Afrofuturism
Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures
The digital home of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture's 2023-2024 exhibition, which covers more than a century of Afrofuturism’s rich history of expression and investigates its impact and broad influence on American culture.
What Is Afrofuturism?
Smithsonian Magazine talks about the Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures exhibition.
Afrofuturism in the Stacks
An article about the collection of Afrofuturist books at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Thomas J. Watson Library.
Authors & Literature
1619 Project: A New Literary Timeline of African-American History
As part of The 1619 Project, The New York Times asked 16 writers to bring consequential moments in African American history to life. Here are their poems and stories.
Black Heritage Reference Center
The Black Heritage Reference Center of Queens County is located at the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center. It contains approximately 40,000 volumes of material about and related to Black culture.
Carter G. Woodson Reference Collection
Located at Central Library in Jamaica, QPL’s Carter G. Woodson Reference Collection contains over 4,000 volumes covering different aspects of African American culture and life.
Charmaine Wilkerson: Black Cake Author Talk (YouTube)
This QPL Black History Month program was recorded live at South Jamaica Library on February 20, 2024.
African American Literature: A Timeline (Cultural Front)
Created by Kenton Rambsy, Associate Professor of African American Literature and Digital Humanities at Howard University, and Howard Rambsy II, Distinguished Research Professor of Literature at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
The Black Arts Movement
A timeline created by the Washington University in St. Louis University Libraries.
Givens Collection of African American Literature (University of Minnesota)
The Archie Givens, Sr. Collection of African American Literature consists of over 10,000 books, magazines, and pamphlets by or about African Americans.
Princeton University African American Studies
Browse primary and selected secondary sources for research in African American Studies at Princeton University.
Southern Connecticut State University’s African American Literature Resources
A guide containing books, periodicals and databases in Buley Library, as well as websites on African American Literature.
Computer Science and Engineering
Black Data Processing Associates
BDPA is an international organization with a diverse membership of professionals and students at all levels in information technology, computer science, and related STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields.
Influential Black Computer Scientists
Learn about leaders in the field of computer science, including educators, computer scientists, rock scientists, computer engineers, and more.
National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
Founded in 1975, NSBE supports and promotes the aspirations of collegiate and pre-collegiate students and technical professionals in engineering and technology.
Fashion & Design
Design @ NMAAHC
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) collects and exhibits in the areas of decorative arts, craft, and design.
A Heritage of Design
NMAAHC’s design collections encompass graphic design, furniture design, fashion design, and architectural design, among other fields.
Fashion Icon Jay Jaxon's Celebratory Exhibition Event, August 10, 2019 (YouTube)
Queens Public Library hosted this exhibition of Jaxon’s work, curated by fashion designer and historian Rachel A. Fenderson.
Mo’s Bows
Teen entrepreneur Moziah "Mo" Bridges has sold more than $700,000 worth of bow ties and men’s accessories. His mission is "to make you look and feel your most stylish and confident by adding a bit of elegant whimsy to your wardrobe."
Dapper Dan of Harlem
The official website of the Harlem fashion icon.
Film
Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971
The digital home of the Academy Museum’s landmark 2022 exhibition, which explored the rich history of Black participation in American cinema, from its beginnings to just beyond the Civil Rights Movement.
A new exhibit in LA explores the complicated history of Black Cinema
This NPR article talks about the Regeneration exhibition.
Looking (and Looking Again) at Black Film History (Library of Congress)
A guest blog post by Allyson Nadia Field, Associate Professor of Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Chicago, and Cara Caddoo, Associate Professor of Cinema & Media Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington.
History and Geography
5 Books About Black Food History You Should Read (Eat This Not That)
These five books explore the evolution of African American cuisine.
The African American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture
Covering the nearly 500 years of the Black experience in the Western hemisphere, the Mosaic surveys the full range, size, and variety of the Library of Congress's collections, including books, periodicals, prints, photographs, music, film, and recorded sound.
Historicizing Black Resistance in the U.S.
This webpage by the American Social History Project includes discussion questions, primary sources and more.
Association for the Study of African American Life and History
Established on September 9, 1915 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History founded Black History Month. ASALH’s mission is to create and disseminate knowledge about Black History, to be, in short, the nexus between the Ivory Tower and the global public.
Interview with Dr. Betty Carrington, Pioneering African American Nurse-Midwife (YouTube)
This QPL Black History Month program aired live on February 2, 2022.
Black History Matters to Everyone
This Guardian article, written by Lonnie Bunch, the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, explains why Black history matters to everyone and is a crucial part of our nations’ story.
Black History Milestones: Timeline
A comprehensive African American history timeline from the History Channel.
Black Past
This comprehensive African American history timeline from BlackPast.org includes bibliographies, the full text of major speeches given between 1789 and the present day, and primary documents like court decisions, government reports, executive orders, and laws, all of which help describe the African American past.
International African American Museum’s Center for Family History
The Center for Family History supports IAAM’s goal of becoming a unique center of learning through the development of resources and programs to help individuals and families advance their understanding of their family’s history and the role their ancestors played in shaping American history.
Music and African Americans in the Revolutionary War (YouTube)
AARP Virginia's Tuesday Explorers examines the role of music and of African American fifers and drummers during the American Revolution.
Project 1619
Project 1619 is a nonprofit organization that is credited for starting the 1619 Movement. For the past twenty-five-plus years, members of Project 1619 have been the catalyst for changing the narrative about the landing of the first enslaved Africans to arrive in the Virginia colony at Point Comfort, today's Fort Monroe, in Hampton, VA.
Whitney Plantation
Whitney Plantation educates the public about the history and legacies of slavery in the United States.
Language
African American Vernacular English (Ebonics)
This page includes information on the background, vocabulary, sounds, grammar, history, attitudes, and use of African American Vernacular English.
Black Linguistic Justice
The #BlackLanguageSyllabus’s mission is to celebrate the beauty of Blackness and Black Language, fight for Black Linguistic Justice, and provide critical intellectual resources that promote the collective study of Black Language.
The Oxford Dictionary of African American English
Learn about this landmark research project to compile and document the lexicon of African American English in a dictionary based on historical principles.
Tutnese
Learn about this secret reading method created by enslaved Black individuals.
Tutnese: The Lost Language of the Enslaved
Understand more about this language, which developed around 250 years ago by enslaved people to communicate secretively with one another.
What Is Tutnese? (YouTube)
An informative video on the Tutnese language used by enslaved people.
A Dying Language Of Enslaved Africans Lives On At Harvard (NPR)
The Gullah Geechee language is spoken by descendants of enslaved Africans who were brought to the coastal South. Now, the language is being taught at Harvard University.
Performing Arts
Carnival Festival Arts: From Africa to the Americas (YouTube)
This QPL Black History Month panel discussion aired live on February 15, 2024.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: 50 Years Cultural Ambassador to the World: Online Exhibition
Information about the iconic choreographer Alvin Ailey.
Louis Armstrong House Museum
The Louis Armstrong House Museum—based in Armstrong’s home on 107th Street in Corona, Queens—sustains and promotes the cultural, historical, and humanitarian legacy of Louis Armstrong. The Louis Armstrong Center, which is home to a performance space and a permanent 60,000-item archive, opened across the street from the Museum in 2023.
National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM)
NMAAM is the only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the many music genres created, influenced, and inspired by African Americans.
Museum of African American Dance (MAAD)
MAAD conserves, explores, interprets, exhibits, and promotes African and African American dance in the African Diaspora for current and future generations.
Universal Hip Hop Museum
The Universal Hip Hop Museum's mission is to celebrate and preserve the history of local and global hip hop music and culture.
QPL Hip Hop Programs
Our Hip Hop Programs at Queens Public Library recognize and promote the artistic evolution and growth of the hip hop community.
Musical Life at HBCUs
An exploration of the musical legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.
Timeline of African American Music
Carnegie Hall’s interactive website presents the remarkable diversity of African American music, revealing the unique characteristics of each genre and style, from the earliest folk traditions to present-day popular music.
Philosophy and Psychology
8 Black Psychologists Who Made History
A resource highlighting Black psychologists who have made the field of psychology what it is today.
Association of Black Psychologists
The Association of Black Psychologists was founded in San Francisco in 1968 to actively address the serious problems facing Black psychologists and the larger Black community.
Influential Black Philosophers
A list of influential Black philosophers who are giants in the field of philosophy, academia, and activism.
Religion
The Black Church (PBS)
An exploration of the history of Black churches throughout the U.S.
Pew Research Center
A brief overview of Black religious history in the U.S.
Science & Technology
10 Black Americans Who Made Extraordinary Contributions to Space Exploration
Learn more about these Black pioneers in space exploration.
28 of the Most Influential Black Innovators in Tech and Science
From the creator of the GIF to the Hidden Figures at NASA, the contributions of Black innovators can be seen everywhere. Check out this list of some of the most influential Black innovators throughout the history of science and tech.
Famous Black Inventors
From colonial times through today, Famous Black Inventors presents an introduction to just a few of the many modern-day African American inventors who have contributed to the advancement of medicine, physics, industrialization, and more throughout American history.
Lewis Latimer House Museum
Located in Flushing, Queens, the Lewis Latimer House Museum is dedicated to preserving and promoting Latimer’s legacy, and the legacy of other innovators of color who made extraordinary contributions to technology and American life.
List of African-American inventors and scientists
Visit this Wikipedia compilation.
SciGirls Stories: Black Women in STEM (PBS)
Meet five Black women scientists who are innovators, problem-solvers, and STEM superstars who honor their racial identity and cultures.
Black Twitter Remains Unbothered in Elon Musk's X (Wired Magazine)
Many Black users who stayed amid the chaos and change on the platform have found a renewed sense of what originally fascinated them: the mundanity in connection.
Social Sciences
The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship
An exploration of Black America's quest for equity from the early national period through the twentieth century.
Did Enslaved African Americans Rebel?
Learn about enslaved Africans’ numerous and varied rebellions.
Resistance and Abolition: Library of Congress
Learn about how American slavery, though it was the law of the land for more than 300 years, was challenged and resisted every day by its victims, by its survivors, and by those who found it morally unacceptable.
Visual Arts
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture
The National Museum of African American History & Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture.
Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem is the nexus for artists of African descent locally, nationally, and internationally, and for work that has been inspired and influenced by Black culture.
The African American Heritage Museum of Southern, New Jersey: An Interactive Atlantic City Archive
Watch this YouTube video from WHYY Philadelphia.
International African American Museum (IAAM)
IAAM tells the unvarnished stories of the African American experience across generations—the trauma and triumph that gave rise to a resilient people.
A walk through the new International African American Museum in Charleston
Watch this YouTube video from WCNC Charlotte.
National Gallery of Art
Explore a selection of works by African American artists included in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
List of Museums Focused on African Americans
Visit this Wikipedia compilation.
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