African American Archives

Aug. 6, 1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Convention

The MFDP held a State Convention with 2,500 people in Jackson, Mississippi.

Aug. 9, 2014: Michael Brown Killed by Police

Michael Brown was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Aug. 8, 1964: Freedom Schools Convention

The Freedom Schools Convention was held in Meridian, Mississippi

Carter Children | Zinn Education Project

Aug. 12, 1965: Carter Family Insists on Rights Under Brown v. Board

Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter enrolled their children in schools in Sunflower County, Mississippi that had been illegally denied to African Americans. In retaliation, they were evicted from the land they sharecropped and their home was riddled with bullets.

Aug. 1, 1952: Sarah Keys Refuses to Give Up Her Seat on a Bus

Sarah Keys refused to give up her seat on a state-to-state charter bus, prompting the landmark court case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company.

Poster for an event in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1849, to commemorate the end of slavery in the British West Indies.

Aug. 1, 1834: Britain Passes Slavery Abolition Act

August First Day became a symbol of hope for enslaved people and abolitionists in the United States when Britain passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1834, abolishing slavery throughout its colonies around the world.

How the Word Is Passed: Discussion Questions, Writing Prompts, and Teaching Ideas

Teaching ideas and discussion questions for How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith.

How We Remember: The Struggle Over Slavery in Public Spaces

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow, Jesse Hagopian, Cierra Kaler-Jones, Ana Rosado, and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
Students read about sites of memory in How the Word Is Passed and imagine how to commemorate what occurred there. They then compare that to how the respective site is currently commemorated and described by docents.

Sept. 29, 1951: “A Call to Negro Women” Sojourners for Truth and Justice

A decade before the March on Washington, a group of Black women known as the Sojourners for Truth and Justice gathered in Washington D.C. to advocate for their rights.

Lives in Our Lineage: A Lesson on Oral Histories

Teaching Activity. By Cierra Kaler-Jones.
In this lesson, students use key excerpts from How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith as inspiration for a project where they tell their and their loved ones’ stories.

Freedom Song

Film. By Phil Alden Robinson. 2006. 117 minutes.
Based on the actual history of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), student activism, and voter registration in McComb, Mississippi, during the Civil Rights Movement.

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Five Myths About Reconstruction

Article. By James W. Loewen. 2015.
Overview of five common fallacies that Americans still tell themselves about the Reconstruction era.

Aug. 13, 1955: Lamar Smith Murdered

Lamar Smith, 63-year-old farmer and WWI veteran, was shot dead in Brookhaven, Mississippi, for urging African Americans to vote.

Aug. 22, 1964: Sharecroppers Demand Delivery of Full Suffrage in the U.S.

Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, and the other members of the MFDP at the Democratic National Convention, questioned the nation about the lack of “one person, one vote” in the United States.

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom

Picture book. By Tim Tingle. 2008. 40 pages.
A picture book that highlights rarely discussed intersections between Native Americans in the South and African Americans in bondage.

Sept. 1, 1956: Clinton Desegregation Crisis

The White Citizens Council and Ku Klux Klan launched full-scale rioting in Clinton, Tennessee in response to school desegregation.

Sept. 2, 1966: Grenada, Miss. School Desegregation Battle

The Grenada, Mississippi school board shuttered school instead of opening its doors to registered Black students.

Sept. 3, 1868: Henry McNeal Turner Addressed the Georgia Legislature

Henry McNeal Turner addressed the Georgia Legislature on its decision to expel all Black representatives.

Sept. 10, 1895: South Carolina Constitutional Convention Convened

The South Carolina Constitutional Convention convened to disenfranchise Black voters.

Aug. 16, 1955: Paul Robeson Lost Court Appeal

Paul Robeson lost his court appeal to have the U.S. State Department grant him a passport.

Clara Luper (photo) | Zinn Education Project

Aug. 19, 1958: Katz Drugstore Sit-Ins

Clara Luper and the NAACP Youth Council began sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters.

Aug. 25, 1925: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was launched in New York.

Jobs and Justice March | Zinn Education Project

Aug. 28, 1963: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists marched on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Attica Prison Uprising | Zinn Education Project

Sept. 9, 1971: Attica Prison Uprising

The Attica Prison Uprising began when prisoners took control of part of the prison in Upstate New York.

Sept. 9, 1915: The Association for the Study of African American Life and History

ASALH was established by Carter G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland.

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