African American History Story Briefs

Descendants of African-Americans who began their lives in America as kidnapped slaves were then deprived of civil rights by "Jim Crow" laws. Leaders inspired others to overcome racial prejudice and legal obstacles. These stories highlight the ups and downs of black history.

Slave owners would pay rewards to anyone who helped recover fugitive slaves.

Compilation of images, from 1764, illustrating what Africans endured after being kidnapped by slavers.

Slave families are routinely split-apart as America's system of chattel slavery disregards how slave family members feel about each other.

On the 21st of August, 1831, Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in Virginia.

Theodore G. ("The Man") Bilbo (1877-1947) was a Democratic Mississippi politician who served as state governor and U.

Learn about American slavery, slave auctions and the Underground Railroad (when people helped others to escape the horrors of chattel slavery).

Mose Wright (also called Moses Wright) is Emmett Till's great-uncle. When Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam are tried for the murder of Emmett Till, Mose Wrig...

A deadly train wreck near Nashville occurred on July 9, 1918 when two trains collided, head on, traveling between 50-60 mph. Contemporary news reports...

Africa had its own system of slavery, before the European slave trade, but it involved a system of justice.

Escaping slaves, during the years of the "Underground Railroad," arrive at League Island (near Philadelphia).

Escaping slaves needed to understand a bit of science in order to find their way to freedom. The words of songs helped them to achieve that objective...

W.E.B. DuBois spent his life gathering evidence to refute the myths of racial inferiority. African-Americans struggled in the face of discriminatory l...

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