Electronic Underground Railroad Sources

African American Archives, Manuscripts and Special Collections

http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/blks/internet/afamarc.htm

This Web site, established and maintained by the University of Delaware Library, contains subject guides to archives and collections of materials on African American history and culture.

The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam002.html

This Web site, created and maintained by the Library of Congress, includes images and explanatory text on African American life in the 19^th and 20^th centuries

The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aointro.html

This exhibition showcases the incomparable African American collections of the Library of Congress. It includes material from slavery through the Civil Rights era.

Building Democracy (1866-1953)

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/timeline/building_01.html

Africans in America

Brotherly Love: 1791-1831

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/title.html

Judgment Day: 1831-1865

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/title.html

This Web site, created and maintained by Public Television station WGBH in Boston, provides historical information, class activities, primary source documents, biographical information and images.

Digital Schomburg

http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/64/node/65914

This Web site, created and maintained by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library, provides access to information, interpretation and scholarship on the global black experience. It includes excellent online exhibitions.

Primary Sources

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/teachers/primary-source.html

This Web site, created and maintained by PBS, provides a range of primary-source materials organized by themes. Under each theme is a list of the primary-source documents available.

Timeline of Slavery After 1807

http://royalnavalmuseum.org/visit_see_victory_cfexhibition_timepost1807.htm

This Web site, created and maintained by the Royal Naval Museum of the United Kingdom, provides a timeline of the slavery trade from the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 until Brazil abolishes slavery in 1888.

The Foundations of American Society 1600-1825

Afro Albanians

http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/afroalbanians.html

This Web site, created and maintained by the New York State Museum, describes the African Americans, slave and free in colonial Albany.

Jay and Slavery

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/jay/JaySlavery.html

This Web site, created and maintained by the Columbia University Libraries Digital program, includes facsimiles of John Jay’s papers relating to his efforts to end slavery.

Nationalism and Sectionalism 1789-1830

I Will Be Heard!” Abolitionism in America

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/abolitionism/

This Web site, created and maintained by the Cornell University Library, explores the complex history of slavery, resistance, and abolition from the 1700s through 1865. It includes documents, images and Web links.

Slavery and Abolition

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/institute/era_slaveryabolition.php

This Web site, created and maintained by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, includes scholarly essays, primary source documents, lesson plans, and online exhibits.

Aboard the Underground Railroad: A National Register Travel Itinerary

http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/underground/

This Web site, created and maintained by the National Park Service, introduces anyone interested in African American history to the fascinating people and places associated with the Underground Railroad. The itinerary currently provides descriptions and photographs on 64 historic places that are listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places, America's official list of places important in our history and worthy of preservation. It also includes a map of the most common directions of escape taken on the Underground Railroad and maps of individual states that mark the location of the historic properties.

The Road to War 1830-1860

The Revised Dred Scott Case Collection

http://digital.wustl.edu/d/dre/index.html

This Web site, created and maintained by Washington University of St. Louis, includes a wealth of information about the Dred Scott Case. It includes a history of the case, a chronology, and the full-text of 400 pages of the court papers.

I Will Be Heard!” Abolitionism in America

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/abolitionism/

Slavery and Abolition

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/institute/era_slaveryabolition.php

This Web site, created and maintained by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, includes scholarly essays, primary source documents, lesson plans, and online exhibits.

Aboard the Underground Railroad: A National Register Travel Itinerary

http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/underground/

Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/doughtml/doughome.html

This exhibition includes timelines, primary source documents, images and essays

Reform, Religion and the Underground Railroad in Western New York

http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/archives/exhibits/old/urr/

This Web site, created by the Archivist for the University at Buffalo and maintained by the University at Buffalo Libraries, includes first person accounts of the Underground Railroad in Western New York as well as background material on the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad.

WPA Slave Narratives
http://www.pbs.org/slavery/resource documents/wpa.html In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration sponsored a Federal Writers' Project dedicated to chronicling the experience of slavery as remembered by former slaves. Their stories were recorded and transcribed.

PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL

Nationalism and Sectionalism 1789-1830

Preamble of the Free African Society1787

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h465t.html

The "Preamble" and "Articles" of the Free African Society (FAS) provide a succinct portrait of the organization, the first of its kind in Philadelphia, and probably the first in America. It was established by Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, and other free blacks in 1787, "to support one another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless children." (Social Studies Standards 1&5)

Cotton Gin Petition 1793

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h1517t.html

Eli Whitney wrote this letter on June 20, 1793 to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, requesting a patent for his new invention, the cotton gin. (Social Studies Standard 1)

Eli Whitney's Patent for the Cotton Gin 1793

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/cotton-gin-patent/#documents

This Web site, created and maintained by the National Archives, includes background information on the invention of the cotton gin, the text of the patent and diagrams of the cotton gin. (Social Studies Standard 1)

Reverend Absalom Jones's Sermon on the Abolition of the International Slave Trade 1808

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h92t.html

Sermon of thanksgiving preached on January 1, 1808 on the occasion of the abolition of the international slave trade. The work of Jones and other anti-slavery activists, however, was far from ended by the ban. Although the law imposed a legal prohibition, the international trade continued illicitly until the beginning of the Civil War, while the domestic slave trade flourished. (Social Studies Standard 1)

American Colonization Society: a Memorial to the United States Congress 1820

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h483t.html

On February 1, 1820, building on public sentiment against free blacks and legislation the previous year against the international slave trade, the American Colonization Society issued a Memorial (a petition) to Congress that promoted its aim of relocating free blacks to colonies in Africa under the guise of suppressing the illegal slave trade. The work of Jones and other anti-slavery activists was far from ended by the ban. Although the law imposed a legal prohibition, the international trade continued illicitly until the beginning of the Civil War, while the domestic slave trade flourished. The work of Jones and other anti-slavery activists was far from ended by the ban. Although the law imposed a legal prohibition, the international trade continued illicitly until the beginning of the Civil War, while the domestic slave trade flourished. (Social Studies Standards 1&5)

Missouri Compromise 1820

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h511t.html

The issue of the political status of the vast area acquired from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was resolved by a two-part compromise. First, Missouri gained admission to the Union as a slave state, with a provision that portions of the Louisiana Territory lying north of 36' 30' north latitude would be free. Second, Maine was simultaneously admitted to statehood, which enabled the Senate to maintain the balance between slave and Free State representation -- twelve of each. The enabling act of March 6, 1820, made it clear, however, that fugitive slaves could be apprehended north of the compromise line and returned to their owners. (Social Studies Standards 1&5)

Wonderful Eventful Life of Rev. Thomas James

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/murraybib:@FIELD(SUBJ+@band(+James,+Thomas,++b++1804++))

An autobiography by James, a minister in the AME Church, recounting his life from slavery to the ministry to the anti-slavery movement in New York and Massachusetts. Contains an interesting account of how he ran a camp for free and refugee African Americans in Kentucky during the Civil War. Begins with his birth in 1804 in Canajoharie . Published in 1887.

The Road to War 1830-1860

Wonderful Eventful Life of Rev. Thomas James

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/murraybib:@FIELD(SUBJ+@band(+James,+Thomas,++b++1804++))

Slavery a Positive Good 1837

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=71

Speech made by Senator John C. Calhoun defending slavery as “a positive good.” (Social Studies Standard 1)

The Amistad Case1841

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/amistad/index.html

This Web site, created and maintained by the National Archives, includes background information on the case, teaching activities, and legal documents, including the Supreme Court decision. (Social Studies Standards 1&5)

Fugitive Slave Act 1850

http://americancivilwar.com/documents/Fugitive_Slave_Act_1850.html

Text of the Fugitive Slave Act that legally mandated the return of any runaway slaves, regardless of the location (state) within the Union where they were at the time of their discovery or capture. (Social Studies Standards 1&5)

Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=010/llsl010.db&recNum=298

The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing slavery in the territory north of the 36° 30´ latitude. The Kansas-Nebraska Act stipulated that the issue of slavery would be decided by the residents of each territory, a concept known as popular sovereignty. After the bill passed on May 30, 1854, violence erupted in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers. The anti-slavery forces were led by John Brown. The territory earned the nickname "bleeding Kansas" as the death toll rose. (Social Studies Standards 1&5)

Albany Vigilance Flyer 1856

http://www.ugrworkshop.com/flyer.htm

This flyer (leaflet) was circulated by the Albany Vigilance Committee to solicit for clothing and support for fugitives coming to Albany. A careful examination of it yields many facts about the Underground Railroad effort in Albany including the Underground Railroad had a public as well as a secret side. (Social Studies Standard 1)

Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision 1857

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2933t.html

In March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared that all blacks -- slaves as well as free -- were not and could never become citizens of the United States. The court also declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus permitting slavery in all of the country's territories. The case before the court was that of Dred Scott v. Sanford. Dred Scott, a slave who had lived in the free state of Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin before moving back to the slave state of Missouri, had appealed to the Supreme Court in hopes of being granted his freedom. See The Revised Dred Scott Case Collection

http://digital.wustl.edu/d/dre/index.html above. (Social Studies Standards 1&5)

Lincoln's "House Divided" Speech 1858

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2934t.html

On June 16, 1858, at the Illinois Republican convention in Springfield, Abraham Lincoln kicked off his bid for the U.S. Senate with a speech that would come to be known as the "House Divided" speech. Lincoln believed that the recent Supreme Court decision on the Dred Scott case was part of a Democratic conspiracy that would lead to the legalization of slavery in all states. (Social Studies Standard 1)

“A Slave Is Tortured”undefinedHarriet Jacobs 1861

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h1516t.html

This excerpt from Jacob’s memoir, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, describes the torture and death of a slave on a neighboring plantation, sometime in the 1820s. (Social Studies Standard 1)

Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address 1860

http://history1800s.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=history1800s&cdn=education&tm=7&gps=268_638_1257_837&f=10&su=p897.8.336.ip_&tt=29&bt=1&bts=0&zu=http%3A//avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln1.asp .

President Abraham Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address on Monday, March 4, 1861, when he took the oath of office for his first term as the sixteenth President of the United States. The speech was primarily addressed to the people of the South, and was intended to succinctly state Lincoln's intended policies and desires toward that section, where seven states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. (Social Studies Standard 1)

Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/emancipa.asp

The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two complimentary Presidential Proclamations issued 100 days apart from each other by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The preliminary Proclamation (September 22, 1862) declared the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America as did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863, and the final Proclamation, (January 1, 1863) enumerated the specific states where it applied. The Proclamation provided the legal framework for the emancipation of nearly all four million slaves as the Union armies advanced, and committed the Union to ending slavery. (Social Studies Standards 1&5)