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List of African-American historic places facts for kids

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Breitmeyer-Tobin Building
Breitmeyer-Tobin Building. Notable African American firms had offices in the building, including the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

The following are a list of African-American historic places.

Background

The stories of the contributions, hardships, and aspirations of all American people can be seen in the experiences of African Americans. The places listed below represent the achievements and struggles of African Americans. Visitors to these sites can gain a better understanding of the events and the people of that time. These places connected across time to create an understanding of what happened and why. As historian David McCullough explains in Brave Companions, experiencing places "helps in making contact with those who were there before in other days. It's a way to find them as fellow human beings, as necessary as the digging you do in libraries."

Outline of African-American History

This outline has been adapted from other related Wikipedia articles and The Negro Pilgrimage in America by C. Eric Lincoln and Before the Mayflower; A History of the Negro in America; 1619-1964 by Lerone Bennett Jr.

Origins

Main page: African-American history

The Negro Pilgrimage in America or the African Past The story of the African Americans begins in Africa. Early histories of Africa considered it the ‘Dark Continent’, both in the sense of the color of its people, but also for its lack of known civilizations. Studies beginning in the 1960s have found a rich history of civilization, including arts, architecture, public thought and major civilizations. The story of African Americans builds from these roots and can be traced through historic sites associated with the slave trade in America:


American Revolution

Main page: African Americans in the Revolutionary War

While the term ‘American Revolution’ connotes only the war period (1776–1783), the entire colonial experience is included. Free Negros were present during early campaigns of the war and throughout the war. In March 1770, Crispus Attucks died during the protest that has become known as the Boston Massacre. At the Battle of Bunker Hill, Peter Salem and Salem Poor, two free Negros valiantly served. Salem Poor was commended for his actions that day.


Slavery

Main page: Slavery in the United States

For over 200 years, the American system of slavery held four million people of color in bondage. The effect was felt by all the people of the nation, including black, white, yellow, and red. It was premised on a system of racial supremacy that affected the development of the American Negro and the relationships of all American’s with persons of other races.
The first blacks in the new world did not arrive on the slave ship to Jamestown in 1619. Rather, it was Pedro Alonzo Niño, navigator on the Niña the smallest of Christopher Columbus's vessels. From that day, Negros participated in nearly every major Spanish exploration in the new world. Neflo de Olaña and thirty other Negros were with Balboa when they discovered the Pacific Ocean.

Slave Revolts and Insurrections
In the summer of 1791, Haiti witnessed the first successful slave revolt. This was not the first; it was one in a long series of revolts. Between 1663 and 1864, there were 109 revolts on land and another 55 at sea. Notable early insurrections include the 1712 uprising in New York City and the 1800 attack on Richmond, Virginia. That same year, Denmark Vesey, a free black, planned to seize Charleston, South Carolina, but was foiled when betrayed.

House at John Brown's Farm
John Brown's Farmhouse, New York


Abolition crisis.
 With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States gained a huge western dominion. With it, two aspects of American life came into stark comparison. The first was the expansion of slavery across the southern half of the nation, creating a vast agricultural empire based on a large rural workforce. The second was Manifest Destiny, the expansion of a free society westward across the continent. The economic realities in the south precluded the development of a strong abolitionist base, while the lack of slavery among the industrialized north, neither supported nor abhorred the abolitionist cause. By 1835, William Lloyd Garrison had established The Liberator as the nation’s most militant abolitionist newspaper. Over the next 30 years, the north and the south would try to find ways to coexist with two different economic systems and a growing abolitionist movement.

Levi Coffin House, front and southern side
Levi Coffin House, Indiana


Civil War and emancipation

Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park01
Main page: Military history of African Americans in the American Civil War

The American Civil War is often seen as a war between white men over the fate of the black man. From the beginning, the African-American peoples played a significant role in the war. As early as July 1861, three months after Fort Sumter, the United States Congress passed the first Confiscation Act, granting freedom to any slave who had been used to support the Confederate war efforts, once they were behind Union Lines. Quickly General Sherman employed this new manpower in the construction of Union facilities from which to prosecute the war. With the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, the First Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery and All Negro unit was founded by General B.F. Butler. The War Department quickly authorized the enlistment of Negro soldier with the founding of the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth and Fifty-Fifth Infantry Regiments. By the end of the war, there were over 150 all-Negro regiments. On September 29, 1864, the Third Division of the Eighteenth Corp of the Army of the James, moved forward to take the New Market Heights outside Richmond, Virginia. The key role in this advance was given to the ‘all-Negro’ division. By the end of the day, the Union Army would stand on the heights overlooking the city of Richmond with a loss of 584 men and 10 Congressional Medal honorees now in their ranks. This action marked the beginning of the dissolution of the Confederate Government and the end of the war the following April.


Reconstruction and Black Power in Dixie

00001r Storer College Campus Map
Storer College Campus, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia


Segregation and the rise of Jim Crow

See also: Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era
Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Atlanta, Georgia)
Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Atlanta, Georgia)


Northern Migration

Main page: Great Migration (African American)


Expanding Opportunities

Madame Walker Theatre Center
Front of the Madame C.J., Indianapolis, Indiana


Civil Rights Movement

MLK's Boyhood home
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Boyhood home
Main page: Civil Rights Movement

Alabama

Dexter Avenue Baptist
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Martin Luther King Jr. was the pastor here.
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Alabama

Arizona

  • Phoenix Union Colored High School, Phoenix

Arkansas

AR LR Central High
Bill Clinton leading celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, AR, September 25, 1997.
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Arkansas
  • Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Batesville
  • Dunbar Junior and Senior High School and Junior College, Little Rock
  • Hampton Springs Cemetery (Black Section), Carthage
  • Henry Clay Mills House, Van Buren
  • Ish House, Little Rock
  • Kiblah School, Doddridge
  • Little Rock High School, Little Rock
  • Main Building, Arkansas Baptist College, Little Rock
  • Mosaic Templars of America Headquarters Building, Little Rock
  • Mount Olive United Methodist Church, Van Buren
  • Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Brinkley
  • New Hope Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, Historic Section, Lake Village
  • Taborian Hall, Little Rock
  • Wortham Gymnasium, Oak Grove

California

For more details, see Category:African-American history of California

Colorado

Connecticut

1stChurchofChrist FarmingtonCT
When the Africans who had participated in the slave revolt on La Amistad were released in 1841, they came to Farmington and stayed with Austin Williams before their return to Africa and attended this church.

Delaware

For more details, see Category:African-American history of Delaware

District of Columbia

Main page: List of African-American historic places in the District of Columbia
See also (related category): African-American history in Washington, D.C.

Florida

Main page: List of African American historic places in Florida
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Florida

Georgia

Main page: List of African American historic places in Georgia
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Georgia (U.S. state)

Idaho

Illinois

20070601 Wells House (2)
Residence of civil rights advocate Ida B. Wells
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Illinois

Indiana

Levi Coffin House, front and southern side
Levi Coffin's home in Fountain City, Indiana, formerly Newport. Used to hide slaves in the Underground Railroad, known as Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad.
St. Augustine's Episcopal Church
St. Augustine's Episcopal Church in Gary, Indiana.
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Indiana

Iowa

Bethel AME Church Davenport Iowa
Bethel AME Church Davenport, Iowa
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Iowa

Kansas

Nicodemus
Nicodemus National Historic Site Visitor Center
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Kansas

Kentucky

For more details, see Category:African-American history of Kentucky

Louisiana

Dancing in Congo Square - Edward Winsor Kemble, 1886
Engraving by E. W. Kemble, to illustrate article “The Dance in Place Congo” by George Washington Cable, published in Century Magazine, February 1886
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Louisiana
  • Arna Wendell Bontemps House, Alexandria
  • Badin-Roque House, Natchez
  • Canebrake, Ferriday
  • Carter Plantation, Springfield
  • Central High School, Shreveport
  • Congo Square, New Orleans
  • Evergreen Plantation, Wallace
  • Flint-Goodridge Hospital of Dillard University, New Orleans
  • Holy Rosary Institute, Lafayette
  • James H. Dillard House, New Orleans
  • Kenner and Kugler Cemeteries Archeological District, Norco
  • Leland College, Baker
  • Magnolia Plantation, Derry
  • Maison de Marie Therese, Bermuda
  • McKinley High School, Baton Rouge
  • Melrose Plantation, Melrose
  • Port Hudson, Port Hudson
  • Southern University Archives Building, Scotlandville
  • St. James AME Church, New Orleans
  • St. Joseph Historic District, St. Joseph
  • St. Joseph's School (Burnside, Louisiana)
  • St. Paul Lutheran Church, Mansura
  • St. Peter AME Church, New Orleans
  • Tangipahoa Parish Training School Dormitory, Kentwood

Maine

Maryland

Stanley Institute
Stanley Institute
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Maryland

Massachusetts

William C. Nell House, 3 Smith Court, Boston (Suffolk County, Massachusetts)
Wiliam C. Nell House

Michigan

Minnesota

Highland Park Water Tower early spring
Highland Park Water Tower, designed by Clarence W. Wigington, the nation's first African-American municipal architect

Mississippi

Main page: List of African American historic places in Mississippi

Missouri

Main page: List of African American historic places in Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

For more details, see List of African American historic places in Omaha, Nebraska
For more details, see Category:African-American history of Nebraska
Webster Telephone Exchange-Afro-American Museum, North Omaha
American Bell donated the Webster Telephone Exchange Building to the Urban League in 1933. After serving as a home to Omaha's Urban League and its leader Whitney Young, it became the Great Plains Black History Museum

Nevada

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

Jackie-robinson-house
Jackie Robinson's House
For more details, see Category:African-American history of New York (state)
Schomburg-center
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

North Carolina

Main page: List of African American historic places in North Carolina

Ohio

Mt Zion Baptist Church Athens OH USA
Mount Zion Baptist Church

Oklahoma

For more details, see Category:African-American history of Oklahoma

Pennsylvania

Peoples Hall
People's Hall in Ercildoun, an abolitionist center
JBrown Chambersburg PA
John Brown house in Chambersburg

Puerto Rico

Rhode Island

Pentecostal Collegiate Institute, North Scituate, R.I. (1905)
Smithville Seminary

South Carolina

Main page: List of African American historic places in South Carolina
  • Hampton-Pinckney Historic District, Greenville
  • Paris Simkins House, Edgefield

Tennessee

Main page: List of African American historic places in Tennessee

Texas

Main page: List of African American historic places in Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Main page: List of African American historic places in Virginia

Virgin Islands

  • Christiansted Historic District, Christiansted
  • Christiansted National Historic Site, Christiansted
  • Emmaus Moravian Church and Manse, Coral Bay
  • Estate Carolina Sugar Plantation, Coral Bay
  • Estate Neltjeberg, Charlotte Amalie
  • Estate Niesky, Charlotte Amalie
  • Fort Christian, Charlotte Amalie
  • Friedensthal Mission, Christiansted
  • New Herrnhut Moravian Church, Charlotte Amalie

Washington

West Virginia

Main page: List of African American historic places in West Virginia
For more details, see Category:African-American history of West Virginia
HP Harper's Ferry2
Harpers Ferry

Wisconsin

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