wooden dock, while a horse pulls a cart near the shoreline beside buildings, suggesting a 19th-century river or harbor crossing.
  
‘Imagination! Who can sing thy force?’—Highlights from Black Authors 

The January release of Black Authors, 1556-1922 includes: a description of the first major yellow fever epidemic in the United States, a collection of verse by an African slave who became a leading American poet...More

Title page and opening text of an “Anti-Slavery Tracts, No. 9” pamphlet titled “Influence of Slavery Upon the White Population,” by a former resident of slave states. The page includes several paragraphs discussing the effects of slavery on society and character, with a handwritten note near the top margin.
  
“A common railer and brawler”: Highlights from The American Slavery Collection

The May release of The American Slavery Collection, 1820-1922: From the American Antiquarian Society includes a document arguing that slavery enslaves the owners as well as the enslaved, written by a woman who had...More

Simple black-and-white diagram of a ship’s deck plan, showing an elongated oval vessel with labeled sections for rooms, cabins, baggage area, and other compartments arranged along the center and sides.
  
Rebellion, Riot, and Mutiny: Compelling Criminal Trials in Afro-American Imprints

A recent release [2014] of Afro-Americana Imprints, 1535-1922, includes compelling accounts of several significant criminal trials. Five of these, spanning the years 1824 to 1851, are highlighted...More

Color painting of a rural village scene with a white church topped by a green dome, several large white buildings, and many people running across a grassy field. A herd of horses gallops through the foreground while children and adults scatter, suggesting a sudden commotion or chase in a 19th-century setting.
Noyes Complaints: A White Mob (and 90 Yoke of Oxen) Drag a Racially Integrated School from Its Foundations in 1835 New Hampshire 

Blame it on a literal reading of the Declaration of Independence. On July 4, 1834, the New Hampshire state legislature granted a charter to found Noyes Academy in the rural Town of Canaan...More

Black-and-white engraved portrait of a woman in late 18th- or early 19th-century dress, shown in three-quarter view with powdered, upswept hair and a ribbon at the back. A handwritten note below reads “Yours very sincerely,” followed by a signature. Faint printed publication text appears near the bottom margin.
  
‘Mutterings of Pent-up Wrath’: Highlights from Afro-Americana Imprints

The July release of Afro-Americana Imprints, 1535-1922: From the Library Company of Philadelphia includes examinations of slavery and the slave trade by a poet, an abolitionist society, and a Methodist minister...More

Title page of a book titled “Atrocious Judges: Lives of Judges Infamous as Tools of Tyrants and Instruments of Oppression.” It notes the work was compiled from judicial biographies by John Lord Campbell and includes an appendix on the case of Passmore Williamson. Edited with introduction and notes by Richard Hildreth. Published in New York and Auburn by Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1856.
  
“A Land under the Curse of Slavery”: Highlights from The American Slavery Collection

The February release of The American Slavery Collection, 1820-1922: From the American Antiquarian Society includes letters of dissent from within the Presbyterian Church, a compilation of judicial biographies...More

The Early Histories of HBCUs

 

Wide daytime photograph of a large red-brick institutional building on Howard University's campus with white trim and a central clock tower topped by a dome. The building sits on a landscaped lawn with trees and shrubs under a clear blue sky.
  
Part 1: Howard University

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, commonly referred to as HBCUs, have graduated tens of thousands of men and women who have achieved professional, political, and social prominence. Foremost of these is Howard University, which was chartered by Congress in Washington, D.C., on March 2, 1867...More

 

Aerial view of a large red-brick historic building on Fisk University's campus with a steep slate roof, ornate dormer windows, and a tall central spire rising above a white belfry. The building is surrounded by trees, with a distant landscape and clear blue sky in the background,.
  
Part 2: Fisk University and the Jubilee Singers

Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee opened on January 9, 1866 more than year before Howard University. While Howard was beset by controversy from its beginning, Fisk seems to have had a considerably less...More

 

Black-and-white photograph of Booker T. Washington seated at a desk, writing with a pen. He wears a suit and bow tie and looks down at papers in front of him. The office setting includes stacks of books, framed pictures on the wall, and a vase of flowers on the desk.
  
Part 3: Booker T. Washington and the Tuskegee Institute

Booker Taliaferro Washington was born April 5, 1856 in Virginia the son of an enslaved woman named Jane who later, after emancipation, was able to reunite with her husband, Washington Ferguson, in West Virginia. Booker’s father...More

 

 

Side-by-side black-and-white portraits of W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Du Bois (left) wears a suit and tie and has a mustache and goatee, looking slightly toward the camera. Washington (right) wears a suit and bow tie, facing forward with a serious expression against a plain studio background.
Part 4: W. E. B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and the Great Debate

W. E. B. Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1868. He died ninety-five years later in Accra, Ghana in 1963.  During his long life he rose rapidly to become and remain a powerful voice on the issue of race in America and beyond...More

To learn more, visit the Readex blog, log in through your library, or request a trial of Readex digital historical collections.

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