Resources

Florida Resources for Black American history and culture:

Floridamemory.com: Images of Florida’s Black History: “The mission of the Florida Memory Program is to provide free online access to select archival resources from the collections of the State Library and Archives of Florida. Florida Memory chooses materials for digitization that illuminate significant events and individuals in the state’s history, and help educate Floridians and millions of other people around the world about Florida history and culture.

Celebrating Florida’s Black Heritage: A page detailing significant locations and events in black American history throughout Florida. Information is confined to a single page, but page includes historic photos of notable people and places.

Florida Voices: African American History In the Sunshine State To The Civil Rights Era, Volume 2 (2014): A comprehensive guide to the history struggle for civil rights in Florida, which is divided into three sections: Education, Segregation of Public Facilities, and Resistance. Includes audio files of oral recordings by notable educators, experts and people who were on the front lines of the fight for civil rights.

Florida Black Heritage Trail pdf download: A colorful, in-depth look at the history behind the stops on the Florida Black Heritage Trail. Also includes tourist information for those planning their own visit to locations along the trail.

Fort Mose (first free black settlement in Florida) Historical Society: Historical and tourist information for Fort Mose, the first black settlement in Florida. Includes pictures of civil war reenactments as well as video and reports from the Fort Mose Historical Society meetings.

Tampa Bay History: A pdf of a scanned publication entitled Tampa Bay History, which is hosted by the University of South Florida. Publication includes articles about Blues music, a photographic essay, and a compendium of book reviews by local authors on Florida history.

 

National Resources on Black Culture:

The National Urban League: The National Urban League was founded in 1910 to help African Americans achieve social and economic equality. This non-profit organization offers an extensive archive of speeches and columns by League leaders and a searchable Job Bank, listing hundreds of jobs throughout the country.

Blackpast.org:  An “Online Reference Guide.” BlackPast.org is dedicated to providing the inquisitive public with comprehensive, reliable, and accurate information concerning the history of African Americans in the United States and people of African ancestry in other regions of the world. It is the aim of the founders and sponsors to foster understanding through knowledge in order to generate constructive change in our society.

TheRoot.com: A huge online magazine reporting on news relevant to black citizens, from politics to entertainment to local news, The Root features a blog entitled “One Smart Brotha” and connections to a network specialized lifestyle and culture websites. The Root has been bringing news to the black American population of the U.S. for almost ten years.

Ted Talks to Help You Understand Racism in America. For black citizens, the far-reaching effects of racism are felt daily. From passionate pleas for reform to poetic turns of phrase, these speakers take an honest look at everyday realities and illuminate the way forward.

Black Demographics: A site which tracks demographic data on the African American population including not just numbers, but educational statistics, marriage rates, crime, health and political party affiliation. Data is available from national rates, to regional, state and city.

PBS Black Culture multi-media: A collection of all PBS’s films and shows about African American culture, history and other topics of interest. Includes resources for educators as well as profiles of important figures and events in African American history.

Pew Research Center: African Americans: Another source of demographic data, including archived reports for previous years going back to 2006. Includes investigative reports on topics such as racism, trends in health and behavior and spotlights on local issues of particular interest to African Americans.

Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture: An interactive page which gives visitors the experience of visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture. Includes a collection of first-person narratives from African Americans on the front lines of the fight for civil rights.

Black Twitter:  A link to all tweets under the hashtag #blacktwitter which provide a real-time glimpse into trending issues for the African American twitter community.

 

Have a recommendation for a link that should be added? Please feel free to in the comments.