Primary Documents from African American History
(1820) The Missouri Compromise
An Act to authorize the people of the Missouri territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the...
(1890) Disenfranchisement Clause, The Mississippi Constitution of 1890
ARTICLE 12 – FRANCHISE Sec. 240. All elections by the people shall be by ballot. Sec. 241. Every male inhabitant...
(1953) TERRY et al. v. ADAMS et al.
345 U.S. 461 73 S.Ct. 809 97 L.Ed. 1152 TERRY et al. v. ADAMS et al. No. 52. Argued Jan....
(1868) Letter from Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman
Rochester, August 29, 1868 Dear Harriet: I am glad to know that the story of your eventful life has been...
(1926) Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”
One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, “I want to be a poet—not...
(1919) W.E.B. Du Bois, “Returning Soldiers,” Editorial from The Crisis
In a July 1918 editorial in The Crisis, W.E.B. Du Bois urged African Americans to set aside their differences with...
(1919) “If We Must Die”
“If We Must Die,” written in 1919 by Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay, became for many African Americans an anthem...
(1918) W.E.B. Du Bois, “Close Ranks,” Editorial from The Crisis
In July 1918, W.E.B. Du Bois, editor of The Crisis, the official publication of the National Association for the Advancement...
(1969) The Black Panther Party: To Feed Our Children
In the editorial below that first appeared in the Black Panther Party newspaper in April 1969, the leaders of the...
