African Americans and the Civil War

Carter G. Woodson, an African American historian, author and journalist established the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) in 1915. Its mission was, and continues to be, “to create and disseminate knowledge about Black History.” Each year ASALH comes up with a theme that “reflects changes in how people of African descent in the United States have viewed themselves, the influence of social movements on racial ideologies, and the aspirations of the Black community.”

In honor of the efforts of people of African descent to destroy slavery and inaugurate universal freedom in the United States, ASALH has selected “African Americans and the Civil War” as the 2011 Black History Month Theme.

More information on ASALH can be found at: http://www.asalh.org/

Also, to learn more about the contributions of African Americans in the Civil War, the following materials and much more can be found at the Library.

Adult Non-Fiction |Youth titles | DVDs | Links to More Information

Adult Non-Fiction

Freedom’s Journey: African American Voices of the Civil War edited by Donald Yacovone
973.7092 Freedoms

The Slaves’ War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves by Andrew Ward
973.711 Ward

The Negro in the Civil War by Benjamin Quarles
973.715 Quarles

Black Union Soldiers in the Civil War by Hondon B. Hargrove
973.741 Hargrove

Uncommon Valor: A Story of Race, Patriotism, and Glory in the Final Battles of the Civil War by Melvin Claxton
973.7415 Claxton

Firebrand of Liberty: The Story of Two Black Regiments That Changed the Course of the Civil War by Stephen V. Ash
973.74150975912 Ash

Negroes in Michigan During the Civil War by Norman McRae
L 973.78 M24n [Library Use Only]

Youth titles (Fiction & Non-Fiction)

Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story by Janet Halfmann
J 921 Smalls

Welcome to Addy’s World, 1864: Growing Up During America’s Civil War by Susan Sinnott
J 973.71 Sinnott

Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent: How Daring Slaves and Free Blacks Spied For the Union During the Civil War by Thomas B. Allen
J 973.7115 Allen

Black, Blue and Gray: African Americans in the Civil War by Jim Haskins
J 973.7415 Haskins

Traveling the Freedom Road: From Slavery & the Civil War Through Reconstruction by Linda Barrett Osborne
J 973.7415 Osborne

With Every Drop of Blood by James Lincoln Collier
J Collier

I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: the Diary of Patsy, A Freed Girl by Joyce Hansen
J Hansen

Night Journey to Vicksburg by Susan Rowan Masters
J Masters

Silent Thunder: A Civil War Story by Andrea Davis Pinkney
J Pinkney

The Land by Mildred D. Taylor
J Taylor

Riot by Walter Dean Myers
Y Myers

DVDs

Glory
DVD Drama Glory

Buffalo Soldiers
DVD Western Buffalo

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
DVD 305.567092 Unchained

Black History: The War Years and the Civil Rights Movement
DVD 973.0496073 Black

Links for more information

African American Civil War Memorial & Museum
http://www.afroamcivilwar.org/

Teaching with Documents: The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/ 

Military History of African Americans in the American Civil War (from Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_African_Americans_in_the_American_Civil_War

African Americans and the Civil War (photo slideshow)
http://www.life.com/image/2794000/in-gallery/40782#index/0