Perspectives on African American History

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Perspectives on African American History features accounts and descriptions of important but little known events in African American history recalled often by those who were witnesses or participants or viewpoints about historical developments shaping the contemporary black world. Many of these accounts will be instant primary sources available to current visitors to Blackpast.org and to future historians. Each article is accompanied by a brief biography and photo of its author.

Race and Color in A California Coastal Community: The Seaside Story
In the following article Dr. Carol Lynn McKibben, Director of the Seaside History Project, City of Seaside, California, and Lecturer, Department of History, Stanford University, describes the subject of her research, Seaside, California, and specifically the unusual history of the African American community in this coastal city.
The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: One Tennessee Community's Odyssey from Slavery to Freedom
 In the following account author, historian, and genealogist John F. Baker, Jr. describes the multi-year search for his enslaved ancestors which resulted in his 2009 book, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family's Journey to Freedom.??
What Comes Naturally: The Loving v. Virginia Case in Historical Perspective
Mildred Loving always insisted she was no civil rights pioneer, but Loving. v. Virginia, the 1967 Supreme Court case that bears her name, established the legal right to interracial marriage across the United States.?? In memory of Mildred Loving, who died on May 2, 2008, University of Oregon historian Peggy Pascoe, author of the new book, What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America, discusses the many meanings of Loving v. Virginia.
Confounded: The Enigma of ???Blind Tom??? Wiggins
In the following account Australian author Deirdre O'Connell explores the ironic life of Blind Tom Wiggins, the slave and later former slave musician who became one of the most prominent 19th Century African American performers.?? Wiggins was the subject of her recently published biography, The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist.
The Black Presence in Theater through the Centuries in the Historical Dictionary of African American Theater
In the following account the authors Anthony D. Hill, associate professor of drama at The Ohio State University, and Douglas Q. Barnett, director, producer, and founder of Black Arts/West in Seattle, discuss why they created the Historical Dictionary on African American Theatre, the first comprehensive compendium of two centuries of blacks on stage.
The Black Laws of Oregon, 1844-1857
Beginning with the Exclusion Law of 1844 enacted by the provisional government of the region, Oregon passed a series of measures designed to ban African American settlement in the territory.?? Historian Elizabeth McLagan describes those laws in the article below.
The Manumission of Monimia Travers: A Slave Freed at Fort Vancouver
 Few people identify slavery with Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.?? However, there were slaves in the region particularly in the decade before the Civil War.?? In the following article, Gregory Paynter Shine, the Chief Ranger and Historian at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, describes the brief enslavement and manumission of one woman, Monimia Travers, whose story touched the region.
John McWhorter, ???Celebrate the Triumph of Ordinary Black Americans???
In the article below social commentator John H. McWhorter challenges the nation to think differently about Black History Month.?? He argues that the emphasis on black "heroes" negates the tens of thousands of stories of ordinary African Americans who have overcome or outmaneuvered racism and discrimination. Their stories can also provide inspiration for younger generations seeking authentic role models.????
The Quest for Land and Freedom on Canada's Western Prairies: Black Oklahomans in Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1905-1912
In the following article Canadian independent historian Gail Ito examines the arrival of black emigrants from Oklahoma in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.?? These pioneer settlers carved out communities on one of the last frontiers in North America.??
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Long Struggle for Civil Rights in the United States
This year the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People celebrates its 100th anniversary.?? In the article below historian Susan Bragg provides a brief introduction to the history of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest continually active civil rights organization in the United States.

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