1937-1938: Portraits of African-American former slaves

1937-1938: Portraits of African-American former slaves

1937-1938: Portraits of African-American former slaves

1937-1938: Portraits of African-American former slaves

Several important pieces of primary documentary evidence have now become freely available to scholars, students, and anyone interested in the history of American slavery, one an autobiography written in Arabic by Omar Ibn Said, an enslaved Muslim man who was actively encouraged to read and write by his North Carolina owners.

Rediscovering an American Community of Color: The Photographs of William Bullard is currently being displaced at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts

One man's extraordinary journey from west African prince through slavery to London high society.

Portrait of Eliza Benson (1836-1921) holding Catherine Spencer Hayden (also known as "Kitty"), daughter of Baltimore, Maryland, photographer Emily Spencer Hayden. With the deaths of Emily's parents A. C. Bradford "Braddie" Harrison Spencer (1841–1882) and Edward Spencer (1834–1883) in the early 1880s, care of the younger Spencer children was left to Benson. A formerly enslaved African American, Benson had worked for the Harrison and Spencer families for many years by the time Emily's parents died, and would live with Emily after she married and had children of her own. Earlier descriptions of Eliza Benson also named her as “Mammy,” a term once used in the United States to describe a Black nursemaid or nanny who cared for white children or who was otherwise a servant for a white family.

1937-1938: Portraits of African-American former slaves

1937-1938: Portraits of African-American former slaves

Gabriel Prosser, a literate enslaved blacksmith, planned a large slave rebellion in the Richmond area for August 30, 1800. Information regarding the revolt was leaked prior to its execution, and he and twenty-five followers were taken captive and hanged in punishment on October 10. In reaction, Virginia and other state legislatures passed restrictions on free blacks, as well as prohibiting the education, assembly, and hiring out of slaves, to restrict their chances to learn and to plan similar rebellions. Birthdays Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings (August 30, 1895 - December 8,1968) was a founder of Delta Sigma Theta and first president of the Alpha Chapter at Howard. After graduation she returned to her native San Antonio where she taught English and drama for 51 years. She and her husband, former Broadway actor John Hemmings, founded the Phyllis Wheatley Dramatic Guild Players, and she also starred in three films. She was elected national Delta Sigma Theta vice president in 1933 and historian in 1938. Roy Wilkins (August 30, 1901 - September 8, 1981) was NAACP Executive director from 1955 to 1977. He previously served as as assistant secretary under Walter White (1931-34) and editor of Crisis Magazine (1934-49). He participated in the March on Washington, the Selma to Montgomery Marches, and the March Against Fear. He felt civil rights could be gained through legislation and often testified at Congressional hearing, and he opposed militancy and the Black Power Movement. Charles "Tarzan" Cooper (August 30, 1907 - December 19, 1980), a standout at Philadelphia's Central High School, excelled at the center position for twenty professional basketball seasons. From 1924 to 1929, Tarzan starred with the Philadelphia Panthers & Philadelphia Saints. In 1929, Cooper joined the legendary New York Renaissance. For the next eleven years, Cooper directed the Rens, an all-black team, to 1,303 wins in 1,506 games. Xernona Clayton Brady (born August 30, 1930) is a civil rights leader and broadcasting executive. During the Civil Rights Movement, she worked for the National Urban League and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where she became involved in the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Clayton then went into television, where she became the first Southern African-American to host a daily prime time talk show. She became corporate vice president for urban affairs for Turner Broadcasting. Carrie Saxon Perry was the first black woman to be elected mayor of a major New England city – Hartford, Connecticut – in 1987. She served three terms before being defeated in 1993. She had previously served as a state representative, and was known for her distinctive broad-rimmed hats. Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson (August 30, 1934 – March 18, 1976) was a Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was also known as Luther "Snake" Johnson or Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson, and was otherwise billed as both Luther King and Little Luther (under the latter he recorded for Chess Records in the 1960s). Fred Hampton (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP). He was killed as he lay in bed in his apartment by a Illinois state tactical unit working in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Hampton's death was chronicled in the 1971 documentary film The Murder of Fred Hampton, as well as an episode of the critically acclaimed documentary series Eyes on the Prize. Robert Parish (born August 30, 1953) played in more games than any other player in NBA history. A 7-1 center who combined strength, agility and remarkable endurance, Parish won three NBA championships with the Boston Celtics in the 1980s and teamed with Larry Bird and Kevin McHale to form one of the greatest front lines in NBA history. He capped his career by winning yet another championship ring as a member of the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls. Gerald Albright (born August 30, 1957) plays a number of instruments as well as saxophone. He has sold over a million albums and has a signature line of saxophones with Cannonball Musical Instruments. He holds a Business Management degree from the University of Redlands (California)and was one of ten saxophonists who played at President Bill Clinton's inauguration. He was also featured at the Presidential Summit, as well as several private functions for the President. Events The first African American magazine, Mirror of Freedom, began publication in New York City on August 30, 1838. Published by abolitionist David Ruggles (left), the magazine is regarded as the first created and published by an African-American. Ruggles was a passionate opponent of slavery, as seen through his other anti-slavery publications including Extinguisher, Extinguished (1834) and Abrogation of the Seventh Commandment by the American Churches (1835). African Americans participated in a national political convention for the first time on August 30, 1843 at the Liberty party convention in Buffalo. Samuel R. Ward led the convention in prayer; Henry Highland Garnet (left) was a member of the nominating committee; and Charles R. Ray was one of the convention secretaries. On August 30, 1861 Major General John C. Fremont issued a proclamation putting Missouri under martial law and freeing all enslaved people in the state. President Lincoln rescinded the order on September 11, and Fremont was removed from command of the Department of the West (from the Mississippi River to the Rockies) on October 22. On August 30, 1944 Anna Lucasta premiered at the Mansfield Theater, the first Broadway drama with an all-black cast. It was an American Negro Theater production starring Hilda Simms, Canada Lee, Frederick O'Neal, Earl Hyman, and Alice Childress, with John Wildberg as producer and Henry Wagstaff Gibble as director. It ran for over 2 years with 957 performances before embarking on a 3-year tour of the U.S. and Europe, including a year-long run in London. On August 30, 1961, James B. Parsons was confirmed by the United States Senate to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and received his commission the same day. He was the first African American given a lifetime appointment on the Federal bench. On August 30,1966 Constance Baker Motley was confirmed U.S. district judge, becoming the first African American woman on the federal bench. Prior to her appointment, Ms Motley worked as a law clerk for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. On August 30, 1967 the nomination of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed by the Senate. He had been nomination by President Johnson on June 13 and was officially sworn in as the first African American Supreme Court Justice on October 7. On August 30, 1983 Guion "Guy" Bluford, Jr., engineer and astronaut, flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger, making history as the first African-American in space. Photo Gallery White Mob Stops School Desegregation In Mansfield,Texas on August 30, 1956 August 30, 1960: Welsh singer Shirley Bassey being fitted for a new dress by designer Douglas Darnell. The sheath dress is covered with 156,000 diamante stones and weighs 28 pounds. Wattstax (1973) Documentary recorded August 30, 1972 at the concert organized by Memphis' Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots, held at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Performers include The Dramatics, Kim Weston, The Emotions, William Bell, The Bar-Kays, Albert King, Little Milton, Johnnie Taylor, Mel and Tim, Carla & Rufus Thomas, Luther Ingram, and Isaac Hayes. Salt-N-Pepa, New York City, August 30th, 1993 On August 30, 2012 Lucimarian Roberts passed away at age 88. She was the mother of Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts and the first African American to head Mississippi’s board of education Gabrielle Union wed on August 30, 2014 First lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha, left, and Malia, August 30, 2014 on their way to the wedding of the first family's longtime chef and friend. Chef Sam Kass Publications New Orleans Daily Delta, August 30, 1854 Topeka, Kansas Plaindealer, August 30, 1930 Sports Illustrated, August 30, 1976 Jet, August 30, 2010 The Struggles of John Brown Russwurm by Winston James. $13.30. 320 pages. Publisher: NYU Press reference; annotated edition (August 30, 2010)

"Black Hair in The Media" online reference library & pictorial museum. Learn facts about how African hair has been portrayed & stigmatized in mainstream media.

Pioneering American photography

1937-1938: Portraits of African-American former slaves

1937-1938: Portraits of African-American former slaves

The house on Yarrow Mamout’s old lot in Georgetown is scheduled for demolition, but efforts are underway to save history from the bulldozer.

For more on the African American experience visit Discover Black Heritage.

On the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, new photos have been released showing some of the men and women who lived through its horrors.

Photographer John Johnson, from Lincoln, Nebraska, took hundreds of photographs in the early 1900s of African Americans and immigrants in his community.

Hugh Mangum traveled across North Carolina and Virginia from the 1890s to the 1920s photographing the people, both black and white, he met along the way

William Bullard's early 20th century portraits of his Worcester neighbors form a unique document of an American community of color.

About the Book "A ... synthesis of African and African-American history that shows how slavery differed in different regions of the country, and how the Africans and their descendants influenced the culture, commerce, and laws of the early United States"-- Book Synopsis In this sweeping, foundational work, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Hackett Fischer draws on extensive research to show how enslaved Africans and their descendants enlarged American ideas of freedom in varying ways in different regions of the early United States. African Founders explores the little-known history of how enslaved people from different regions of Africa interacted with colonists of European origins to create new regional cultures in the colonial United States. The Africans brought with them linguistic skills, novel techniques of animal husbandry and farming, and generations-old ethical principles, among other attributes. This startling history reveals how much our country was shaped by these African influences in its early years, producing a new, distinctly American culture. Drawing on decades of research, some of it in western Africa, Fischer recreates the diverse regional life that shaped the early American republic. He shows that there were varieties of slavery in America and varieties of new American culture, from Puritan New England to Dutch New York, Quaker Pennsylvania, cavalier Virginia, coastal Carolina, and Louisiana and Texas. This landmark work of history will transform our understanding of America's origins. Review Quotes "An almost unimaginable breadth of research, information and ambition. . . . Drawing on extensive recent work by historians on the demographics of the slave trade, Fischer traces the multiple African sources of the waves of importations from the 17th to the early 19th century, offering a rich portrait of the variety of cultures and places from which captives came. . . . He has been hailed as an accomplished historical storyteller who can capture a general reader, and those skills are evident here."--Drew Gilpin Faust "The New York Times""Enriched by Hackett's deep empathy, scrupulous research, and lucid prose, this milestone study casts American history in a new light."-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)""Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Fischer delivers an exhaustive, multidimensional work about the waves of enslaved Africans brought forcibly to America and how their cultural elements interacted with White-controlled society to create a variety of unique American regions. . . . A tour de force of fascinating, multilayered research that adds significantly to the literature on the early republic."-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)""[Fischer] argues that historians should not focus solely on the tragic moral paradox of racism and slavery without also considering the positive, enduring impacts that enslaved and free Africans have had on the United States' founding ideals. This riveting, extensive study will prove invaluable to students of the history of slavery and African American history."-- "Library Journal (starred review)""Emphasizing regional variations and the agency of individuals, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Fischer shows how Africans responded to racial slavery in ways that ultimately redefined and expanded American notions of freedom. . . . Informed by a mountain of quantitative and narrative sources and leavened by Fischer's travels on both sides of the Atlantic, this is a comprehensive demographic history with a powerful and important corrective thesis."-- "Booklist (starred review)""A magnificent achievement and a fitting companion to Fischer's earlier masterpiece, Albion's Seed. Along with the regional influences of the original British settlers to the founding of America-- the Puritans, Chesapeake cavaliers, Quakers, and Scotch-Irish-- we now have the many contributions of the diverse peoples of Africa to the rich and complex tapestry of American culture. Based on an immense amount of research, this powerful work of history transcends all our current historiographical debates over slavery."--Gordon Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution and the Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus, Brown University"A monumental achievement in several senses of the term. Fischer shows how a gifted historian, at the peak of his powers, reframes the current debate over the role of slavery and race in American history. He does so by becoming a fully informed witness rather than a politically informed judge. Here the larger truth of our origins as a biracial society is not lost, but found, in the details."--Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents"In a work of phenomenal scope and decades of research across three continents, Fischer delivers a masterpiece of cultural and demographic history. He gives deep grounding to the cliché of diversity in our past, and through a wealth of anecdotes and stories, shows that Africans and African Americans were the agents of the pluralism and syncretism that drove the development of early America. Every student of African American history will learn anew from this book, scholars and general readers alike. Rarely have American regions, the question of race, and the whole story of a society been captured so powerfully. It is a book to be mined for knowledge and savored with joy."--David W. Blight, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom and Sterling Professor of History, Yale University

The University of Virginia marks its bicentennial with both celebrations and critical thinking

Vintage Black Sailor Photos In Honor Of Fleet Week