In Landmarks of African American History, James Oliver Horton chooses thirteen historic sites to explore the struggles and triumphs of African Americans and how they helped shape the rich and varied history of the United States. Horton begins with the first Africans brought to Jamestown, Virginia, and the start of slavery in the colonies that became the United States. Boston's Old State House provides the backdrop to the martyrdom of Crispus Attucks, the former slave killed in the Boston Massacre, the confrontation with British troops that led to the American Revolution. After the Civil War, former slaves settled the desolate area of Nicodemus, Kansas, and turned it into a thriving community. The USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Boston's Old State House illustrate African American contributions to the defense of their country and reveal racial tensions within the military. And the black students who demanded service at Woolworth's racially segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, launched the sit-in movement and advanced the fight for civil rights. Horton brings together a wide variety of African American historical sites to tell of the glory and hardship, of the great achievement and determination, of the people and events that have shaped the values, ideals, and dreams of our nation.

This compelling volume describes physical landmarks in African American history and discusses the history associated with those places. The book is organized around thematic chapters that take readers on a virtual tour of landmarks associated with the theme while also describing the people and events that inspired the landmarks. Thematic chapters include: The Slavery Era, African Americans Resist Slavery, The Civil War, Education for Blacks, The Civil Rights Movement, and African American Achievers.

Culled from the records of the National Register of Historic Places, a roster of all types of significant properties across the United States, African American Historic Places includes over 800 places in 42 states and two U.S. territories that have played a role in black American history. Banks, cemeteries, clubs, colleges, forts, homes, hospitals, schools, and shops are but a few of the types of sites explored in this volume, which is an invaluable reference guide for researchers, historians, preservationists, and anyone interested in African American culture. Also included are eight insightful essays on the African American experience, from migration to the role of women, from the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement. The authors represent academia, museums, historic preservation, and politics, and utilize the listed properties to vividly illustrate the role of communities and women, the forces of migration, the influence of the arts and heritage preservation, and the struggles for freedom and civil rights. Together they lead to a better understanding of the contributions of African Americans to American history. They illustrate the events and people, the designs and achievements that define African American history. And they pay powerful tribute to the spirit of black America.