African-American History

University of Maryland Archaeologists Find Links Between African Religious Symbols and Christianity

At a decade-long excavation at Wye House, a former plantation near Easton, Maryland, archeologists from the University of Maryland found traditional African religious symbols side-by-side with symbols relating to Christianity.

Southern University Debuts Online Archive of Slave Narratives

The collection was assembled by John B. Cade Sr., a professor and dean at Southern University in the early twentieth century. Cade and a group of his students traveled throughout the South in the 1930s to interview former slaves.

University of North Alabama Honors its First Black Graduate

In a case that lasted only 10 minutes, Wendell Wilkie Gunn, with the help of famed civil rights attorney Fred Gray, obtained a court order demanding that he be allowed to enroll at what is now the University of North Alabama. He did so on September 11, 1963 and graduated in 1965.

University of Virginia Envisions a Memorial to Slaves Who Worked on Campus

The University of Virginia recently held a meeting aimed at getting input from local residents in the Charlottesville area for their views on a proposed memorial to the Black slaves and laborers who helped construct early buildings on the university's campus.

New Online Archive Documents Bank Redlining Practices in the 1930s

A new website hosted by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond offers visitors a look at a series of maps from the Home Owners Loan Corporation that document the practice of redlining during the New Deal era.

Confederate Monument Moved From the Edge of the University of Louisville Campus

A monument honoring Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War, was moved from the edge of the campus of the University of Louisville in Kentucky. The University of Louisville Foundation paid $350,000 of the $400,000 cost to move the monument.

Bowie State University Study Examines the History of Lynchings in Maryland

The study documented 40 lynchings in the state during the period from 1854 to 1933. The research was conducted by Nicholas M. Creary and two students. Dr. Creary is an assistant professor of history and government at Bowie State.

New Book Explores Rutgers University’s Ties to Slavery

The authors conclude that "the practice of slavery was part of the social reality of Queen’s College’s early leaders and the development of Rutgers was intertwined with the history of slavery in America."

UCLA Debuts a New Online Archive Relating to African American Silent Films

The database, entitled "Early African American Film: Reconstructing the History of Silent Race Films, 1909-1930," includes information on actors, crew members, writers, producers, directors, and others who were involved in silent films.

Yale University Discovers a Rare Catalogue of Slavery in Its Archives

Researchers at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University recently discovered a pamphlet in the university's collections that had not been catalogued previously. The pamphlet is entitled Catalogue of Negroes, Mules, Carts, Wagons & C.

Pauli Murray’s Home Slated to Become a National Historic Landmark

The Pauli Murray Project at the Human Rights Center at Duke University has been working for many years to obtain landmark status for the civil rights activist's home in Durham. Those efforts have finally reached fruition.

University of Alabama Debuts Online Archive of Documents Relating to the Scottsboro Boys

The archive, “To See Justice Done: Letters from the Scottsboro Trials,” includes thousands of letters, documents, petitions, and telegrams that were sent to Alabama governors during the legal proceedings.

John Carroll University in Ohio to Explore Its Historical Ties to Slavery

John Carroll was the first Catholic bishop in the United States and was a founder of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He owned a least one slave and participated in the management of Jesuit-owned plantations in Maryland.

University of Iowa Makes Amends for Slighting Its African American Beauty Queen in 1955

In December 1955, Dora Martin Berry was elected Miss State University of Iowa. However, due to the color of her skin, Berry was denied recognition as Miss SUI at official ceremonies where past holders of the post were honored.

Professor Seeks to Solve the Mystery of the Man Who Claimed to Be the Last Surviving Slave

Sylvester Magee died in Columbia, Mississippi, in 1971. He claimed he was born a slave in 1841 and after securing his freedom was a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. If true, the 130-year-old Sylvester Magee was not only the last surviving American slave, he was the last living Civil War veteran.

University of Missouri Student Organization Honors 1923 Lynching Victim

In 1923, James T. Scott, who worked as a custodian at the University of Missouri in Columbia, was accused of raping the 14-year-old daughter of a White professor at the university. He was taken from jail and lynched. The rape victim later identified another man as her attacker.

Monument to Jefferson Davis Removed From Texas State University Campus

The granite monument to Davis was erected 85 years ago in 1931 on land adjacent to a federal highway. The university acquired the land at a later date but the state Department of Transportation continued to hold the right-of-way for the parcel where the monument was placed.

Yale University Honors Its First Black Student

James W.C. Pennington took classes at Yale Divinity School beginning in 1834. He was not allowed to enroll but could audit courses from the back of classrooms. Pennington could not participate in classroom discussions and he was not allowed to take out books from the library.

New Online Archive of Black Student Newspaper Debuts at North Carolina State University

The Nubian Message is a student-operated newspaper at North Carolina State University in Raleigh that was first published in 1992. The new online archive contains back issues from 1992 through 2005.

University of Kentucky Decides to Unveil Controversial Mural It Had Covered Up

The mural, painted in the 1930s by artist Ann Rice O'Hanlon, had been criticized for its portrayal of African Americans and American Indians in scenes depicting the history of the city of Lexington, home to the university. One image shows slaves picking cotton.
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