African American Archives

As Fast As Words Could Fly

Book — Fiction. By Pamela M Tuck. Illustrated by Eric Velasquez. 2013. 32 pages.
Based on her father’s experience in 1960s North Carolina, Pamela Tuck tells how a family and community challenge racism where they work, shop, and go to school.

Lessons from the Heartland: A Turbulent Half-Century of Public Education in an Iconic American City

Book — Non-fiction. By Barbara Miner. 2013. 305 pages.
The history of public education in Milwaukee in the context of the broader story of racism in the rust belt.

Daybreak of Freedom: The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Stewart Burns 1997. 392 pages.
A documentary history of the Montgomery bus boycott that reverberates with the voices of those closest to the boycott.

We’ve Got A Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March

Book — Non-fiction. By Cynthia Levinson. 2012. 176 pages.
Tells the story of the 4,000 Black elementary, middle, and high school students who voluntarily went to jail between May 2 and May 11, 1963.

Revolution

Book — Fiction. By Deborah Wiles 2014. 544 pages.
Historical fiction for young adults set in Greenwood, Mississippi during the 1964 Freedom Summer.

Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights

Book — Non-fiction. By Tananarive Due and Patricia Stephens Due. 2003. 416 pages.
An unforgettable story of a mother-daughter journey spanning two generations of Civil Rights struggles.

The Return of Gabriel

Book — Fiction. By John Armistead. 2002. 218 pages.
Confronted with decisions well beyond their years, three friends grapple with eternal issues of shifting loyalties and the nature of heroism

This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Leslie G. Kelen. 2012. 256 pages.
Presents the Civil Rights Movement through the work of nine activist photographers who lived within the movement and documented its activities by focusing on the student activists and local people who together made it happen.

Faces of Freedom Summer

Book — Non-fiction. Photographs by Herbert Randall. 2001. 132 pages.
A key collection of photographs for teaching about Freedom Summer in 1964 Mississippi.

Memories From Mississippi Freedom Summer: “I Never Will Forget”

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Sarah Blanc. 2014. 115 pages.
A collection of interviews conducted by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program over seven years in Sunflower County, Mississippi. The stories provide a powerful first person introduction to the history of the Mississippi Civl Rights Movement.

Reconstruction: The Second Civil War

Film. By Elizabeth Deane and Dion Graham. 2004. 174 minutes.
Through the voices of several historians and dramatic re-enactments by actors, PBS’s Reconstruction: The Second Civil War uses the stories of ordinary citizens to paint a picture of the Reconstruction era.

Sean Bell Memorial | Zinn Education Project

Nov. 25, 2006: Sean Bell Murdered

Sean Bell was murdered by New York City police on the day before his wedding.

Michele Roberts, environmental justice coordinator | Zinn Education Project

The Red Dot of Environmental Racism

Teaching Activity. By Alma Anderson McDonald.
A teacher looks back on her childhood to discover the meaning of environmental racism. Linda Christensen offers ways to teach about this story with students.

June 3, 1946: Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia

SCOTUS ruled against Jim Crow segregation on interstate commerce in Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, leading to Journey of Reconciliation Freedom Rides.

June 4, 1967: Muhammad Ali Summit

African American athletes gathered to support Muhammed Ali’s refusal to serve in Vietnam.

May 12, 1968: The Poor People’s Campaign Began

The Poor People’s Campaign was a multiracial effort to gain economic justice for poor people.

May 15, 1970: Jackson State Killings

College student Phillip Lafayette Gibbs (21) and high school student James Earl Green (17) were killed by the police during an anti-war protest at Jackson State College.

Spottswood Thomas Bolling Jr. and his mother Mrs. Sarah Bolling of the Bolling v. Sharpe school desegregation case, decided on the same day as Brown v. Board. Image: © The Washington Post by permission from the Washingtoniana Division.

May 17, 1954: Brown v. Board Ruling

After decades of organizing and strategic efforts by parents, teachers, lawyers, and more — the U.S. Supreme Court issued the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education on school segregation.

May 19, 1930: Lorraine Hansberry Born

Lorraine Hansberry was an author and activist who wrote “A Raisin in the Sun.”

May 19, 1918: Mary Turner Lynching

Mary Turner, a young African American woman who was eight months pregnant, was lynched in Lowndes County, Georgia.

May 20, 1963: Medgar Evers Speech on WLBT

Medgar Evers made a 17-minute speech on WLBT in a rare and historic exception to the white supremacist only voice on Mississippi radio and television.