African-American

The story of the civil rights struggle of African-Americans began with the kidnapping and transporting of slaves to America in the early 1800's. The Civil War divided families, as well as the country and resulted in laws granting freedom to slaves. The struggle continued as these slaves and their descendants sought to overcome continued prejudice and persecution. In the 1950's and 60's, the civil rights movement strengthned, resulting in both nonviolent and violent confrontations in attempts to achieve equal rights and integration. In 1964, the U. S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act defining and outlawing discrimination, demonstrations and urban rioting continued and yet a second Civil Rights Act was passed in 1968. As the end of this century approaches, many Americans consider racism to be a continuing problem in our society.

Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
Pages created in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King; provides brief explanations and photographs of events between the years of 1954 - 1965.

Britannica Guide to Black History
Select 1954-1997 from the menu bar to find several links to Civil Rights information and biographies.

National Civil Rights Museum
A virtual tour of this Memphis, Tennessee museum, providing a chronological exhibit of the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1968.

An Interview with Rosa Parks
Excerpts of a conversation between Rosa Parks and U. S. News reporter, Jeannye Thornton; includes a link to one of the original fliers calling for the bus boycott in Montgomery.

Discovery Channel School Learning Communities
Follow this path of links: The Promiseland to the Student Showcase to MD Oral History. Here you will find an high school oral interview project which provided students with firsthand accounts of what life was like for African-Americans living in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Print Resources:

Duncan, Alice Faye. The National Civil Rights Museum Celebrates Everyday People. BridgeWater Books, 1995.

Friese, Kai. Rosa Parks: the Movement Organizes. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett, 1990.

Haskins, James. Freedom Rides: Journey for Justice. NY: Hyperion Books, 1995.
The March on Washington. NY: Harper Collins, 1993.

Kallen, Stuart. The Civil Rights Movement: the History of Black People in America 1930-1980. Edina, Minnesota: Abdo, 1990.

Levine, Ellen. Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories. NY: Putnam, 1993.
If You Lived At the Time of Martin Luther King. NY: Scholastic, 1994.

O'Neil, Laurie. Little Rock: The Desegregation of Central High. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press, 1994.

Patterson, Charles. The Civil Rights Movement. NY: Facts on File, 1995.

Rochelle, Belinda. Witnesses To Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights. NY: Lodestar Books, 1993.

Wade, Linda R. Montgomery: Launching the Civil Rights Movement. Vero Beach, FL: Pourke Enterprises, 1991.

The Young Reader's Companion to American History. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Judith Lamb
Library Media Specialist
St. Francis Xavier School
Hyannis, Massachusetts
lamb@meol.mass.edu