Oxford University Press recently announced the latest update to Oxford African American Studies Center. Updates include:
PRIMARY SOURCES ON RELIGION, PLUS THE ORIGINS OF POPULAR DANCE 25 new primary documents with accompanying commentary highlighting religion. These fascinating documents include narratives by missionaries, sermons, and statements from abolitionist preachers. Among other exciting additions is The Code Noir, an ordinance from 1724 governing the treatment of slaves in the French colony of Louisiana. Please see below for the full list of newly added primary source documents. The new Focus On feature for this update offers a brief introduction to the African American origins of popular dance forms including the Charleston, which was brought to South Carolina from the west-central African Kingdom of Kongo in the mid-18th century.
100 EXCLUSIVE, ONLINE-ONLY BIOGRAPHIES This Black History Month update also includes 100 new online-only biographies from the African American National Biography project. Among the new biographies are more than half a dozen Motown icons such as legendary bassist James Jamerson and writer-producer Harvey Fuqua. Other notable additions include fim critics Armond White and Elvis Mitchell, openly gay Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh, journalists Gwen Ifill and Leon Dash, and the first (and only) Muslim U.S. Congressman, Keith Ellison.
THE ROONEY RULE, BLACK POWER, AND CIVIL RIGHTS In a guest editorial, Dr. N. Jeremi Duru, Associate Professor of Law at Temple University, discusses the impact of the National Football League's effort to create an even playing field for minority coaching candidates through use of the so-called "Rooney Rule." Dr. Duru is the author of the recently published Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL (Oxford University Press, 2011).
As part of the site's expanding program of lesson plans, the editors have added two new lesson plans by Ashley Farmer and Cameron Van Patterson of Harvard University and Janet H. Mason of the University of South Carolina discussing the Black Power Movement and Civil Rights protest strategies, respectively. If you are interested in contributing your own lesson plan, we invite you to email the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center.