Slavery
in the United States:
A comprehensive encyclopaedia of slavery. Each
entry contains a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The
text within each entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the
encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people
and events in great detail. The sources are also hypertexted so the
student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper, organization,
etc., that produced the material. So far there are sections on:
The
Slave System, Slave Life, Slave Narratives, Anti-Slavery Movement,
Events and Issues and Political Organisations.
American
Slave Narratives: From 1936 to 1938, over 2,300 former slaves
from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists
under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration. Their narratives
are a splendid resource for understanding the lives of America's four
million slaves. This website provides an opportunity to read a sample
of these narratives and to see some of the photographs taken at the
time of the interviews.
From
Slavery to Freedom: This excellent website produced by the Library
of Congress presents 397 pamphlets from the Rare Book and Special
Collections Division, published from 1824 through 1909, by African-American
authors and others who wrote about slavery, African colonization,
Emancipation, Reconstruction, and related topics. The materials range
from personal accounts and public orations to organizational reports
and legislative speeches. Among the authors represented are Frederick
Douglass, Kelly Miller, Charles Sumner, Mary Church Terrell, and Booker
T. Washington.
Alabama
State Black Archives: The primary purpose of the State Black Archives,
Research Center & Museum is to create a repository of source materials
on African American history and culture. Its mission is three-fold:
(a) As an archive, to obtain, preserve and hold materials on African
American history and culture related to their achievement and general
experience; (b) As a research center, to make such materials on African
American history and culture available to scholars and others who
seek materials for educational and cultural purposes; (c) As a museum,
to display materials on African Americans in such a manner as to enhance
the general public awareness about African American history and culture.
The general goals are to encourage greater awareness of the achievements
and contributions of African Americans and the role they have played
in American society and the world, and to provide a better basis for
understanding racial and cultural differences.
Afro-American
Almanac: This website is an on-line presentation of the African
in America. A historical perspective of a nation, its people, and
its cultural evolution. From the beginning of the slave trade through
the Civil Rights movement, to the present. Sections include Biographies,
Historical Documents, Historical Events, Folk Tales, Links, Afro-Voices
and Issues in the News.
American
Civil War Encyclopaedia
A comprehensive encyclopaedia of the American Civil War. Each
entry contains a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The
text within each entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the
encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people
and events in great detail. The sources are also hypertexted so the
student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper, organization,
etc., that produced the material. So far there are sections on:
Civil
War Chronology, Famous
Battles, Political Figures, Military Leaders. Organizations, Events
and Issues,
Soldiers, Women & the Civil War, Writers, Artists and Photographers:,
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
American
Civil War: Dr. George H. Hoemann, assistant director for distance
education and independent study at the University of Tennessee, has
gathered together in one place hypertext links to the most useful
identified electronic files about the American Civil War. The page
opens a gateway to the Internet's multi-formatted resources about
what is arguably the seminal event in American history. Not only was
the War the occasion for the abolition of slavery, but by conflict's
end the re-United States had emerged as a modern, industrialized power.
The material is organised under the following headings: General Resources,
Secession Crisis, Images of Wartime, Biographical Information, Histories
and Bibliographies, Documentary Records, Local Studies, Battles &
Campaigns, Rosters & Regimental Histories, Civil War Reenactors
and Civil War Round Tables.
Abraham
Lincoln's Assassination
This excellent website provides a detailed account of Lincoln's assassination.
Sections include Lincoln's Assassin, Eyewitness to History, Conspiracy
Theories, The Military Commission and Picture Gallery. Produced by
Roger Norton, a teacher of American history for 28 years, the website
also includes a generous collection of links to other sources of information
on this important event.
US
Civil War Factbook: This website produced by Marcus Wendel includes
a chronology of the US Civil War, as well as information on casualties,
generals killed in battle, alternate names of the war, Confederate
States of America, reviews of books on the topic and a message forum
for discussions on the war.
Major
Sullivan Ballou: People world wide are touched by the tenderness
that reaches out across 150 years in the farewell love letter that
Major Sullivan Ballou wrote to his wife during the American Civil
War. Major Ballou was a volunteer soldier who served in the Second
Rhode Island Regiment of the Union Army. Prior to the war he was an
attorney and a rising politician in his native state, a doting father
to two young sons and a husband in love with his young wife. On duty
near Washington D.C., he had a premonition that he would not survive
the next battle. He wrote his family how much he loved them and promised
to look after them from the afterlife, where he hoped to be reunited
with them one day. He was mortally wounded in that battle and died
a week later, never seeing them again. The website tells some of their
story.
Abraham
Lincoln Online: This website contains everything you will ever
want to know about Abraham Lincoln. Sections include News, Speeches,
Books, Places, Resources, Students, Discussion and Frequently Asked
Questions. An interesting feature is This Week in History that provides
information about Lincoln's life in the week you view the website.
There is also a Lincoln Quote of the Week.
American
Experience: Ulysses S. Grant: The greatest hero of the Civil War,
Grant was an ineffective president whose two terms in office were
rocked by racial conflict and corruption scandals. Funded by the National
Endowment for the Humanities, the Ulysses S. Grant website features
activities for children of all ages. You can use maps, video clips,
and text to determine your moves in "You're the General,"
an interactive game. You can also take a video tour of the Shiloh
battlefield with a National Park Service ranger and a group of eighth
graders from Michie, Tennessee.
American
Civil War: This comprehensive account of the American Civil War
is produced by Premier Internet. Sections include Timeline (9th February,
1861 to 4th May, 1865), Battles (chronological list), Documents (government
papers, diaries, letters) Places (battlefields, cemeteries, forts,
historic parks, monuments, museums), Music (recordings of civil war
music), Discussion Forum and Links.
Trade
Unions in the USA:
An encyclopedia of the Trade Union movement in USA between 1800 and
1960. The website includes entries on important events and issues
(12) union journals and newspapers (8), union organizations (6) and
biographies of trade union leaders (52). The text within each entry
is linked to other relevant pages in the encyclopedia. In this way
it is possible to research individual people and events in great detail.
The sources are also hyper-linked so the student is able to find out
about the writer, artist, newspaper and organization that produced
the material.
Haymarket
Martyrs: On 4th May, 1886, a meeting was called by trade union
leaders in Haymarket Square, Chicago, in protest against the shooting
of several strikers in a recent industrial dispute over demands for
an eight hour day. The police chief ordered the crowd to leave the
area and soon afterwards a bomb was thrown by an unknown person in
the crowd, resulting in the deaths of seven people. Eight men involved
in organizing the meeting were arrested and in 1887 four of them were
hanged. This website provides a brief description the Haymarket Affair
and a list of links to other websites on the subject.
Andrew
Carnegie: Faced with poverty in Scotland, Andrew Carnegie's family
emigrated to America. Carnegie went on to become the richest man in
the world. After amassing a fortune by crushing his competitors and
exploiting his workers, Carnegie, in a move that underscored his inner
conflicts, systematically gave away millions. One of the most difficult
episodes Andrew Carnegie's life - and one that revealed the steel
magnate's conflicting beliefs regarding the rights of trade unions
- was the bitter conflict in 1892 at his steel plant in Homestead,
Pennsylvania. Carnegie's involvement in the union-breaking action
left many men dead or wounded and forever tarnished Carnegie's reputation
as a benevolent employer and a champion of working people. As well
as the Homestead Strike this website takes a detailed look at the
life and times of Andrew Carnegie.
The
American West: In the 19th century Americans were fascinated with
the stories which Harper's Weekly brought to life with articles and
illustrations. The editorials and commentary describe a life which
many readers could barely imagine. This website preserves a unique
documentation of life west of the Mississippi. The website includes
articles on the Frontier, Buffalo, Farming & Agriculture, Wagon
Trains, Gold, Railroads, Life on the Plains and Indians.
Gold
Fever: The 1890s in America were desperate times. Economic depression
caused bank and business failures and forced millions of men and women
from their jobs. When gold was discovered in the frozen unsettled
territory between Canada and Alaska, 100,000 people made the treacherous
journey in search of riches. This website, based on the television
documentary of the same name, tells the personal stories of a handful
of city dwellers who, in January 1898, traveled to the Klondike determined
to strike gold.
North
American Indian History: This site lists thousands of historical
events (on a day-by-day basis) which happened to or affected the indigenous
peoples of North America. It also has Tribal name meanings and alternative
tribal names, Indian "moon" names (calendar information),
almost 1,000 photos of ancient ruins, and links to over 8,000 other
related sites.
Spanish-American
War Centennial Website: The Spanish-American War launched the
United States into the arena of world politics as a major power. Attacked
as an imperialist war by Mark Twain and other members of the Anti-Imperialist
League, it was ended by the Treaty of Paris in December, 1898. This
website includes a chronology, personal profiles, weapons profiles,
action reports and first hand accounts of the war.
Settlement
Houses: The University Settlement in New York City was established
by Stanton Coit and Charles B. Stover in 1886. Others followed soon
afterwards in large cities in the United States. These included Hull
House in Chicago, founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and the Henry Street
Settlement, founded in 1893 by Lillian Ward. Settlement Houses were
established to help the poor and to develop friendly relations between
the educated and the uneducated. This research guide website includes
sections on Biographical Sources & Encyclopedias, Primary Sources
and Bibliographies.
American
Memory is a project of the National Digital Library Program of
the Library of Congress. More than 5 million items relating to American
history are available from the unparalleled collections of the Library.
American Memory's collections include materials ranging from the papers
of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, to Civil War photographs and
early films of Thomas Edison, to panoramic maps and sound recordings,
and to documents relating to the women's suffrage and civil rights
movements.
Prohibition:
In 1869 members of the temperance movement in the United States formed
the Prohibition Party. Its primary objective was to secure the prohibition
of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks The party reached
the peak of its vote in 1888 and 1892 at just over 2 per cent of the
popular vote total. However, its greatest success was in persuading
Congress to pass the 18th Amendment in 1920. This website includes
background information on America's third oldest political party and
a collection of cartoons published on the subject of prohibition.
The
Progressive Era: At the end of the 19th Century there was a concerted
attempt in the United States to establish basic reforms in political,
economic and social affairs. Reformers campaigned against the employment
of child workers, slum housing, sweat shops, limited suffrage, unequal
distribution of wealth, business monopolies, racial discrimination,
unfair tax laws and political corruption. This website includes a
collection of articles on this period of American history (1890-1913).
Labor
Hall of Fame: Elevation to the American Labor Hall of Fame is
arrived at by a selection panel composed of distinguished historians,
academicians, trade union officials and government leaders, past and
present. A single honoree is chosen each year, and so far the website
includes biographies of Samuel Gompers, Eugene V. Debs, James P. Mitchell,
Terence V. Powerly, A. Philip Randolph, Francis Perkins, Sidney Hillman,
Mother Jones, John L. Lewis, Walter P. Reuther, Robert F. Wagner,
William Green, David Dubinsky and Cesar E. Chavez.
Samuel
Gompers Papers Project: In 1974, Stuart B. Kaufman, the author
of Samuel Gompers and the Origins of the American Federation of
Labor and the founding editor of Labor's Heritage, established
the Samuel Gompers Papers Project at the University of Maryland. Under
Kraufman's direction, a crew of historians and graduate students plowed
through Gompers' letterbooks, located and microfilmed union records,
and searched for evidence of Gompers' family, friends, and associates
in newspaper reports, government documents, and vital records. This
material is now available from this website sponsored by the National
Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment
for the Humanities and the AFL-CIO.
History
of Harlem: That part of New York known as Harlem embraces the
area of Manhattan north of 96th Street, and joins the narrow northern
handle of Manhattan known as Washington Heights. The original village
of Harlem was established in 1658 by Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant
and named Nieuw Harlem after the Dutch city of Harlem. Harlem
suffered economic decline in the 1830s when many of the farms, depleted
from decades of cultivation, were abandoned and the great estates
were sold at public auctions. The area became a refuge for those desiring
cheap property and housing, including newly-arrived and destitute
immigrants who gathered in scattered shantytowns. This website provides
a history of Harlem and biographies of several people who have lived
in this part of New York.
Around
the World in 72 Days: At the age of nineteen, Nellie Bly talked
her way into an improbable job on a newspaper, then went on to become
known as "the best reporter in America." The daring Bly
continually risked her life to grab headlines. To expose abuse of
the mentally ill, she had herself committed. When she traveled around
the world in just 72 days, beating Jules Verne's fictional escapade,
she turned herself into a world celebrity. This PBS website allows
you to follow Nellie Bly's record-breaking journey.
American
Civil War Women: Ginny Daley has produced a directory website
on the lives and experiences of women during the American Civil War.
This includes diaries, letters, documents, photographs and prints
and features the writings of Alice Williamson, Rose O'Neal Greenhow,
Rachael Cormany, Carrie Berry, Catharine Hunsecker, Alansa Rounds
Sterrett and Nancy Emerson.
Cartoons
of the Progressive Era: This website, maintained by Ohio State
University, contains cartoons produced during what has become known
as the Progressive Era. The material is organized under the following
headings: Career of Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, Anti-Trust
Movement, Anti-Imperialist Movement, William McKinley and the 1900
Presidential Campaign.
Assassination
of Abraham Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as America's
16th President just before the Civil War began. His life was ended
by an assassin's bullet five days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered.
This website, produced by Carole Bos, provides a clear account of
the story. Chapter titles include: Assassination Plots, Warnings and
Omens, Dreams of Death, To Kidnap a President, The Worst, Where were
the Bodyguards?, No Hope, A Foiled Plot, Multiple Funerals, Booth's
Capture and Death, Conspiracy Trial, Execution, Rest of the Story
and the Last Word.
Victoria
Woodhull: In 1872
was nominated as the presidential candidate of the Equal Rights Party.
Although laws prohibited women from voting, there was nothing stopping
women from running for office. During the campaign Woodhull called
for the "reform of political and social abuses; the emancipation
of labor, and the enfranchisement of women". Woodhull also argued
in favour of improved civil rights and the abolition of capital punishment.
The supporters of President Ulysses Grant decided to attack Victoria
Woodhull's character and she was accused of having affairs with married
men. It was also alleged that Victoria's previous husband was an alcoholic
and her her sister, Utica Claflin, took drugs. Woodhull became convinced
that Henry Ward Beecher was behind these stories and decided to fight
back. She now published a story that Beecher was having an affair
with a married woman. Woodhull was arrested and charged under the
Comstock Act for sending obscene literature through the mail and was
in prison on election day. Over the next seven months Woodhull was
arrested eight times and had to endure several trials for obscenity
and libel. She was eventually acquitted of all charges but the legal
bills forced her into bankruptcy. This website provides an account
of Victoria Woodhull's life and extracts from her speeches and articles.
Peter
Cooper: In 1830 Peter Cooper's Canton
Iron Works in Baltimore built America's first steam locomotive. His
business flourished and he established the largest blast furnace in
America at Philippsburg, New Jersey. Cooper was also involved in laying
the first Atlantic cable, and was president of the New York, Newfoundland
& London Telegraph Company. Cooper had a social conscience and
in 1875 he established the radical Greenback Party. However, his attempts
to get himself elected president of the United States ended in failure.
This website provides a brief overview of this amazing man.
Revolution
to Reconstruction: This website, produced by the Department of
Humanities Computing at the University of Groningen, covers American
history from the colonial period until the 20th century. The main
body of this hypertext project, which was started in 1994, comes from
four books: An Outline of American History, An Outline of the American
Economy, An Outline of American Government, and An Outline of American
Literature. The text of these books have not been changed, but they
have been enriched with hypertext-links to relevant documents, original
essays and other Internet sites.
Connecticut
Historical Society: On this Connecticut Historical Society website
there is a series of online exhibits dealing with a variety of different
topics. This includes Costumes & Textiles, Connecticut in 1836,
Hartford in the 1850s, Civil War Treasures, Connecticut in the Jazz
Age, Hartford Heroes, Early American Tavern & Inn Signs, and Augustus
Washington. The website also contains sections dealing with the Connecticut
Historical Society's resources on African Americans and the Civil
War.
Discovering
Lewis and Clark: The centerpiece of Discovering Lewis and Clark
is a 19-part synopsis of the expedition by Harry Fritz, Professor
of History at the University of Montana, illustrated with selections
from the journals of the expedition, photographs, maps, animated graphics,
moving pictures, and sound files. Clicking on any still image or highlighted
word will lead you to another branch, or level of insight, into the
significance of the Lewis and Clark expedition in American history,
and in contemporary life. You
can also navigate through Discovering Lewis and Clark by using the
"Discovery Paths" or the "Journal Excerpts" menus.
The word-search utility can be used to find references anywhere in
the text.
Thomas
Jefferson: This website provides a wide range of information about
the interests and passions of Thomas Jefferson. This includes the
house he designed. The site allows the visitor to tour almost every
room in the house, complete with narrative information about each
room's dimensions, its original purpose, furnishing, and specific
architectural features. The website also contains a brief biography,
a timeline of his life, quotations, and physical descriptions of him
from his contemporaries.
Letters
Home: These letters are part of a collection written by Newton
Robert Scott of the 36th Infantry, Iowa Volunteers. Most of the letters
were written to Scott's neighbourhood friend Hannah Cone, in their
home town of Albia, Monroe County, Iowa, over the three year period
that he served as Company A's clerk. Scott's letters to Hannah are
filled with rich details of the war and the living conditions in the
Union camps in Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa and Arkansas.
Abraham
Lincoln Papers: The complete Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library
of Congress consists of approximately 20,000 documents. The collection
is organized into three "General Correspondence" series
which include incoming and outgoing correspondence and enclosures,
drafts of speeches, and notes and printed material. Most of the 20,000
items are from the 1850s through Lincoln's presidential years, 1860-65.
Treasures include Lincoln's draft of the Emancipation Proclamation,
his March 4, 1865, draft of his second Inaugural Address, and his
August 23, 1864, memorandum expressing his expectation of being defeated
for re-election in the upcoming presidential contest. The Lincoln
Papers are characterized by a large number of correspondents, including
friends and associates from Lincoln's Springfield days, well-known
political figures and reformers, and local people and organizations
writing to their president.
History
Matters: Designed for high school and college teachers of U.S.
History courses. This site serves as a gateway to web resources and
offers useful materials for teaching US history. The website includes
Many Pasts (primary documents): Making Sense of Evidence (guides for
analyzing primary sources); Past Meets Present (articles and resources
that link the past with current ideas and events); Reference Desk
(links to resources); Digital Blackboard (teaching assignments using
web resources): Students as Historians (examples of student work on
the web) and Secrets of Great Historians (distinguished teachers share
their strategies and techniques).
Digital
History: This website was designed and developed to support the
teaching of American History in schools and colleges and is supported
by the Department of History and the College of Education at the University
of Houston. The materials on this website include a US history textbook;
over 400 annotated documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection on
deposit at the Pierpont Morgan Library, supplemented by primary sources
on slavery, Mexican American and Native American history, and US political,
social, and legal history; succinct essays on the history of film,
ethnicity, private life, and technology; multimedia exhibitions; and
reference resources that include a searchable database of 1,500 annotated
links, classroom handouts, chronologies, glossaries, an audio archive
including speeches and book talks by historians, and a visual archive
with hundreds of historical maps and images. The site's Ask the HyperHistorian
feature allows users to pose questions to professional historians.
Virtual
American Biographies: Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography,
edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske was published in six volumes
between 1887 and 1889. This was the "most-quoted" biographical
source for 19th and early 20th America. The 35,000 biographies have
now been placed online. Appleton's, due to its age, reflects the bias
and prejudice of late 19th Century America and relies on volunteers
to edit and update these historic biographies on a continual basis.
Do you
want to have your website listed in our web directory? If so, send
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