March Library: Advanced American Studies: American Almanac Project: Black Enslavement and Resistance

Books from March Library's Collection: General

The Other Slavery by Andrés Reséndez
Call Number: 2nd Floor - E98.S6 R47 2017

ISBN: 9780544947108

Publication Date: 2017-04-18

Explores the history of Indian slavery in North America, from the time of Columbus and the Spanish Conquistadors up through Mormon settlers and rich Anglos using them as domestic servants.
The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E. Baptist
Call Number: 2nd Floor - E441 .B337 2014

ISBN: 9780465002962

Publication Date: 2014-09-09

Draws on plantation records, newspapers, first-hand accounts, and slave narratives to chronicle the brutality of slavery and its foundational role in America's economic growth and rise to global superpower status.
American Slavery by Peter Kolchin (Afterword by, Preface by)
Call Number: 2nd Floor - E441 .K64 2003

ISBN: 9780809016303

Publication Date: 2003-09-01

Presents the history of slavery in America from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century.

Books from March LIbrary's Collection: The Northeast

Boston, MA

No Right to an Honest Living (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize) by Jacqueline Jones
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 9781541619791

Publication Date: 2023-01-10

Explores the paradox of nineteenth-century Boston as it was simultaneously a hub for radical abolitionism while also being an environment where Black workers still faced extreme economic and social inequalities.

New York, NY

Gateway to Freedom by Eric Foner
Call Number: 2nd Floor - E450 .F66 2015

ISBN: 9780393244076

Publication Date: 2015-01-19

Presents a history of the underground railroad, including biographical information on fugitive slaves and antislavery activists, an exploration of the legal and commercial aspects of slavery, and an examination of how the underground railroad successfully helped over 3,000 slaves reach freedom during the years 1830 to 1860. Good section on New York City.
Gotham by Edwin G. Burrows; Mike Wellace
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 0195116348

Publication Date: 1998-11-19

Presents a chronicle of New York City from its inhabitation by Lenape Native Americans to 1898, covering major events, figures, and stories of cultural, economic, and political significance that span centuries in the city known as "Capital of the World."
How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 9780316492935

Publication Date: 2021-06-01

Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks - those that are honest about the past and those that are not - that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves. Contains a full chapter on New York..

Philadelphia, PA

Gateway to Freedom by Eric Foner
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 9780393244076

Publication Date: 2015-01-19

Presents a history of the underground railroad, including biographical information on fugitive slaves and antislavery activists, an exploration of the legal and commercial aspects of slavery, and an examination of how the underground railroad successfully helped over 3,000 slaves reach freedom during the years 1830 to 1860. Good section on Philadelphia.
Notes from a Colored Girl by Karsonya Wise Whitehead
Call Number: 2nd Floor - F158.44 .W55 2014

ISBN: 9781611173529

Publication Date: 2014-05-30

In Notes from a Colored Girl, Karsonya Wise Whitehead examines the life and experiences of Emilie Frances Davis, a freeborn twenty-one-year-old mulatto woman, through a close reading of three pocket diaries she kept from 1863 to 1865. Whitehead explores Davis's worldviews and politics, her perceptions of both public and private events, her personal relationships, and her place in Philadelphia's free black community in the nineteenth century.
Vigilance by Andrew K. Diemer
Call Number: New Books - E450.S85 D54 2022

ISBN: 9780593534380

Publication Date: 2022-11-01

The remarkable and inspiring story of William Still, an unknown abolitionist who dedicated his life to managing a critical section of the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia--the free state directly north of the Mason-Dixon line--helping hundreds of people escape from slavery.

Books from March LIbrary's Collection: The South

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture by Charles Reagan Wilson (Editor); William Ferris (Editor); Anne J. Abadie (Associate Editor); Alex Haley (Foreword by); Mary L. Hart (Associate Editor)
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 0807818232

Publication Date: 1989-09-18

See index under "slavery".

Charleston, SC

Denmark Vesey's Garden by Ethan J. Kytle; Blain Roberts
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 9781620973653

Publication Date: 2018-04-03

This book treats the legacy of slavery in Charleston, SC. The introductory section, "Prelude: Slavery's Capital," is particularly useful for this unit of your project.
Slave Counterpoint by Philip D. Morgan
Call Number: 2nd Floor - F232 .C43M67 1998

ISBN: 0807847178

Publication Date: 1998-04-27

Philip Morgan compares and contrasts African American life in the Chesapeake and Lowcountry regional black cultures, exploring the differences as well as the similarities. See under "Charleston" in the index.

Nashville, TN

The New Negro in the Old South by Gabriel A. Briggs
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 9780813574783

Publication Date: 2015-11-13

Looks at the emergence of the "New Negro" as taking place in the south, such as in the vibrant community that arose in Nashville after the Civil War, and how in subsequent decades this community played a pivotal role in developing the intellectual, social, economic, and political lives of African Americans afterwards.

New Orleans, LA

American Uprising by Daniel Rasmussen
Call Number: 2nd Floor - F379.N557 R37 2011

ISBN: 9780061995217

Publication Date: 2011-01-04

Historian Daniel Rasmussen reveals the long-forgotten history of America's largest slave uprising, the New Orleans slave revolt of 1811. In an epic, illuminating narrative, Rasmussen offers new insight into American expansionism, the path to Civil War, and the earliest grassroots push to overcome slavery.
Soul by Soul by Walter Johnson
Call Number: 2nd Floor - F379 .N59N4 1999

ISBN: 0674821483

Publication Date: 2000-02-09

Taking the reader inside the New Orleans slave market, the largest in the nation, where 100,000 men, women, and children were packaged, priced and sold, the author transforms the statistics of this chilling trade into the human drama of traders, buyers, and slaves, negotiating sales that would alter the life of each.
The World That Made New Orleans by Ned Sublette
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 9781556529580

Publication Date: 2009-09-01

Tells the story of one of America's most complex cities, with an emphasis on New Orleans's musical heritage and its first century filled with war, religious conflicts, slavery, and its struggles with France, Spain, and England.

Books from March LIbrary's Collection: The Midwest

Chicago, IL

Nature's Metropolis by William Cronon
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 0393029212

Publication Date: 1991-04-01

Explores the ecological and economic changes during the nineteenth century that made Chicago America's most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland.

Oklahoma City, OK

Boom Town by Sam Anderson
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 9780804137317

Publication Date: 2018-08-21

Tells the strange but compelling story of an American city whose unique mix of geography and history make it a fascinating microcosm of the democratic experiment.

Books from March LIbrary's Collection: The West

The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War by Leonard L. Richards
Call Number: 2nd Floor - F865 .R53 2008

ISBN: 9780307277572

Publication Date: 2008-02-12

Discusses how Southerners saw California as a new market for slavery and were thwarted by California's legislature which passed a law prohibiting slavery. Also analyzes the new political arena which caused many conflicts between Californians and nearly caused a division in the state.
The Age of Gold by H. W. Brands
Call Number: American Studies Cart Reserve

ISBN: 0385502168

Publication Date: 2002-08-20

Reveals the ways the California Gold Rush has permanently reshaped the American landscape.

Databases

These are wonderful places to search for primary sources, and using your city's name as a keyword should yield some rich results. However, searching in primary source databases can be tricky. Please ask for help from librarians if you get stuck!

Introduction to U.S. History: Slavery in America
Introduction to U.S. History: Slavery in America is a digital collection of over 600 documents in 75,000 pages selected by Vernon Burton and Troy Smith from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This collection documents key aspects of the history of slavery in America from its origins in Africa to its abolition, including materials on the slave trade, plantation life, emancipation, pro-slavery and anti-slavery arguments, the religious views on slavery, etc.
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
This database provides full text access to hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers.
The Times (London) Digital Archive, 1785-2014
Online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage.