Previous Content Updates

May 2011

For the May 2011 update, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center added 25 new primary documents with accompanying commentary, covering short stories by notable African American writers. This update's Focus On feature offered a chronological account of lesser-known early African American comedians, beginning with minstrel superstar Billy Kersands and ending with Lawanda Page, famous for her Friars Club roasts in the 1970s. This update also included 75 new online-only biographies from the African American National Biography project.

The Learning Center was updated with a Family Tree on the Bailey-Douglas Family, and a Teacher Resources page was created to provide teachers with tips and resources to enhance their students understanding of the African American experience.

February 2011

For the February 2011 update, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center added 25 new primary documents with accompanying commentary, highlighting religion. These fascinating documents included narratives by missionaries, sermons, and statements from abolitionist preachers. This update's Focus On feature offered a brief introduction to the African American origins of such popular dance forms as the Charleston. This update also included 100 new online-only biographies from the African American National Biography project and a guest editorial by Dr. N. Jeremi Duru, Associate Professor of Law at Temple University, discussing the impact of the National Football League's effort to create an even playing field for minority coaching candidates through use of the so-called "Rooney Rule."

September 2010

For the September 2010 update, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center added 25 new primary documents with accompanying commentary, highlighting the Underground Railroad. These fascinating documents included a letter by abolitionist Thomas Garrett containing an account of Harriet Tubman's efforts to rescue her family. These materials, along with a Focus On feature examining the representation and reality of the Undergroud Railroad, offer a unique window into the actual operations and historical significance of this remarkable system. This update also included 75 new online-only biographies from the African American National Biography project and a three-part lesson plan by Theresa Vara-Dannen of the University High School of Science and Engineering that explores the Harlem Renaissance, historically black colleges and universities, and communism among African American writers and artists through analysis of the 2007 film The Great Debaters.

April 2010

For the April 2010 update, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center added 25 new primary documents with accompanying commentary, highlighting the Harlem Renaissance. These fascinating documents include the first excerpt available online from social critic George Schuyler's Black No More, the first book-length satire by an African American. These materials, along with a contribution from Guest Scholars Venetria K. Patton and Maureen Honey, offer a unique window into this remarkably dynamic period in African American literature. This update also included 100 new online-only biographies from the African American National Biography project and a Focus On feature examining the historical development of Black Conservatism.

January 2010

For the first update of 2010, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center added new primary documents with accompanying commentary, highlighting African American women's history. Including poems by Phillis Wheatley and Abe Meeropol, these materials cover a wide span of dates and provide a dynamic portrait of the range of historical experiences of African American women. The January update also offered 50 exclusive, online-only biographies from the African American National Biography project. A Focus On feature examining Dr. Martin Luther King's time in Chicago was also posted to the site, providing an unusual glimpse into his civil rights work outside the South.

October 2009

For this update, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center added the final group of 400 entries from Paul Finkelman's extraordinary Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present, completing the set which published in print in February 2009. The articles, in the range of N-Z, included entries entries such as "Plessy v. Ferguson and Segregation," "Rhythm & Blues," "Technology and Engineering," and more. The October update also offered 50 exclusive, online-only biographies from the African American National Biography project. These entries – only available through the Oxford African American Studies Center – included such prominent figures as boxer Larry Holmes, writer and civil rights activist Barbara Smith, jazz saxophonist David S. Ware, and former Secretary of Labor Alexis Margaret Herman, the first African American to hold that cabinet position. A group of 25 primary documents – original patent records dating from 1872 to 2008, with accompanying commentary – were also posted to the site, providing a dynamic portrait of the contributions to science and technology made by African Americans.

June 2009

For this update, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center added 400 more entries from Paul Finkelman's remarkable Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present (published in print February 2009). The articles, in the range of H-P, included entries on Jazz, Kwanzaa, the Montgomery Buss Boycott, the NAACP and more. The June update also offered 50 exclusive, online-only biographies from the African American National Biography project. These entries – only available through the Oxford African American Studies Center – included Darlene Clark Hine's biography of First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as entries for social worker and educator Henrietta Wells and the first black flight attendant, Carol Taylor. A group of 21 primary documents – historically significant slave narratives with accompanying commentary – were also posted to the site, providing a unique perspective on the history of African Americans directly from those who personally experienced it. At a Glance pages (overviews of the multiple entries available for a particular topic or biographical subject) were made publicly available, to guide researchers to the Oxford African American Studies Center by making it more visible in search engine results. Finally, Editor in Chief Henry Louis Gates, Jr. delivered a new dispatch in which he examined the legacy of John Hope Franklin, a key figure in the scholarship of black history.

March 2009

This update presented the first major infusion of critical core content – more than 500 entries – to be included from the Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present (February 2009). In a starred review, Library Journal declared, "No similar encyclopedia rivals the wealth and confirmation of African American history found here." Also posted were the remaining 600 biographies to be included from the print edition of the African American National Biography. These included such famous names as jazz great Herbie Hancock; cofounder of the Congressional Black Caucus Louis Stokes; basketball star, business mogul and AIDS activist Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr., and many more. In continuing commemoration of the inauguration of our first African American president, the Oxford African American Studies Center further presented, in their entirety, four speeches given by President Barack Obama during his historic campaign and election. The four speeches include Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention, his presidential nomination acceptance speech, his presidential victory speech, and his inaugural address.

Fall 2008

SPECIAL UPDATE FOR NOVEMBER: To mark a very special moment in U.S. history, the Oxford African American Studies Center was updated to commemorate Barack Obama's groundbreaking victory in this year's presidential election. Included in this special update was a revision to Obama's biography in order to bring it up-to-date, plus a moving dispatch about the occasion written by Editor in Chief Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (click to read) and an essay titled "The First President Who Is Black," written by guest scholar and Oxford African American Studies Center Editor Paul Finkelman (click to read).

In October, we made available an additional 600 biographies from the African American National Biography, produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. October's biographies include the celebrated singers Roberta Flack and Gloria Gaynor, actor Morgan Freeman, professional football coach Tony Dungy, and more, as well as many lesser-known persons, such as Lester Blackwell Granger, social worker and former leader of the National Urban League, famed Hatian dancer and choreographer Jean-Leon Destine, and Anna Madgigine Jai, a West African slave who later became a plantation owner in the early 1800s.

October introduced a new Guest Scholar feature on AASC. In the inaugural essay, scholar Steven Niven, Executive Editor of the African American National Biography and the forthcoming Dictionary of African Biography, discussed presidential candidate Barack Obama in relation to the history of Civil Rights activism. We were also delighted to announce a dispatch from Editor in Chief Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. entitled "Forty Acres and a Gap in Wealth," wherein he examined possible causes for the increasing discrepancy in wealth within the African American population.

May 2008

This month, we are delighted to present another 600 never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography, produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. May's biographies include well-known entertainers Gladys Knight, Grace Jones and Arsenio Hall, former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, professional football player Jerry Rice, and more. In addition, we have added over 400 articles from the acclaimed Oxford Companion to Black British History, the first ever reference work to explore the story of Britain's black population over nearly 2,000 years. Finally, we are pleased to continue the development of AASC's multimedia content, with over new 30 film clips and interviews added this month.

February 2008

We are excited to present another 600 never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography, produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. This month marks the publication of the historic eight-volume work, containing nearly 4,100 biographies of African Americans from all walks of life and from every period of American history. With the publication of the print edition, we begin work on the 2,000 additional AANB entries that will be published online, exclusively as part of AASC, and which will begin to be added in next year's update for Black History Month.

October 2007

We are excited to present nearly 600 more never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography project being produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. We have so far published in the Oxford African American Studies Center more than 1,200 biographies from this project and are continuing our efforts to bring this important work to readers ahead of the publication of the print edition, which will include more than 4,000 biographies and which is due out in February 2008.

We have also added another 20 primary sources to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Users will find Martin Luther King Jr.'s impassioned speech that broke his silence about the Vietnam War and which explained why the war must be ended; Pap Singleton's testimony before Congress on the Exoduster movement that brought African Americans to Kansas in an effort to flee the Jim Crow South during Reconstruction; Abraham Lincoln's response to the Dred Scott decision; Angelina Weld Grimke's 1863 speech against slavery and for equal rights—not just for men, but also and especially for women; and other documents relevant to black and American history.


May 2007

We are excited to present nearly 200 more never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography project being produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. We have so far published in the Oxford African American Studies Center 1,000 biographies from this project and are continuing our efforts to bring this important work to readers ahead of the publication of the print edition, which will include more than 4,000 biographies and which is due out in December 2007.

We have also added another 33 primary sources to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Users will find decisions from landmark court cases like Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971); Jesse Jackson's famous Rainbow Coalition speech; a collection of Negro Spirituals compiled by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a white officer who commanded a black regiment in the Civil War; the closing arguments of the OJ Simpson Trial; the 1995 Glass Ceiling Commission Report; the confessions of the slave insurrectionist Nat Turner; and more.

January 2007

For Black History Month, we are excited to present another 200 never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography project being produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. We have already published 800 different biographies from this project in AASC. We now continue our efforts to bring this important work to readers ahead of the publication of the print edition, which will include more than 4,000 biographies and which is due out in December 2007. Users will now have access to new content on individuals like Juanita Hall, Sonny Stitt, Addie Waites Hunton, Eva Del Vakia Bowles, Sargent Johnson, Fritz Pollard, and Professor Longhair, and will be able to read about figures never before in AASC, like Bukka White, Diana Sands, Eddie Rector, Philly Joe Jones, and Mary Bell.

Also, in honor of Black History Month's theme "From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas," we have commissioned 28 new articles on the life and times of Frederick Douglass, listed below. These entries will join the more than 50 entries already in AASC detailing the people, events, and issues that shaped Frederick Douglass's life.

Articles
Capital Punishment, Frederick Douglass's Beliefs on
Cedar Hill, Uniontown, D.C.
Douglass, Frederick, Purchase of
Douglass, Frederick, Burial Site of
Douglass, Frederick, Library of
Easton, Maryland
Egypt, Frederick Douglass and
England, Frederick Douglass and
Fell's Point (Baltimore)
France, Frederick Douglass and
Ireland, Frederick Douglass and
Italy, Frederick Douglass and
Native Americans and Frederick Douglass
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Photography, Frederick Douglass and
Progress, Frederick Douglass's Ideas of
Religious Beliefs, Frederick Douglass and
Scotland, Frederick Douglass and

Biographies
Aaron Anthony
Ottlie Assing
Amelia Loguen Douglass
Annie Douglass
Helen Pitts Douglass
Joseph Douglass
Perry Downs
Sandy Jenkins
Scott, Sir Walter
Rosetta Douglass Sprague

We have also added another 50 primary sources to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Users will find documents from the U.S. presidents Abraham Lincoln and Dwight D. Eisenhower; editorials reacting to the infamous Dred Scott decision; W. E. B. Du Bois's Crisis editorial in praise of black soldiers returning from France after World War I; the citations for long-overdue Medals of Honor awarded by President Clinton to veterans of World War II; and a speech by one of the most distinguished black women in American history: Shirley Chisholm's 1974 speech on the "Black Woman in Contemporary America."

Finally, we have added 100 new images to entries throughout the website as we continue to make AASC a dynamic multimedia environment for scholars and students alike.


November 2006

In November, we presented 200 never-before-published biographies from the African American National Biography project being produced in conjunction with the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. In 2004, Oxford published the first 600 biographies from this groundbreaking project as African American Lives; those biographies can also be found in AASC. We now continue our efforts to bring this important work to readers ahead of the publication of the print edition, which will include more than 4,000 biographies and which is due out in December 2007. Users will now have access to new content on individuals like Flip Wilson, Louise Beavers, Sun Ra, Art Tatum, Ralph Metcalf, and Dinah Washington, and will be able to read about figures never before in AASC, like Mother Hale, Wyatt Outlaw, Elmore James, and Snake Hips Tucker.

Along with the 200 new biographies, we added another 50 primary sources to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Among the new documents, users will find documents from a number of U.S. presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, and George W. Bush; the text of the Supreme Court decision in the famous Amistad case; and one of the key documents in black women's history: Mary Church Terrell's speech on the "Progress of Colored Women."

We also added 100 new images to entries throughout the website as we continue to make AASC a dynamic multimedia environment for scholars and students alike.


July 2006

In July, over 50 primary sources were added to the site, each with a specially written commentary that puts the document in historical context. Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s famous anti-lynching letter, the Civil Rights Amendment of 1972, and speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Sojourner Truth are now available, along with presidential statements and legal documents.

And two tables for sports fans have also been included—Negro Leagues, 1920-1960 and the NBA’s Most Valuable Players for the seasons 1955-2005.