The unique docutext format helps students think critically about history. This winning "two-in-one," text-plus-reader format combines a brief narrative with themed collections of textual and visual documents. From slave captivity narratives to coverage of Hurricane Katrina and from early American portrayals of the black body to images of First Lady Michelle Obama, these collections reveal history as a process of investigation and interpretation and provide instructors with the convenience of a built-in sourcebook.
A fresh synthesis highlights the diversity of African American experience. Building on rich new scholarship in the field, the authors provide a textured story emphasizing distinctions of class, gender, region, culture, and politics. This variety is reflected and reinforced in the documents collections — whose sources range from slave captives and Tuskegee experiment victims to Reconstruction’s first black politicians and prominent civil rights leaders — enabling students to witness firsthand the myriad variations of and nuances within individual and collective black experience.
A broad perspective demonstrates the inextricable link between African American history and the history of the nation. Freedom on My Mind underscores the central role of the African American freedom struggle in the development of American democracy, demonstrating for students how the African American experience illuminates both the complexities of American citizenship and the power that the federal government wields over the lives of ordinary Americans.
A focus on culture reveals its status as a key force in African American history. Incorporating current scholarly trends, Freedom on My Mind emphasizes developments in African American music, literature, art, and especially religion, documenting the interplay between culture, politics, economics, labor, and social life and helping students to see culture as a force that both reflected and played a key role in shaping other developments.
Digital resources save you time and help students learn. Whether you’re interested in presentation materials, free online student quizzing, an array of test questions, more free primary sources — or all of the above — we have a wide variety of resources available in several formats and for downloading into your course management system.