United States History In Color Course 1

Welcome to "United States History In Black" Course 1

In this course you will learn about the political, legal, economic and social themes of blacks in the United States. Emphasis is given to the Afro-American experience from African origins, through slavery, up to the end of the American Civil War..  This course INTENTIONALLY places many commonly known moments, movements, and events in the background and brings the African American Experience to the foreground. It is a unique take on traditional United States history course. The goal is to facilitate a deeper knowledge and appreciation of this very important History.

This course is surely delight the history lovers and curious alike. There is tons of historically sound content here.

African/Black Americans can trace their lineage to the African Content, in particularly Western Africa. Prior to the lath 19th and Early 20th Century, most mainstream historians dismissed pre colonial African history as irrelevant, however, Africans were very much a part of the global movement of people and trade for many year prior to European interactions. In fact, African states and kingdoms thrived during the time Europeans were going through the "Dark Ages" following the fall of the Roman Empire.

Pre-Colonial African Experience

Select Bibliography

Manning, Patrick (2013). "African and World Historiography". The Journal of African History

Roberts, A.D. (1978). "The Earlier Historiography of Colonial Africa". History in Africa.

Walker, Robin. (2006). “When We Ruled: he Ancient and Mediaeval History of Black Civilizations,

From the very beginning of European exploration Africans accompanied them. There were even Africans who came with Christopher Columbus on his first voyage in October 1492. Most historians believe that the Black experience in American began around this time, some believe it began before.  Nevertheless, the majority of the first non Native Americans were of African decent.

Africans and the Age of Colonialism and Exploration

Select Bibliography

Gibbs, C.R. (1992). "Black Explorers.”

Clarke, John, H. (2011). Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust: Slavery and the Rise of European Capitalism.

African emigrants and African Americans had a very interesting experience in colonial America. Some were able to get their freedom, others were enslaved, and most blurred the lines. Their lives depended on what colonial power they lived under and in what geographical region they lived in the Hemisphere.

Black Colonial Life and Colonial Slavery Part 1

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Berlin, Ira. (1998). "Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America."

Curtin, Philip D. (1969). "The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census," 

African emigrants and African Americans had a very interesting experience in colonial America. Some were able to get their freedom, others were enslaved, and most blurred the lines. Their lives depended on what colonial power they lived under and in what geographical region they lived in the Hemisphere.  This is a continuation of the last lecture.

Black Colonial Life and Colonial Slavery Part 2

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Morgan, Kenneth. (2016). "A Short History of Transatlantic Slavery (Short Histories)."

Wood, Betty. (1997). "The Origins of American Slavery: Freedom and Bondage in the English Colonies"

The American Revolution is a seminal event in traditional United States History, however studying it from a Black perspective exposed not only the t and the hypocrisy of some of the major players, but also the but also the nature of this first attempt at total emancipation off slaves.

Being Black and the American Revolution

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Cohen, William. (1969). "Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Slavery."

Egerton, Douglas, R. (2009). "Death of Liberty: African Americans in Revolutionary America."

Farrand, Max. (1913). "The Framing of the Constitution."

MacCleod, Duncan, J. (1974). "Slavery, Race, and the American Revolution."

The years following the American Revolution and entering into the 19th Century were pivotal in the Black Community, because they were important to community building, identity creation, and establishing the groundwork for Civil Rights advocacy for the century and a half.

Being Black in the New Nation in a New Century

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Finkleman, Paul. (2001). "Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson.

Ford, Lacy. K. Jr. (1999). "Making the White Man's Country White: Race, Slavery, and State Building in the Jacksonian South.

Slavery was very instrumental economically and socially in early America, because it is the basis of the social hierarchy and the basis of American Capitalism.

American Slavery Part 1

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Bancroft, Frederick (1995). "Slave Trading in the Old South."

Berlin, Ira. (2003). "Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves."

David, Paul. (1976). "Reckoning With Slavery: A Critical Study in the Quantitative History of American Negro Slavery."

The conversation about Western Expansion and Manifest Destiny are void without a through understanding the influence the conversations about slavery impacted them. In fact, this was the most important conversation. This is when we truly begin to see the divide on the issue of slavery really begin to take form.

Being Black during the Jacksonian Era.

Select Bibliography

Berlin, Ira. (1975). "Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South.

Franklin, John Hope. (1995). "The Free Negro in North Carolina, 1790 to 1860."

Porter, Kenneth, W. (1971). "The Negro on the American Frontier.

Slavery was very instrumental economically and socially in early America, because it is the basis of the social hierarchy and the basis of American Capitalism. This is a continuation of the previous lecture, but it also includes how slavery affected those around the institution and those enslaved.

American Slavery Part 2

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Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth. (1989). "Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South.

Katz, William Loren. (1987). "The Black West."

Oakes, James. (1991). "Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South.

Following the Second Great Awakening in the United States, various groups sought to work to better the country, and this of course includes the nation's biggest dilemma: the institution of slavery. The number of people disagreeing with it is growing, and they are becoming more adamant about their disapproval, but the backlash is just a strong.

Being Black in the Age of Reform

Select Bibliography

Blackett, R.J.M. (1983). "Building an Antislavery Wall: Black Americans in the Atlantic Antislavery Movement.

Buckmaster, Henrietta. (1992). "Let My People Go: The Story of the Underground Railroad and the Growth of the Abolition Movement.

Curry, Leonard, P. (1981). "The Free Black in Urban America, 1800 to 1850: The Shadow of the Dream.

The years prior to the Civil War (The Antebellum Period) was not doubt one of the most contentious periods in United States history, and what made it so contentious was the future of African American slavery. There was a lot at stake, and for Black people even more was at stake, for many their very lives.

The Black Experience in Antebellum America.

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Rael, Patrick. (2002). "Black Identity and Black Protest in the Antebellum North.

Salerno, Beth, A. (2005). "Sister Societies: Women's Antislavery Organizations in Antebellum America.

The Civil War is possible the most important and devastating even to occur in United States History. So much in Modern Times have been impacted by this war and the outcome, and the Black Experience was one of many paradoxes. While the Union was fighting to preserve the Union, African Americans saw this as their war for Independence, and it many ways it was.

Being Black and the Civil War.

Select Bibliography

Belz, Herman (1978). "Emancipation and Equal Rights: Politics and Constitutionalism in the Civil War Era."

Blight, David, W. (1989). Frederick Douglass' Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee.

Douglass, William, O. (1963). "Mr. Lincoln and the Negro: The Long Road to Equality."

Faust, Drew Gilpin. (1988). "The Creation of Confederate Nationalism: Ideology and Identity in the Civil War South.

Foner, Eric. (2007). "Nothing but Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy."

Franklin, John Hope. (1973). "The Emancipation Proclamation.