African American Archives

Aug. 14, 1908: Springfield Massacre

This massacre was committed against African Americans by a mob of about 5,000 white people in Springfield, Illinois.

Aug. 30, 1967: People’s Tribunal in Detroit

People’s Tribunal on killing of three young men at Algiers Motel in Detroit.

The Stono Rebellion Marker (photo) | Zinn Education Project

Sept. 9, 1739: The Stono Rebellion

Uprising by enslaved people in South Carolina.

Aug. 21, 1831: Nat Turner Launches Rebellion

Nathaniel Turner launched one of the most historic revolts to end enslavement.

Fort Hood ASU Ellen Catalinotto (photo) | The Zinn Education Project

August 23, 1968: Forty-Three Black Soldiers Stage Sit-In at Ft. Hood

When the “Fort Hood 43” refused to board a plane to Chicago for riot-control duty against fellow African Americans, their non-violent act became one of the largest demonstrations of dissent in U.S. military history.

How to Make Amends: A Lesson on Reparations

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, Alex Stegner, Chris Buehler, Angela DiPasquale, and Tom McKenna.
Students meet dozens of advocates and recipients of reparations from a variety of historical eras to grapple with the possibility of reparations now and in the future.

Aug. 15 – 22, 1829: The Cincinnati Riots

White mobs in Cincinnati, Ohio, rioted for a week, assaulting the city’s Black residents and destroying their property .

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks: Young Readers Edition

Book — Non-fiction. By Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert. 2021.
This biography of Rosa Parks accessibly examines her six decades of activism, challenging young readers’ perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the Civil Rights Movement.

Sept. 4, 1949: Concert in Peekskill Attacked

Benefit concert for the Civil Rights Congress with Paul Robeson was held in Peekskill, New York.

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

Book — Non-fiction. By Clint Smith. 2021. 336 pages.
An examination of how monuments and landmarks represent — and misrepresent — the central role of slavery in U.S. history and its legacy today.

This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality

Book — Non-fiction. By Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy. 2019. 320 pages.
Told from the perspective of Jo Ann Allen, this book tells the story of twelve Black students who integrated Clinton High School in Tennessee in 1956.

Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction

Book — Non-fiction. By Kate Masur. 2021.
The movement for equal rights in the decades before the Civil War.

Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching

Book — Non-fiction. By Jarvis R. Givens. 2021. 320 pages.
Details the long assault on Black education that occurred from the period of enslavement through the life of one of the founders of the Black studies tradition, Carter G. Woodson.

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Hip-Hop History

Book — Non-fiction. By Jeff Chang and Davey D Cook. 2021. 352 pages.
An essential guide for understanding hip-hop music and culture.

Sept. 14, 1941: Rally Against Police Brutality

Following years of organizing against police brutality, four marches from different points in the city of Washington, D.C. converged at 10th and U Streets NW.

Sept. 15, 1963: 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

The 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in an act of terrorism in Birmingham, Alabama.

Little Rock Schools | Zinn Education Project

Sept. 12, 1958: Little Rock Public Schools Closed

Governor Orval Faubus closed all Little Rock, Arkansas public schools for one year rather than allow integration.

William Whipper. Published in The Underground Railroad by William Still, Philadelphia, 1879.

Sept. 16, 1837: Abolitionist William Whipper Advocated Non-Violence

William Whipper published “An Address on Non-Resistance to Offensive Aggression.”

Affidavit of Philip Joiner, Albany, Georgia, Sept. 23, 1868.

Sept. 19, 1868: Camilla Massacre

As African Americans marched peacefully in response to their expulsion from elected office, more than a dozen were massacred near Albany, Georgia.

The Women Who Caught the Babies: A Story of African American Midwives

Picture book. By Eloise Greenfield. Illustrated by Daniel Minter. 2019. 32 pages.
This unique picture book begins with historical background on the work of midwives and then switches to poetry to tell vignettes from lives of midwives during slavery, emancipation, and today.

Coltrane at Blue Train session, 1957. By Francis Wolff.

Sept. 23, 1926: John Coltrane Born

John Coltrane was born. Also born #tdih: Mary Church Terrell (1863), Ray Charles (1930), and Bruce Springsteen (1949).

Sept. 25, 1961: Murder of Herbert Lee

Herbert Lee, a farmer who helped voting rights activists, was murdered by a Mississippi state legislator in broad daylight.

Sept. 29, 1943: Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary Hunger Strike

Conscientious objectors began a hunger strike at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.

Sept. 20, 1830: The First Meeting of the Colored Conventions Movement

Forty African Americans, elected by communities in nine states, met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1830 to organize for improving the lives of Black people in North America. That week, they founded the National Colored Conventions movement and held its first official series of formal meetings.

Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Book — Non-fiction. By Brandy Colbert. 2021. 216 pages.
History of Oklahoma including Trail of Tears, Reconstruction, Black towns, Red Summer, Jim Crow, Black and white newspapers, lynchings, Tulsa Race Massacre, and the ongoing fight for reparations and historical memory.

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