Civil Rights Documents

Are people born free? Do governments give rights to citizens or do citizens give-up some rights in exchange for good government? These are stories about people seeking and achieving their civil rights.

This facsimile document, maintained at the National Archives, depicts the "conviction record" of Susan B. Anthony following her trial for unlawfully v...

When Susan Anthony was convicted for wrongfully voting in America's 1872 presidential election, she appealed to Congress to set aside the verdict. &nb...

Susan B. Anthony was convicted of unlawfully voting, in the 1872 presidential election, and sentenced to a fine of $100 plus court costs. This docume...

The Table of Contents page from the book, Olaudah Equiano: The Interesting Narrative.

This is a facsimile of Tennessee's ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  With this victory, the Amendment had enough sup...

John Newton commanded a ship - The African - in the summer of 1752.  It was a slave ship, with 250 slaves aboard. This image, from the Cowper &a...

Image of the published poem The Branded Hand by John Greenleaf Whittier. Click on the image for a better view.

America's federal government passed a law requiring people to help "owners" recover "their" escaped slaves.  It was called The Fugitive Slave Law...

A fascimile of the charges against Susan B. Anthony. Click on the image for a clearer view.

A fascimile of the charges against Susan B. Anthony. Click on the image for a clearer view.

Image depicts the illustration that was used opposite the title page of Equiano's autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equi...

Britain imposed "Penal Laws" on Irish Catholics in 1704.  This image highlights some of the more onerous laws which adversely impacted Irish-Cath...

Show tooltips