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African Diaspora

African Diaspora Biography on the Internet

• African American Women Writers in the 19th Century (The Digital Schomburg, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library)
  • Biographies and Autobiographies (Online books)
  • Full digital collection
  • The Schomburg Center Home Page
  
  
• African Americans in History (Institute of African American Studies, University of Georgia)
  This web page offers very brief biographical sketches; includes two sound files: excerpt from speech by Malcolm X and another by Martin Luther King, Jr.
  
  
• American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology (Bruce Fort, Corcoran Department of History & the American Hypertext Workshop, University of Virginia, Charlottesville)
  "From 1936 to 1938, over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration. These former slaves, most born in the last years of the slave regime or during the Civil War, provided first-hand accounts of their experiences on plantations, in cities, and on small farms. This web site provides an opportunity to read a sample of these narratives, and to see some of the photographs taken at the time of the interviews." See also, a related website, "Been Here So Long" below.
  
  
• Benjamin Banneker on the Internet:
  • 1791 letter from Banneker to the Secretary of State of the United States. (The Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville)
  
  
• Romare Howard Bearden (1911-1988) (Romare Bearden Foundation, New York)
  African American artist profiled and celebrated. See also:
  Bibliographies: "Bearden in his own words" ; "About Bearden" ; and, "Children's bibliography".
  
  
• Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955):
  • A Short biography from "Profiles in Caring", a syndicated column by Val J. Halamandaris.
  
  
• Black Inventors A-Z (About.Com, PRIMEDIA Inc., New York)
  
  
• Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912)
  • Awareness times. (Online): "Edward Wilmot Blyden--Father of Pan Africanism" (August 3, 2006) -and- "Liberia Remembers Edward Wilmot Blyden" (February 12, 2007) (Freetown, Sierra Leone)
    
  • Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912): A "virtual museum" compiled in 1995 on the great pan-Africanist (Eleumuno R. Blyden, Columbia University)
    
  
  
• J. Max Bond (1935-2009)
  • The New York Times. (Online): "J. Max Bond, Jr., Influential African-American Architect, Dies at 73" (February 19, 2009)
  • The Architect's Newspaper. (Online): "Max Bond, 1935-2009" (February 18, 2009)
  
  
• Aimé Césaire (1913-2008)
  • Afrikara.Com: "La Poésie de Césaire: vers verts vers la Liberté" (2006) ; Entretien avec Aimé Césaire par Buata Malela à Fort-de-France, décembre 2004" ; et "Décryptage: Discours sur le colonialisme de Aimé Césaire, discours pour la liberté" (2005) (Paris)
    
    
  • Agence de Presse Africaine: Dossier sur Aimé Césaire (Dakar, Sénégal)
    Voir aussi: la version anglaise
    
    
  • California Newsreel: "Aimé Césaire: une voix pour l'histoire": Un film de 1994, en trois parties. (San Francisco, California)
    
    
  • Grioo.Com: "Aimé Césaire (1913-2008): le poète martiniquais est officiellement décédé" (le 17 avril 2008) (Paris)
    
    
  • Hommage à Aimé Césaire -- Site officiel (Fort de France, Martinique)
    
    
  • Ile en île: Aimé Césaire: un profil et une bibliographie. (Lehman College, The City University of New York)
    
    
  • Lire. (Online), Ecrivains--Entretiens...avec Maryse Condé: Aimé Césaire: << La culture, c'est tout ce que l'homme a inventé pour rendre le monde vivable et la mort affrontable >>, juin 2004 (Paris)
    
    
  • Radio France International: Aimé Césaire, le << nègre fondamental >>, est mort (le 24 avril 2008): un recueil d'entretiens. (Paris)
    
    
  • RFO.Fr: Aimé Césaire, 1913-2008 (France Télévisions Interactive, Paris)
    
    
  • Le Soleil (Online): "Boubacar Boris Diop: 'Il a été des combats les plus rudes pour la dignité de l'homme noir'" (le 18 avril 2008) (Dakar, Sénégal)
    
    
  • Older sites in English:
    -- Emory University, Department of English: Post Colonial Studies -- Aimé Césaire, author profile (1999) (Atlanta, Georgia)
    -- LiP magazine. (Online): "Poetry & the Political Imagination: Aimé Césaire, Negritude & the Applications of Surrealism" by Prof. Robin D. G. Kelley (2001) (Oakland, California)
    -- Poetry Foundation: Aimé Fernand Césaire--biography and bibliography (Chicago, Illinois)
  
  
• John Henrik Clarke (1915-1998)
  • Cornell University: John Henrik Clarke Africana Library -- Biographical sketch and links by Eric Kofi Acree, Africana Librarian. (Ithaca, New York)
  • John Henrik Clarke Virtual Museum (National Black United Front, Chicago, Illinois)
    
  • Dr. John Henrik Clarke (Runoko Rashidi, AfricaWithin.Com)
    
  
  
• Guide to the Harold Cruse Papers (1943-1994) at New York University (The Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York)
  
  
• Martin R. Delany: To Be More Than Equal, The Many Lives of Martin R. Delany, 1812-1995 (West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia)
  The website includes biographical details, information on the location of some of his writings, and online versions of letters and books such as: The Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States (originally published in 1852).
  
  
• Frederick Douglass:
  • Library of Congress: The Frederick Douglass Papers Manuscript Division. (Washington, DC)
    
    
  • "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" (Online). Originally published in 1845.
    --   Plain text, via gopher (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Ethnic Studies, Historic Documents and Books on the Internet)
    
    
  • "My bondage and my freedom" (Online). Originally published in 1857. (University of Michigan Digital Library Text Collections, "Making of America" Books, Ann Arbor, Michigan)
    
    
  • "My Escape from Slavery" (Online). Created for the Web in 1993; originally published in 1881. (University of Virginia, Electronic Text Center)
  
  
• William Edward Burghardt DuBois (1868-1963)
  • Du Bois Central: Resources on the Life and Legacy of W.E.B. DuBois (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
    
    
  • Howard University Library Subject Guide on W.E.B. DuBois (Washington, DC)
    
    
  • WEBDuBois.Org -- Biographical Web Links -and- Electronic Texts (Prof. Robert W. Williams, Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina)
  
  
• Olaudah Equiano:
  • Equiano Foundation Online
    "The Equiano Foundation aims to provide a valuable educational vehicle through which to resurrect, restore, and celebrate the meaningful contribution of Olaudah Equiano to Western, African, and African American culture..."
  • Excerpts from "Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery" Web Site (PBS Online; WGBH Interactive, WGBH Educational Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts)
    -- Frontispiece of Equiano's autobiography (1789)
    -- A note about Equiano and an excerpt from Chapter 2 of "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African" (1789)
  
  
• The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences (Mitchell C. Brown et al., University of California, Irvine)
  A searchable biographical dictionary of African American men and women in the history of science; some entries contain bibliographies. The site also includes links to other information regarding African American initiatives in the sciences: electronic conferences, data on doctorates, bibliographies, prospects for the future, etc.
  
  
• Federal Writers Project, Works Progress Administration: "Been Here So Long: Selections from the WPA American Slave Narratives" (New Deal Network, Institute for Learning Technologies, Columbia University Teachers College, New York)
  Narratives, lesson plans for teachers, and other online resources.
  
  
• John Hope Franklin (1915-2009)
  • Duke University Libraries: John Hope Franklin Collection of African and African American Documentation
    
    
  • Duke University Remembers John Hope Franklin, January 2, 1915--March 25, 2009
    -- See especially: Bibliography
    
    
  • "John Hope Franklin, a 'Mighty Scholar,' Brought Clarity to Black Struggle in America," by Hazel Trice Edney (March 2009), National Newspaper Publishers Association Editor-in-Chief. BlackPressUSA.com (Baltimore, Maryland)
    
    
  • The New York Public Library: "John Hope Franklin" (April 7, 2009) by Howard Dodson, Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. (New York)
  
  
• William Greaves (1925-), Pioneer Filmmaker (William Greaves Productions, New York)
  --See also: William Greaves Collection, Black Film Center/Archive, Indiana University
  
  
• Errol Gaston Hill (1921-2003) -- Theatre Historian, Director, and Playwright (via Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire)
  • Papers of Errol G. Hill, Dartmouth College Library
  • "An Interview with Errol Hill." (1989) Banyan. (Online) -- Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago: Banyan Ltd., 1989.
  
  
• A Centennial Tribute to Langston Hughes (1920-1967) Howard University Library Subject Guide (Washington, DC)
  
  
• The Internet African American History Challenge (Bright Moments Web Com)
  The source of information: "The 1998 Black Fax Calendar." "The Internet African American History Challenge is an Internet based curriculum enhancement tool for high school Black History education programs. The Internet African American History Challenge consists of test questions based on the lives of important 19th century African Americans."
  
  
• C.L.R. James (1901-1989)
  • C.L.R. James Internet Archive: biography and selected texts (via Marxists Internet Archive)
    See: "C.L.R. James: A Revolutionary Vision for the 20th Century" by Anna Grimshaw (1991)
  • The C.L.R. James Institute
  
  
• Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
  • The King Center: Martin Luther King, Jr. (Atlanta, Georgia)
  • The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project (The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, California)
    • Biography and bibliography of resources
  
  
• Yusef Komunyakaa, 1947-- (via Internet Poetry Archive, University of North Carolina Press and North Carolina Arts Council, Raleigh, North Carolina)
  A biographical sketch of the Princeton University professor and winner of 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. See also: YK cover page with poetry samples.
  
  
• Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000)
  • Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art: Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight Papers (Washington, DC)
  • Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series The Phillips Collection. (Washington, DC)
  
  
• Malcolm X (1925-1965):
  • The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library: Malcolm X: A Search for Truth, May 19-December 31, 2005
    
    
  • Columbia University, Institute for Research in African American Studies: Malcolm X Project (New York)
    The public website with information about and excerpts from a multi-media, instructional project at Columbia University.
    
    
  • Malcolm X: A Research Site -- brothermalcolm.net (Africana Studies Program, University of Toledo, Ohio; Twenty-First Century Books, Chicago, Illinois)
    A frequently updated, extensive compilation of links to documents -- texts and audio files, conference proceedings, research projects, and related material.
    
    
  • Malcolm X: a [short] selected bibliography. By Dorothy Ann Washington (Purdue University, Indiana)
  
  
• Rex Nettleford (1933-2010)
  • The Gleaner. (Online): "Remembering Rex Nettleford, 1933-2010." (February 4, 2010)
  • Radiojamaica.com: "Creative genius gone." (February 3, 2010)
  
  
• George Padmore (1902-1959)
  • CARICOM--Caribbean Community Secretariat: Brief biographical sketch (2008) (Georgetown, Guyana)
    
  • George Padmore Institute (London, UK)
    
  • George Padmore, 1902-1959: biography and selected texts (via Marxists Internet Archive)
    
  • Princeton University Library, Manuscripts Division: George Padmore Collection, 1933-1945 (Princeton, New Jersey)
  
  
• Dorothy Louis Burnett Porter Wesley (1905-1995): Afro-American Librarian and Bibliophile
  • "Dorothy Porter Wesley Collection" at the Broward County Library, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
    
  • Dorothy Porter Wesley: A Selected Bibliography (Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC)
  
  
• Profiles of Contemporary Mathematicians of the African Diaspora (Dr. Scott W. Williams, Department of Mathematics, State University of New York, Buffalo) -- includes African mathematicians on the African continent.
  
  
• Paul Robeson (1898-1976):
  • Biography of Paul Robeson The Paul Robeson Cultural Center, Rutgers University. (New Brunswick, New Jersey)
  • Guide to the Paul Robeson Collection at Rutgers University Libraries (New Brunswick, New Jersey)
  • 1978 Statement by Ambassador Leslie O Harriman (Nigeria) at a special meeting of the U.N. Special Committee against Apartheid to pay tribute to Paul Robeson, April 10, 1978. (via African National Congress, South Africa)
  • "Paul Robeson and Africa" by Alex La Guma (1971) African communist. 46, 3rd quarter 1971. (via African National Congress, South Africa)
    A paper delivered at a symposium, "Paul Robeson and the Afro-American Struggle," held at the Academy of Arts, Berlin, April 13-14, 1971.
  
  
• Walter Rodney (1942-1980)
  • Walter Rodney Bibliography (2003) by Eric Kofi Acree, Africana Librarian, Cornell University. (Ithaca, New York)
  • Walter Rodney: A Biography (1942-1980) (guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com, Georgetown, Guyana)
  
  
• Arthur Alfonso Schomburg:
  • The Schomburg Legacy: Documenting the Global Black Experience for the 21st Century -- Exhibition (The New York Public Library/Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York)
  • "The Negro Digs Up His Past" by Arthur A. Schomburg (1925) Excerpt from: Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro. The Survey Graphic. Harlem Number. Vol. VI ; no. 6 (March 1925) (via The Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia)
  
  
• Tajudeen Abdul Raheem (1961-2009)
  • Justice Africa: In Memoriam: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, 1961-2009 (London, UK)
  • Pambazuka News: "Tajudeen Abdul Raheem: A Giant is Lost on African Liberation Day" (May 25, 2009) (Oxford, UK)
  
  
• Barbara Ann Teer (1937-2008)
  • "Barbara Ann Teer, 71, Dies: Promoted Black Arts" (July 25, 2008) The New York Times. (Online)
  • National Black Theater (New York)
  
  
• The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database--Voyages Database (Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia)
  The site provides free access to selected data on thousands of slave ship voyages; plus scholarly essays and maps. "[The database] is the culmination of several decades of independent and collaborative research by scholars drawing upon data in libraries and archives around the Atlantic world. The Voyages website itself is the product of two years of development by a multi-disciplinary team of historians, librarians, curriculum specialists, cartographers, computer programmers, and web designers, in consultation with scholars of the slave trade..."
  
  
• Sojourner Truth (1797-1883):
  • Sojourner Truth (c.1797--November 26, 1883): Abolitionist, Minister, Ex-Slave, Woman's Rights Activist (Jone Johnson Lewis, Women's History at About.Com)
    
  • A Short Biography, plus virtual bibliography (Lakewood Public Library, Lakewood, Ohio)
  
  
• Harriet Tubman (c1820-1913):
  • Harriet Tubman (c.1820--March 10, 1913) (Jone Johnson Lewis, Women's History at About.Com)
    
  • Artsedge: Lesson Plans for Teachers on "Harriet Tubman" (The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC)
  
  
• Luther Vandross, 1951-2005 (via AOL Music, USA)
  
  
• Philippe E. Wamba (1971-2002):
  • Philippe Wamba APF Reporter. (Online) (Alicia Patterson Foundation, Washington, DC)
    A short obituary for the author of Kinship: a family's journey in Africa and America (1999).
  • Mark Mathabane's review of Kinship in "Books & Reading: Book Reviews", September 26, 1999 (WashingtonPost.Com, Washington, DC)
  
  
• Booker T. Washington's "Up from Slavery" (Online). (Originally published in 1901)
  • American Studies at The University of Virginia: Up from slavery : an autobiography. Plain text, searchable.(Charlottesville, Virginia)
  • Bartleby.Com: Up from slavery: an autobiography. (1901) Plain text, searchable.
  • GoogleBooks: Up from slavery : an autobiography. -- Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page, & Co., 1919.
  
  
• Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931):
  • Women in history biography, including a short article by Wells-Barnett and a sound file of testimony regarding a Georgia lynch law.
  • Text of 1902 anti-lynching letter (Institute of African American Studies, University of Georgia)
  
  
• August Wilson (1945-2005)
  • Howard University Library Subject Guide on "August Wilson, Playwright, 1945-2005" (Washington, DC)
  • National Public Radio: Remembrances--Playwright August Wilson Dies (October 3, 2005); plus related stories. (Washington, DC)
  • Post-Gazette Obituary: "August Wilson, Pittsburgh playwright who chronicled black experience" (October 3, 2005) (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
  
  
• Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950): Founder of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH, Silver Spring, Maryland)
  A very brief biographical sketch, plus useful links to other web pages with more information on the association he founded.