Previous Content Updates
May 2008
This month, we are delighted to present another 600 never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography, produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. May's biographies include well-known entertainers Gladys Knight, Grace Jones and Arsenio Hall, former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, professional football player Jerry Rice, and more. In addition, we have added over 400 articles from the acclaimed Oxford Companion to Black British History, the first ever reference work to explore the story of Britain's black population over nearly 2,000 years. Finally, we are pleased to continue the development of AASC's multimedia content, with over new 30 film clips and interviews added this month.
February 2008
We are excited to present another 600 never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography, produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. This month marks the publication of the historic eight-volume work, containing nearly 4,100 biographies of African Americans from all walks of life and from every period of American history. With the publication of the print edition, we begin work on the 2,000 additional AANB entries that will be published online, exclusively as part of AASC, and which will begin to be added in next year's update for Black History Month.
October 2007
We are excited to present nearly 600 more never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography project being produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. We have so far published in the Oxford African American Studies Center more than 1,200 biographies from this project and are continuing our efforts to bring this important work to readers ahead of the publication of the print edition, which will include more than 4,000 biographies and which is due out in February 2008.
We have also added another 20 primary sources to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Users will find Martin Luther King Jr.'s impassioned speech that broke his silence about the Vietnam War and which explained why the war must be ended; Pap Singleton's testimony before Congress on the Exoduster movement that brought African Americans to Kansas in an effort to flee the Jim Crow South during Reconstruction; Abraham Lincoln's response to the Dred Scott decision; Angelina Weld Grimke's 1863 speech against slavery and for equal rights—not just for men, but also and especially for women; and other documents relevant to black and American history.
May 2007
We are excited to present nearly 200 more never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography project being produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. We have so far published in the Oxford African American Studies Center 1,000 biographies from this project and are continuing our efforts to bring this important work to readers ahead of the publication of the print edition, which will include more than 4,000 biographies and which is due out in December 2007.
We have also added another 33 primary sources to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Users will find decisions from landmark court cases like Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971); Jesse Jackson's famous Rainbow Coalition speech; a collection of Negro Spirituals compiled by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a white officer who commanded a black regiment in the Civil War; the closing arguments of the OJ Simpson Trial; the 1995 Glass Ceiling Commission Report; the confessions of the slave insurrectionist Nat Turner; and more.
January 2007
For Black History Month, we are excited to present another 200 never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography project being produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. We have already published 800 different biographies from this project in AASC. We now continue our efforts to bring this important work to readers ahead of the publication of the print edition, which will include more than 4,000 biographies and which is due out in December 2007. Users will now have access to new content on individuals like Juanita Hall, Sonny Stitt, Addie Waites Hunton, Eva Del Vakia Bowles, Sargent Johnson, Fritz Pollard, and Professor Longhair, and will be able to read about figures never before in AASC, like Bukka White, Diana Sands, Eddie Rector, Philly Joe Jones, and Mary Bell.
Also, in honor of Black History Month's theme "From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas," we have commissioned 28 new articles on the life and times of Frederick Douglass, listed below. These entries will join the more than 50 entries already in AASC detailing the people, events, and issues that shaped Frederick Douglass's life.
Articles
Capital Punishment, Frederick Douglass's Beliefs on
Cedar Hill, Uniontown, D.C.
Douglass, Frederick, Purchase of
Douglass, Frederick, Burial Site of
Douglass, Frederick, Library of
Easton, Maryland
Egypt, Frederick Douglass and
England, Frederick Douglass and
Fell's Point (Baltimore)
France, Frederick Douglass and
Ireland, Frederick Douglass and
Italy, Frederick Douglass and
Native Americans and Frederick Douglass
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Photography, Frederick Douglass and
Progress, Frederick Douglass's Ideas of
Religious Beliefs, Frederick Douglass and
Scotland, Frederick Douglass and
Biographies
Aaron Anthony
Ottlie Assing
Amelia Loguen Douglass
Annie Douglass
Helen Pitts Douglass
Joseph Douglass
Perry Downs
Sandy Jenkins
Scott, Sir Walter
Rosetta Douglass Sprague
We have also added another 50 primary sources to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Users will find documents from the U.S. presidents Abraham Lincoln and Dwight D. Eisenhower; editorials reacting to the infamous Dred Scott decision; W. E. B. Du Bois's Crisis editorial in praise of black soldiers returning from France after World War I; the citations for long-overdue Medals of Honor awarded by President Clinton to veterans of World War II; and a speech by one of the most distinguished black women in American history: Shirley Chisholm's 1974 speech on the "Black Woman in Contemporary America."
Finally, we have added 100 new images to entries throughout the website as we continue to make AASC a dynamic multimedia environment for scholars and students alike.
November 2006
In November, we presented 200 never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography project being produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. In 2004, Oxford published the first 600 biographies from this groundbreaking project as African American Lives; those biographies can also be found in AASC. We now continue our efforts to bring this important work to readers ahead of the publication of the print edition, which will include more than 4,000 biographies and which is due out in December 2007. Users will now have access to new content on individuals like Flip Wilson, Louise Beavers, Sun Ra, Art Tatum, Ralph Metcalf, and Dinah Washington, and will be able to read about figures never before in AASC, like Mother Hale, Wyatt Outlaw, Elmore James, and Snake Hips Tucker.
Along with the 200 new biographies, we added another 50 primary sources to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Among the new documents, users will find documents from a number of U.S. presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, and George W. Bush; the text of the Supreme Court decision in the famous Amistad case; and one of the key documents in black women's history: Mary Church Terrell's speech on the "Progress of Colored Women."
We also added 100 new images to entries throughout the website as we continue to make AASC a dynamic multimedia environment for scholars and students alike.
July 2006
In July, over 50 primary sources were added to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s famous anti-lynching letter, the Civil Rights Amendment of 1972, and speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Sojourner Truth are now available, along with presidential statements and legal documents.
And two tables for sports fans have also been included—Negro Leagues, 1920-1960 and the NBA’s Most Valuable Players for the seasons 1955-2005.