Black History

With over a hundred photos collected by G. Faye Dant, and with an introduction by renowned Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin.

When Mark Twain published Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885, he turned Hannibal, Missouri, into one of the most famous towns in the American imagination. But like Twain’s novel, Hannibal’s idyllic façade often elided the darker racial violence that had marked its past, and it overlooked the history and humanity of the Black residents who have called Hannibal home for generations. Without them, there would be no “America’s hometown.”

In Hannibal’s Invisibles,G. Faye Dant, a Hannibal resident and the executive director of Jim’s Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center, tells the incredible story of the Black community in this small Missouri town, giving voice to a history that has been marginalized far too long. Hear first-hand accounts from those who survived enslavement, faced racism after emancipation, endured Jim Crow, and contributed to the triumphs of the civil rights movement. These are the stories of Black doctors, entrepreneurs, and teachers who helped uplift the community, and remembrances of the countless individuals who gave richness and meaning to Hannibal’s everyday life. The vintage photographs and historical documents collected here are a celebration of these resilient people who built and sustained this corner of the Midwest, despite the immense obstacles they met at every turn. 

The bayou sings and the trees sway with the untold stories of many unsung heroes, including Louisiana's amazing Zydeco musicians. The music is an extraordinary blend of the accordion, the bass and electric guitars, the drums, the rub or scrub board, and other instruments. It tells stories about finding and losing love, life lessons, and other revelatory events that rise from the skillful hands of musicians playing the diatonic and piano accordions. The diverse population of Louisiana creates a rich culture with Zydeco festivals, Creole foods, and the unique music that fills the air with a foot-stomping beat like no other. Louisiana's Zydeco is a snapshot of some of the many musicians who live and play the homegrown music known as Zydeco.

For slaves fleeing captivity, the Underground Railroad was the most viable means of escape, and with over three thousand miles of clandestine routes and secret trails, Ohio had the country's most extensive network of safe houses. A great number of these passageways were concentrated throughout the state's east central region, particularly the inland channels of Coshocton, Holmes and Guernsey Counties and the now-famous canal route, a major conduit winding through Tuscarawas and Stark Counties. Similarly, runaways sought refuge in the hills and valleys of Harrison County, as well as in the Quaker stronghold of Columbiana County. Using the letters of Wilbur H. Seibert, along with contemporary photographs of area safe houses, Janice VanHorne-Lane provides an intimate account of east central Ohio's profound contributions to the Underground Railroad and its mission, freedom for all.

The rich history of people of African heritage in the Santa Clara Valley began as early as 1777, and in the 1800s, a lively black community took root. By the Great Migration in the 1900s, neighborhoods in San Jose, Palo Alto, and Santa Clara became home to many African Americans from Southern and Midwest states who were seeking new opportunities. By the 1960s, African Americans found jobs in the emerging technology industry, at Ford Motor Company, and in public service agencies. African Americans pursued degrees at San Jose State College (SJSC), the University of Santa Clara, Stanford University, and community colleges located in the Santa Clara Valley. SJSC's athletic programs opened the door for student athletes, while Dr. Harry Edwards, John Carlos, and Tommy Smith took on civil rights challenges. The complicated history of the black community throughout Santa Clara County has mirrored the nation's slow progress towards social and economic success. This progress is captured in the presented images chronicling individual stories of political struggle, success, and triumph.

Some have called Buxton a Black Utopia. In the town of five thousand residents, established in 1900, African Americans and Caucasians lived, worked and attended school together. It was a thriving, one-of-a-kind coal mining town created by the Consolidation Coal Company. This inclusive approach provided opportunity for its residents. Dr. E.A. Carter was the first African American to get a medical degree from the University of Iowa in 1907. He returned to Buxton and was hired by the coal company, where he treated both black and white patients. Attorney George Woodson ran for file clerk in the Iowa Senate for the Republican Party in 1898, losing to a white man by one vote. Author Rachelle Chase details the amazing events that created this unique community and what made it disappear.

A part of the Underground Railroad, read here of enslaved people and their stories of using Virginia's waterways to achieve freedom.

Enslaved Virginians sought freedom from the time they were first brought to the Jamestown colony in 1619. Acts of self-emancipation were aided by Virginia's waterways, which became part of the network of the Underground Railroad in the years before the Civil War. Watermen willing to help escaped slaves made eighteenth-century Norfolk a haven for freedom seekers. Famous nineteenth-century escapees like Shadrack Minkins and Henry "Box" Brown were aided by the Underground Railroad. Enslaved men like Henry Lewey, known as Bluebeard, aided freedom seekers as conductors, and black and white sympathizers acted as station masters. Historian Cassandra Newby-Alexander narrates the ways that enslaved people used Virginia's waterways to achieve humanity's dream of freedom.

New Hampshire was once a hotbed of abolitionist activity. But the state had its struggles with slavery, with Portsmouth serving as a slave-trade hub for New England. Abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Nathaniel Peabody Rogers and Stephen Symonds Foster helped create a statewide antislavery movement. Abolitionists and freed slaves assisted in transporting escapees to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Author Michelle Arnosky Sherburne uncovers the truth about slavery, the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement in New Hampshire.

Oklahoma City's African American community, from the beginning of the settlement of the Oklahoma Territory in 1891, placed a high priority on education. Established on January 5, 1891, Frederick A. Douglass High School became an Oklahoma City institution that produced scholars, educators, military heroes, musicians, athletes, attorneys, firefighting experts, doctors, national and international leaders in medicine, civil rights pioneers, and even cowboys. At the center of this substantial pool of achievers stood one man, Frederick Douglass Moon, the longest-serving principal at the school. His vision established the winning model that produced students who could compete anywhere in the world with their talents, skills, and knowledge. Countless legends and icons attended the school, including Charlie Christian, Ralph Ellison, Jimmy Rushing, Anthony Watson, Zora Brown, Dr. Roger Countee, and others. This book showcases former students of Oklahoma City whose contributions still matter today.

Author and researcher Char McCargo Bah recounts the stories of the men and women buried in Alexandria's freedman's cemetery and the search for their descendants.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Federal troops secured Alexandria as Union territory. Former slaves, called contrabands, poured in to obtain protection from their former masters. Due to overcrowding, mortality rates were high. Authorities seized an undeveloped parcel of land on South Washington Street, and by March 1864, it had been opened as a cemetery for African Americans. Between 1864 and 1868, more than 1,700 contrabands and freedmen were buried there. For nearly eighty years, the cemetery lay undisturbed and was eventually forgotten. Rediscovered in 1996, it has now been preserved as a monument to the courage and sacrifice of those buried within.

William Henry Jernagin was a devout Christian and fierce advocate for civil rights in the first half of the twentieth century. He was senior pastor of the Mount Carmel Baptist Church in the Mount Vernon Square neighborhood for more than forty-five years. His activism made him an internationally recognized figure. He was a foundational leader in the American civil rights movement. His residency allowed him to contribute to the collective action to abolish Jim Crow in the nation's capital. Through his office in the National Baptist Convention, he also identified the potential in a lesser-known leader of the time, Martin Luther King Jr. Jernagin's passion lifted him to leading positions in the National Baptist Convention and National Fraternal Council of Negro Churches, as well as close work with Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower. Author Ida E. Jones reveals the story of this often-overlooked leader and his fight for civil rights while living in the District of Columbia.

The nation's capital and the state of Virginia were a hotbed of political and social turmoil that marked the 1960s and 1970s. The area saw anti-Vietnam War protests, civil rights marches and students clamoring for a cultural revolution. Underground publications in D.C. and Virginia sprang up to document the radical change and question the "straight media." Off Our Backs led the charge for women's equality. The Gay Blade fought for the rights of homosexuals. Even the FBI began infiltrating the underground press movement by planting informants and creating fake magazines to attract suspicious "radicals." Join author and former underground editor Dale Brumfield as he traces the history of alternative press in the Commonwealth and the District.