Resources for Exploring Race, Racism, and Racial Identity: Racism

A selection of open primary source documents, including historical newspaper articles, pamphlets, diaries, correspondence and more from specific time periods in U.S. history marked by the opposition African Americans have faced on the road to freedom. The content is curated around six time periods: (1) Resistance to Slavery and the Abolitionist Movement (1790-1860); (2) The Civil War and the Reconstruction Era (1861-1877); (3) Jim Crow Era from 1878 to the Great Depression (1878-1932); (4) The New Deal and World War II (1933-1945); (5) The Civil Rights and Black Power Movements (1946-1975)' and (6) The Contemporary Era (1976-2000).

The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

The author explains why she sees "white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was "meant" to remain oblivious." The article includes a 50-item list: "Daily effects of white privilege." The essay is an excerpt from a working paper by Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist and Former Associate Director at the Wellesley Centers for Women.

"Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?: Americans don’t see me, or Ahmaud Arbery, running down the road—they see their fear." An article about the recent killings of unarmed black men. "I just don’t think Americans fully realize how terrorizing it is to black males when we are falsely suspected as violent criminals. All Americans seem to be thinking about is their fear of us—not our fear of their fear." Author: Ibram X. Kendi, Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, and a contributing writer at The Atlantic.