On July 5, 1852, eminent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a brilliant speech that was a powerful indictment of American slavery and racism. Read the speech as printed within days in his own newspaper.
In honor of Juneteenth, we highlight our Headlines and Heroes blogs focusing on African American history and culture, ranging from a look at fugitive slave ads to our acquisition of a rare comic book series, Negro Romance.
Harriet Tubman escaped slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore in 1849. She then returned there multiple times, risking her life to bring others to freedom as a renowned conductor on the Underground Railroad.
As April's National Poetry Month ends, here's your chance to read compelling poetry found in the millions of pages in our online historical newspaper collections.
Tom Ewing, professor of history at Virginia Tech, focuses on epidemics as covered in late 19th and early 20th century newspapers that are digitized in the Chronicling America online collection.
Have you tried searching our new online collection: Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847-1874? We've just added some additional issues of The North Star and Frederick Douglass' Paper, all digitized from original paper format.
Events in Rosa Parks' life are chronicled in newspapers and comic books and reinforce her well-justified iconic status. At times, though, their simplified coverage perpetuates the myth of Parks as the quiet seamstress who was too tired to stand to give up her seat.
See hundreds of issues of newspapers edited by African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, one of the most significant writers and orators of the 19th century, on the Library of Congress website.
Wally Wallgren and C. LeRoy Baldridge, the two-person art department of the WWI era military newspaper, The Stars and Stripes, created cartoons that took the paper's motto to heart: "By and For the Soldiers of the A. E. F."