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Links

 

LINKS TO RELATED SITES

The following is a list of links to sites that document to vaying degrees the transatlantic slave trade, slavery in American and the African American experience.

1.  Library of Congress – http://www.loc.gov/index.html

The following are two slavery related Library of Congress collections.

            A. American Memory Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
           

            B. From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aapchtml/aapchome.html

From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909 presents 396 pamphlets from the Library of Congress’ Rare Book and Special Collections Division, published from 1822 through 1909, by African-American authors and others who wrote about slavery, African colonization, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and related topics. The materials range from personal accounts and public orations to organizational reports and legislative speeches. Among the authors represented are Frederick Douglass, Kelly Miller, Charles Sumner, Mary Church Terrell, and Booker T. Washington. From Slavery to Freedom was made possible by a major gift from the Citigroup Foundation and complements African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907.

C o l l e c t i o n   H i g h l i g h t s

 

2. National Archives - www.archives.gov

The National Archives is the U.S. Government’s collection of documents that records important events in American history. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the Government agency that preserves and maintains these materials and makes them available for research.

More than 95 percent of the records in the National Archives are declassified, meaning they are available to all researchers. NARA employs approximately 3,000 full- and part-time employees to help facilitate the use of its holdings. Many of the records in the National Archives are available on microfilm, and more than 124,000 digital images of documents can be seen through NARA’s Archival Research Catalog (ARC).

Some of the oldest materials in the National Archives are on parchment and date back to the founding of the United States of America. These include the records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses. Some of the more recent holdings include electronic files transferred from the Department of State and are available online through Access to Archival Databases (AAD).

3. University of Virginia’s Digital Collections - http://www.lib.virginia.edu/electronic.html , which includes:

The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record
Jerome S. Handler and Michael L. Tuite Jr.  http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/index.php

The approximately 1,200 images in this collection have been selected from a wide range of sources, most of them dating from the period of slavery. This collection is envisioned as a tool and a resource that can be used by teachers, researchers, students, and the general public - in brief, anyone interested in the experiences of Africans who were enslaved and transported to the Americas and the lives of their descendants in the slave societies of the New World.

The University notes that, while they have made every effort to ensure bibliographic accuracy and the correct identification of both primary and secondary sources from which the images have been obtained, as well as correct identification of the area, country, or region to which the image refers, little effort was made to interpret the images and establish the historical authenticity or accuracy of what they display. To accomplish that would constitute a major and different research effort. Individual users of this collection must decide such issues for themselves.

4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.lib.unc.edu/digitalprojects.html 

This digital collection includes “Slavery and the Making of the University” (of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/exhibits/slavery/

"Slavery and the Making of the University" introduces materials that recognize and document the contributions of slaves, college servants and free persons of color primarily during the university's antebellum period. Part of a larger project that included a physical exhibit mounted in the Manuscripts Department of Wilson Library October 12, 2005 through February 28, 2006 and a printed bibliography of sources, this online exhibit includes digitized images and transcriptions of many of the items from the physical exhibit as well as other items from the bibliography of sources not originally exhibited due to lack of physical space. Not all items from the bibliography have been digitized, though their citations are included here.

The idea for the slavery project grew out of the work of University Archives staff on a UNC history digitization project, "The First Century of the First State University." As they did research and selected items for inclusion in the "First Century" project, they encountered documents that verified what they had assumed to be true: slaves had contributed mightily to the construction of Old East, the Old Chapel (Person Hall), Old West, the New Chapel (Gerrard Hall) and additions to Old East and Old West.

All who worked were not called "slaves;" some were called "hands" or "labor." Some were simply called "Negro workmen."  They knew that some were free blacks, like the famous cabinetmaker Thomas Day, who fashioned the interior woodwork in the libraries of the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies. There are numerous accounts of plasterers, brick-makers and bricklayers, carpenters and various other laborers; however, there is more to the story than just construction work.

5. University of Illinois – digital archives http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/archon/digitallibrary.php

6. Roots Web
http://www.rootsweb.com/
The primary purpose and function of RootsWeb.com is to connect people so that they can help each other and share genealogical research. Most resources on RootsWeb.com are designed to facilitate such connections. 
The site relies heavily on Shared Research: online genealogists and others submit records for inclusion in their user-contributed database.  This is important since only a small fraction of genealogy-related information is on the web and most is in the form of books, documents (many handwritten), photographs, microfilm, and microfiche.

Individuals can upload their family tree to the WorldConnect Project, a database of family trees submitted by thousands of RootsWeb.com researchers. There are currently more than 372,595,410 ancestor names. Posting ones family tree allow other researchers with common ancestors to find each other.

Individuals also can post their family surnames on the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL). The RSL is a registry of more than 1,184,110 surname entries that have been submitted by more than 292,886 online genealogists. Associated with each surname are dates, locations, and information about how to contact the person who submitted the surname. The RSL is one of the primary tools on RootsWeb.com that online genealogists use to contact each other and share information.

There are many facilities provided by the site to help individuals communicate with each other, such as mailing lists and message boards.  Also, RootsWeb claims to host many of the largest volunteer genealogy projects on the Internet. Volunteers locate, transcribe, and publish genealogical data and help new users. Through this work they meet other genealogists with similar interests.

7. Cyndi’s List
http://www.cyndislist.com/ships.htm

The above Cyndi’s List link contains links to other sites containing information regarding the historic slave mutiny of 1839 aboard the infamous slave ship, the Amistad.  The site has a couple of broken links but some are still intact, such as the following.

a. http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/main/welcome.html
b. http://www.amistadamerica.org/
c. http://www.amistad.org/

8. AfriGeneas
http://www.afrigeneas.com/

AfriGeneas is a site devoted to African American genealogy, to researching African Ancestry in the Americas in particular and to genealogical research and resources in general. It is also an African Ancestry research community featuring the AfriGeneas mail list, the AfriGeneas message boards and daily and weekly genealogy chats.

            a.  AfriGeneas Library
http://www.afrigeneas.com/library/
An excellent source of articles about identifying slaves through various types of records and links to some useful databases and census data.

9. AfricaFocus
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/AfricaFocus/

"This digitize and rescue mission" is a joint project of the African Studies Program and the General Library system at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The goal is to present a well rounded view of African live via 3,000 slides, 500 photographs, 50 hours of sound recording from 45 African nations. One may browse by collection, subject or country. This is and excellent resource for anyone interest in African history.

Africa Focus brings together, in digital form, two categories of primary and secondary resources: research and teaching materials collected by University of Wisconsin faculty and staff; and unique or valuable items related to these fields held by the University of Wisconsin Libraries.

10.  PBS - Africans in America
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html -

The Africans in America Web site is a companion to Africans in America, a six-hour public television series. The Web site chronicles the history of racial slavery in the United States -- from the start of the Atlantic slave trade in the 16th century to the end of the American Civil War in 1865 -- and explores the central paradox that is at the heart of the American story: a democracy that declared all men equal but enslaved and oppressed one people to provide independence and prosperity to another. Africans in America examines the economic and intellectual foundations of slavery in America and the global economy that prospered from it. And it reveals how the presence of African people and their struggle for freedom transformed America.

The Web site is based upon years of extensive research undertaken by the television series team, a process which has uncovered and collected diverse and seldom-seen historical documents as well as fascinating and little-told stories. The Web site developers have endeavored to provide this material to our audience in an accessible, structured, and understandable fashion.

11.  African American Almanac
 http://www.toptags.com/aama/-

The AFRO-American Almanac ® is an on-line presentation of the African in America. A historical perspective of a nation, its people, and its cultural evolution. From the beginning of the slave trade through the Civil Rights movement, to the present. Information that will give you a better understanding of the problems we face today as a nation.

12.  Smithsonian’s list of African American sites
http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmah/afroam.htm

13. African American Registry
 http://www.aaregistry.com/

The African American Registry® is a calendar-based series of summary articles covering Black American history and accomplishments before the Mayflower to the present.

 14. The Hartford Black History Project
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/index-i.html

The Hartford Black History Project is a community-based non-profit operation that celebrates the contribution of the Black community to Hartford's history.

15. List of African American history siteshttp://www.sls.lib.il.us/reference/por/onweb/99/africam.html

16. National Museum of African American History and Culture – Smithsonian
http://nmaahc.si.edu/

17. Slavery in America
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/

SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA
This site was originally created in support of the PBS series SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA, produced by Thirteen/WNET New York. The series premiered in February 2004.
Underwritten by New York Life Insurance Company, the series is part of a broader New York Life educational initiative that includes this Web site.  The series is produced by Thirteen/WNET New York, which also produced THE RISE AND FALL OF JIM CROW.

18. The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition,
http://www.yale.edu/glc/

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, a part of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, is dedicated to the investigation and dissemination of knowledge concerning all aspects of chattel slavery and its destruction.

19. Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora
http://www.aswadiaspora.org/

The Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) is a not-for-profit, tax deductible organization of international scholars seeking to further our understanding of the African Diaspora, that is, the dispersal of people of African descent throughout the world. Through the examination of history, dance, anthropology, literature, women's studies, education, geology, political science, sociology, language, art, music, film, theater, biology, photography, etc., we seek to share the most recent research both within and across disciplinary and other conventional boundaries. We seek to do this by way of conferences and symposia held periodically, as well as through publications. In addition, we look for ways to share our work with students and the general community. All who share such interests are welcome to join ASWAD.

20. UNESCO Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project

http://www.cofc.edu/atlanticworld/Transatlantic%20Slave%20Trade%20Page/tst.html

The ASPnet ( UNESCO’s Associated Schools Project Network) Transatlantic Slave Trade (TST) Project was launched in 1998 to break the silence surrounding the Transatlantic Slave Trade and to enable young people to fully comprehend the past, understand the present and prepare a better future together in a world free of all types of stereotypes, enslavement, injustice, discrimination and prejudice.

21. UNESCO African Passages http://www.cofc.edu/atlanticworld/Transatlantic%20Slave%20Trade%20Page/tst.html

In 2004, the Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project (TST) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) encouraged each participating member state to develop a “Site of Memory” website about their region as an educational resource for teachers and other educators around the world. An important aim of UNESCO’s Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project is the preservation and protection of places of memory related to the Slave Trade. Over 100 schools in 23 nations around the Atlantic World participate in this project.

A “site of memory” is a contemporary geographic or physical location with cultural, spiritual, or historic elements that can be interpreted to teach some or all of the themes of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It can include buildings, the natural environment or the site of a significant event.

UNESCO’s African Passages is intended to be a prototype “Site of Memory” website.


22. Portal toThe ASPnet ( UNESCO’s Associated Schools Project Network)
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=9442&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

The portal contains, among other things, links to the above UNESCO African Passages and the Site for College of Charleston Carolina Low Country Program

The TST project aims to improve the teaching of history by telling the whole story of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The project emphasizes the significance of the TST, the suffering it caused and its social, cultural and economic impact on the Atlantic world.

23. Portal to UNESCO's Slave Route Project

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=25659&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

At the proposal of Haiti and some African countries, the General Conference of UNESCO approved at its 27th Session in 1993 the implementation of the "Slave Route" Project (Resolution 27 C/3.13). Supported by the African Union Organization during its 56th ordinary session in Dakar, the project was officially launched at the First Session of the International Scientific Committee of the Slave Route in September 1994 in Ouidah (Benin), one of the former pivots of the slave trade in the Gulf of Guinea. The official documents of Ouidah were brought out in book form by UNESCO Publishing in 1998 under the title "From Chains to Bonds: the Slave Trade Revisited".

The idea of a "Route" expresses the dynamics of the movement of peoples, civilizations and cultures, while that of "slave" addresses not only the universal phenomenon of slavery, but also in a more precise and explicit way the transatlantic slave trade in the Atlantic, and slave trade the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean.

The project has three major objectives:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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