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Writings

THE CHURCH AND PREJUDICE, speech delivered at the Plymouth Church Anti-Slavery Society, December 23, 1841

At the South I was a member of the Methodist Church. When I came north, I thought one Sunday I would attend communion, at one of the churches of my denomination, in the town I was staying. The white people gathered round the altar, the blacks clustered by the door. After the good minister had served out the bread and wine to one portion of those near him, he said, "These may withdraw, and others come forward"; thus he proceeded till all the white members had been served. Then he drew a long breath, and looking out towards the door, exclaimed, "Come up, colored friends, come up! for you know God is no respecter of persons!" I haven't been there to see the sacraments taken since.

At New Bedford, where I live, there was a great revival of religion not long ago-many were converted and "received" as they said, "into the kingdom of heaven." But it seems, the kingdom of heaven is like a net; at least so it was according to the practice of these pious Christians; and when the net was drawn ashore, they had to set down and cull out the fish. Well, it happened now that some of the fish had rather black scales; so these were sorted out and packed by themselves. But among those who experienced religion at this time was a colored girl; she was baptised in the same water as the rest; so she thought she might sit at the Lord's table and partake of the same sacramental elements with the others. The deacon handed round the cup, and when he came to the black girl, he could not pass her, for there was the minister looking right at him, and as he was a kind of abolitionist, the deacon was rather afraid of giving him offence; so he handed the girl the cup, and she tasted. Now it so happened that next to her sat a young lady who had been converted at the same time, baptised in the same water, and put her trust in the same blessed Saviour; yet when the cup, containing the precious blood which had been shed for all, came to her, she rose in disdain, and walked out of the church. Such was the religion she had experienced!

Another young lady fell into a trance. When she awoke, she declared she had been to heaven. Her friends were all anxious to know what and whom she had seen there; so she told the whole story. But there was one good old lady whose curiosity went beyond that of all the others-and she inquired of the girl that had the vision, if she saw any black folks in heaven? After some hesitation, the reply was, " Oh! I didn't go into the kitchen!"

Thus you see, my hearers, this prejudice goes even into the church of God. And there are those who carry it so far that it is disagreeable to them even to think of going to heaven, if colored people are going there too. And whence comes it? The grand cause is slavery; but there are others less prominent; one of them is the way in which children in this part of the country are instructed to regard the blacks.

"Yes!" exclaimed an old gentleman, interrupting him-"when they behave wrong, they are told, 'black man come catch you.' "

Yet people in general will say they like colored men as well as any other, but in their proper place! They assign us that place; they don't let us do it for ourselves, nor will they allow us a voice in the decision. They will not allow that we have a head to think, and a heart to feel, and a soul to aspire. They treat us not as men, but as dogs-they cry "Stu-boy!" and expect us to run and do their bidding. That's the way we are liked. You degrade us, and then ask why we are degraded-you shut our mouths, and then ask why we don't speak-you close your colleges and seminaries against us, and then ask why we don't know more.

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But all this prejudice sinks into insignificance in my mind, when compared with the enormous iniquity of the system which is its cause-the system that sold my four sisters and my brothers into bondage-and which calls in its priests to defend it even from the Bible! The slaveholding ministers preach up the divine right of the slaveholders to property in their fellow-men. The southern preachers say to the poor slave, "Oh! if you wish to be happy in time, happy in eternity, you must be obedient to your masters; their interest is yours. God made one portion of men to do the working, and another to do the thinking; how good God is! Now, you have no trouble or anxiety; but oh! you can't imagine how perplexing it is to your masters and mistresses to have so much thinking to do in your behalf! You cannot appreciate your blessings; you know not how happy a thing it is for you, that you were born of that portion of the human family which has the working, instead of the thinking to do! Oh! how grateful and obedient you ought to be to your masters! How beautiful are the arrangements of Providence! Look at your hard, horny hands-see how nicely they are adapted to the labor you have to perform! Look at our delicate fingers, so exactly fitted for our station, and see how manifest it is that God designed us to be His thinkers, and you the workers-Oh! the wisdom of God!"-I used to attend a Methodist church, in which my master was a class-leader; he would talk most sanctimoniously about the dear Redeemer, who was sent "to preach deliverance to the captives, and set at liberty them that are bruised"-he could pray at morning, pray at noon, and pray at night; yet he could lash up my poor cousin by his two thumbs, and inflict stripes and blows upon his bare back, till the blood streamed to the ground! all the time quoting scripture, for his authority, and appealing to that passage of the Holy Bible which says, "He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes!" Such was the amount of this good Methodist's piety.

(end Class 247 excerpt 1)

Frederick Douglass

National Anti-Slavery Standard, December 23, 1841

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Frederick Douglass Project: The Church and Prejudice | RBSCP

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Writings THE CHURCH AND PREJUDICE, speech delivered at the Plymouth Church Anti-Slavery Society, December 23, 1841 At the South I was a member of the Methodist Church. When I came north, I thought one Sunday I would attend communion, at one of the churches of my denomination, in the town I was staying.

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Collection Overview

The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress, document the activities of the noted abolitionist, writer and publisher. Included within this collection are copies of Douglass's writings, correspondence with noted abolitionists including Henry Ward Beecher, Ida B. Wells, Gerrit Smith, and Horace Greeley, and scrapbooks documenting his activities. Also included is a biography of his wife of forty-four years, Anna Murray Douglass, written by their daughter, Rosetta Douglass Sprague.

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U.S. History

Introduction

Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery in 1838 and became a leading abolitionist, as well as an orator, writer, editor, and public servant. The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress includes many of Douglass' speeches and letters, along with articles from two abolitionist papers that he edited and published- The North Star and Frederick Douglass' Paper. In addition, the collection contains books presented to Douglass on various issues relating to African Americans in the post-Civil War era and congressional reports on civil rights. The books and manuscripts in the collection reveal Frederick Douglass' interest in women's suffrage and the plight of individuals and groups facing prejudice and discrimination. The collection also documents Douglass' worldview through letters, papers, and diary entries relating to his tour of Ireland and Great Britain (1845), his tour of Europe and Africa (1886-87), and his service as U.S. minister to Haiti (1889-91). Drafts of Douglass' autobiography are also included, with links to complete online texts of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1849 edition).

Although the papers span the years 1841-1964 (scrapbooks, books, and articles were added by Douglass' descendants after his death in 1895), the bulk of the papers cover the period from 1862 to1895. The Frederick Douglass Papers and the complete online autobiographies enhance the study of pivotal periods in U.S. history from the antebellum era through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the post-Reconstruction era.

Readers should be aware that Frederick Douglass documented many instances of racial prejudice and violence in his papers and that some of the materials in this online historical collection contain language or negative stereotypes that may be offensive. Teachers should prepare students for their encounters with this material.

Slavery and Abolitionism in the Period of National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860

Chapter XI of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave relates Douglass' successful escape from Baltimore to New York in 1838. The chapter begins:

I now come to that part of my life during which I planned, and finally succeeded in making, my escape from slavery. But before narrating any of the peculiar circumstances, I deem it proper to make known my intention not to state all the facts connected with the transaction. My reasons for pursuing this course may be understood from the following: First, were I to give a minute statement of all the facts, it is not only possible, but quite probable, that others would thereby be involved in the most embarrassing difficulties. Secondly, such a statement would most undoubtedly induce greater vigilance on the part of slave-holders than has existed heretofore among them; which would, of course, be the means of guarding a door whereby some dear brother bondman might escape his galling chains.

From Chapter XI of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave

What reasons did Douglass give for not explaining exactly how he escaped from slavery? Do you think these reasons were compelling?

Look at Douglass' second and third autobiographies. When did he decide to reveal the entire story of how he made his way to freedom? What explanation did he give for not revealing this information earlier? Do you think he made the right decision? Why or why not?

In New York, Frederick changed his name from Bailey to Johnson and married Anna Murray. With his new wife, he moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the couple soon changed their name to Douglass. In 1841 he was encouraged to speak to an antislavery meeting in New Bedford. William Lloyd Garrison was so impressed by Douglass' address that he persuaded him to go on the speaking circuit. In 1845, after publishing his autobiography, Douglass toured Great Britain and Ireland as an abolitionist speaker. In a letter to Garrison from Dublin dated September 1, 1845, Douglass described a confrontation on board ship after he was asked to speak.

U.S. newspapers, North and South, were critical of Douglass' speaking about slavery in Britain. Douglass wrote to Horace Greeley from Glasgow, Scotland, thanking him for the support and encouragement Greeley had offered in the New York Tribune. In a letter dated April 15, 1846, Douglass wrote,

In these sentences, Douglass addresses an issue that has persisted throughout U.S. history. What is this question? How might someone taking the opposing position respond to Douglass? Think of at least two other times in U.S. history that this question has emerged and look for quotes representing the opposing points of view. Do you think this question has been controversial in other countries? Why or why not?

While Douglass was abroad, English friends raised money to "purchase" Douglass' freedom from Thomas Auld of Maryland. While in America, even residing in the North, Douglass was always faced with the possibility of being captured and returned to Maryland, as he explains in an essay written in 1846. Read the letter Douglass wrote to his former master, published in the Liberator in 1848. Douglass ends the letter with the words, "I am your fellow man, but not your slave." The collection also includes the bill of sale for Frederick Bailey (Douglass).

What was the tone of Douglass' letter to Thomas Auld?

How did Douglass attempt to get Auld to consider the horrors of enslavement?

How did Douglass regard churchmen who trafficked "in the souls and bodies of men"?

What can you discern of Douglass' character from this letter?

Douglass returned to the United States in 1847 and moved his family to Rochester, New York.

Using funds raised in England and Ireland, Douglass purchased a printing press. Martin Delany, who had served as editor of an African American paper in Pittsburgh, joined in Douglass' endeavor. The two editors named their paper The North Star. Read what Douglass said were the reasons for choosing that title. The masthead of the paper proclaimed, "Right is of no Sex-Truth is of no Color-God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren." Volume I, No. 1 explained the purpose for publishing the paper.

..."common sense affirms and only folly denies," that the man who has SUFFERED THE WRONG is the man to DEMAND REDRESS,-that the man STRUCK is the man to CRY OUT-and that he who had ENDURED THE CRUEL PANGS OF SLAVERY is the man to ADVOCATE LIBERTY. It is evident that we must be our own representatives and advocates, not exclusively, but peculiarly,-not distant from, but in connection with, our white friends.

From "Our Paper and Its Prospects," The North Star, Dec. 3, 1847 ( page 2)

What were other recommended titles for the newspaper?

Why did Douglass and Delany select the name The North Star?

What would you have advised the editors to name the paper? Why?

How did the slogan on the masthead of the paper relate to the goals of the paper?

What was the reason for establishing an African American newspaper as the voice of abolition? Do you agree with this reasoning?

In the inaugural issue of The North Star, Douglass addressed a letter to Henry Clay. Read this letter, in which Douglas responded point by point to assertions Clay had made in a speech at a mass meeting in Lexington, Kentucky, in mid-November 1847. In a second letter in the January 1848 issue of paper, Douglas addressed the following comment to Clay:

This speech we have just finished perusing and confess to some excitement. We see in it a revival of that second enemy of the colored people, the Colonization Society, which, next to slavery, is the deadliest foe of the colored man, ... unsettling his plans and improvements by teaching him to feel that this is not his home; disheartening and subduing his enterprise by causing him to feel that all effort at self-evaluation is in vain; that neither knowledge, temperance, patience, faith nor virtue can avail him anything in this land.

From "Henry Clay," The North Star, Jan. 1848 ( page 2)

What techniques did Douglass use to challenge Clay's assertions in his Lexington speech? How effective was Douglass's rebuttal to Clay?

Why do you think Douglass was so adamantly opposed to colonization schemes?

Why did he accuse Clay of "mock sympathy and sham philanthropy"?

How did Douglass compare the two Clay speeches?

The pamphlet "The Constitution of the United States with all the Acts of Congress Relating to Slavery," published in 1854, is among the public documents in the Douglass collection. Along with other documents, the pamphlet includes the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854.

Douglass addressed the American Anti-Slavery Society meeting in New York on May 14, 1857. In his speech, Douglass attacked the Supreme Court for its decision in Scott v. Sandford, which had been rendered two months earlier. Read the speech and select excerpts to illustrate the depth of feeling aroused by the majority decision of the Court.

Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1877

Read Douglass' "Secession and War," in which he called for a commitment that the war would be fought to end slavery as well as to save the union. He made an appeal for the use of African American troops from the very beginning of the war. Early in 1863 the governor of Massachusetts announced the formation of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first African American regiment recruited in the North. Frederick Douglass was asked to serve as a recruiter for this and other Negro regiments and immediately accepted and published his appeal "Men of Color, To Arms!"

...with every exulting shout of victory raised by the slaveholding rebels, I have implored the imperiled nation to unchain against her foes, her powerful black hand. Slowly and reluctantly that appeal is beginning to be heeded.

From "Men of Color, To Arms!"

Douglass traveled through New York and New England recruiting African Americans for service in the Union Army. Read "Why a Colored Man Should Enlist" and his July 1863 address to a mass meeting in Philadelphia promoting enlistment.

What arguments did Douglass use to convince African Americans to enlist in the Union Army?

How did he respond to those who argued that African American soldiers should not enlist because of unfair treatment by the military?

What can you discern from Douglass' articles and speeches on the importance of African American service in the military?

Douglass delivered a speech at Arlington National Cemetery on Decoration Day, 1871, in which he commemorated the unknown soldiers who died in the Civil War. He concluded his speech with the lines,

...if now we have a united country, no longer cursed by the hell-black system of human bondage, if the American name is no longer a by-word and a hissing to a mocking earth, if the star-spangled banner floats only over free American citizens in every quarter of the land, and our country has before it a long and glorious career of justice, liberty, and civilization, we are indebted to the unselfish devotion of the noble army who rest in these honored graves all around us.

From "Address of Frederick Douglass at the Monument of the Unknown Dead, At Arlington, May 30, 1871"

Treatment of African American soldiers during the Civil War was another issue of concern to Douglass. On his first-ever visit to Washington, D.C., in August 1863, he met with President Lincoln to discuss three issues related to African American soldiers: (1) equal pay, (2) access to promotions when these soldiers performed bravely, and (3) retaliation against the south when captured African American soldiers were killed. Remembering the meeting years later, Douglass said:

In 1865, Douglass made a speech in which he reflected on the two "important and instructive events in American history" that occurred during the year.

What were the two "important and instructive events" in 1865?

What comparison did Douglass use to explain the effect of Lincoln's assassination on the American people? Do you think this was a good comparison? What other events in U.S. history might have had a similar effect?

What did Douglass see as the lessons of the Civil War?

Why did Douglass say that Lincoln's death was an "unspeakable calamity" for African Americans? Given what you know about ensuing events, do you think he was correct? Why or why not?

In an undated Decoration Day speech in Rochester, Douglass presented a realistic portrayal of African Americans during Reconstruction and called for the nation to combat prejudice. Yet even more challenging times were to come in the post-Reconstruction era.

Race and the Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900

When the last federal troops were withdrawn from Southern states after the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction, white Southerners were determined to end African American participation in the political process and withhold basic civil rights. By the 1890s, they had enacted a series of laws that essentially reduced blacks to servitude. These so-called Jim Crow laws flouted guarantees incorporated in the Constitution by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. The federal government abandoned enforcement of constitutional protections and stood aside as the efforts to ensure equal rights and due process of law were swept away by Jim Crow laws. Frederick Douglass used every method at his disposal to arouse the public to the virtual re-enslavement of African Americans.

In a speech on the Convict Lease System instituted throughout the South in the post-Reconstruction period, Douglass described the system as subjecting African Americans to a new form of slavery. He explained the lease system in Southern states and, using the state of Louisiana as a model, wrote of the consequences of attempts made to escape:

...Bloodhounds are used in La. for recapture, as in perhaps all of the Southern states, and the La. Bloodhounds are not educated to self-restraint. Like their masters, they will tear a black convict to pieces in short order."

Read more of Douglass' speech about the Convict Lease System:

Lynching was an abusive and criminal tactic used by lawless gangs in the South. Between 1882 and 1901, the annual number of lynchings in the nation usually exceeded 100. A lynching was an illegal mob killing-usually by hanging-of a person accused or suspected of a crime. Despite pressure, Congress never passed an anti-lynching law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, however, provided for federal intervention in the event of harm to persons seeking their constitutional rights.

Ida B. Wells became one of the most inexhaustible advocates of an anti-lynching law. In a pamphlet, "A Red Record," she exposed the problem of lynching and presented a clarion call for the nation to end the abuse. The title page included a measure of her rage in the statement, "Respectfully submitted to the Nineteenth Century civilization in the 'Land of the Free and, the Home of the Brave'." A letter from Frederick Douglass addressed to Wells was included as the preface to the pamphlet:

Brave woman! You have done your people and mine a service which can neither be weighted nor measured. If the American conscience were only half alive, if the American church and clergy were only half Christianized, if American moral sensibility were not hardened by persistent infliction of outrage and crime against colored people, a scream of horror, shame, and indignation would rise to Heaven wherever your pamphlet shall be read....

From the "Preface" to "A Red Record"

In 1892 Douglass wrote an article for The North American Review in which he charged that lynchings, the acts of ignorant mobs, were condoned by wealthy and educated descendants of Southern rebels. The article aroused protest throughout the South and Douglass responded in a lecture titled "Lessons of the Hour."

Not a breeze comes to us from the late rebellious states that is not tainted and freighted with Negro blood. In its thirst for blood and its rage for vengeance, the mob has blindly, boldly and defiantly supplanted sheriffs, constables and police. It has assumed all the functions of civil authority. It laughs at legal processes, courts and juries, and its red-handed murderers range abroad unchecked and unchallenged by law or by public opinion...

We claim to be a highly-civilized and Christian country. I will not stop to deny this claim, yet I fearlessly affirm that there is nothing in the history of savages to surpass the blood-chilling horrors and fiendish excesses perpetrated against the coloured people of this country, by the so-called enlightened and Christian people of the South....

From "Lessons of the Hour" ( pages 4-5 )

What factors do you think accounted for the federal government's failure to pass an anti-lynching law?

What tactics did Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, and others use to pressure the government to act?

In a speech on the occasion of the twenty-first anniversary of emancipation in the District of Columbia, Douglass assessed the current situation in Jim Crow America and celebrated the end of slavery in the nation's capital. Douglass called his remarks "The United States Cannot Remain Half-Slave and Half-Free," recalling Lincoln's "House Divided" speech.

Douglass repeatedly urged the labor movement to open its ranks to African American workers. In an address to the Convention of Colored Men in Louisville, Kentucky, in September 1883, Douglass urged labor unions to freely enlist African Americans in their struggle to obtain an eight-hour day, better working conditions, and higher wages:

Why did Douglass argue that it was advantageous for labor unions to enlist support from African Americans?

Conversely, why should African Americans support the unions?

Douglass was a loyal Republican and urged African Americans to support the party. Read Douglass' handwritten lament on the election of Grover Cleveland in the 1884 presidential election. In the 1888 campaign, Douglass criticized calls for the formation of a Negro Democratic Party and urged African American voters to support Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison.

Why did Douglass support Republican candidates during Reconstruction and the post-Reconstruction era?

What arguments did Douglass use to urge African Americans to support the Republican Party?

How did Douglass regard the 1888 Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Alan Thurman?

Research the outcome of the 1888 election. How was the result of the election tied to Douglass' next position?

Search the collection using the keyword Haiti to find a series of folders containing lectures, articles, and letters on the island republic and remarks regarding Douglass' short tenure as United States Minister and Consul General to Haiti (1889-1891).

Frederick Douglass died in February 1895. Analyze the file of letters and telegrams sent in the days immediately following his death. Note who sent telegrams or letters and the topics of the various communications. What do these communications suggest about Douglass' influence? The way in which people in various walks of life regarded him? What, if anything, can you discern about the aftermath of the death of a well-known American in the late nineteenth century? What kinds of issues was his family required to deal with?

Critical Thinking

Chronological Thinking: Interpreting Data in the Frederick Douglass Timeline and a Biography of Anna Douglass

Use the Frederick Douglass Timeline to examine the influences that shaped Douglass' life. Identify five events that you believe were particularly important in shaping later events in his life. Link each to a later event in Douglass' life that was influenced by the earlier event. For example, what events were influenced by the young Frederick's learning to read?

The daughter of Frederick and Anna Douglass, Rosetta Douglas Sprague, wrote a biography of her mother in 1900; the biography, "My Mother as I Recall Her," was republished by Rosetta's daughter Fredericka in 1923. In her introduction to the biography, Fredericka writes, "Too often are the facts of the great sacrifices and heroic efforts of the wives of renowned men overshadowed by the achievements of the men and the wonderful and beautiful part she has played so well is overlooked."

Using the timeline, make a hypothesis about events or occurrences in Frederick Douglass' life that necessitated sacrifice by his wife, Anna. Test your hypothesis by reading the biography of Anna Douglass. How accurate were your hypotheses? What hardships and sacrifices did Anna Douglass and her children experience because of the public life her husband led? If you were to create a timeline of the Douglass family, how would it be different from and similar to the Frederick Douglass Timeline?

Chronological Thinking: Reading a Family Tree Chronologically

A family tree is a graphic used to show a person's genealogy-his or her family history. But a family tree is also a timeline of family life. While it is not as linear as a timeline, a family tree, when read from top to bottom and left to right, does provide a sense of the events in a family's history.

Reading from top to bottom and left to right, examine the Frederick Douglass Family Tree.

What important events in the life of Frederick Douglass are recorded on the timeline? Make a simple timeline showing those events. If you read from top to bottom and left to right, are the events in roughly chronological order?

What does the family tree tell you about Frederick Douglass' first marriage? Note as many facts as you can.

What does the family tree tell you about Frederick Douglass' second marriage? Again, note as many facts as you can.

Which marriage can you learn more about using the family tree? Why is that true? What does that suggest about the shortcomings of family trees for providing insights into family life?

What other shortcomings does the family tree have as a source of information about family history?

Historical Comprehension: Reconstructing Events in Haiti During Douglass' Tenure as Consul General

Frederick Douglass was not only a writer, publisher, orator, and activist, he was also a public servant. In the years following the Civil War, he held several government posts, including U.S. consul general in Haiti, a post he assumed in 1889. By 1891, Douglass had resigned from the position amid some controversy.

What happened in Haiti to cause controversy? Read a speech about Haiti that Douglass gave following his return from Haiti. What can you glean about the events in Haiti from the speech? What was Douglass' attitude about the controversy? Check your hypothesis against the Frederick Douglass Timeline for the years 1877-1895. Why do you think the United States was interested in Mole St. Nicholas? How could you determine if the criticisms of Douglass' role in the negotiations had merit?

Historical Comprehension: Reading Douglass' Analysis of African Americans' Exclusion from the World's Columbian Exposition

Examine Douglass' introduction to Ida B. Wells' pamphlet "The Reason Why The Colored American is not in the World's Columbian Exposition."

Historical Analysis and Interpretation: Comparing the Perspectives of John C. Calhoun and Frederick Douglass

John C. Calhoun was a politician from South Carolina, one of the leading defenders of the institution of slavery. While many apologists for slavery referred to it as a "necessary evil," Calhoun, in an 1837 speech in the U.S. Senate, termed it a "positive good." Given this position, what hypothesis would you make about Frederick Douglass' opinion of Calhoun?

Calhoun held a number of high offices in the U.S. government; at the time of the Mexican-American War, Calhoun was a member of the U.S. Senate. In the January 14, 1848, edition of The North Star, Douglass reported on a speech by Senator John C. Calhoun in which the South Carolina senator voiced opposition to the continuation of the Mexican War because the defeat of Mexico would result in "the incorporation of her people with those of the United States, would be a death-blow to our 'free institutions.'" In February Douglass wrote of the war, "...Pride and ambition, when once in full possession of the nation's heart, and roused to action, cannot be easily expelled, by any means this side of national ruin. We have given ourselves to the blind spirit of mad ambition...."

How did Douglass characterize Calhoun?

How did Douglass respond to Calhoun and his call for the end of the war with Mexico?

How do these two articles in The North Star reflect conflicting values held by Calhoun and Douglass? Can you identify any points on which they agreed?

Historical Analysis and Interpretation: Identifying the Core Values of a Hypothetical Douglass Administration

In an undated item, Douglass responded to a question posed to him regarding what he would do if he were president of the United States. Read Douglass' response.

Why did Douglass remark that the question was "a little absurd"?

What did Douglass identify as the central focus of any such administration?

What does this response reveal about Douglass' values and aspirations?

Pick a major presidential decision that occurred during Douglass' life. What alternative course of action might Douglass have chosen? Explain

Historical Issue Analysis and Decision-Making: Frederick Douglass and John Brown

In August 1859, Douglass met with John Brown at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and learned of the plan to raid the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown pleaded with Douglass to accompany him in the planned raid, but Douglass refused and attempted to dissuade Brown. Read the lecture on John Brown "Delivered at Harpers Ferry and Sundry Other Places" (ca. 1890), in which Douglass spoke of his alleged involvement in the raid and his reference to a letter from Henry Wise, former governor of Virginia, to President Buchanan accusing Douglass of "murder, robbery, and inciting servile insurrection." Evaluate Douglass' decision not to join Brown.

Arts & Humanities

Persuasive Language

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which two things are compared to suggest a similarity and thereby provide insight into the object of study. For example, someone explaining life to a child might say that life is a bowl of cherries, a box of chocolates, a journey, or a game of baseball. By providing an imaginative way to think about an object, event, or idea, a metaphor can be not only an aid to understanding but also a persuasive tool. Another tool of persuasion is reference to authoritative sources, especially those sources that are held in high esteem by many people (such as the Declaration of Independence and Constitution).

Among the items in Frederick Douglass' collection of speeches, articles, and books was a speech delivered in January 1864 by Montgomery Blair, Lincoln's postmaster general between 1861 and 1864. The speech before the Maryland legislature supported Lincoln's plan for reconstruction. In the speech, Blair discussed a charge against King George III that was deleted from the Declaration of Independence:

...Slavery, as a great element of society, makes slaves of all associated with it, by the passions it inflames: the masters, by the ambition it inspires-the masses, with which it mingles, by the deadline contagion it spreads in a thousand forms. It is marked in the Declaration of Independence as the most virulent poison instilled by the king, to enfeeble for subjugation, the people on whom he made war, and it has proved the most potent ingredient that could be employed for the dissolution of the fabric of free government, which withstood the king's attempt. If the virus he [George III] infused, which was strong enough amid the enthusiasm for new-born freedom, to stifle the voice of the Declaration of Independence, denouncing slavery, and has kept the free Government-the hard-earned prize of the revolutionary war-in tremor ever since, is it now, when it has been poured out with the nation's blood in the fratricidal war, it forced on the country, again to be admitted into the system?

From "Speech by the Hon. Montgomery Blair, on the Causes of the Rebellion" ( page 17)

In a farewell speech to the British in 1847, Frederick Douglass also talked about slavery and the Declaration of Independence. He said, in part,

Seventy years ago they went to war in defense of liberty, as they said. Sixty years ago they formed a constitution, over the very gateway of which they inscribed the words: To secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. In their Declaration of Independence, they made the loudest and clearest assertion of the rights of man ever promulgated by any nation on this globe: At the very same time, the very men who drew up that Declaration; the very men who famed the Constitution; the very men who adopted that Constitution, were holding their fellow man in bondage and were trafficking in their bodies and souls.

From the adoption of the Constitution of the United States onwards, everything good and great in the heart of the American people, everything patriotic, has been summoned to cover up this great national falsehood. They have done it by wrapping slavery up in horrid and deceptive words. When speaking of slavery, they call it "Peculiar institution," "Social system," "Domestic institution," "Patriarchical institution." They seem to be ashamed to call it by its right name.

From "Farewell Speech to the British People, London"

What case was Douglass making about slavery? Do you think this speech would be persuasive to the British audience to which it was given?

What metaphor did Douglass use? Do you think this was an apt comparison? Did it make Douglass' argument more persuasive? Why or why not?

Why do you think Douglass included the references to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence? Were they effective in making his point?

Which speech do you find more persuasive-Douglass' or Blair's? Explain your answer.

Think about a current issue that is important to you. Write a persuasive essay in which you use one or more metaphors to provide insight into the problem and refer to one of the founding documents to support your point.

Oratory

Oratory was an important of American culture in the nineteenth century. Politicians, lawyers, ministers, and reformers were among those who relied on their public-speaking skills to entertain, inform, and persuade the public. Great orators, who were the celebrities of the era, appealed to the intellect, the imagination, and the emotions, and called upon the audience to take action. Frederick Douglass said of orators:

Douglass was in demand as a speaker throughout his adult life. Read Douglass' oration at the unveiling of the Freedmen's Monument in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C., April 14, 1876. Compare that oration with Douglass' speech at the services commemorating the 79th anniversary of Lincoln's birth on February 12, 1888.

Select one of the many public speeches in the collection and deliver a dramatic reading using excerpts from the selected speech. What insights into Douglass' effectiveness as an orator did you gain by presenting parts of a speech orally

Writing a Life: The Obituary

An obituary is a published notice of someone's death. It is intended to inform readers, whether they knew the deceased or not, about that person's life. An obituary begins with details of the person's death-time, place, and cause. It then provides a mini-biography of the person, including information about the person's birth, education, family life, career, and interests. The last paragraph of the obituary lists the survivors-parents, spouse, children, siblings, and other people close to the individual. A good obituary brings the person to life through quotes (from the subject and people who knew him or her) and telling details.

Search the collection using the keyword Frederick Douglass death to find obituaries that were collected in scrapbooks by members of his family. One obituary included the following description of Douglass, accompanied by the portrait below:

The personal appearance of Mr. Douglass was rather imposing. He was tall, powerfully built and finely modeled, with a swarthy complexion and an abundance of white hair crowning a handsome face. Mentally, he was far above the average of mankind, being a writer of power and elegance, a thinker of influence and an orator of true eloquence.

From "Fred Douglass Dead" in "Douglas, Frederick (Death) - Folder 34 of 34," p. 3

After researching the life and work of Frederick Douglass, write an obituary that highlights events in his life that you consider most noteworthy. Include quotes from and about Douglass, as well as some personal details that you believe provide insight into his character. Be sure to note his surviving family members.

You may also want to write a eulogy. Eulogies and obituaries are both writings about people who have died, but the two have different forms and serve different purposes. A eulogy is generally presented orally, at the deceased's funeral or memorial service. A eulogy is a tribute to the life and character of the person who has died; the speaker often shares favorite anecdotes and reflects on and expresses gratitude for his orher relationship with the deceased person. By acknowledging the significance of the deceased person's life, the eulogy helps mourners in the grieving process. A eulogy for Frederick Douglass is included in the collection.

Designing an African American Pavilion for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893

In 1893, Chicago hosted an international exposition, or world's fair. Called the Columbian Exposition (to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus's "discovery" of the New World), the fair featured exhibits from 46 countries, displays of new technologies, and the introduction of many new consumer products.

African Americans hoped that the Columbian Exposition would both serve as a source of jobs for African Americans, and also provide an opportunity to showcase their achievements following the Civil War. Unfortunately, their hopes went unfulfilled, as no exhibit space was made available and few jobs at the fair went to African Americans. Frederick Douglass and journalist Ida B. Wells published a pamphlet titled "The Reason Why" to inform people about the exclusion of African Americans from the fair.

Douglass, a former ambassador to Haiti, was asked to serve as one of Haiti's representatives at the exposition. He and Wells set up shop in the Haitian pavilion, handing out copies of "The Reason Why" to people who passed through. Thus, he was able to some make information about African Americans available to fair-goers.

Use information from "The Reason Why" to design an African American Pavilion for the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The pavilion can have several different exhibits; for example, it might include exhibits on the history of slavery, accomplishments of African Americans since Emancipation, discriminatory laws enacted in the United States, and the achievements of Frederick Douglass. Your design should list the exhibits, providing a brief description of each. It should also show how the exhibits would be laid out within the pavilion.

Letter Writing

With the advent of such technologies as the telephone, e-mail, and text messaging, many argue that letter writing is a lost art. In the nineteenth century, however, letter writing was an essential means of communication.

Use the Browse by Subject feature to find letters written by and to Frederick Douglass. Browse through at least ten letters. List the different purposes that the letters served (i.e., create a list of categories of correspondence). What do you note about the style of writing in the various categories of letters? Are they different? If so, in what ways? Which of these purposes are still met by the writing of individual letters? How are other purposes fulfilled today? What is lost through the use of different technologies to communicate what was formerly communicated via letter? What is gained?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress

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The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress , document the activities of the noted abolitionist, writer and publisher. Included within this collection are copies of Douglass's writings, correspondence with noted abolitionists including Henry Ward Beecher, Ida B. Wells, Gerrit Smith, and Horace Greeley, and scrapbooks documenting his activities.

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https://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/warof1812/exhibits/show/warof1812/before/trade

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Search results for War of 1812, Available Online

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The collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material associated with the American Revolution era (1763-1783), including manuscripts, broadsides, government documents, books, images, and maps.

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Research Guides: American Revolution: A Resource Guide: Introduction

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The American Revolution (1763-83) was a rebellion by the colonies to win independence from Great Britain that led to the creation of the United States of America. This guide provides access to digital materials and a print bibliography.

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Letters from the Allegheny Mountains-Charles Lanman

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Letters from the Allegheny Mountains-Charles Lanman

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Great source for NEGA information

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Letters from the Alleghany Mountains : Lanman, Charles, 1819-1895 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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texts All Texts latest This Just In Smithsonian Libraries FEDLINK (US) Genealogy Lincoln Collection Additional Collections

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Civil Rights Timeline (a really concise site)

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Civil Rights Timeline (a really concise site)

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Milestones in the modern civil rights movement

by Borgna Brunner and Elissa Haney

1948

July 26

President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."

1954

May 17

The Supreme Court rules on the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The ruling paves the way for large-scale desegregation. The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." It is a victory for NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, who will later return to the Supreme Court as the nation's first black justice.

1955

Aug.

Fourteen-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till is visiting family in Mississippi when he is kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, are arrested for the murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. They later boast about committing the murder in a Look magazine interview. The case becomes a cause cÃ©lÃ¨bre of the civil rights movement.

Dec. 1

( Montgomery, Ala.) NAACP member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time. In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycott, which will last for more than a year, until the buses are desegregated Dec. 21, 1956. As newly elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is instrumental in leading the boycott.

1957

Jan.â€"Feb.

Martin Luther King, Charles K. Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which King is made the first president. The SCLC becomes a major force in organizing the civil rights movement and bases its principles on nonviolence and civil disobedience. According to King, it is essential that the civil rights movement not sink to the level of the racists and hatemongers who oppose them: "We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline," he urges.

Sept.

( Little Rock, Ark.) Formerly all-white Central High School learns that integration is easier said than done. Nine black students are blocked from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to intervene on behalf of the students, who become known as the " Little Rock Nine."

1960

Feb. 1

( Greensboro, N.C.) Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. Student sit-ins would be effective throughout the Deep South in integrating parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities.

April

( Raleigh, N.C.) The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded at Shaw University, providing young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. The SNCC later grows into a more radical organization, especially under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael (1966â€"1967).

1961

May 4

Over the spring and summer, student volunteers begin taking bus trips through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities, which includes bus and railway stations. Several of the groups of " freedom riders," as they are called, are attacked by angry mobs along the way. The program, sponsored by The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), involves more than 1,000 volunteers, black and white.

1962

Oct. 1

James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops.

1963

April 16

Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Ala.; he writes his seminal " Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws.

May

During civil rights protests in Birmingham, Ala., Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black demonstrators. These images of brutality, which are televised and published widely, are instrumental in gaining sympathy for the civil rights movement around the world.

June 12

( Jackson, Miss.) Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, 37-year-old Medgar Evers, is murdered outside his home. Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both trials resulting in hung juries. Thirty years later he is convicted for murdering Evers.

Aug. 28

( Washington, D.C.) About 200,000 people join the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous " I Have a Dream" speech.

Sept. 15

( Birmingham, Ala.) Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths.

1964

Jan. 23

The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote.

Summer

The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a network of civil rights groups that includes CORE and SNCC, launches a massive effort to register black voters during what becomes known as the Freedom Summer. It also sends delegates to the Democratic National Convention to protestâ€"and attempt to unseatâ€"the official all-white Mississippi contingent.

July 2

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.

Aug. 4

(Neshoba Country, Miss.) The bodies of three civil-rights workersâ€"two white, one blackâ€"are found in an earthen dam, six weeks into a federal investigation backed by President Johnson. James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24, had been working to register black voters in Mississippi, and, on June 21, had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours, and then released after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who murdered them.

1965

Feb. 21

( Harlem, N.Y.) Malcolm X, black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death. It is believed the assailants are members of the Black Muslim faith, which Malcolm had recently abandoned in favor of orthodox Islam.

March 7

( Selma, Ala.) Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The incident is dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media. The march is considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later.

Aug. 10

Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting are made illegal.

Aug. 11â€"17, 1965

( Watts, Calif.) Race riots erupt in a black section of Los Angeles.

Sept. 24, 1965

Asserting that civil rights laws alone are not enough to remedy discrimination, President Johnson issues Executive Order 11246, which enforces affirmative action for the first time. It requires government contractors to "take affirmative action" toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and employment.

1966

Oct.

( Oakland, Calif.) The militant Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

1967

April 19

Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), coins the phrase "black power" in a speech in Seattle. He defines it as an assertion of black pride and "the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary." The term's radicalism alarms many who believe the civil rights movement's effectiveness and moral authority crucially depend on nonviolent civil disobedience.

June 12

In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time are forced to revise their laws.

July

Major race riots take place in Newark (July 12â€"16) and Detroit (July 23â€"30).

1968

April 4

( Memphis, Tenn.) Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime.

April 11

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

1971

April 20

The Supreme Court, in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, upholds busing as a legitimate means for achieving integration of public schools. Although largely unwelcome (and sometimes violently opposed) in local school districts, court-ordered busing plans in cities such as Charlotte, Boston, and Denver continue until the late 1990s.

1988

March 22

Overriding President Reagan's veto, Congress passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act, which expands the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds.

1991

Nov. 22

After two years of debates, vetoes, and threatened vetoes, President Bush reverses himself and signs the Civil Rights Act of 1991, strengthening existing civil rights laws and providing for damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.

1992

April 29

( Los Angeles, Calif.) The first race riots in decades erupt in south-central Los Angeles after a jury acquits four white police officers for the videotaped beating of African American Rodney King.

2003

June 23

In the most important affirmative action decision since the 1978 Bakke case, the Supreme Court (5â€"4) upholds the University of Michigan Law School's policy, ruling that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges when selecting their students because it furthers "a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body."

( See also: Affirmative Action Timeline.)

2005

June 21

The ringleader of the Mississippi civil rights murders (see Aug. 4, 1964), Edgar Ray Killen, is convicted of manslaughter on the 41st anniversary of the crimes.

October 24

Rosa Parks dies at age 92.

2006

January 30

Coretta Scott King dies of a stroke at age 78.

2007

February

Emmett Till's 1955 murder case, reopened by the Department of Justice in 2004, is officially closed. The two confessed murderers, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, were dead of cancer by 1994, and prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to pursue further convictions.

May 10

James Bonard Fowler, a former state trooper, is indicted for the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson 40 years after Jackson's death. The 1965 killing lead to a series of historic civil rights protests in Selma, Ala.

2008

January

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduces the Civil Rights Act of 2008. Some of the proposed provisions include ensuring that federal funds are not used to subsidize discrimination, holding employers accountable for age discrimination, and improving accountability for other violations of civil rights and workers' rights.

2009

January

In the Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano, a lawsuit brought against the city of New Haven, 18 plaintiffsâ€"17 white people and one Hispanicâ€"argued that results of the 2003 lieutenant and captain exams were thrown out when it was determined that few minority firefighters qualified for advancement. The city claimed they threw out the results because they feared liability under a disparate-impact statute for issuing tests that discriminated against minority firefighters. The plaintiffs claimed that they were victims of reverse discrimination under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court ruled (5â€"4) in favor of the firefighters, saying New Haven's "action in discarding the tests was a violation of Title VII."

2013

June

In Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, which established a formula for Congress to use when determining if a state or voting jurisdiction requires prior approval before changing its voting laws. Currently under Section 5 of the act nineâ€"mostly Southernâ€"states with a history of discrimination must get clearance from Congress before changing voting rules to make sure racial minorities are not negatively affected. While the 5â€"4 decision did not invalidate Section 5, it made it toothless. Chief Justice John Roberts said the formula Congress now uses, which was written in 1965, has become outdated. "While any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions," he said in the majority opinion. In a strongly worded dissent, Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "Hubris is a fit word for todayÃ¢Â€Â™s demolition of the V.R.A." (Voting Rights Act).

2014

June

A new museum, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, opens in Atlanta.

September

The Justice Department opens a civil rights investigation into police practices in Ferguson, Mo., where a Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by a white police officer on Aug. 9. The Justice Department investigation is in addition to the FBI's civil rights inquiry.

2015

December

After the release of a Justice Department report in March documenting civil rights violations by the Ferguson Police Department, Ferguson officials reach a deal with the Justice Department, avoiding a civil rights lawsuit. The agreement will necessitate the levying of new taxes to pay for the planned improvements and require local vote.

Milestones in the modern civil rights movement

by Borgna Brunner and Elissa Haney

1948

July 26

President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."

1954

May 17

The Supreme Court rules on the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The ruling paves the way for large-scale desegregation. The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." It is a victory for NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, who will later return to the Supreme Court as the nation's first black justice.

1955

Aug.

Fourteen-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till is visiting family in Mississippi when he is kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, are arrested for the murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. They later boast about committing the murder in a Look magazine interview. The case becomes a cause cÃ©lÃ¨bre of the civil rights movement.

Dec. 1

( Montgomery, Ala.) NAACP member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time. In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycott, which will last for more than a year, until the buses are desegregated Dec. 21, 1956. As newly elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is instrumental in leading the boycott.

1957

Jan.â€"Feb.

Martin Luther King, Charles K. Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which King is made the first president. The SCLC becomes a major force in organizing the civil rights movement and bases its principles on nonviolence and civil disobedience. According to King, it is essential that the civil rights movement not sink to the level of the racists and hatemongers who oppose them: "We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline," he urges.

Sept.

( Little Rock, Ark.) Formerly all-white Central High School learns that integration is easier said than done. Nine black students are blocked from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to intervene on behalf of the students, who become known as the " Little Rock Nine."

1960

Feb. 1

( Greensboro, N.C.) Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. Student sit-ins would be effective throughout the Deep South in integrating parks, swimming pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities.

April

( Raleigh, N.C.) The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded at Shaw University, providing young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. The SNCC later grows into a more radical organization, especially under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael (1966â€"1967).

1961

May 4

Over the spring and summer, student volunteers begin taking bus trips through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities, which includes bus and railway stations. Several of the groups of " freedom riders," as they are called, are attacked by angry mobs along the way. The program, sponsored by The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), involves more than 1,000 volunteers, black and white.

1962

Oct. 1

James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops.

1963

April 16

Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Ala.; he writes his seminal " Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws.

May

During civil rights protests in Birmingham, Ala., Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black demonstrators. These images of brutality, which are televised and published widely, are instrumental in gaining sympathy for the civil rights movement around the world.

June 12

( Jackson, Miss.) Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, 37-year-old Medgar Evers, is murdered outside his home. Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both trials resulting in hung juries. Thirty years later he is convicted for murdering Evers.

Aug. 28

( Washington, D.C.) About 200,000 people join the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous " I Have a Dream" speech.

Sept. 15

( Birmingham, Ala.) Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths.

1964

Jan. 23

The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote.

Summer

The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a network of civil rights groups that includes CORE and SNCC, launches a massive effort to register black voters during what becomes known as the Freedom Summer. It also sends delegates to the Democratic National Convention to protestâ€"and attempt to unseatâ€"the official all-white Mississippi contingent.

July 2

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.

Aug. 4

(Neshoba Country, Miss.) The bodies of three civil-rights workersâ€"two white, one blackâ€"are found in an earthen dam, six weeks into a federal investigation backed by President Johnson. James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24, had been working to register black voters in Mississippi, and, on June 21, had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours, and then released after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who murdered them.

1965

Feb. 21

( Harlem, N.Y.) Malcolm X, black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death. It is believed the assailants are members of the Black Muslim faith, which Malcolm had recently abandoned in favor of orthodox Islam.

March 7

( Selma, Ala.) Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The incident is dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media. The march is considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later.

Aug. 10

Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting are made illegal.

Aug. 11â€"17, 1965

( Watts, Calif.) Race riots erupt in a black section of Los Angeles.

Sept. 24, 1965

Asserting that civil rights laws alone are not enough to remedy discrimination, President Johnson issues Executive Order 11246, which enforces affirmative action for the first time. It requires government contractors to "take affirmative action" toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and employment.

1966

Oct.

( Oakland, Calif.) The militant Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

1967

April 19

Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), coins the phrase "black power" in a speech in Seattle. He defines it as an assertion of black pride and "the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary." The term's radicalism alarms many who believe the civil rights movement's effectiveness and moral authority crucially depend on nonviolent civil disobedience.

June 12

In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time are forced to revise their laws.

July

Major race riots take place in Newark (July 12â€"16) and Detroit (July 23â€"30).

1968

April 4

( Memphis, Tenn.) Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime.

April 11

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

1971

April 20

The Supreme Court, in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, upholds busing as a legitimate means for achieving integration of public schools. Although largely unwelcome (and sometimes violently opposed) in local school districts, court-ordered busing plans in cities such as Charlotte, Boston, and Denver continue until the late 1990s.

1988

March 22

Overriding President Reagan's veto, Congress passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act, which expands the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds.

1991

Nov. 22

After two years of debates, vetoes, and threatened vetoes, President Bush reverses himself and signs the Civil Rights Act of 1991, strengthening existing civil rights laws and providing for damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.

1992

April 29

( Los Angeles, Calif.) The first race riots in decades erupt in south-central Los Angeles after a jury acquits four white police officers for the videotaped beating of African American Rodney King.

2003

June 23

In the most important affirmative action decision since the 1978 Bakke case, the Supreme Court (5â€"4) upholds the University of Michigan Law School's policy, ruling that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges when selecting their students because it furthers "a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body."

( See also: Affirmative Action Timeline.)

2005

June 21

The ringleader of the Mississippi civil rights murders (see Aug. 4, 1964), Edgar Ray Killen, is convicted of manslaughter on the 41st anniversary of the crimes.

October 24

Rosa Parks dies at age 92.

2006

January 30

Coretta Scott King dies of a stroke at age 78.

2007

February

Emmett Till's 1955 murder case, reopened by the Department of Justice in 2004, is officially closed. The two confessed murderers, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, were dead of cancer by 1994, and prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to pursue further convictions.

May 10

James Bonard Fowler, a former state trooper, is indicted for the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson 40 years after Jackson's death. The 1965 killing lead to a series of historic civil rights protests in Selma, Ala.

2008

January

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduces the Civil Rights Act of 2008. Some of the proposed provisions include ensuring that federal funds are not used to subsidize discrimination, holding employers accountable for age discrimination, and improving accountability for other violations of civil rights and workers' rights.

2009

January

In the Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano, a lawsuit brought against the city of New Haven, 18 plaintiffsâ€"17 white people and one Hispanicâ€"argued that results of the 2003 lieutenant and captain exams were thrown out when it was determined that few minority firefighters qualified for advancement. The city claimed they threw out the results because they feared liability under a disparate-impact statute for issuing tests that discriminated against minority firefighters. The plaintiffs claimed that they were victims of reverse discrimination under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court ruled (5â€"4) in favor of the firefighters, saying New Haven's "action in discarding the tests was a violation of Title VII."

2013

June

In Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, which established a formula for Congress to use when determining if a state or voting jurisdiction requires prior approval before changing its voting laws. Currently under Section 5 of the act nineâ€"mostly Southernâ€"states with a history of discrimination must get clearance from Congress before changing voting rules to make sure racial minorities are not negatively affected. While the 5â€"4 decision did not invalidate Section 5, it made it toothless. Chief Justice John Roberts said the formula Congress now uses, which was written in 1965, has become outdated. "While any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions," he said in the majority opinion. In a strongly worded dissent, Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "Hubris is a fit word for todayÃ¢Â€Â™s demolition of the V.R.A." (Voting Rights Act).

2014

June

A new museum, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, opens in Atlanta.

September

The Justice Department opens a civil rights investigation into police practices in Ferguson, Mo., where a Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by a white police officer on Aug. 9. The Justice Department investigation is in addition to the FBI's civil rights inquiry.

2015

December

After the release of a Justice Department report in March documenting civil rights violations by the Ferguson Police Department, Ferguson officials reach a deal with the Justice Department, avoiding a civil rights lawsuit. The agreement will necessitate the levying of new taxes to pay for the planned improvements and require local vote.

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by Borgna Brunner and Elissa Haney 1948 July 26 President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."

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We Shall Remain (First Nations-PBS American Experience) 

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We Shall Remain (First Nations-PBS American Experience) 

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Film Description

Episode 1, After the Mayflower:
In March of 1621, in what is now southeastern Massachusetts, Massasoit, the leading sachem of the Wampanoag, sat down to negotiate with a ragged group of English colonists. Hungry, dirty, and sick, the pale-skinned foreigners were struggling to stay alive; they were in desperate need of Native help.

Massasoit faced problems of his own. His people had lately been decimated by unexplained sickness, leaving them vulnerable to the rival Narragansett to the west. The Wampanoag sachem calculated that a tactical alliance with the foreigners would provide a way to protect his people and hold his Native enemies at bay. He agreed to give the English the help they needed.

A half-century later, as a brutal war flared between the English colonists and a confederation of New England Indians, the wisdom of Massasoit's diplomatic gamble seemed less clear. Five decades of English immigration, mistreatment, lethal epidemics, and widespread environmental degradation had brought the Indians and their way of life to the brink of disaster. Led by Metacom, Massasoit's son, the Wampanoag and their Native allies fought back against the English, nearly pushing them into the sea.

Episode 2, Tecumseh's Vision:
In the spring of 1805, Tenskwatawa (actor Billy Merasty, Cree First Nation), a Shawnee, fell into a trance so deep that those around him believed he had died. When he finally stirred, the young prophet claimed to have met the Master of Life. He told those who crowded around to listen that the Indians were in dire straits because they had adopted white culture and rejected traditional spiritual ways.

For several years Tenskwatawa's spiritual revival movement drew thousands of adherents from tribes across the Midwest. His elder brother, Tecumseh (actor Michael Greyeyes, Plains Cree), would harness the energies of that renewal to create an unprecedented military and political confederacy of often antagonistic tribes, all committed to stopping white westward expansion.

The brothers came closer than anyone since to creating an Indian nation that would exist alongside and separate from the United States. The dream of an independent Indian state may have died at the Battle of the Thames, when Tecumseh was killed fighting alongside his British allies, but the great Shawnee warrior would live on as a potent symbol of Native pride and pan-Indian identity.

Episode 3, Trail of Tears:
The Cherokee would call it Nu-No-Du-Na-Tlo-Hi-Lu, "The Trail Where They Cried." On May 26, 1838, federal troops forced thousands of Cherokee from their homes in the Southeastern United States, driving them toward Indian Territory in Eastern Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died of disease and starvation along the way.

For years the Cherokee had resisted removal from their land in every way they knew. Convinced that white America rejected Native Americans because they were "savages," Cherokee leaders established a republic with a European-style legislature and legal system. Many Cherokee became Christian and adopted westernized education for their children. Their visionary principal chief, John Ross, would even take the Cherokee case to the Supreme Court, where he won a crucial recognition of tribal sovereignty that still resonates.

The Supreme Court ruling proved no deterrent to President Andrew Jackson's demands that the Cherokee leave their ancestral lands. A complex debate divided the Cherokee Nation, with Chief Ross fighting for the Cherokee's right to stay, and Major Ridge (actor West Studi, Cherokee), a respected tribal leader, urging the tribe to move West and rebuild, going so far as to sign a removal treaty himself without the authority to do so.

Though in the end the Cherokee embrace of "civilization" and their landmark legal victory proved no match for white land hunger and military power, the Cherokee people were able, with characteristic ingenuity, to build a new life in Oklahoma, far from the land that had sustained them for generations.

Episode 4, Geronimo:
In February of 1909, the indomitable Chiricahua Apache medicine man Geronimo lay on his deathbed. He summoned his nephew to his side, whispering, "I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive." It was an admission of regret from a man whose insistent pursuit of military resistance in the face of overwhelming odds confounded not only his Mexican and American enemies, but many of his fellow Apaches as well.

Born around 1820, Geronimo grew into a leading warrior and healer. But after his tribe was relocated to an Arizona reservation in 1872, he became a focus of the fury of terrified white settlers, and of the growing tensions that divided Apaches struggling to survive under almost unendurable pressures. To angry whites, Geronimo became the archfiend, perpetrator of unspeakable savage cruelties. To his supporters, he remained the embodiment of proud resistance, the upholder of the old Chiricahua ways.

To other Apaches, especially those who had come to see the white man's path as the only viable road, Geronimo was a stubborn troublemaker, unbalanced by his unquenchable thirst for vengeance, whose actions needlessly brought the enemy's wrath down on his own people. At a time when surrender to the reservation and acceptance of the white man's civilization seemed to be the Indians' only realistic options, Geronimo and his tiny band of Chiricahuas fought on. The final holdouts, they became the last Native American fighting force to capitulate formally to the government of the United States.

Episode 5, Wounded Knee:
On the night of February 27, 1973, fifty-four cars rolled, horns blaring, into a small hamlet on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Within hours, some 200 Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement (AIM) activists had seized the few major buildings in town and police had cordoned off the area. The occupation of Wounded Knee had begun. Demanding redress for grievances-some going back more than 100 years-the protesters captured the world's attention for 71 gripping days.

With heavily armed federal troops tightening a cordon around meagerly supplied, cold, hungry Indians, the event invited media comparisons with the massacre of Indian men, women, and children at Wounded Knee almost a century earlier. In telling the story of this iconic moment, the final episode of We Shall Remain will examine the broad political and economic forces that led to the emergence of AIM in the late 1960s as well as the immediate events-a murder and an apparent miscarriage of justice-that triggered the takeover.

Though the federal government failed to make good on many of the promises that ended the siege, the event succeeded in bringing the desperate conditions of Indian reservation life to the nation's attention. Perhaps even more important, it proved that despite centuries of encroachment, warfare, and neglect, Indians remained a vital force in the life of America.

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We Shall Remain | American Experience | PBS

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Episode 1, After the Mayflower: In March of 1621, in what is now southeastern Massachusetts, Massasoit, the leading sachem of the Wampanoag, sat down to negotiate with a ragged group of English colonists. Hungry, dirty, and sick, the pale-skinned foreigners were struggling to stay alive; they were in desperate need of Native help.

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The Forgotten Patriots Project focuses on the important contributions made by African American and American Indian patriots of the American Revolution. To date, thousands of Forgotten Patriots have been identified, and DAR researchers continue to uncover these individuals and their unique stories.

Forgotten Patriots Project

Since the mid-1980s, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution has supported a project to identify the names of African Americans, Native Americans, and individuals of mixed heritage who supported the American struggle for independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. In the 1980s and 1990s, a series of small booklets for each of the original states were published, and in 2001 these booklets were merged into one volume and their contents greatly expanded in the publication titled African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War.

The 2001 book also inspired a well-received and interesting exhibition in the DAR Museum "Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Service in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783." The exhibition was open to the public from the fall of 2002 to the summer of 2003. During the exhibition's run, a seminar on the same topic was held at DAR Headquarters in Washington, D. C. in January 2003 and featured noted historians from around the country.

During the next few years, DAR researchers continued to build on the 2001 book, and by 2006 it became clear that a new publication was needed to present all of the additional findings. In April 2008, DAR published Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War, an 874-page expansion of the 200-page publication. In the three years since this book was published, research continued and new findings have been complied in a supplement that is now available.
Click here to download a free PDF of the Forgotten Patriots research guide
All print copies of the 2008 edition of the Forgotten Patriots book were sold-out by the summer of 2010, and discussions began to determine the next step in the process of providing this information to the public. DAR is now offering the full text of the Forgotten Patriots book and its corresponding supplement online. These documents can be downloaded for free from the DAR website. Subsequent updates will appear online as needed.

Note: Please be aware that the following publication is not connected with NSDAR publications, with the 2002-2003 DAR Museum exhibit, or the 2003 seminar.
Burrows, Edwin G. Forgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners during the Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 2008.

Contact

The publications staff of the DAR Library continues to work on the Forgotten Patriots Project. They welcome questions, additions, or corrections to the content of the material and would appreciate documentation to support or to clarify the correspondence.

For more information, or to ask questions about the Forgotten Patriots project, please email forgottenpatriots@dar.org or call the DAR Library at (202) 879-3229.

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The Forgotten Patriots Project focuses on the important contributions made by African American and American Indian patriots of the American Revolution. To date, thousands of Forgotten Patriots have been identified, and DAR researchers continue to uncover these individuals and their unique stories.

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Black Periodical Literature Project | The Hutchins Center for African & African American Research

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AfriGeneas ~ African American & African Ancestored Genealogy

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AfriGeneas is a site devoted to African American genealogy. It is also an African Ancestry research community featuring the AfriGeneas mail list, state specific African Ancestry mail lists, AfriGeneas message boards and AfriGeneas daily and weekly genealogy chats.

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Discover obituaries, articles, marriages, news pages, and more in historical newspapers across the United States and beyond at Newspapers.com.

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Military Resources

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Javascript required: We're sorry, but Fold3 doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. You will need to enable Javascript by changing your browser settings. Learn how to enable it.

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Fold3 features premier collections of original military records. These records include the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served in the military. Many of records come the U.S. National Archives, The National Archives of U.K. and many others.

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On April 27, 1813, Americans stormed Fort York, in present-day Toronto, defeating the British and Ojibwa Indians defending what was at the time the capital of Upper Canada. Though an easy win for the Americans at the time, the victory came at a high cost and had little strategic benefit.

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Official website of the Smithsonian, the world's largest museum and research complex, with 19 museums, 9 research centers, and affiliates around the world.

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Discover what happened on November 27 with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.

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The largest state sports hall of fame in the country is here in Georgia.

The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame began in 1956, when the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association established the Georgia Prep Sports Hall of Fame, which honored high school administrators, coaches and players. The organization dropped the word "prep" in 1963, honoring collegiate and professional athletes as well. The state archives building in Atlanta became its first home, and the first three inductees were baseball legend Ty Cobb, Georgia Tech football coach William Alexander, and golfer Bobby Jones.

The Hall became an official state entity in 1978, but it still lacked a permanent home. The state considered the World Congress Center in Atlanta before finally settling on Macon in 1994.

Of the 250 individuals nominated for induction every year, only seven are chosen, the highest honor the state can bestow on its athletes.

The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame opened its doors on April 24, 1999, Today in Georgia History.

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The largest state sports hall of fame in the country is here in Georgia. The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame began in 1956, when the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association established the Georgia Prep Sports Hall of Fame, which honored high school administrators, coaches and players.

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Site

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3 Sept 2020 Civil Rights FILMS

Freedom Riders

Threatened. Attacked. Jailed. Could you get on the bus?

Watch Film

The Vote | Interactive
Celebrate the strategies and tactics of the movement in a new interactive experience.

Video Gallery
Stream these American Experience documentaries anywhere, anytime. We will update this page as new films become available

Collection
The role of protest, agitation and struggle in the evolution of the country we live in today.

Film
One hundred years after the passage of the 19th Amendment, The Vote tells the dramatic culmination story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote, a transformative cultural and political movement that resulted in the largest expansion of voting rights in U.S. history.

The Vote | Article
For many women, the 19 th Amendment was only the beginning of a much longer fight.

Collection
The history of America's ongoing struggle with race, democracy and justice.

Let's Stay in Touch! Dismiss

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Threatened. Attacked. Jailed. Could you get on the bus? Watch Film The Vote | InteractiveCelebrate the strategies and tactics of the movement in a new interactive experience. Video Gallery Stream these American Experience documentaries anywhere, anytime. We will update this page as new films become available Collection The role of protest, agitation and struggle in the evolution of the country we live in today.

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FREE genealogical/military/local history resources

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Genealogical/Military/Local History resources.

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Ancestry® | Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records

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Discover your family history and start your family tree. Try free and access billions of genealogy records including Census, SSDI & Military records.