HIST 3130 - African American History I: Home
This guide provides library and web-based information appropriate for students enrolled in HIST 3130 - African American History I
Welcome
This guide provides library and web-based information appropriate for students enrolled in HIST 3130: African American History I, including recommendations for Required Readings, finding Article Databases, tips for analyzing Primary Sources, quick links to Digital Collections, and more!
Image: List of enslaved persons born from 1807 to 1840 appearing on a page torn from a Bible. List was discovered by Virginia Kern of Statesboro, Georgia circa 1956. Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections.
Documents From Class
- Developing an Effective Search StrategyHandout (LibGuide URL is georgiasouthern.libguides.com/hist3130)
- Finding Primary SourcesPPT from Class
Required Readings
Generations in Captivity: A History of African American Slaves by
Ira Berlin traces the history of African-American slavery in the United States from its beginnings in the seventeenth century to its fiery demise nearly three hundred years later. Most Americans, black and white, have a singular vision of slavery, one fixed in the mid-nineteenth century when most American slaves grew cotton, resided in the deep South, and subscribed to Christianity. Here, however, Berlin offers a dynamic vision, a major reinterpretation in which slaves and their owners continually renegotiated the terms of captivity. Slavery was thus made and remade by successive generations of Africans and African Americans who lived through settlement and adaptation, plantation life, economic transformations, revolution, forced migration, war, and ultimately, emancipation. Berlin's understanding of the processes that continually transformed the lives of slaves makes Generations of Captivity essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of antebellum America. Connecting the "Charter Generation" to the development of Atlantic society in the seventeenth century, the "Plantation Generation" to the reconstruction of colonial society in the eighteenth century, the "Revolutionary Generation" to the Age of Revolutions, and the "Migration Generation" to American expansionism in the nineteenth century, Berlin integrates the history of slavery into the larger story of American life. He demonstrates how enslaved black people, by adapting to changing circumstances, prepared for the moment when they could seize liberty and declare themselves the "Freedom Generation." This epic story, told by a master historian, provides a rich understanding of the experience of African-American slaves, an experience that continues to mobilize American thought and passions today.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by
A dramatic autobiography and powerful firsthand account of slavery, written by America's most influential abolitionist First published in 1845, Narrativeof the Life of Frederick Douglass is an eye-opening depiction of American slavery. Part autobiography, part human-rights treatise, it describes the everyday horrors inflicted on captive laborers, as well as the strength and courage needed to survive. Born into slavery on a Maryland plantation in 1818, Frederick Douglass spent years secretly teaching himself to read and write--a crime for which he risked life and limb. After two failed escapes, Douglass finally, blessedly boarded a train in 1838 that would eventually lead him to New York City, and freedom. Few books have done more to change America's notion of African Americans than this seminal work. Beyond its historical and social relevancy, it is admired today for its gripping stories, intensity of spirit, and heartfelt humanity. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
A Slave No More: Two Men who Escaped to Freedom: Including their Own Narratives of Emancipation by
Slave narratives, some of the most powerful records of our past, are extremely rare, with only fifty-five post-Civil War narratives surviving. A mere handful are first-person accounts by slaves who ran away and freed themselves. Now two newly uncovered narratives, and the biographies of the men who wrote them, join that exclusive group with the publication of A Slave No More, a major new addition to the canon of American history. Handed down through family and friends, these narratives tell gripping stories of escape: Through a combination of intelligence, daring, and sheer luck, the men reached the protection of the occupying Union troops. David W. Blight magnifies the drama and significance by prefacing the narratives with each man's life history. Using a wealth of genealogical information, Blight has reconstructed their childhoods as sons of white slaveholders, their service as cooks and camp hands during the Civil War, and their climb to black working-class stability in the north, where they reunited their families.In the stories of Turnage and Washington, we find history at its most intimate, portals that offer a rich new answer to the question of how four million people moved from slavery to freedom. In A Slave No More, the untold stories of two ordinary men take their place at the heart of the American experience.
Call Number: Gil-Express
