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First published in 1789, this autobiography of Olaudah Equiano comprises a variety of styles, such as a slavery narrative, travel tale, and spiritual journey. It recounts Equiano's time as a slave, and chronicles his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible, and his eventual success in gaining his freedom.

Thoreau gives an account of three canoe and hiking journeys - by himself and with others - through the mostly uninhabited forests of Maine in the 1850s. Identifying birds, trees and plants by their botanical as well as their common names, he also records the Indian names of lakes, rivers and plants. He investigates the connections between waterways and trails, and provides detail on camping, fishing and hunting in the woods, using whatever is at hand. Extolling the beauty of the wilds that he encounters, Thorough’s narrative is also imbued with elements of his philosophy.

The Reverend Joseph Julius Jackson was an African American preacher who published The History of the Black Man in 1921, a book which covers the history of the African people from Ethiopia and Egypt. Rev. Jackson believed that a lack of historical knowledge by the Afro American community about their past and origins has undermined their pride, and that a better knowledge of the contribution of the black man to civilization would ameliorate the situation.

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, a 1912 novel by James Weldon Johnson, is a fictional autobiography which was originally published anonymously. It chronicles the intricacies of racial identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through the life of its biracial narrator. The book portrays his journey through America's color lines, from his attendance of a black college in Florida to an elite New York nightclub, from the rural South to the suburbs of the Northeast, and a visit to Europe. The author employs places, character, and incidents from his own life....

W. E. B. DuBois wrote this essay for The Atlantic Monthly just two years after becoming the first Black man to earn a PhD from Harvard. An author, historian, and civil-rights activist, DuBois helped found the NAACP, wrote or edited 36 books, and published more than 100 articles.

Elihu Root (1845-1937) was a lawyer and statesman who served as the Secretary of State under President Theodore Roosevelt and as Secretary of War under Roosevelt and President William McKinley. He emphasized three qualities of Lincoln’s in this work: sympathy for all his fellow men, a sense of proportion or a sense of humor, and subordination of himself to his cause. Abraham Lincoln was dedicated to preserving the Union and ending slavery.

A Negro Schoolmaster in the New South was first published as an article in Atlantic Magazine in 1899. It is a narrative of Du Bois' experiences as a schoolmaster in a rural black community and of his return to the community for a short visit 10 years later. Du Bois placed the highest value on the education of African Americans.

The Memoir of Pierre Toussaint is Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee's account of the life of Toussaint, who was born a slave in Haiti. He was eventually granted emancipation, and lived in New York. Sawyer Lee, born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, was a popular author of biographies and novels.

Billy Budd, Sailor is a novella by Herman Melville which was left unfinished at the time of his death in 1891. Ecstatically received by critics in 1924 when a hastily transcribed version was published, it soon became second in importance only to Moby Dick among the author’s works. Budd is a sailor who strikes and inadvertently kills John Claggart, the Master-at-arms. The ship's Captain, Edward Vere, is aware of Budd's lack of intent but the law of mutiny requires him to sentence Billy to be hanged.

In this article that appeared in the December 1866 issue of The Atlantic, Frederick Douglass states that no republic is safe that tolerates a privileged class or denies to any of its citizens equal rights and equal means to maintain them. The two main themes are Douglass’ criticism of President Jackson and his urgent call to extend voting rights to African Americans.

In this essay, W. E. B. Du Bois raises questions such as: What is the real meaning of race? And what has, in the past, been the law of race development? He describes the American Negro Academy, which aimed to be the epitome and expression of the intellect of African Americans. He concludes by outlining a proposed creed for the Academy.

DuBois takes on the labor unions in this essay. He confesses that he had always inveighed against color discrimination by employers and by the rich. He knew at the same time in silence that it was practically impossible for any colored man or woman to become a boiler maker, book binder, electrical worker, a plumber or a printer or a textile worker, carpenter, or any of a dozen other important employments, without encountering the determined opposition of the united labor movement.

The Atlanta Compromise is a historic statement on race relations articulated by Booker T. Washington, a leading black educator in the United States. On September 18, 1895, Washington gave a speech at the opening of the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. The speech was the first given by an African-American to a racially-mixed audience in the South. Washington asserted that vocational education was more valuable to than social advantages, higher education, or political office.

My Bondage and My Freedom is Frederick Douglass’s second autobiography, published 10 years after Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Written during his career as a newspaper editor and orator, the book placed Douglass in the international spotlight as a spokesman for American blacks. Examining the meaning of race, slavery and freedom, the book extends the story of his life by providing more detail on his childhood and including his experiences as a traveling lecturer in the United States and Europe.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano was one of the first widely-read slave narratives. Eight editions were printed during the author's lifetime, and it was translated into Dutch and German. The narrative appears in a variety of styles and describes Equiano's time spent in enslavement, documenting his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible, and his eventual success in gaining his own freedom.

Members of the Niagara Movement held the idea that all people, regardless of race, were created equal. Du Bois believed that racial progress in American society would only occur if African-Americans were guaranteed the same political and legal rights as whites. In the Niagara Movement speech, he states: "We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn American, political, civil and social."

Born into slavery, Booker T. Washington became a leading African American intellectual of the 19th century, founding Tuskegee University in 1881 and the National Negro Business League two decades later. He defines the term "industrial education" as learning the necessities to become a valuable member of society and the ability to apply this knowledge to industrial business. Washington explains the emphasis he applies to industrial education by referring to the different educational dispensations in the northern and southern states.

In his letter to President Wilson, W.E.B. DuBois points out that for the first time since the emancipation of slaves the government passes into the hands of the party which a half century before fought desperately to keep slaves as real estate in the eyes of the law. He states that a determination on the part of intelligent and decent Americans to see absolute equality of all citizens before the law, the civil rights of all citizens and absolute impartiality in the granting of the right to vote are the bedrock of a just solution of the rights of man in the USA.

Booker T. Washington's essay "The Awakening of the Negro" was published in the September 1896 issue of The Atlantic. It is a semi-autobiographical essay that sets forth Washington’s vision of uplifting his people. He relates how his work began at Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1881, in a small shanty and church without a dollar’s worth of property. The spirit of work and of industrial thrift, with aid from the state and generosity from the North, enabled them to develop an institution of 800 students from 19 states.

In this work, Du Bois makes a case for the critical role of education, outlining the limiting development of Southern education. He criticises the vision of Booker T. Washington and calls for an education that encourages aspiration, that sets lofty ideals and seeks as an end culture and character.