Top Results for African American

Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' is a harrowing and profoundly moving exploration of slavery's enduring legacy on the lives of formerly enslaved people. The novels lyrical prose and incorporation of magical realism create a haunting atmosphere, delving into the psychological trauma and the desperate measur...

Wilkerson’s *The Warmth of Other Suns* chronicles the mass exodus of Black Americans from the Jim Crow South between 1915 and 1970. Through in-depth interviews with over seven hundred migrants, she reveals a powerful narrative of resilience, determination, and profound social change. The book offers...

The Apollo Theater is a historic music hall located in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Originally a burlesque hall, it became a premier venue for African American performers and audiences following its 1934 reopening. The theater is widely recognized for its Amateur Night competitions, whi...

Sharecropper is a linocut by American and Mexican artist Elizabeth Catlett, developed from an image she first created in the early 1950s and later printed in editions. It portrays an older Black woman wearing a broad-brimmed hat, with strongly carved lines emphasizing her face, clothing, and surroun...

Bessie Smith was an African American blues singer widely known as the 'Empress of the Blues.' She began her career performing in vaudeville tents and theaters before signing with Columbia Records in 1923. During the 1920s, she became one of the era's highest-paid and best-selling Black recording art...

Bert Williams was an African American vaudeville comedian, actor, and singer who became one of the most popular entertainers of the early 20th century. He performed in blackface throughout his career, a common practice of the era, but used it to subtly subvert contemporary racial stereotypes. In 191...

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiographical narrative by Harriet Jacobs, published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent and edited by Lydia Maria Child. Jacobs recounts her enslavement in North Carolina, the sexual harassment she faced from her enslaver, and the nearly seven year...

Toni Morrison was a significant 20th-century novelist renowned for her powerful portrayals of African American life and history. Her works, such as *Beloved*, delve into themes of slavery, trauma, and resilience with exceptional literary skill. Morrison’s profound impact earned her the Nobel Prize i...

Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson was an African American tap dancer and actor whose career spanned vaudeville, Broadway, and Hollywood. He is celebrated for developing a highly precise, rhythmic tap style that emphasized dancing on the balls of the feet and dancing up and down stairs. Robinson was one of t...

Carol B. Stack is an American anthropologist whose research addresses African American communities, kinship, poverty, women and youth. Her 1974 book All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community is an ethnography of relationships and mutual support among Black residents living in poverty...

This item is an excerpt pamphlet derived from W. E. B. Du Bois's 1903 sociological and historical work, "The Souls of Black Folk." The original text is a foundational piece of African American literature that examines the social, economic, and political conditions of Black Americans in the decades f...

James Baldwin was a significant 20th-century American novelist and essayist. His writings, such as *Go Tell It on the Mountain*, deeply examined complex issues of race, class, and sexuality within the African American experience. He is particularly notable for his contributions to civil rights disco...

Ralph Ellison was an American novelist primarily known for *Invisible Man*, published in 1952. This groundbreaking novel explores themes of racial identity, alienation, and the search for self within a racially divided America. It is notable for its innovative narrative structure and profound psycho...

Josephine Baker was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress who achieved significant fame in France during the 1920s. After beginning her career in American vaudeville and the chorus lines of Broadway, she moved to Paris and became a star at the Folies Bergère. She was a key figure of th...

I Am the Negro Woman is the opening linocut in Elizabeth Catlett's 1946 to 1947 series The Negro Woman, later known as The Black Woman. The image presents a frontal, self-possessed Black woman and introduces a sequence concerned with labor, education, resistance, family, and historical figures. Catl...

Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup, a free Black man from New York who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup recounts twelve years of forced labor on Louisiana plantations, identifies people and locations connected to his captivity, and desc...

This document is an abridged excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X, a 1965 book co-authored by Malcolm X and journalist Alex Haley. The original text chronicles Malcolm X's early life, his time as a spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, and his subsequent pilgrimage to Mecca. Formatted as a pa...

Ethel Waters was an African American singer and actress who transitioned from the Black vaudeville circuit to become a mainstream crossover star. She was one of the first Black women to perform on white vaudeville stages and to headline at prestigious venues like the Cotton Club. As a vocalist, she...

Ira Berlin was an American historian of slavery and African American history who taught at the University of Maryland. His research followed changes in slavery and freedom across different regions and generations rather than treating either condition as static. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Cen...

John Hope Franklin was an American historian whose scholarship centered on African American history, the Civil War era, and the United States after emancipation. His 1947 book From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans provided a broad historical account that became an important academi...

Alvin Ailey reshaped American dance through his innovative choreography blending modern techniques with rich African and Caribbean traditions. He established the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958, bringing forth powerful narratives rooted in Black experiences and celebrating cultural herita...

Elliot Liebow was an American urban anthropologist whose book Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men, published in 1967, was based on fieldwork among Black men in a Washington, D.C., neighborhood. The ethnography examined work, family obligations, friendship, reputation, and economic inse...

Joe Turner's Come and Gone is a play by August Wilson, first produced on Broadway in 1988 and included in his ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle. Set in a Pittsburgh boardinghouse in 1911, it follows residents shaped by migration, family separation, and the aftermath of slavery, especially Herald Loomis, who...

Leon Litwack was an American historian of slavery, emancipation, Reconstruction, and African American life in the United States. His book Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for History, and his scholarship examined how freedom, racial violence, law, and s...

Katherine Dunham was a pioneering choreographer who blended Caribbean, African, and modern dance traditions. Her work, beginning in 1931, established the first self-supported Black modern dance troupe in America. Dunham’s research into anthropological movement forms informed her choreography, making...

Between the World and Me is a powerful memoir by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Written as an intimate letter to his son, it examines the pervasive experience of Black identity in America. The book confronts systemic racism and its ongoing impact with unflinching honesty and literary skill. It’s particularly rel...

Topdog/Underdog is a two-character play by American dramatist Suzan-Lori Parks, first produced in 2001 and awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It follows African American brothers Lincoln and Booth, whose names foreshadow the rivalry and violence within their relationship. Lincoln works as an...

I Have Given the World My Songs is a linocut by American and Mexican artist Elizabeth Catlett from The Negro Woman, her 1946-47 series of prints about Black women's experiences, labor, resistance, and achievements. The image presents a woman alongside a guitar, using simplified shapes and forceful b...

Arthur Mitchell was a groundbreaking choreographer known for his innovative Dance Theatre of Harlem company. He fused classical ballet technique with African and Caribbean rhythms creating a distinctive style that challenged conventions. His work explored themes of cultural identity and social justi...