Synopsis
This text introduces students to both primary sources and analytical essays and is designed to encourage critical thinking about the history and culture of African Americans. The book presents a carefully selected group of readings organized to allow students to evaluate primary sources, test the interpretations of distinguished historians, and draw their own conclusions.
Review
VOLUME I 1. Interpreting African-American History DOCUMENTS 1. The Brownies' Book Encourages Black Children to Know Their History, 1920 2. Carter G. Woodson on His Goals for Black History, 1922 3. Mary McLeod Bethune Outlines the Objectives of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1937 4. John Hope Franklin Explains the Lonely Dilemma of the American Negro Scholar, 1963 5. Vincent Harding on the Differences Between Negro History and Black History, 1971 6. Lucille Clifton and the Nurturing of History, c. 1990 ESSAYS John Hope Franklin, The History of African-American History David W. Blight, The Burden of African-American History: Memory, Justice, and a Usable Past Fath David Ruffins, Sites of Memory, Sites of Struggle: The "Materials" of History 2. Africans and the Slave Trade: Causes and Consequences DOCUMENTS 1. A Portuguese Slave Trader Describes a Kidnapping, c. 1440s 2. Slave Raiding on the West African Coast, 1448 3. A Congolese Envoy to Brazil, c. 1643 4. Willem Bosman, a Dutch Trader, Describes the Details of Bargaining for Slaves, 1701 5. William Snelgrave, an English Trader, Describes the Business of Slave Trading and Two Slave Mutinies, 1734 6. Olaudah Equiano, an Ibo, Describes His Capture, 1756 7. An Illustration Showing "Tight-Packing" for the Middle Passage, c. 1790s ESSAYS Walter Rodney, African Societies Were Transformed by the Slave Trade John Thornton, African Societies Voluntarily Participated in the Slave Trade 3. The Origins of North American Slavery and Racism DOCUMENTS 1. John Rolfe Records the Arrival of African Slaves to Virginia, August 1619 2. Anthony Johnson, a Former Slave, Claims His Slave Property, 1655 3. Interracial Sexual Relations and Their Consequences: The Case of Elizabeth Key, 1655-1656 4. An Act to Discriminate Between Africans and Others in Maryland, 1664 5. Francis Payne, a Free Negro Property Owner in Colonial Virginia, Bequeaths His Property, 1673 6. Distinguishing Slaves from Indentured Servants in Virginia, 1705 ESSAYS Winthrop D. Jordan, "The Mutual Causation" of Racism and Slavery Edmund S. Morgan, The Paradox of Slavery and Freedom 4. The Origins of African America and the Continuity of African Culture DOCUMENTS 1. Olaudah Equiano, an Ibo, Discovers the Cultural Diversity of West Africa, 1789 2. Six Advertisements for Virginia Slave Runaways, 1736, 1767 3. Early Slave Conversion Attempts of Francis Le Jau, an Anglican Minister, 1706-1717 4. George Whitefield, a Religious Revivalist, Encourages Conversion and Education, 1740 5. Phyllis Wheatley's Homage to George Whitefield, 1770 6. The Conversion Experience of John Marrant, 1802 7. Landon Carter, a Slavemaster, Confronts the Problem of Slave Conversion, 1776 8. Two Letters from Savannah, Georgia on the Progress of Baptist Churches, 1792, 1800 9. A Grave Decorated in African Style, 1944 ESSAYS Sterling Stuckey, How Africans Preserved Their Culture: Culture as Spirit Mechal Sobel, How White and Black Cultures Merged: Culture as Social Relations 5. The Development of a Slave Society in Colonial North America DOCUMENTS 1. The Story of Tom, an African Creole, 1727 2. Description of a Slave Rebellion in Stono, South Carolina, 1739 3. Lord Dunmore, a British General, Entices Slaves of Colonial Rebels to Flee, 1775 4. Saul, a Slave Revolutionary Veteran, Petitions for Freedom, 1792 5. Free Blacks in South Carolina Petition for Equal Rights, 1791 6. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, a Traveler, Encounters the Continuing Horror of Slavery in the New Republic, 1782 ESSAYS Ira Berlin, Historicizing the Slave Experience Allan Kulikoff, How Africans Became African Americans 6. Subordination and Autonomy: The Dialectics of Master-Slave Relations DOCUMENTS 1. Thomas Cobb, an Antebellum Scholar, Describes Legal Basis for Slavery, 1858 2. Thomas Ruffin, a Judge, Struggles with the Illogic of Slaves as Property and as Persons, 1829 3. South Carolina Governor James Henry Hammond, a Slaveowner, Instructs His Overseer on the Ideal Disciplinary Regime, c. 1840s 4. A Slave Man Resists, 1845 5. A Slave Woman Resists, 1861 6. The Last Will and Testament of Patty Cooke, a Virginia Slave, 1821 7. Samuel Elliot, an Ex-Slave, Claims Property Lost in the Civil War, 1873 ESSAYS Orlando Patterson, The Riddle of Property Rights in Human Beings Eugene D. Genovese, The Legal Basis for Mastery Philip D. Morgan, Slave Property as Property Owners 7. The Roots of Resistance: Slave Cultures and Communities DOCUMENTS 1. Margaret Garner, a Slave Mother, Kills Her Child to Prevent Reenslavement, 1856 2. Description of Two Women Outlaws, c. 1850s 3. Description of Love and Courtship in Slavery 4. Letters Showing Relations Between Slave Husbands and Wives, 1840-1863 5. Martin Lee and Hawkins Wilson, Two Ex-Slaves, Seek to Reunite with Their Children After Emancipation, 1866, 1867 6. Spotswood Rice, an Ex-Slave Soldier, Seeks to Protect His Children, 1864 7. Three Folktales Show How to Cope with Powerlessness, 1860s 8. Two Slave Spirituals Express Values and Hopes ESSAYS Ira Berlin and Leslie S. Rowland, Slave Communities Are Grounded in Family and Kinship Deborah Gray White, Gender Roles and Gender Identity in Slave Communities Lawrence W. Levine, The Slaves' World-View Revealed in Their Stories 8. Free Blacks Confront the "Slave Power": The Meaning of Freedom in a Slave Society DOCUMENTS 1. Henry Highland Garnet Urges Slaves to Resist, August 1843 2. Frederick Douglass Opposes Free Black Emigration, September 1851 3. Rosetta Douglass Describes Her Father and Mother at Home, 1851-1853 4. Charlotte Forten Protests the Trial of a Fugitive Slave, 1854 5. Frederick Douglass Urges Resistance to Oppression, 1857 6. Oberlin Graduate Rev. Richard Winsor Describes the Rescue of a Fugitive Slave, 1858 ESSAYS Emma Jones Lapansky, The Roots of Resistance in Free Black Communities James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, Manhood and Womanhood in a Slave Society 9. Civil War and Emancipation DOCUMENTS 1. Captain C.B. Wilder, a Civil War Relief Worker, Describes Flight from Slavery, 1863 2. Corporal Octave johnson, a Union Soldier, Describes His Escape from Slavery During the War, 1864 3. John C.P. Wederstrandt and I.N. Steele, two Slaveholders, Lose Control of Their Slave Labor, 1862, 1865 4. Private Hubbard Pryor as a Slave and as a Union Soldier, c. 1864 5. Slave Fugitives Tell Their Stories to Charlotte Forten, 1863 6. Charlotte Forten Describes the Celebration of Emancipation in the Heart of the Confederacy, January 1, 1863 7. A Freedom Song from the Civil War Era ESSAYS Vincent Harding, Soldiers of God's Wrath Clarence L. Mohr, The Slaves Strike for Freedom 10. The Work of Reconstruction DOCUMENTS 1. African Americans in Richmond, Virginia, Petition President Andrew Johnson, 1865 2. Freedmen of Edisto Island, South Carolina, Demand Land, 1865 3. Captain Charles Soule, a Northern Army Officer, Lectures Ex-Slaves on the Responsibilities of Freedom, 1865 4. A Share-Wages Contract, 1865 5. Charles Raushenberg, a Freedmen's Bureau Agent, Reports from Georgia, 1867 6. Elizabeth Botume, a Northern Schoolteacher, Remembers a Husband and Wife Reunion, c. 1865 7. Dave Waldrop, a Florida Freeman, Seeks to Reunite His Family, 1867 8. Harriet Hernandes, a South Carolina Woman, Testifies Against the Ku Klux Klan, 1871 9. Elected Representatives, 1872 ESSAYS Herbert C. Gutman, Schools for Freedom Julie Saville, Defining Free Labor Elsa Barkley Brown, The Labor of Politics VOLUME II 1. Interpreting African-American History DOCUMENTS The Brownie's Book Encourages Black Children to Know Their History, 1920 Carter G. Woodson on His Goals for Black History, 1922 Mary McLeod Bethune Outlines the Objectives of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1937 John Hope Franklin Explains the Lonely Dilemma of the American Negro Scholar, 1963 Vincent Harding on the Differences Between Negro History and Black History, 1971 Lucille Clifton and the Nurturing of History, c. 1990 ESSAYS John Hope Franklin, The History of African-American History David W. Blight, The Burden of African-American History: Memory, Justice, and a Usable Past Fath Davis Ruffins, Sites of Memory, Sites of Struggle: The "Materials" of History 2. The Work of Reconstruction DOCUMENTS African Americans in Richmond, Virginia, Petition President Andrew Johnson, 1865 Freedmen of Edisto Island, South Carolina, Demand Land, 1865 Captain Charles Soule, Northern Army Officer, Lectures Ex-Slaves on the Responsibilities of Freedom, 1865 A Share-Wages Contract, 1865 Charles Raushenberg, a Freedmen's Bureau Agent, Reports from Georgia, 1867 Martin Lee, a Freedman, Struggles to Reunite His Family, 1866 Elizabeth Botume, a Northern Schoolteacher, Remembers a Husband and Wife Reunion, c. 1865 Harriet Hernandes, a South Carolina Woman, Testifies Against the Ku Klux Klan, 1871 Elected Representatives, 1872 ESSAYS Herbert C. Gutman, Schools for Freedom Julie Saville, Defining Free Labor Elsa Barkley Brown, The Labor of Politics 3. Renegotiating African-American Life in the New South DOCUMENTS Black Southerners Look Toward Kansas, 1877 David C. Barrow, Jr., a Georgia Planter's Son, Describes the Emergence of Sharecropping, 1880 Nate Shaw Aims to Make a Living Farming, 1907-1908 Black Southerners Appeal to President William McKinley for Federal Protection, 1898-1900 Representative George White of North Carolina Delivers His Final Speech on the Floor of Congress, 1901 Richmond Planet Reports a Streetcar Boycott, 1904-1905 A Public Library Opens in Louisville, Kentucky, 1908 ESSAYS Elsa Barkley Brown, Renegotiating the Community Tera W. Hunter, The Politics of Labor 4. Rural Exodus and the Growth of New Urban Communities DOCUMENTS Black Population of Selected Cities, 1910-1930 Migrants' Letters, 1917 Helpful Hints for Migrants to Detroit, 1918 George Edmund Haynes, a Black Social Scientist, Surveys Detroit, 1918 A Migrant Family Adjusts to Life in Chicago, 1922 Migration Blues ESSAYS Peter Gottleib, The Great Migration Irma Watkins-Owens, Caribbean Connections 5. Defining a Race Politics DOCUMENTS Ida B. Wells Urges Self-Defense, 1892 Booker T. Washington Promotes Accommodationism, 1895 Resolutions of the National Association of Colored Women, 1904 The Niagara Men Pldege Themselves to Persistent Agitation, 1905 Maggie Lena Walker Talks to Black Men About Racial Responsibility, 1906 Promoting Black Towns, c. 1907 Ten Thousand Charlestonians Petition for Black Teachers in Black Schools, 1919 The Messenger Urges Black and White Workers to Organize, 1919 Marcus Garvey Assesses the Situation for Black People, 1922 ESSAYS Deborah Gray White, Race and Feminism Winston James, Race Consciousness and Radicalism 6. The Culture Wars DOCUMENTS A Review of Scott Joplin's Opera "Treemonisha," 1911 Blues Lyrics of the 1920s Rev. George W. Harvey, Baptist Minister, Denounces Swinging Spirituals, 1939 Alain Locke, Philosopher, Defines the "New Negro," 1925 Langston Hughes, Poet and Writer, Critiques His Critics, 1940 Screening the Race, 1925 Zora Neale Hurston, Writer and Anthropologist, Takes Her University Training Home, 1927 A Roundtable Discussion on African Survivals in Gullah Language, 1941 ESSAYS Tera W. Hunter, The Blues Aesthetic and Black Vernacular Dance Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Constructing Working-Class Culture 7. Opportunities Lost and Found DOCUMENTS Black Population in Selected Cities, 1940-1960 Charles Hamilton Houston and John P. Davis Critique the Lily-White Tennessee Valley Authority, 1934 Protesting Lynching: A National Crime, 1934 A "Black Cabinet" Assembles, 1938 Louise "Mamma" Harris Describes Labor Organizing in Richmond, Virginia, Tobacco Factories, 1940 A Marine's Letter to A. Philip Randolph About Discrimination in the Marine Corps, c. 1943 Breaking the Color Bar in Sports, 1947 ESSAYS Robin D.G. Kelley, Radical Organizing During the Depression Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, New Lives in the West 8. Origins of the Civil Rights Movement DOCUMENTS Ella Baker and Marvel Cooke Describe Exploitation of Black Women Workers During the Depression, 1935 Young Radicals Propose an Economic Program for the NAACP, 1935 Charles Hamilton Houston Lays Out a Legal Strategy for the NAACP, 1935 Goals of the National Negro Congress, 1935 A Call to March on Washington, 1941 James Farmer Recounts CORE's Early Direct Action Strategy, 1942 Consumers Boycott Washington, D.C., Department Store, 1945 ESSAYS Robin D.G. Kelley, Theatres of Resistance Robert Korstad and Nelson Lichtenstein, Labor and Civil Rights 9. The Civil Rights Movement DOCUMENTS Jo Ann Robinson, Women's Political Council President, Hints of a Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, 1954 Melba Pattillo Beals Recalls Her First Days at Little Rock Central High School, 1957 Fannie Lou Hamer's Initiation into the Civil Rights Movement, 1962 James Bevel, an SCLC Organizer, Mobilizes Birmingham's Young People, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr., Writes from His Jail Cell, 1963 John Lewis, SNCC Chairman, Challenges the Federal Government, 1963 Avon W. Rollins, an SNCC Field Secretary, Details Progrss Made in Danville, Virginia, 1964 Malcolm X Defines Revolution, 1963 Civil Rights Leader Bayard Rustin Is Forced Out, 1960 ESSAYS Clayborne Carson, "A Leader Who Stood Out in a Forest of Trees" Charles M. Payne, Cultural Traditions and the Politicization of Communities Charles M. Payne, Challenging the Politics of Spokesmanship 10. After "Freedom Now!" DOCUMENTS Nina Simone's Song "Mississippi Goddam," 1964 SNCC Denounces the Vietnam War, 1966 An Interview with Black Panther Jimmy Slater Combahee River Collective Statement, 1977 A Statistical Portrait of Black America, 1940-1990s Miami's Concerned Black Organizations for Justice Issues a Manifesto of "Collective Needs," 1980 ESSAYS George Lipsitz, Civil Rights Activism and the War on Poverty Suzanne E. Smith, The Political Culture of Detoit 11. Progress and Poverty: African Americans at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century DOCUMENTS Leanita McClain on Being Black, Successful, and Middle Class, 1980 Jesse Jackson Addresses the Democratic National Convention, 1988 The Children's Defense Fund Assesses the Life Chances of a Black Child in America, 2000 The Relative Economic Condition of Black Youths, 1973 and 1993 The United States Congress Investigates Rap Music, 1994 The New Face of Racism: Racial Profiling, 1999 The New Face of Racism: The Ordeal of Haitian Immigrants, 1998 TheBorders of Black America: The New "Black" Immigrants, 1999 ESSAYS Lani Guinier, Rethinking Constitutional Rights Tricia Rose, Twenty-First Century Cultural Politics Temma Kaplan, The Changing Face of the Continuing Struggle
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