Racism is prejudice plus power; anyone of any race can have/exhibit racial prejudice, but in North America, white people have the institutional power, therefore Racism is a systematized discrimination or antagonism directed against people of color based on the belief that whiteness is superior. It is insidious, systemic, devastating, and integral to understanding both the history of the United States and the everyday experiences of those of us living in this country.
Note: A common, incorrect definition of racism is the colloquial definition: “racism is prejudice against someone based on their skin color or ethnicity and can be committed by anyone.” This is NOT an accurate definition nor the one used in most anti-racist circles. It highlights individuals' thinking and actions but ignores embedded institutional and cultural systems.
(Content taken from Simmons University Anti-racism Libguide, https://simmons.libguides.com/anti-oppression/anti-racism)
Hosted by the Library of Congress
“Designed to capture and preserve the rich history of political and legislative contributions of blacks for future generations.”
Online exhibit of full text and images from the Library of Congress collections, organized chronologically via chapters on slavery, Antebellum free Blacks, the Civil War and reconstruction, the "Booker T. Washington era," both World Wars, and the civil rights movement.
The largest African American History website in the world.
Multiple links available by archives.gov
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Projects Administration (WPA). At the conclusion of the Slave Narrative project, a set of edited transcripts was assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves.
Online collection of multimedia primary resources documenting the Civil Rights movement. Includes texts, photographs, video, and sound files.
The official, living memorial dedicated to the advancement of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Information on the organization and key figures involved in the NAACP.
Located at the Lorraine Motel, the site of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, the museum chronicles key episodes of the American civil rights movement.
In many ways, there are few things as powerful and as important as a people, as a nation that is steeped in its history. Often America is celebrated as a place that forgets. This museum seeks to help all Americans remember, and by remembering, this institution will stimulate a dialogue about race and help to foster a spirit of reconciliation and healing.
Made available by Smithsonian Education.org
A crowdsourced syllabus about race, African American history, civil rights, and policing