Celebrating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday and Legacy

America celebrates another year of remembering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and legacy. Many of us remember him as a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. By using the philosophy of Mahatma Ghandi’s nonviolence activism in India, King was able to make advancements in civil rights for … Continue reading Celebrating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday and Legacy

Harmon Foundation Collection: Artwork by Black Artists

Today's blog post was written by Tina L. Ligon, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. At the National Archives there are several collections affiliated with the federal government that has records relating to the African and African American experience. One such collection is the Harmon Foundation Collection that contains photographs of paintings, … Continue reading Harmon Foundation Collection: Artwork by Black Artists

Civil Rights Revisited: Equal Human Rights over Minority Perceptions

Today’s blog was written by Micah Colston, Archives Technician at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland and a graduate student at the University of Maryland   We are not too surprised when we hear about cases of racial profiling, wrongful arrests and police brutality during the civil rights era. However, rarely heard about are … Continue reading Civil Rights Revisited: Equal Human Rights over Minority Perceptions

Re-Post: Celebrating the 95th Birthday of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela through NARA Photographs

Today's blog was written by Tina L. Ligon, Archivist at the National Archives and Michael Arzate, Summer Diversity Intern at the National Archives In honor of the life of Nelson Mandela, the Rediscovery Black History committee would like to re-post this blog from July 18, 2013.   Rest in Peace Madiba. There is perhaps no … Continue reading Re-Post: Celebrating the 95th Birthday of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela through NARA Photographs

Free Electronic Records at NARA

Today’s blog was written by William Smith, Information Technology Specialist at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. The internet and new technology has lowered the cost of access to electronic records. In the past, researchers would have to pay a fee to obtain just one electronic file in a collection. With the development of … Continue reading Free Electronic Records at NARA

All We Demand is Justice: Caribbean Union Leaders on the Canal Zone

Today’s blog was written by Sonia A. Prescott, Doctoral Student in History at the University of Maryland, College Park. Scholarship on the Panama Canal has steadily evolved from focusing solely on the United States and its triumph over the land to a more nuanced look at the plight of the everyday people involved in the … Continue reading All We Demand is Justice: Caribbean Union Leaders on the Canal Zone

Wanted: Colored Inventors

Today's blog post was written by Tina L. Ligon,  Supervisory Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland Most of what we know about African American inventors came from the research of Henry E. Baker. Born on September 1, 1857, in Columbia, Mississippi, Baker made it his mission to identify and publicly highlight the … Continue reading Wanted: Colored Inventors

Educating African Americans: A Brief Look into Historically Black Colleges in America

Michael Arzate is the Summer Diversity Intern in the Research Services Division, Textual Records at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. He is currently a History undergraduate major at the University of California, Berkeley. As the 50th anniversary of the iconic March on Washington is being celebrated, I've come to reflect on major legislation … Continue reading Educating African Americans: A Brief Look into Historically Black Colleges in America

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church: A Turning Point in Civil Rights History

Today’s blog is written by Dr. Christina Violeta Jones, Textual Reference Archivist, who specializes in DOJ, FBI, and other law enforcement federal agencies records Less than one month after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August 1963, four young girls, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Addie Mae Collins, were … Continue reading The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church: A Turning Point in Civil Rights History

Re-Introducing RG 60 Class 144 (Civil Rights) Litigation Case Files

 Today's blog is written by Tina L. Ligon, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland In April 2013, the processing for Class 144 (Civil Rights) Litigation Case Files (National Archives Identifier 603432) series [RG 60 General Records of the Department of Justice] began. Litigation case files were created or accumulated by the various … Continue reading Re-Introducing RG 60 Class 144 (Civil Rights) Litigation Case Files