This collection of materials captures the wide-ranging experiences of African American people over the history of America, from the enslavement and transportation of slaves to North America to the Civil War, the beginning of Reconstruction through the election of Barack Obama as president. Each volume provides a chronology of major events, a historic overview, and sections devoted to domestic, material, economic, intellectual, political, leisure, and religious life of African Americans for the respective time spans. Topics include enslavement, life during the Civil War, common foods, housing, clothing, political opinions, the civil rights movement, court cases, life under Jim Crow, Reconstruction, busing, housing segregation, and more. Includes primary sources with suggested readings from government publications, court testimony, census data, interviews, newspaper accounts, period appropriate letters, Works Progress Administration interviews, sermons, laws, diaries, and reports.