This title covers iconic primary documents from the 1600s to the present. Each entry offers the full text of the document as well as an in-depth, analytical essay that places the document in its historical context. Among the sources included are important legislative documents such as the Reconstruction era amendments; critical Supreme Court decisions; and iconic speeches and writings by leaders such as Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Barack Obama.

Table of Contents

• PUBLISHER'S NOTE
• EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION
• CONTRIBUTORS
• VOLUME I: 1619–1852
• JOHN ROLFE'S LETTER TO SIR EDWIN SANDYS
• VIRGINIA'S ACT XII: NEGRO WOMEN'S CHILDREN TO SERVE ACCORDING TO THE CONDITION OF THE MOTHER
• VIRGINIA'S ACT III: BAPTISM DOES NOT EXEMPT SLAVES FROM BONDAGE
• “A MINUTE AGAINST SLAVERY, ADDRESSED TO GERMANTOWN MONTHLY MEETING”
• DANIEL HORSMANDEN: THE NEW-YORK CONSPIRACY
• JOHN WOOLMAN'S SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE KEEPING OF NEGROES
• LORD DUNMORE'S PROCLAMATION
• PETITION OF PRINCE HALL AND OTHER AFRICAN AMERICANS TO THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL COURT
• AN ACT FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
• THOMAS JEFFERSON'S NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA
• SLAVERY CLAUSES IN THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
• ALEXANDER FALCONBRIDGE: AN ACCOUNT OF THE SLAVE TRADE ON THE COAST OF AFRICA
• BENJAMIN BANNEKER'S LETTER TO THOMAS JEFFERSON
• FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT OF 1793
• RICHARD ALLEN: “AN ADDRESS TO THOSE WHO KEEP SLAVES, AND APPROVE THE PRACTICE”
• PRINCE HALL: A CHARGE DELIVERED TO THE AFRICAN LODGE
• OHIO BLACK CODE
• ACT TO PROHIBIT THE IMPORTATION OF SLAVES
• PETER WILLIAMS, JR.’S “ORATION ON THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE”
• SAMUEL CORNISH AND JOHN RUSSWURM'S FIRST FREEDOM'S JOURNAL EDITORIAL
• DAVID WALKER: APPEAL TO THE COLOURED CITIZENS OF THE WORLD
• STATE V. MANN
• WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON'S FIRST LIBERATOR EDITORIAL
• THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER
• UNITED STATES V. AMISTAD
• PRIGG V. PENNSYLVANIA
• HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET: “AN ADDRESS TO THE SLAVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”
• FIRST EDITORIAL OF THE NORTH STAR
• WILLIAM WELLS BROWN'S “SLAVERY As IT Is”
• ROBERTS V. CITY OF BOSTON
• FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT OF 1850
• NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF HENRY BOX BROWN, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF
• SOJOURNER TRUTH'S “AIN'T I A WOMAN?”
• FREDERICK DOUGLASS: “WHAT, TO THE SLAVE, IS THE FOURTH OF JULY” SPEECH
• MARTIN DELANY: THE CONDITION, ELEVATION, EMIGRATION, AND DESTINY OF THE COLORED PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES
• VOLUME 2: 1853–1900
• TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE: NARRATIVE OF SOLOMON NORTHUP
• DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD
• JOHN S. ROCK'S “WHENEVER THE COLORED MAN IS ELEVATED, IT WILL BE BY HIS OWN EXERTIONS”
• VIRGINIA SLAVE CODE
• HARRIET JACOBS'S INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL
• OSBORNE P. ANDERSON: A VOICE FROM HARPER'S FERRY
• EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
• THOMAS MORRIS CHESTER'S CIVIL WAR DISPATCHES
• WILLIAM T. SHERMAN'S SPECIAL FIELD ORDER No. 15
• BLACK CODE OF MISSISSIPPI
• THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
• TESTIMONY BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION ON ATROCITIES IN THE SOUTH AGAINST BLACKS
• FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
• HENRY MCNEAL TURNER'S SPEECH ON HIS EXPULSION FROM THE GEORGIA LEGISLATURE
• FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
• Ku KLUX KLAN ACT
• UNITED STATES V. CRUIKSHANK
• RICHARD HARVEY CAIN'S “ALL THAT WE ASK IS EQUAL LAWS, EQUAL LEGISLATION, AND EQUAL RIGHTS”
• CIVIL RIGHTS CASES
• T. THOMAS FORTUNE: “THE PRESENT RELATIONS OF LABOR AND CAPITAL”
• ANNA JULIA COOPER'S “WOMANHOOD: A VITAL ELEMENT IN THE REGENERATION AND PROGRESS OF A RACE”
• JOHN EDWARD BRUCE'S “ORGANIZED RESISTANCE IS OUR BEST REMEDY”
• JOHN L. MOORE'S “IN THE LION'S MOUTH”
• JOSEPHINE ST. PIERRE RUFFIN'S “ADDRESS TO THE FIRST NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF COLORED WOMEN”
• BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS
• PLESSY V. FERGUSON
• MARY CHURCH TERRELL: “THE PROGRESS OF COLORED WOMEN”
• IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT'S “LYNCH LAW IN AMERICA”
• VOLUME 3: 1901–1964
• GEORGE H. WHITE'S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO CONGRESS
• W. E. B. Du Bois: THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK
• W. E. B. Du Bois AND MONROE TROTTER: NIAGARA MOVEMENT DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES
• THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S BROWNSVILLE LEGACY SPECIAL MESSAGE TO THE SENATE
• ACT IN RELATION TO THE ORGANIZATION OF A COLORED REGIMENT IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
• MONROE TROTTER'S PROTEST TO WOODROW WILSON
• GUINN v. UNITED STATES
• WILLIAM PICKENS: “THE KIND OF DEMOCRACY THE NEGRO EXPECTS”
• THIRTY YEARS OF LYNCHING IN THE UNITED STATES
• CYRIL BRIGGS'S SUMMARY OF THE PROGRAM AND AIMS OF THE AFRICAN BLOOD BROTHERHOOD
• WALTER F. WHITE: “THE ERUPTION OF TULSA”
• MARCUS GARVEY: “THE PRINCIPLES OF THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION”
• ALAIN LOCKE'S “ENTER THE NEW NEGRO”
• JAMES WELDON JOHNSON'S “HARLEM: THE CULTURE CAPITAL”
• ALICE MOORE DUNBAR-NELSON: “THE NEGRO WOMAN AND THE BALLOT”
• JOHN P. DAVIS: “A BLACK INVENTORY OF THE NEW DEAL”
• ROBERT CLIFTON WEAVER: “THE NEW DEAL AND THE NEGRO: A LOOK AT THE FACTS”
• CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON'S “EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITIES MUST GO!”
• WALTER F. WHITE'S “U.S. DEPARTMENT OF (WHITE) JUSTICE”
• RICHARD WRIGHT: “BLUEPRINT FOR NEGRO WRITING”
• MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE'S “WHAT DOES AMERICAN DEMOCRACY MEAN TO ME?”
• A. PHILIP RANDOLPH'S “CALL TO NEGRO AMERICA TO MARCH ON WASHINGTON”
• EXECUTIVE ORDER 9983
• RALPH J. BUNCHE: “THE BARRIERS OF RACE CAN BE SURMOUNTED”
• TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS
• SWEATT v. PAINTER
• HAYWOOD PATTERSON AND EARL CONRAD'S SCOTTSBORO BOY
• BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
• MARIAN ANDERSON'S MY LORD, WHAT A MORNING
• ROY WILKINS: “THE CLOCK WILL NOT BE TURNED BACK”
• GEORGE WALLACE'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS AS GOVERNOR
• MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: LETTER FROM A BIRMINGHAM JAIL
• JOHN F. KENNEDY: REPORT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ON CIVIL RIGHTS
• FANNIE Lou HAMER'S TESTIMONY AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
• VOLUME 4: 1965–2017
• MALCOLM X: “AFTER THE BOMBING”
• BOND V. FLOYD
• STOKELY CARMICHAEL: “BLACK POWER”
• SOUTH CAROLINA V. KATZENBACH
• MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: “BEYOND VIETNAM: A TIME TO BREAK SILENCE”
• LOVING V. VIRGINIA
• KERNER COMMISSION REPORT SUMMARY
• ELDRIDGE CLEAVER: “EDUCATION AND REVOLUTION”
• JESSE OWENS: BLACKTHINK: MY LIFE AS BLACK MAN AND WHITE MAN
• CLAY V. UNITED STATES
• ANGELA DAVIS'S “POLITICAL PRISONERS, PRISONS, AND BLACK LIBERATION”
• JACKIE ROBINSON: I NEVER HAD IT MADE
• FBI REPORT ON ELIJAH MUHAMMAD
• FINAL REPORT OF THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS STUDY AD Hoc ADVISORY PANEL
• SHIRLEY CHISHOLM: “THE BLACK WOMAN IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA”
• JESSE JACKSON'S DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION KEYNOTE ADDRESS
• ANITA HILL'S OPENING STATEMENT AT THE SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARING OF CLARENCE THOMAS
• COLIN POWELL'S COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY
• Louis FARRAKHAN'S MILLION MAN MARCH PLEDGE
• ONE AMERICA IN THE 2IST CENTURY
• CLARENCE THOMAS'S CONCURRENCE/DISSENT IN GRUTTER V. BOLLINGER
• BARACK OBAMA: “A MORE PERFECT UNION”
• U.S. SENATE RESOLUTION APOLOGIZING FOR THE ENSLAVEMENT AND RACIAL SEGREGATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS
• MICHELLE ALEXANDER: THE NEW JIM CROW
• SHELBY COUNTY V. HOLDER
• MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES–VISION FOR BLACK LIVES
• INVESTIGATION OF THE FERGUSON POLICE DEPARTMENT–REPORT SUMMARY
• COOPER V. HARRIS
• TEACHERS’ ACTIVITY GUIDE
• LIST OF DOCUMENTS BY CATEGORY
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS