Black Lives in the Founding Era

Black Lives in the Founding Era

The Black Lives in the Founding Era project highlights the lives and contributions of numerous African Americans from 1760 to 1800.

 

 

Images: A painting of James Forten by an unidentified artist, painted ca. 1815–1820. (Historical Society of Pennsylvania); An engraving of Jarena Lee, the first African American woman preacher, a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, printed by P. S. Duval, Philadelphia, 1844. (New York Public Library Digital Collections)

James Forten and Jarena Lee

Explore historical documents, essays, and videos featuring our network of scholars, lesson plans, online exhibitions, and other resources and programs. These resources and programs help twenty-first-century students appreciate African Americans’ central role and significance in the founding era and the history of the United States.

After clicking on a card or title, scroll to see all of the included resources.

The covers of Black Writers of the Founding Era and Slavery and Abolition in the Founding Era.

Books

David Blight teaching at a Gilder Lehrman teacher symposium.

Courses

When the Past Speaks to the Present: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings by Annette Gordon-Reed

Essays

Letter from Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson read by Christopher Jackson.

Dramatic Readings of Historic Texts

Three students on the Hamilton Musical set performing as part of the EduHam program

Hamilton Education Program

Woodcut of the deck of a slave ship from "The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament," vol. 1, by Thomas Clarkson, London, 1808 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC05965.01)

Historical Documents

Headshot of Gala Honoree Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed

Videos and Short Takes by Historians

Paul Revere's 1770 engraving showing the Boston Massacre

Posters

Henry Louis Gates

Public Programs