The following are documents which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These documents are a starting point for additional research and discussions that help further our understanding of the history of people of African ancestry in the United States.
SLAUGHTER-HOUSE CASES.; THE BUTCHERS’ BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION OF NEW ORLEANS v. THE CRESCENT CITY LIVE-STOCK LANDING AND SLAUGHTER-HOUSE COMPANY.; PAUL ESTEBEN, L. RUCH, J. P. ROUEDE, W. MAYLIE, S. FIRMBERG, B. BEAUBAY, WILLIAM FAGAN, J. D. BRODERICK, N. SEIBEL, M. LANNES, J. GITZINGER, J. P. AYCOCK, … Read More(1873) The Slaughter House Cases
Amendments 13-15 are called the Reconstruction Amendments both because they were the first enacted right after the Civil War and because all addressed questions related to the legal and political status of the African Americans. AMENDMENT XIII Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified … Read More(1865) Reconstruction Amendments, 1865-1870
Dred Scott v. Sandford, United States Supreme Court, 1857 (This text has been edited. The original decision is over 200 pages long) This is certainly a very serious question, and one that now for the first time has been brought for decision before this court. … Read More(1857) Dred Scott v. Sandford
March 1, 1842, Decided OPINION: Mr. Justice STORY delivered the opinion of the Court. This is a writ of error to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, brought under the 25th section of the judiciary act of 1789, ch. 20, for the purpose of revising the … Read More(1842) Prigg v. Pennsylvania
Decided March 9, 1841 MR. JUSTICE STORY delivered the opinion of the Court. This is the case of an appeal from the decree of the Circuit Court of the District of Connecticut, sitting in admiralty. The leading facts, as they appear upon the transcript of … Read More(1841) United States v. The Amistad