Twenty African Americans Who Changed History

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15

Lessons
32

Exams &
Assignments
3

Hours
average time
0.3

CEUs

Course Description

America was a vast wilderness when the first Africans arrived as a source of labor. As ever-greater numbers of African people were brought into the colonies, first as servants and then as enslaved men and women, the colonies were able to grow and flourish precisely because of their labor. Great numbers of unwilling workers were required, and these workers owned nothing, not even the clothes on their backs or the fruits of their labor.

This course examines the circumstances into which these African Americans were brought or born, and the obstacles they faced. It will begin with Francisco Menendez, who owned not even his own name, and go on to James Amistead, without whom British rule of the colonies might not have ended when it did. We'll look at the lives of those who documented, in painful detail, the horrors of slavery, such as Harriet Jacobs and William Wells Brown; we'll look at those who transcended their own status as slaves to attend and even found institutions of higher learning, such as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois.

And we'll examine the Civil Rights Movement from its beginnings, through the eyes of visionaries such as Lucy Craft Laney and Mary McLeod Bethune, women who understood the necessity of education as a way for oppressed people to rise above their circumstances. We'll see American life through the eyes of men and women like Thurgood Marshall and Daisy Lee Gatson, who fought and ended school segregation, and people like Medgar Evers, who died for the cause.

The twenty men and women included in this course knew firsthand the wrongs that had to be set right, and they dedicated their lives to creating a better America, not only for themselves, but for those who would come after them.

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Course Lessons

Average Lesson Rating:

"Extraordinarily Helpful"

(151 votes)

Lesson 1. In a Harsh Land

America at its beginning, was a vast wilderness, that was seen as a promising source of income for those who settled it, primarily the Spanish, who settled in Florida. 40 Total Points

Review Article: African-American History
Take Poll: Course
Take Survey: Reasons for Taking this Course
Complete Assignment: An Introduction
Complete: Lesson 1 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 1 - In a Harsh Land

Lesson 2. Francisco Menendez and James Armistead. The Mose Militia and the Battle of Yorktown

The American colonies continued to grow, and when the English established Charles Town in 1670, in what is now South Carolina, the slave trade also expanded rapidly. 35 Total Points

Review Article: James Armistead
Complete: Lesson 2 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 2 - Francisco Menendez and James Armistead: The Mose Militia and the Battle of Yorktown

Lesson 3. Benjamin Banneker. Speaking Truth to Power

Benjamin Banneker, born in 1731, descended from both enslaved Africans and an English woman who had been indentured to a tobacco farmer. 35 Total Points

Review Article: Benjamin Banneker
Complete: Lesson 3 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 3 - Benjamin Banneker: Speaking Truth to Power

Lesson 4. Harriet Jacobs and William Wells Brown. The Slave Narrative from Two Perspectives

In America during the long years of slavery, learning to read and write was dangerous for not only enslaved people, but also for any person who tried to teach them. 35 Total Points

Review Article: Harriet Jacobs
Complete: Lesson 4 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 4 - Harriet Jacobs and William Wells Brown: The Slave Narrative from Two Perspectives

Lesson 5. Frederick Douglass. Truth Is of No Color

Frederick Douglass was born in Maryland in 1818, his mother an enslaved black woman, his father a white man rumored to be his master. 34 Total Points

Review 2 Articles: Frederick Douglass; Frederick Douglass Papers
Complete: Lesson 5 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 5 - Frederick Douglass: Truth Is of No Color

Lesson 6. George Washington Carver. Economic Stability through Botany

George Washington Carver was born into slavery during the Civil War, most likely in 1864, to a couple in Missouri owned by a man named Moses Carver. 34 Total Points

Review Article: George Washington Carver
Complete: Lesson 6 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 6 - George Washington Carver: Economic Stability Through Botany

Lesson 7. Lugenia Burns Hope and Ida B. Wells. The Beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement

The end of the Civil War, which brought freedom for slaves in the South, was a time of great promise for African Americans. 35 Total Points

Review Article: Ida B. Wells
Complete: Lesson 7 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 7 - Lugenia Burns Hope and Ida B. Wells: The Beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement

Lesson 8. Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois. from Conciliation to Rejection

Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in Virginia in 1856, the son of a black woman and a white man who may have lived at a nearby plantation. 35 Total Points

Review 2 Articles: Booker T. Washington; W.E.B. Du Bois
Review Video: Booker T. Washington Video
Take Poll: African American History
Complete: Lesson 8 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 8 - Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois: From Conciliation to Rejection

Lesson 9. Lucy Craft Laney and Mary McLeod Bethune. Paving the Way for "The Educated Negro"

When the end of the Civil War brought freedom for nearly four million slaves in the South, freed slaves suddenly found themselves with no means of support. 35 Total Points

Review 2 Articles: Lucy Craft Laney; Mary McCloud Bethune
Complete: Lesson 9 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 9 - Lucy Craft Laney and Mary McLeod Bethune: Paving the Way for 'The Educated Negro'

Lesson 10. Thurgood Marshall and Daisy Lee Gatson. The Battle for Integrated Schools

Born in Maryland in 1908, Thurgood Marshall was the grandson of a slave. 35 Total Points

Review 2 Articles: Daisy Lee Gatson Bates; Thurgood Marshall
Complete: Lesson 10 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 10 - Thurgood Marshall and Daisy Lee Gatson: The Battle for Integrated Schools

Lesson 11. Medgar Evers. One Martyr to the Cause

Evers was born in 1925 in Decatur, Mississippi, and he was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1943. 35 Total Points

Review 2 Articles: Medgar Evers; The Legacy of Medgar Evers
Complete: Lesson 11 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 11 - Medgar Evers: One Martyr to the Cause

Lesson 12. Septima Clark and Carter Woodson. The Queen Mother and the Father of Black History

Because there were no public high schools that would accept black students, her parents worked hard to afford the $1.50 a month for tuition at Avery, and Clark graduated in 1916. 35 Total Points

Review Article: Carter G. Woodson
Complete: Lesson 12 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 12 - Septima Clark and Carter Woodson: The Queen Mother and the Father of Black History

Lesson 13. Mabel Keaton Staupers and Alvin Poussaint. Toward Equality in Medicine

Years later, with a growing black population in and around the city, more black nurses were needed to care for black patients, as hospitals were strictly segregated. 35 Total Points

Review 2 Articles: Alvin Poussaint; Mabel Keaton Staupers
Complete: Lesson 13 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 13 - Mabel Keaton Staupers and Alvin Poussaint: Toward Equality in Medicine

Lesson 14. Shirley Chisholm: Unbought and Unbossed

Shirley Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1924. When she was three, she was sent to live with her grandmother in Barbados, where she received her early education. 35 Total Points

Review Article: Shirley Chisholm
Complete: Lesson 14 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 14 - Shirley Chisholm: Unbought and Unbossed

Lesson 15. Conclusion. From the Depths to the Heights

The majority of African Americans owe their very existence to African people who did not come to this country voluntarily. 84 Total Points

Review 2 Articles: African American Scientists; Famous African Americans
Take Poll: Influential African Americans
Take Survey: Program Evaluation Follow-up Survey (End of Course)
Complete: Lesson 15 Assignment
Complete Exam: Lesson 15 - Conclusion: From the Depths to the Heights
Complete: The Final Exam

577

Total Course Points

Learning Outcomes

By successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

Summarize the contributions of Francisco Menendez and James Armistead.
Summarize the contributions of Benjamin Banneker, Harriet Jacobs and William Wells Brown.
Summarize the contributions of Frederick Douglass and George Washing Carver.
George Washington Carver
Summarize the contributions of Lugenia Burns Hope and Ida B. Wells
Summarize the contributions of Booker T. Washington.
Summarize the contributions of Lucy Craft Laney and Mary McLeod Bethune.
Summarize the contributions of Thurgood Marshall and Daisy Lee Gatson.
Summarize the contributions of The Queen Mother and the Father of Black History, and
Demonstrate mastery of lesson content at levels of 70% or higher.

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