What's New in the Oxford African American Studies Center
What's New: August 2010
For the August 2010 update, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center have added 25 new primary documents with accompanying commentary highlighting the Underground Railroad. These fascinating documents include narratives by and interviews with escaped slaves, correspondences between station agents, and editorials by abolitionists. Among other exciting additions is an account of Harriet Tubman’s efforts to rescue her family, found in a letter by abolitionist Thomas Garrett. A new dispatch from Editor in Chief Henry Louis Gates, Jr., also describes the elaborate and sophisticated systems of communications, such as the coded songs, used to help guide slaves along this path to freedom. These materials, as well as a Focus On feature examining the reality of the Underground Railroad, offer a unique window into the day-to-day operations and historical significance of this remarkable system.
This month's update also includes 100 new online-only biographies from the African American National Biography project. Among the new biographies are soldiers who fought in the 18th and 19th centuries such as William Henry Barnes, a Medal of Honor recipient for his bravery in the Civil War. Other notable additions include prominent mayors Adrian Fenty (Washington, D.C.) and Cory Booker (Newark, NJ), recent Baseball Hall of Fame inauguree Andre Dawson, well-known actors Phylicia Ayers-Allen Rashad and Jeffrey Wright, musicians George Benson and Anita Baker, and hip-hop pioneer Rakim. These brand new entries are only available through the Oxford African American Studies Center.
As part of the site's expanding program of lesson plans, the editors have added a three-part contribution by Theresa Vara-Dannen of the University High School of Science and Engineering in Hartford, Connecticut, discussing the Harlem Renaissance, historically black colleges and universities, and communism among African American writers and artists through analysis of the 2007 film The Great Debaters. If you are interested in contributing your own lesson plan, we invite you to email the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center.
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Focus On
In addition to our ongoing editorial update program, the Oxford African American Studies Center's editors commission and publish bi-monthly a publicly-available Focus On feature, designed to provide insights into topics of current and historical relevance.
Past Focus On features have included Jazz Greats, the March on Washington, Kwanzaa, Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Art and Artists, Women and Literature, Hip Hop's Early Influences, and Blacks in Politics. Features can include a specially-commissioned essay by a renowned scholar, as well as photo essays illustrating the events and topics covered. Focus On features and their related articles are free to the public for two months, and the featured essays and photo essays remain publicly available on the site.
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