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A historical drawing of a coastal fortification with ships and people on the shore.
The Constitution primary source
Document from 1793, detailing a resolution and signatures including John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
A historical illustration depicting a group of enslaved individuals in a field, with labor tools and children present.

Resources on the African American Experience

11 items

A historical drawing of a coastal fortification with ships and people on the shore.
Origins of the Slave Trade
Essay - 2178 Words

Essay

2178 Words

Why did Africa and Europe engage in the slave trade?
The Constitution primary source
Is the Constitution a Proslavery Document?
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Did the Framers of the Constitution draft protections for slavery in the document? Or did they provide mechanisms specifically to put the institution on the path of extinction? Gordon Lloyd and Stuart Leibiger debate this question.
Document from 1793, detailing a resolution and signatures including John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
Belinda Sutton, Petition to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1783
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
A historical illustration depicting a group of enslaved individuals in a field, with labor tools and children present.
Methods of Slave Resistance DBQ
Lesson - 1 Activities

Lesson

1 Activities

80 Min

Use this Lesson to have students examine how enslaved men and women resisted slavery during the late 1700s and early 1800s.
80 Min
Men gathered in an office of the Freedmen's Bureau in Memphis, Tennessee, discussing assistance and support.
O. O. Howard and the Freedmen’s Bureau
Essay - 1957 Words

Essay

1957 Words

How did O.O. Howard fight for the rights of recently freed slaves?
Historical illustration of the celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment with a parade and various attendees.
To What Extent Did American Principles Become a Reality for African Americans during Reconstruction?
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Reconstruction witnessed some successes in bringing equality, liberty, and justice for African Americans. Brooks D. Simpson and John C. Waugh explore the lasting impact of Reconstruction policies on American principles.
Black and white portraits of two distinguished men in formal attire, facing each other against a textured background.
Debating Strategies for Change: Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Du Bois
Lesson - 2 Activities

Lesson

2 Activities

65 Min

Use this Lesson with the Booker T. Washington, "Speech to the Cotton States and International Exposition," 1895 Primary Source to allow students to analyze and compare arguments for the early African American civil rights movement.
65 Min
Video title screen for "Plessy v. Ferguson" with text for Supreme Court homework help and a decorative background.
Plessy v. Ferguson | BRI’s Homework Help Series
Video

Video

5 Min

How did the odious doctrine of “separate but equal” become legally permissible in the U.S.? This Homework Help narrative explores the story of the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case. Further, analyze how the idea of “separate but equal” violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment through incorporation that was later struck down in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Case championing the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Due to the process of incorporation, the Supreme Court was able to eventually rule that the states had to adhere to the protections listed in the Bill of Rights.
5 Min
An African American man drinks from a water fountain labeled Colored.
Jim Crow and Progressivism
Essay - 2618 Words

Essay

2618 Words

By the end of this section, you will compare the goals and effects of the Progressive reform movement.
Political cartoon depicting violence, oppression, and racial themes, featuring a shield and symbolic figures.
The KKK during Reconstruction vs. the KKK in the 1920s
Lesson

Lesson

85 Min

Use this Lesson with the Postwar Race Riots Narrative, The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s Narrative, and Marcus Garvey, "Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World," 1920 Primary Source to highlight the struggles of African Americans during the 1920s.
Rosa Parks sits outside. Martin Luther King Jr. sits in the background.
Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Essay - 2316 Words

Essay

2316 Words

By the end of this section, you will explain how and why various groups responded to calls for the expansion of civil rights from 1960 to 1980.