Lesson Plan World War I, African American Soldiers, and America’s War for Democracy 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this lesson plan.
Spotlight on: Primary Source Nominating an African American for vice president, 1880 Government and Civics Born a slave in 1841, Blanche Kelso Bruce was the first African American to be elected to a full term in the US Senate. During his term as a senator from Mississippi (1875–1881), he advocated the rights of African Americans and other...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Racism in the North: Frederick Douglass on "a vulgar and senseless prejudice," 1870 In 1870 Thomas Burnett Pugh, an ardent abolitionist prior to the Civil War, invited Frederick Douglass to participate in the "Star Course" lecture series he had organized at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. However, Douglass ...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Why Black men fought in World War I, 1919 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 During World War I, approximately 370,000 black men in the US military served in segregated regiments and were often relegated to support duties such as digging trenches, transporting supplies, cleaning latrines, and burying the dead....
Spotlight on: Primary Source Disfranchisement of African American voters in Virginia, 1901 Government and Civics In February 1901, the Virginia General Assembly authorized a constitutional convention to draft election reforms. The convention, supported vehemently by Democrats, aimed to disfranchise African Americans without violating the...