African American History in Virginia | Genealogy
African American History in Virginia:
"African-American Sources in Virginia: A Guide to Manuscripts" by Michael Plunkett. This electronic edition of Plunkett's work provides information about original source documents relating to African-American history that are located in the major repositories in Virginia.
Black History Museum and Cultural Center -- Includes information on exhibitions, hours of operation, and special events. Also provides textual information about the formation of the museum in the 1980s.
Freedmen's Bureau -- Textual accounts transcribed from nineteenth-century records of the Freedmen's Bureau. Documents deal specifically with sites or individuals in Richmond, Virginia. This page is part of a much larger site containing information for those interested in African-American genealogy. The site is maintained by "Christine's Genealogy Website."
Gabriel's Conspiracy -- Part of PBS's Africans in America series, the site details Gabriel's Rebellion as it transpired in the late eighteenth century.
Richmond Planet -- An on-line exhibit entitled " Born in the Wake of Freedom: John Mitchell, Jr. and the Richmond Planet. Sponsored by the Library of Virginia.
Separate but Not Equal: Race, Education, and Prince Edward County, Virginia -- This online exhibit explores the history of the Prince Edward County, Virginia school segregation issues of the 1950s and 1960s. Most of the materials presented here are taken from the papers of Dr. Edward H. Peeples, Emeritus professor at VCU, whose interest in the topic spans four decades. Included in this exhibit are images documenting the disparity between black and white county schools, documents written by Dr. Peeples and others analyzing the issues, a selected bibliography of materials, and links to sites on the topic.
Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church -- Maintained as part of VCU Libraries' Virginia Black Archives Project, the site includes information about the Reverend John Japser (1812-1901) and the church he founded, Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, one of Richmond's oldest African American churches.
Souvenir Views: Negro Enterprise & Residences, Richmond, Va. Text and images of this rare and important work documenting Richmond's African American community. The book was originally published in 1907. The site is part of the Library of Congress' American Memory Collection.
Through the Lens of Time: Images of African Americans from the Cook Collection. Site contains more than 200 nineteenth and early twentieth century images. Sponsored by the Valentine Richmond History Center and VCU Libraries' Special Collections and Archives.
Hampton University Archives. The University Archives department at Hampton University houses has the most complete student records of any historically black college or university in the United States. Information on the archives, its large collection of documentary items and photographs, is available from this site.
Virginia State University. The Special Collections/University Archives department's web site includes information on its resources and the school's history.
Virginia Union University. The Archives and Special Collections web page of Virginia Union University's L. Douglas Wilder Library includes information about its rare books, manuscripts, and archives.
VIVA -- The Virtual Library of Virginia. This is an important link to visit for those conducting research on Virginia African American history. It provides access to the Special Collections departments of the academic libraries of Virginia, other cooperating institutions, and important historical resources available in Virginia.
African American Genealogy. A comprehensive list of links and other information on African American genealogy compiled by Cyndi Howell, a professional genealogist with one of the net's largest sites on genealogy.
Afrigeneas - African-American Roots. African-American genealogy.
Library of Congress and National Archives:
African American Mosaic. This Library of Congress site includes photographs and historic documents on the study of "black history and culture."
African American Odyssey. Part of the Library of Congress' American Memory site, it includes items from their African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1824-1909 and an exhibit illustrating their "vast African American collection."
Souvenir Views: Negro Enterprise & Residences, Richmond, Va. Text and images of this rare and important work documenting Richmond's African American community. The book was originally published in 1907. The site is part of the Library of Congress' American Memory Collection.
African American Album. Images of African-American life before 1950 in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Site is maintained by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.
American Slave Narratives. Site includes text and audio clips from 13 former slaves who were interviewed in the 1930s under a project of the Works Progress Administration.
Harlem, 1900-1940: An African American Community - Online exhibit of the New York Public Library.
Born in the Wake of Freedom: John Mitchell, Jr. and the Richmond Planet - Library of Virginia online exhibit focuses on the Richmond Planet , the dominant African American newspaper of Richmond from 1883-1938, and its editor, John Mitchell, Jr.
"Who Speaks for the Negro" - online resource of interviews conducted by Robert Penn Warren for his book Who Speaks for the Negro, published in 1965. Interviews with Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and many other African American leaders from that time period. The site is maintained by the Robert Penn Warren Center at Vanderbilt University.
VCU - African American Studies Program - The program began its third decade at VCU in 2000.
African Americans at VCU: A History - Online edition of "This Was My Time" Integrating RPI and VCU from the University's alumni magazine. Alumni discuss the integration of the Academic Campus of VCU in the 1950s and 1960s. This article is found below, as well as letters from readers of Shafer Court Connections discussing integration. Accompanying this article is a time line highlighting the changes and accomplishments of African Americans at VCU.
Black History Month Resource Guide - This guide has been created by VCU Librarians as a gateway to resources inside and outside the VCU Libraries on black history and the African American experience.
Africana.com. A web site that includes news, chat rooms, content from Microsoft's Encarta Africana encyclopedia, and a directory of web sites.
African American Web Connection. Includes links to information about African American authors, churches, businesses, history and other areas.
Repositories of Primary Sources. A listing of over 4100 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar is maintained by the University of Idaho.
Special Collections and Archives
Email: libjbcsca@vcu.edu