Finding Black History Year Round on the Web

February is Black History month and the Internet is one place the event is celebrated.

First started in the beginning of the 20th century by an African-American historian, the observance of this occasion has helped emphasized the accomplishment of blacks in American history.

Civil Right Site Gets Overhaul Washington, D.C.-- A revamped CivilRights.org website was launched in late January through the joint effforts of the the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and the Leadership Conference Education Fund (LCEF). Civilrights.org promises to be as important an organizing tool in this new century as protests and marches were in the last century by helping to ensure all segments of society participate fully in the Internet’s new and rapidly changing technology, said Wade Henderson, LCCR, Executive Director. The re-vamped civilrights.org site includes several directories of information that educate about civil and human rights issues. Among the added features are: • Gateway to the civil rights community: links and information about the over 180 national organizations that comprise the LCCR coalition. • This Week in Civil Rights Newsletter: a weekly summary of civil and human rights activities at the national level. • Civil Rights Legislative Center: A directory of congressional background information to monitor the status of civil rights legislation. • Hate Crimes Prevention Center: to help combat the growing use of the Internet to espouse "hate" messages. • Promising Programs Database: A dynamic database of organizations and programs working to improve intergroup relations. • Anti-Bias Educational Tools for Parents and Teachers -- Public Service Announcements and educational materials http://www.civilrights.org

Now courtesy of the Internet and its many African-American resources, one can easily access black-history archives and current events not only during February but throughout the year.

The single best starting point for Black History month is the Library of Congress exhibit, entitled The African-American Mosaic, A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture.

This well-crafted Web resource offers an informative and moving history lesson that looks at the full range of Black experience in the Americas.

Covering the nearly 500 years of the black experience in the Western hemisphere, the Mosaic surveys the full range size, and variety of the Library’s collections, including books, periodicals, prints, photographs, music, film, and recorded sound, the Mosaic homepage declares.
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html

Also, an allied exhibition at the Library of Congress should not go without mention The African-American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aointro.html

The Martin Luther King Project at Stanford University has created an excellent website which boast a comprehensive collection of the writings and speeches of the world-famous, slain civil-rights leader. Also included in this comprehensive site is biographical information about Dr. King, and reference sources to further information.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/

Another top starting point for Black History month is the Universal Black Pages, a Yahoo!-like directory that list thousands of relevant websites. There are a wealth of black-oriented websites that can be found through the UPB site that cover everything from history to black business, art, music, literature, athletics and news.

Started as a student project at Georgia Tech, this directory has grown markedly. Whatever black resource which you might be looking for historical or otherwise you can probably find it through the Universal Black Pages.
http://www.upb.com

For things black in general there is no better website, than NetNoir.Com which is a truly marvelous website that serves as one of top portals for the black experience, with the avowed purpose of providing the spot for the No. 1 black interactive online community in the world.
http://www.netnoir.com

Other websites to Visit in connection with Black History Month:

Afro-American Black History Museum (Nation’s oldest black newspaper)
http://www.afroam.org/history/history.html

Encyclopedia Britannica’s Guide to Black History
http://blackhistory.eb.com

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
http://www.naacp.org

W.E.B Du Bois Institute
http://web-dubois.fas.harvard.edu