National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Associations (I), Making of African American Identity: V. 2
Newspaper articles that illustrate how benevolent and charitable societies fostered racial solidarity among African Americans in late-nineteenth-century America are provided. Links to these articles can be found on the second page.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Associations (Ii), Making of African American Identity: V. 2
Chapter from a novel that describes the workings of a charitable society. This chapter, "The Sewing Circle," illustrates some of the various functions that institutions, especially the benevolent and charitable societies, performed in...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Education, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
Chapters and photographs in which Booker T. Washington promotes manual education for blacks. In this resource, Washington makes his case for the practical, trades-based education he installed at the Tuskegee Institute.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Leadership, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
Essay in which W. E. B. Du Bois discusses the need for a black elite. This essay, "The Talented Tenth" is provided, illustrating his efforts to improve the social standing of African Americans.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Institutions: Religion, Making of African American Identity
Scholarly article and an address that discuss the role of religion in the shaping of African American identity during the late-nineteenth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Business, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
A painting and an appeal that explore the role business played in black uplift in nineteenth-century America. This resource focuses on the work of Edward Bannister (1828-1901), one of the leading black painters of the nineteenth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Family, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
A short story and photographs that illustrate the role family played in shaping African American identity in nineteenth-century America. A link to "The Stones of the Village" by Alice Dunbar-Nelson supports this concept.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Racial Politics, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
Chapter from a novel and images that illustrate black political action in late-nineteenth-century America. Frances Harper's 1892 novel Iola Leroy, is examined, covering topics of white supremacy and racial justice.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Race Problem, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
A poem, an address, and a painting that illustrate black political struggle in late-nineteenth-century America. This series of resources characterize "the Negro Problem" as "a concrete test of the underlying principles of the great...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Vote, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
An appeal for black voting rights and an editorial cartoon opposing them. This resource explains that while the 15th Amendment granted black men the right to vote, southern states fought to block its implementation.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Two Views, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
Two poems that explore the struggles of African Americans in the early-twentieth century. Links to both poems by Fenton Johnson are provided, and illustrate the struggles experienced as black man in white America in the 1910s
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Popular Culture, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
A sculpture, poster, poem, and a painting that challenge black stereotypes in the early-twentieth century. Links to these precursors to the Harlem Renaissance are provided at the top of the page.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: World War I
Excerpts from "The Official History of the American Negro in World War I" by Emmett J. Scott, depicting the impact of the Great War on African Americans at home. The doubts that whites voiced about African Americans' loyalty and military...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Forward:1917
Letters, an article, a pamphlet, and a song that point to greater black migration from the South and black cultural achievements in the twentieth century. The texts examines how migrations north affected the relationships of African...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Lynching and Segregation: Making of African American Identity
Primary source articles discusses mob violence and the practice of lynching while examining social conformity and segregation. Links to both articles, summary of text and questions for discussion.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Black Psyche, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
Woodcuts that explore the effects of segregation on the black psyche. Links to Elizabeth Catlett's "The Negro Woman," a series of fifteen linoleum cuts are provided, as well as a summary of their meaning.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Ambiguity of Integration: Making of African American Identity
A painting and a photograph illustrating some of the problems posed by racial integration. Norman Rockwell's illustration is compared to the experiences of Ruby Bridges.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Migrations: Negro Migration During War
An analysis of the reasons why blacks moved north around the time of World War I. An article by Emmett J. Scott (1873-1957), who for a time served as Booker T. Washington's personal secretary, is linked to this resource.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Writing for Help, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
Letters by African Americans seeking help to leave the South. They explore issues including identity, family, community, and the struggles induced by the need to migrate north.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: The Blues
Examples of the blues inspired by the African American migration to Northern cities. These lyrics and audio clips explores the reasons for, and effects of, these migrations.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Old Timers, Newcomers
An editorial cartoon and a newspaper article illustrating the tensions between members of established African American communities in the North and Southern migrants. Links to both resources are provided within this site.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Painting the Migration
Paintings by Jacob Lawrence titled, "The Migration of the Negro", a series of sixty paintings, illustrates the migration of African Americans to the North in the twentieth century. A link to this artwork can be found within this summary.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Marching, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
This resource by the National Humanities Center discusses the role of physical protest in the civil rights movement. Its primary focus, the print "Freedom Now," by Reginald Gammon (1921-2005), depicts the massing of bodies in the name of...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Boycotting, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
A memoir describing the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott by Jo Ann Gibson Robinson titled, "The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It." This text describes the importance of African American women in initiating the well-known...