African American Archives

June 9, 1964: Bloody Tuesday

Following months of protests to end segregation, Black residents of Tuscaloosa, Alabama were brutally attacked by police and the Klan inside the First African Baptist Church.

Dec. 26, 1956: Fred Shuttlesworth Leads Protest to Desegregate Birmingham Buses

The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and others were met with coordinated white supremacist violence when attempting to desegregate Birmingham city buses.

Bernice Johnson Reagon, ¡Presente!

Bernice Johnson Reagon (October 4, 1942 – July 16, 2024) was a song leader, composer, scholar, and activist.

We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance

Book — Non-fiction. By Kellie Carter Jackson. 2024. 304 pages.
A reframing of the past and present of Black resistance — both nonviolent and violent — to white supremacy.

Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt

Book — Non-fiction. By Orisanmi Burton. 2023. 328 pages.
Drawing on oral history and applying Black radical theory in ways that center the intellectual and political goals of incarcerated people, this book argues that prisons are a domain of hidden warfare within U.S. borders.

Sept. 25, 1840: William Freeman Imprisoned and Challenged Convict Leasing

At 15 years old, William Freeman was incarcerated in the Auburn State Prison, America’s original prison for profit. From the start, he challenged the system of convict leasing.

Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank

Book — Non-fiction. By Justene Hill Edwards. 2024. 336 pages.
Following the Civil War, tens of thousands of the formerly enslaved deposited millions of dollars into the Freedman’s Bank, but their trust was betrayed when the Freedman’s Bank collapsed within the decade.

Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins

Book — Non-fiction. By Mary Frances Phillips. 2025. 320 pages.
The first biography of Ericka Huggins, a queer Black woman who brought spiritual self-care practices to the Black Panther Party.

Young Abolitionists: Children of the Antislavery Movement

Book — Non-fiction. By Michaël Roy. 2024. 264 pages.
Through a reexamination of archival materials including antislavery newspapers, correspondence, and autobiographies, this book centers children’s participation in the campaign to abolish slavery in the United States.

Do You Know Them?: Families Lost and Found After the Civil War

Picture book. By Shana Keller and illustrated by Laura Freeman. 2024. 40 pages.
Helps introduce young readers to the history of African American family members desperately trying to find their children, spouses, siblings, parents, and other loved ones during Reconstruction.

Feb. 2, 1959: The Norfolk 17 Defy the Stanley Plan

In spite of a repressive series of laws that maintained racial segregation in Virginia schools, the Norfolk 17 stood strong and helped to desegregate their local schools.

May 15, 1956: Elloree 21 Refuse to Sign Anti-NAACP Teacher Oath

Twenty-one teachers at the Elloree Training School were fired when they refused to sign an oath denying membership in the NAACP.

May 10, 1740: The South Carolina Negro Act is Passed

Passed in response to the Stono Rebellion, this law made it illegal to teach enslaved people to read or write, aiming to prevent further insurrections.

Aug. 28, 1964: Columbia Avenue Uprising in Philadelphia

The Columbia Avenue Riot began in the predominantly African American neighborhoods of North Philadelphia after an altercation with the police and continued for three days.

July 4, 1854: Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society Rally

At a rally sponsored by the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, angry and determined abolitionists burned copies of the Fugitive Slave Act and the U.S. Constitution.

A New Kind of Youth: Historically Black High Schools and Southern Student Activism, 1920-1975

Book — Non-fiction. 2022. By Jon N. Hale. 348 pages.
An examination of Black high school student activism in the civil rights era, illustrating how Black youth supported liberatory movements and inspired their elders across the South.

Simulating Redlining: When “Race Was the Real Currency”

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools.
A high school social studies teacher describes a classroom simulation where students experience the effects of decades of racist federal housing policies.

King of the North: Martin Luther King’s Freedom Struggle Outside of the South

Book — Non-fiction. 2025. By Jeanne Theoharis. 400 pages.
Illustrates how King’s time in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago — outside Dixie — was at the heart of his campaign for racial justice.

Oct. 28, 1958: Two Children Arrested in N. Carolina

Following a kiss by a 7-year-old white girl, two young Black boys ages 8 and 9 were unlawfully arrested and brutally treated in Monroe, North Carolina.

Revolution by Fire: New York’s Afro-Irish Uprising of 1741, a Graphic Novel

Book — Historical fiction. By Marcus Rediker and David Lester, with Paul Buhle. 2024. 176 pages.
This book imagines outlaw fugitive John Gwin and an eclectic crew of renegades as they attempt to disrupt and overthrow the colonial social order.

Teaching Palestine-Israel from the Perspective of Civil Rights and Black Power Activists

Teaching Activity. By Hannah Gann, Nick Palazzolo, Keziah Ridgeway, and Adam Sanchez. 2024. 23 pages.
A lesson to deepen students’ understanding of Black internationalist perspectives: perspectives key to shaping the struggle for collective liberation.

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