Perspectives on African American History features accounts and descriptions of important but little known events in African American history recalled often by those who were witnesses or participants or viewpoints about historical developments shaping the contemporary black world. Many of these accounts will be instant primary sources available to current visitors to BlackPast and to future historians. Each article is accompanied by a brief biography and photo of its author.
Few people identify slavery with Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. However, there were slaves in the region particularly in the decade before the Civil War. In the following article, Gregory Paynter Shine, the Chief Ranger and Historian at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, describes … Read MoreThe Manumission of Monimia Travers: A Slave Freed at Fort Vancouver
In the article below social commentator John H. McWhorter challenges the nation to think differently about Black History Month. He argues that the emphasis on black “heroes” negates the tens of thousands of stories of ordinary African Americans who have overcome or outmaneuvered racism and … Read MoreJohn McWhorter, “Celebrate the Triumph of Ordinary Black Americans”
In 2009 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People celebrated its 100th anniversary. In the article below historian Susan Bragg provides a brief introduction to the history of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest continually active civil … Read MoreThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Long Struggle for Civil Rights in the United States
In the following account California State University, Fresno history professor Malik Simba summarizes the 2008 presidential campaign of Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Professor Simba reminds us of the many challenges faced by the campaign as well as the daring and innovative strategies it successfully employed … Read More“Yes We Can”: Barack Obama’s Road to the White House, 2008
In the article below Seattle Times columnist Jerry Large provides his perspective on the importance of the Obama victory for the Presidency on Nov. 4, 2008 and the way it forever changed the United States. Barack Obama’s victory opened a new door of possibilities for … Read MoreA New Era Begins: The Significance of the Barack Obama Victory, 2008
Most visitors who tour the Hermitage outside Nashville, Tennessee come to the historic site because it is the home of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. Hermitage Archaeology Director Kevin Bartoy reminds us, however, that the plantation was also home to over … Read MoreThe Other Hermitage: The Enslaved at the Andrew Jackson Plantation
In the article below independent historian Jeffrey Perry discusses his 2008 book on early 20th Century Harlem activist Hubert Harrison. Hubert Harrison (1883-1927) is one of the truly important figures of early twentieth-century America. A brilliant writer, orator, educator, critic, and political activist, he was … Read MoreHubert Harrison: The Voice of Early 20th Century Harlem Radicalism
In the following article drawn from his book, Black Philosopher, White Academy: The Career of William Fontaine, University of Pennsylvania historian Bruce Kuklick introduces us to the world of philosopher William Fontaine, one of the few African American faculty members at an Ivy League institution … Read More“Going South: William Fontaine’s Trip to Virginia, 1948”
In the following article, University of California at Los Angeles historian Gary B. Nash describes little-known Revolutionary War soldier who was attached by General George Washington to serve with Polish military engineer Tadeuz Kosciuszko. This account is part of a larger history of three individuals, … Read MoreAgrippa Hull: Revolutionary Patriot
One hero and friend of Japanese Americans, both individuals and the community generally, was Paul Robeson. Robeson was (after Joe Louis) the most popular and visible African American of the 1930s and 1940s. He was a celebrated stage actor and movie star, an internationally famous … Read MorePaul Robeson and Japanese Americans, 1942-1949
