University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 1906)
This excellent site provides a biography, critical commentary on several poems, examples of Dunbar's illustrated work, images and the text of several poems.
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge: The First Black Female Poet?
This article looks at a ballad, 'Bars Fight,' by 18th century African-American writer Lucy Terry. It considers the literary qualities of a ballad, and its historical role in society. It then goes on to consider why a Black slave might...
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Richard Wright Lesson Plans
What do you know about the life and work of the author Richard Wright? Students and teachers will benefit from the information provided through the links in this resource.
Cengage Learning
Houghton Mifflin: Gwendolyn Brooks, Literary Analysis
Here you will find theme, perspective, form, style, and contrast comparison. Good research material!
Cengage Learning
Houghton Mifflin: Gwendolyn B. Bennett
Although this site is intended for teachers in class preparation, it is information packed and has thought provoking questions at the end.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Africans I, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Four accounts of the complex power relationships between slaves and slave holders within English colonies in Barbados, Virginia and Pennsylvania, as well as documents about slave revolts and anti-slavery agitation.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Enslaved Peoples, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Two Spanish accounts of enslaved Indians in the Caribbean and enslaved Africans in Mexico and statements of the difficulty of maintaining slavery and the lurking threat of a slave revolt.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Slave Trade, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
A West African map and three accounts of the development of slave acquisition display the process and the brutality of the Atlantic slave trade.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Toni Morrison
For teaching the work of Toni Morrison, this site provides lesson plans, activities, and other resources for Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Morrison's other fiction.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Chinua Achebe
Discover the path of Chinua Achebe's life and work through the links found within this resource. This site features links to several to lesson plans and activities for his work.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: James Baldwin Lesson Plans
Learn more about James Baldwin's life and work when you visit this site. Check out this educational resource featuring links to other sites on this author.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: August Wilson
Learn more about the famous playwright August Wilson when you visit this educational site. This site features links to several resources ranging from biographical information to lesson plans.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Toni Cade Bambara
Have your students ever read any of Toni Cade Bambara's work? This site offers links to important resources about her life and work.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Christopher Paul Curtis
Lesson plans, student activites, and biographical resources for the career and works of Christopher Paul Curtis: Bud, not Buddy and The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Sharon M. Draper
Explore the works of the author Sharon M. Draper when you visit this comprehensive site. This online resource if filled with links to specific titles.
Cengage Learning
Studying Francis Ellen Watkins Harper
This Houghton Mifflin site prepared by Elizabeth Ammons is a study site about Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, the 19th century African American author.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Lorraine Hansberry
Have you ever read any of Lorraine Hansberry's work? Use this site featuring links to lesson plans for "A Raisin in the Sun."
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Harper Lee
Learn more about the life and work of Harper Lee when you visit this informative site. This site provides links to activities, vocabulary lessons, newspaper articles and more focused on the book "To Kill A Mockingbird."
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Harriet E. Wilson
Biographical details on Harriet Wilson, one of the first African-Americans to publish a novel in English in the United States.
Other
Database of Award Winning Children's Literature
This is a phenomenal resource. It allows the user to create a reading list of quality children's literature based of choices such as reading level, type of book, genre, ethnicity, gender, etc. In addition, one can determine if a book won...
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: Redefining Family
This site from the Colonial Williamsburg Museum explores the different "families" of colonial Williamsburg. Content includes a focus on each cultural group: white, Native American, and black.
Other
African Postcolonial Literature in English: Achebe's Fiction
A short synopsis on Achebe's use of language to combat politics in Africa. With a quote from his essay "The Novelist as Teacher."
Cengage Learning
Houghton Mifflin College: Sojourner Truth
This site offers an analysis of the work of Sojourner Truth (1797-1883 CE) and explanations as to why much of Truth's work hasn't appeared in conventional American Literature anthologies.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking: What Is the American?
Even colonial America was a melting pot of people from far away. Read about the diversity of the population and why it had an effect on the possibility of rebellion and revolution.