OAH Magazine of History
Volume 23, No 2
April 2009

Copyright ©
Organization of American Historians

Web Resources

Antebellum Slavery Online

Callinda Taylor

This article is a compilation of the best online resources, a pre-sorted Google search that includes only those sites which most clearly and effectively present resources on the topic of antebellum slavery.

Overviews of the Era
PBS has created a number of companion sites for its public television series. The companion site for the "Africans in America" series focuses on the tension within American national identity created by competition between a constitution advocating equality and the institution of slavery. This site includes a historical narrative, a resource bank, and a teaching guide for each of the four parts of the series. The narrative sections give general information about American slavery between 1450 and 1865, highlighting a few key figures and events for each period. For example, part 4, "Judgment Day," has one narrative specifically on antebellum slavery which tells the story of Fanny Kemble, Pierce Butler, and The Weeping Time as well as another section on Bleeding Kansas. The resource bank provided by the website relates additional historical background on each topic and includes photographs. The teaching guides consist of lesson plans and suggested viewing questions as well as a description of each episode in the series so that smaller clips can be selected more easily for classroom viewing <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html>.

Another PBS companion site is designed to accompany Slavery and the Making of America, a four-part series which examines the ways in which slavery affected America's cultural development before the Civil War. The site focuses on the social aspects of slaveryarts, religion, and family. It features original documents as well as a number of voice recordings made in the 1930s in which former slaves talk about their experiences. The site provides a timeline of events related to slavery between 1619 and 1874. It also lists external print, online, and video resources that are accessible via embedded links <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/index.html>.
The website Slavery in America was also originally created to support PBS's "Slavery and the Making of America," but this site focuses more on teaching than the PBS companion site. It offers middle school and high school lesson plans which cover a variety of specific topics within the history of slavery as well as links to the most recent scholarship in these areas. The lesson plans are not directly searchable, but they are organized loosely by era. For example, an "escaping slavery" section features articles, images, maps, and lesson plans about the Underground Railroad and other legal and illegal ways that slaves could reach freedom. Many of the sections provide links to other online resources and brief biographies of notable persons of the era. This site also provides lesson plans that are designed to accompany popular American literature about slavery <http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/>.

For a fresh look at one of the most popular classroom texts about this era, see Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture in the Classroom. This site provides a series of lesson plans which integrate discussion of the novel's central issues with skills-based activities. The suggested curriculum can be used in part or whole to incorporate Uncle Tom's Cabin into high school-level American history classes. Some lessons can be completed without internet access, while others depend on resources available on this website and other online resource centers (such as PBS's Africans in America series). Most helpful to teachers, the site provides a separate access point for students which allows them to find all the necessary documents without seeing the teacher's instructions and resources <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA02/harris/utc/index.html>.

Narratives of Slave Life
Nearly every site that deals with antebellum slavery provides links to DocSouth. This is no surprise, as the site provides free access to thousands of primary resources, including the original narrative of the life of Josiah Henson (Stowe's model for Uncle Tom), William Grimes's telling of his life as a slave, and "Slavery in the United States," the original printing of Charles Ball's slave narrative. DocSouth is an online publishing initiative sponsored by the University Library at the University of North Carolina and aims to aid in education about the American South. The site is great for primary documents, for a picture of everyday life, and for teaching ideas. Search for "Antebellum slavery" to narrow down resources or look for "Slavery" in the Subjects menu <http://docsouth.unc.edu/>.

The American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress houses an impressive collection of free online resources on topics ranging from sports and recreation to literature to histories of specific cultural groups. The African American History section directs readers to a number of collections of print documents but is notable for its collection of voice recordings from former slaves and other southerners. "Voices from the Days of Slavery" features interviews with former slaves. All of the interviews were conducted after 1930 and have links to voice recordings. The "Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writer's Project" and "First Person Narratives of the American South" collections are transcriptions of similar interviews. The former only includes interviews with and pictures of former slaves while the latter is a compilation of other previously inaccessible populations' first-person narratives, providing digital access to the words of women, African Americans, soldiers, and other southerners <http://memory.loc.gov>. University of Virginia's American Studies website provides a shorter list of slave narratives and transcriptions. Nothing additional needs to be downloaded to read the narratives, unlike many of the narratives linked from American Memory and DocSouth <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/wpahome.html>.

Slavery in the North
Slavery in the North was designed by historian Douglas Harper to fill the gap in information available about northern slavery. The site does not offer external links or resources. But the featured essays offer a thorough account of slavery in each of the northern states as well as exploring more general topics such as fugitive slaves and the profitability of slavery in the North <http://www.slavenorth.com/index.html>.
For a comparison of lifestyles in the North and South during the Civil War Era (1859-1870), see the primary source documents posted on the Valley of the Shadow website. This site archives thousands of letters, newspapers, diaries, photographs, maps, military records, census data, and church records from Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, to help visitors create history through the lives of those people who lived it. The Valley Project has also posted detailed timelines for each era in the Reference Centers and suggested research paper topics in the Teaching Resources section. From the user's guide, visitors can read first about the Valley Project and then follow the linked graphic at the bottom of the page to access the archives. The site and resources are searchable by keyword, document type, and era from the Reference Centers <http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/usingvalley/valleyguide.html>.

The New-York Historical Society's Slavery in New York exhibit is a visually interesting way to learn quickly about the enslaved black residents of New York in the antebellum era. In addition to the main presentation, there are related teaching resources designed for middle school classrooms <http://www.slaveryinnewyork.org/index.html>.

Everyday Resistance
Everyday resistance was more common than open revolts, but not many online resources discuss such occurrences in any detail. The Digital History sitewhich includes primary resources and essays on a wide range of topics in American Historyis one place to explore this topic. For an outline of common types of resistance, see the essay in the African American Voices section titled "Slave Revolts and Resistance" <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/black_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=25> and another essay in the online textbook titled "Slave Resistance and Revolts" <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=79>. The "Origins and Nature of New World Slavery" chapter of the online textbook also contains interesting articles about slave family life and culture <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/subtitles.cfm?titleID=25>.

TeacherServe, from the National Humanities Center, is designed to help teachers present difficult or sensitive material to students. The "Freedom's Story" section features articles by leading history scholars about African American literature and history. Each article has the same elements: a basic overview of the topic, suggested ways to start classroom discussion, common student questions, and a conclusion which lists further resources and current historical debates about the topic. For the antebellum period, one current article details slave resistance while another succinctly describes how slavery eventually came to be abolished <http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/tserve.htm>.

The Black Resistance portion of the Black History Museum's website also offers a brief introduction to the ways in which slaves rebelled against their masters: everyday resistance, running away, and more violent uprisings. The first three sections tell this part of history through brief individual accounts. The fourth offers a brief timeline of all of the major revolts (originally printed in Before the Mayflower, by Lerone Bennett) which begins with a conspiracy in 1663 and ends with John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859 <http://www.afroam.org/history/slavery/main.html>.

Runaways
The website Virginia Runaways is a great source for primary source materials on runaway slaves. As part of the Virtual Jamestown project, this site has compiled over 1,300 runaway slave advertisements from eighteenth-century Virginia newspapers. They can be searched by keyword, date, or description of the slave in question <http://people.uvawise.edu/runaways/>. At this time, no comparable website exists that specifically addresses antebellum runaways. The Virtual Jamestown site has also compiled statutes passed in Virginia before 1705 which concerned slaves and indentured servants <http://www.virtualjamestown.org/slavelink.html>.

Revolts
The Denmark Vesey Plot of 1822 is often taught as a major slave uprising of the antebellum period. Recent scholarship, however, is changing the way this event is interpreted. While most internet resources still seem to hold to the old interpretationi.e., that Vesey actually planned and led a conspiracynewer scholarship has cited this conspiracy as an example of the power of rumor combined with white slaveowners' fear of their slaves. The new interpretation, which was first made prominent in 1964 by Richard Wade and is again receiving attention, asserts that Vesey never actually planned anything specific and that the entire "conspiracy" was only a rumor fanned by fear. Robert Starobin summarizes the issue in an article posted here:
<http://www.nathanielturner.com/introductiontodenmarkvesey.htm>.

There are more than enough basic factual summaries of Nat Turner's rebellion in Virginia in 1831. PBS's Africans in America series provides one: <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1518.html>. Access to primary source documents relating to this rebellion is more limited. DocSouth's posting of Turner's confession <http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/turner/menu.html> requires a download, as does Project Gutenberg's listing <http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15333>. For an in-site and printer-friendly version of the confession and brief account of the trial, see <http://afgen.com/nat_turner1.html>.

The Amistad Revolt, though it did not take place on American soil, still had a marked effect on the debate over slavery in the United States. Mystic Seaport provides an excellent compilation of resources relating to the Amistad trial, including a concise timeline of events, primary documents, and brief explanations and social context about the event. This site could be used in the classroom at all levels as well as serve as a resource for scholars new to the subject
<http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/main/welcome.html>.

Abolitionists
Abolitionistsdiverse groups of whites, free blacks, and escaped slavesalso fought for freedom. The Cornell University Library's division of rare books and manuscript collections provides a useful website about abolitionism. This site is built from an exhibit which showcased some of the library's most famous original documents, including a copy of the Gettysburg Address handwritten by Lincoln. The site "explores the complex history of slavery, resistance, and abolition from the 1700s through 1865 through narrative summary of each stage of the abolitionist movement paired with relevant visual resources <http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/abolitionism/index.htm>.

Many sites are devoted to archiving the writings and life of the more prominent abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglass. The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress site links to Douglass's diary entires, family papers, general correspondence, speeches, and more. The site also features a brief timeline of his life and links to the full text of all three of his autobiographies <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/doughtml/doughome.html>.

The Library of Congress has also compiled a list of online resources associated with Harriet Tubman, one of the most prominent abolitionists. These sources offer details about her life and achievements as well as links to the full text of Sarah H. Bradford's books about Tubman <http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/tubman/>.

It is impossible to research Harriet Tubman without learning a significant amount about the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad is also discussed in many links already listed, such as PBS's "Africans in America" series. National Geographic provides a site specifically devoted to the Underground Railroad. Use the drop-down menu at the top of the screen to escape the initial simulation. The site features a few "Classroom Ideas" for every age level, a timeline, a list of notable persons, and a small "Resources and Links" section <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/index.html>.

John Brown's Raid is another famous case of abolitionism. For a summary of events, eyewitness accounts, and newspaper resources see the Valley of the Shadow website, linked specifically to the John Brown section here: <http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/jbrown/>.

There is also a newer site dedicated entirely to the raid on Harpers Ferry. The creators of this site are planning a series of events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the raid in 2009. The website links to historical sites associated with the event. It is also in the process of developing a section for educational resources
<http://www.johnbrownraid.org/index.php>.

General
Many states have their own history organizations whose websites archive resources connected with local history. Many also offer lesson plans or activity suggestions connected specifically with their resources and their geographic affiliation.

The University of Virginia's Historical Census Browser provides statistical information from the U.S. census (data collected between 1790 and 1960 is currently available online). This site allows teachers to choose the variables they want to examine for each year (for instance, number of white males, employment status, marriage data, etc.). Then they can put the information directly into tables and geographic maps which they can limit by state or county. This site does not provide any explanatory information, but it does offer a way to put population numbers and statistical generalizations into visual perspective <http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/index.html>.

A website to watch: The National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution, will not open until 2015. But its website has already posted information about its exhibitions and programs, lesson plans, activities for independent students, and an online record of collections at other Smithsonian museums which relate to African American History
<http://nmaahc.si.edu/>.

For a place to explore current topics and happenings concerning the history of slavery, visit H-Slavery, an online history forum for the discussion of slavery, the slave trade, abolition, and emancipation. Anyone can subscribe, and, in addition to the discussion boards, there are links to an academic jobs board and book reviews posted on H-Net <http://www.h-net.org/~slavery/>.

Conclusion
For more excellent sites on antebellum slavery, please refer to the feature articles' reference lists. For information about slavery, please refer to the OAH Magazine of History Vol. 21 No. 4: Lincoln, Race and Slavery and the OAH Magazine of History Vol. 17 No. 3: Colonial Slavery. Finally, be sure to check out the OAH Magazine of History's website for free access to an easy-to-use version of this article which has embedded links to all of the websites discussed above.