Primary Documents
(1848) Frederick Douglass, “The Rights of Women”
On July 19-20, 1848, 68 women and 32 men attended the First Women’s Rights Convention which was held in the...
(2022) Emmett Till Antilynching Act
One Hundred Seventeenth Congress of the United States of America AT THE SECOND SESSION Begun and held at the City...
(1854) Kansas-Nebraska Act
An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives...
(1861) The First Confiscation Act
CHAP. LX.–An Act to confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives...
(1820) The Missouri Compromise
An Act to authorize the people of the Missouri territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the...
(1890) Disenfranchisement Clause, The Mississippi Constitution of 1890
ARTICLE 12 – FRANCHISE Sec. 240. All elections by the people shall be by ballot. Sec. 241. Every male inhabitant...
(1953) TERRY et al. v. ADAMS et al.
345 U.S. 461 73 S.Ct. 809 97 L.Ed. 1152 TERRY et al. v. ADAMS et al. No. 52. Argued Jan....
(1868) Letter from Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman
Rochester, August 29, 1868 Dear Harriet: I am glad to know that the story of your eventful life has been...
(1926) Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”
One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, “I want to be a poet—not...