This 4th of July, we are digging into Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the slave is the fourth of July.” And we start by considering Douglass himself. Who better to help us understand than David Blight, the Sterling Professor of History, of African American Studies, and of American Studies and Director of the Gilder Lehrman…

Are you looking for a great book to share with a kid in your life? (Psst—you will love them, too!) Dig into the four finalists for this year’s New-York Historical Society Children’s History Book Prize, a celebration of the best in American history literature for middle-grade readers, ages 9­–12. Throughout the next few weeks, visit us…

Freedom! Tyranny! Slavery! These were words you would have heard all the time in the Revolutionary Era. This Black History Month, let’s think about what it might have felt like as a person of African descent to choose sides in that crucial moment: whether to gamble on a European power promising you freedom or to…

The New-York Historical Society and DiMenna Children’s History Museum celebrate African American history year-round, but we, and most other cultural institutions, pay special homage in February for African American History Month. Why? African American History Month, or Black History Month, started with one man: a historian, author, and teacher named Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950). Dr. Woodson…

Please note: Included below are links to two historical resources that include graphic language and racial slurs. When you visit Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow, two of the first objects you’ll see are books: The First Dixie Reader, used in the South, and The Gospel of Slavery: A Primer of Freedom, used…

Reading into Mockingbird is a series of posts about the historical themes in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the Reading into History Teen Summer’s 2015 read. Through these posts, we will provide historical background to enhance your reading of the book and your participation in our Goodreads discussions and teach-in event at the…

By Rachel Walman How did the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s affect Americans in different parts of the country? That’s the question we’ll tackle this Sunday, March 8 from 2–4pm during our Reading into History family book club meeting. Join us here at the New-York Historical Society with author Rita Williams-Garcia to…