African-American History

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

Bard College in New York Establishes the Ralph Ellison Center

The Ralph Ellison Center will serve as the new home for the Ralph Ellison archive. Currently housed at the Library of Congress, the archive will undergo an extensive digitization project by students, faculty, and other scholars.

Swarthmore College Dedicates Academic Building to Two Black Scholars

Swarthmore College has renamed an academic building to Edley-Morgan Hall in honor of alumnus and former Harvard Law School professor Christopher F. Edley Jr. and Kathryn L. Morgan, the college's first African American professor.

Harvard Law School Acquires Oral History Collection on the Legacy of TransAfrica

The new collection at Harvard features more than 120 oral histories recorded by Ronald Williams II for his forthcoming book on this history of TransAfrica, a former foreign policy advocacy organization dedicated to shaping U.S. policy toward Africa and the African diaspora.

New Documentary Showcases Virginia Theological Seminary’s Reparations Program

The film, Bridging Ground: A Story of Sin, Grace, and Repair, follows the Virginia Theological Seminary's effort to confront its legacy with slavery. Over the past several years, the seminary has issued annual payments to living descendants of enslaved people who labored on campus some 200 years ago.

UNC-Chapel Hill to Name New Residence Hall After Pioneering Black Faculty

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's new Jackson Hall honors two of the university's earliest Black professors. Blyden Jackson was the university's first tenured Black faculty member and his wife Roberta was the first Black tenure-track faculty member in the School of Education.

Research Finds Historical Racial Inequities in Federal Mortgage Lending

During the 1935 to 1947 period, foreign-born U.S. residents appeared to have benefited significantly more from these federal lending programs than native-born Black borrowers.

Keisha N. Blain Awarded for New Book on Black Women’s History in Human Rights Movements

The University of Georgia Libraries has honored Dr. Blain, professor of history and Africana studies at Brown University, for her latest book, Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale Launches African American Heritage Center

“Together, we are creating a place where history is not only preserved but shared. By connecting scholarship with community knowledge, we will ensure that the rich contributions of African Americans across Southern Illinois remain an enduring part of our region's story,” said Austin Lane, chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

More Funding to Investigate Black Communities’ Displacement by Virginia Colleges and Universities

Virginia lawmakers have voted to extend the work of a commission currently investigating how four historically Black communities were affected by the expansion of Virginia Commonwealth University, Christopher Newport University, the University of Virginia, and Longwood University.

California State University Project to Document the Lives of Black Leaders in Monterey Bay

Jeremias Zunguze and students from the African Heritage Research Collaborative at California State University, Monterey Bay, are working on a new oral history project to document the lives and contributions of Black leaders in Monterey County.

Harvard Graduate School of Education Expands Its Black Teacher Archive

The Black Teachers Archive was unveiled publicly in 2023. The newly revamped online archive created in partnership with Harvard's Digital Arts + Humanities Team, contains new exhibits, curated features, and a more robust search function.

Research Examines the Itineraries of Underground Railroad Passengers Arriving in Philadelphia

Using historical records from Black abolitionist William Still, researchers from Temple University have traced the journeys of nearly 1,000 freedom seekers arriving in Philadelphia in the mid-nineteenth century, revealing insights into their places of origin and how they traveled on the Underground Railroad.

Ohio University Southern Project Aims to Document the African American Experience in Appalachia

A new documentary from students and faculty at Ohio University Southern features oral histories tracing the Ohio River corridor's African American story from its roots to present day.

Southern Methodist University Libraries Acquires Earliest Known Broadsides Promoting Juneteenth

Southern Methodist University has acquired three posters — dated 1884, 1892, and 1898 — promoting Juneteenth celebrations in Corpus Christi, Texas. Prior to the discovery of these materials, the earliest known broadside commemorating the holiday was dated 1903.

University of California, Berkeley Acquires Archive of Artist Mildred Howard

Across her career, Howard created multiple public-art installations and worked in a range of artistic mediums. An archive of materials chronicling her five-decades-long career has now been acquired by the University of California, Berkeley.

University of South Carolina Debuts Richard Samuel Roberts Online Photographic Archive

The Richard Samuel Roberts Collection at the University of South Carolina includes digital scans of more than 5,000 glass plate negatives showcasing African American life in Columbia, South Carolina, during the early twentieth century.

Caleb Gayle Wins Distinguished Book Prize in Great Plains Studies

The Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has honored Northeastern University's Caleb Gayle for his new book on Edward McCabe, a Black man who tried to establish a U.S. state governed by and for Black people.

Harvard Publishes Database of 1,613 People Enslaved by University Leaders

The Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program has released an updated database featuring the names, locations, and documented dates of 1,613 individuals enslaved by members of the university community, as well as the names of the university leaders who enslaved them.

University of Houston Students to Create Online Historical Archive Focused on Black Cowboys

The University of Houston's Black Cowboy/girl Preservation Project will contribute to broader scholarship on Texas agriculture, ranching, and rodeo culture by documenting the experiences of Black cowboys and cowgirls, a group historically left out of traditional Western films, art, and textbooks.
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