On January 27, President Bush issued a Proclamation celebrating National African American History Month (also known as Black History Month). Want to know more about the origins of this annual event? Take a look at this 2003 publication from the Congressional Research Service: Black History Month (529K – PDF). In addition to background information, the report includes a bibliography and links to other resources.
Many government agencies have created websites and online exhibits celebrating the history and culture of African-Americans. Here are a few selected sites:
- American Memory Project – African American Collection
This is a list of the 16 multimedia collections available online from the Library of Congress. The collections include Slave Narratives (audio), The Frederick Douglass Papers, The Zora Neale Hurston Plays, and many others. - Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE): Black History Month Resources
This Department of Education site has an annotated list of online exhibits from various universities and government agencies. - NARA Research – African American Records
Find links to slavery records, military records and other resources available at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). - National Register of Historic Places – Celebrate African American History Month 2006
From the website: “This site showcases historic properties listed in the National Register, National Register publications, and National Park units commemorating the events and people, the designs and achievements that help illustrate African Americans’ contributions to American history.” - Our Shared History: African American Heritage
A National Park Service website with online exhbits on the Underground Railroad, Legends of Tuskegee, Martin Luther King, and more. - U.S. Census Press Release: African-American History Month
This annual release contains lots of interesting facts about the African-American population in the U.S. - Profile America: Black History Month
From the website: “Profile America is a daily, 60-second feature that uses interesting vignettes from key events, observances or commemorations for that day to highlight information collected by the Census Bureau.”Each 60-second podcast features the contributions of a different African-American. You can listen online, or download the .mp3 file. There is also an RSS feed available.
- U.S. Senate: Celebrating Black History Month
This site honors the contributions of African-American senators, from Hiram Revels to Barak Obama.
Looking for other resources? Contact us here at Langsdale Library, and we’d be happy to help you!
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Posted by Tami Smith to gov docs at 2/09/2006 10:22:00 AM