February 12, 2014 marked the 105th anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Founded in 1909, by a diverse group of people, which included educator W. E. B. Du Bois and activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, the NAACP has had a long history of fighting for equal rights for people of … Continue reading 105th Anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Today’s blog is written by Vera J. Williams, IT Specialist in the BP Project Assistance Division at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland On January 15, 2014, the 85th birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., a family member, Clayton Adams and I walked in the path of our Great-Great-Great Grandfather Solomon Northup - the … Continue reading Descendants of Solomon Northup Walk in His Path
Today's blog is written by Netisha Currie, Archives Specialist at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. In addition to permanent government records, the National Archives also holds many documents and artifacts relating to polar exploration. These records were donated by many explorers and scholars to the Center for Polar Archives at NARA until the late 1970s. … Continue reading The Pole at Last
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
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
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
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
Twelve Years a Slave, the theatrical depiction of the memoir of Solomon Northrup, has garnered much deserved media attention. Not since Alex Haley's Roots (1977) have discussions about the depictions of slavery been so prevalent. The National Archives blog Education Updates has a great post about how the story of Solomon Northrup is revealed in … Continue reading Updates from the National Archives: Twelve Years a Slave
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
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
