African American History

Research papers on African American history can cover a wide variety of topics. From a historical perspective, African Americans have had a rich and turbulant history in the United States. In the United States, February is Black History Month, recognizing and celebrating African American history, the subdivision of history that examines the experience of African Americans since the founding of the British colonies.

The first African slaves came to Virginia in 1619. Many were captured in Africa and forced to cross the Atlantic in what is known as the Middle Passage.

Slavery persisted in the United States from 1619 to 1865. Massachusetts was the first colony to legalize slavery in 1641, and by 1700 there were over 25,000 slaves in the American colonies, comprising about ten percent of the total population. Eventually, the northern colonies abolished slavery, and many slaves attempted to escape to freedom using the Underground Railroad.

Following the Civil War, the 14th Amendment outlawed slavery in the United States, although severe discrimination persisted in the American South under Jim Crow laws. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessey v. Ferguson that separate but equal was constitutional. The NAACP was formed in 1909 under the leadership of W.E.B. DuBois.

By the middle of the 20th century, African Americans began to demand equal rights. Brown v. the Board of Education overturned segregation, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Civil Rights movement until his assassination in 1968. This is a sample topic on the history of slavery.