PBS
Perceptions of African Identity: Swahili Coast
From the PBS series, a history of the Swahili coast of East Africa, including the island of Zanzibar.
Columbia University
Edward Wilmot Blyden
The life and work of E.W. Blyden (1832-1912 CE), one of the main leaders in the Pan-Africanism movement in Africa.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Three Worlds, Three Views
Essay examining the cultural and environmental changes spanning 300 years in the pre-Revolutionary South as three worlds, Native American, European, and African collide. Site includes guiding questions for student discussion and scholars...
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania: French in West Africa
This site has historical information about West Africa and the French colonial presence in the 19th and 20th Centuries.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th Century Chesapeake
This very thorough site will fascinate those interested in forensic anthropology. You will learn what you can read from bones, how a face can be reconstructed from a skull, clues you can read from a burial, and about forensic cases both...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Pre Colonial Africa, 1885
A map of the African continent prior to the Berlin Conference of 1885, when the most powerful countries in Europe at the time convened to make their territorial claims on Africa and establish their colonial borders at the start of the...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Pre Colonial Africa, 1872
A map of Africa showing the continent prior to the Berlin Conference of 1885, when the most powerful countries in Europe at the time convened to make their territorial claims on Africa and establish their colonial borders at the start of...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Pre Colonial Africa, 1858
Map of Africa in 1858, prior to the extensive European colonization of the continent established at the Berlin Conference of 1885. This map shows the European possessions of the Cape Colony, Natal, and Orange River Free State, and the...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Pre Colonial Africa, 1870
A physical and political map of Africa prior to the Berlin Conference of 1885, which established the European colonial territory claims on the continent. This map shows the African states of Morocco, Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli, Egypt,...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Colonial Africa, 1914
A map of Africa in 1914, showing the presence of European powers, including British, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Belgian possessions. Native states, major cities and major railways are also shown. This map reflects...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Political Colonial Africa, 1916
A political map of the African continent in 1916, showing the European territorial claims established at the Berlin Conference in 1885. This map also shows the territorial enclaves of British Walfish Bay in German Southwest Africa,...
BBC
Bbc: Africa & Europe (1800 1914)
Part of the BBC's "Story of Africa" series, this article covers 19th century exploration and colonization. Archived.
Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures: Asians of Africa
The Asian population of Africa is a small but significant minority. Whereas there have been Asians, primarily merchants, who lived on the east coast of Africa for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, a great influx of Asians came to...
Library of Virginia
Virginia Memory: Petition of Phillip Gowen
This lesson explores the practice of indentured servitude in colonial Virginia. Students examine a petition by Phillip Gowen, an African American indentured servant, who asked the governor of Virginia to release him from servitude in 1675.
PBS
Liberty: Chronicle of the Revolution: Diversity
A brief look at the population increase in colonial America. Find out where all these immigrants came from and what they did in the colonies. From PBS.
Smithsonian Institution
Anacostia Community Museum: Still Cookin' by the Fireside
This online presentation documents the role of the African American in food service from early colonial days through the 1940s. Primary source documents and photographs are included.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking: What Is the American?
Even colonial America was a melting pot of people from far away. Read about the diversity of the population and why it had an effect on the possibility of rebellion and revolution.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Politics and Religion
The Civil Wars and the Restoration of the monarchy, the Enlightenment or 'Age of Reason', and British colonialism: investigate the political and religious contexts of Restoration and 18th-century literature.
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge: The First Black Female Poet?
This article looks at a ballad, 'Bars Fight,' by 18th century African-American writer Lucy Terry. It considers the literary qualities of a ballad, and its historical role in society. It then goes on to consider why a Black slave might...
Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures: Xhosa
"Xhosa" is the generic name used for a number of related cultural groups in South Africa. Xhosa groups include the Mpondo, Bomvana, Bhaca, Thembu, Mpondomise, Xesibe, Mfengu, Hlubi, and the Xhosa proper. These Southern Nguni peoples, as...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Religious Pluralism in the Middle Colonies
Essay looks at the phenomenon of religious pluralism in the middle colonies. Author discusses religious sects in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, as well as African Americans and Native Americans.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: South Africa Timeline
This timeline provides insight into the long history of struggle of the black population of South Africa. Follow the centuries of European wars and colonial rule and the policies that led to apartheid.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe
Selected (12) reading passages (grades 6-11) to pair with "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. In this classic novel, Okonkwo, a wealthy and respected member of the Umuofia clan, resists the forces of change brought to Africa by...
iCivics
I Civics: Columbus to the Colonies
From the time Columbus first set foot in the New World, Europeans were fascinated with this new land. In this lesson, young scholars learn about the Three Gs that drove them here- gold, God, and glory- and find out how these settlers...