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Listed under:  History  >  World history  >  American history
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Slave decks of the bark Wildfire, 1860

This a black-and white engraving showing emaciated Africans on the slave decks of the ship Wildfire. Women are seen in the background on an upper deck, and in the foreground men and boys are crowded together. The engraving was published in Harper's Weekly on 2 June 1860. It was entitled 'The Africans of the slave bark "Wildfire." ...

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'Migrant mother', 1936

This is one of the most famous photographs of the Great Depression in the USA. It shows Florence Owens Thompson aged 32 huddled together with three of her seven children (the baby is obscured). The family as a whole are described in the Library of Congress catalogue as 'migrant' (ie itinerant) pea pickers in California ...

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Slaves using a cotton gin, 1869

This is a black-and-white illustration captioned 'The first cotton gin'. It shows how the US artist William L Sheppard imagined the scene of the first gin in operation, some 80 years after the actual event. Sheppard depicts two male slaves operating the machine with two white men examining the ginned cotton while female ...

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Police arresting an African American during the Sojourner Truth housing riot, 1942

This is a black-and-white photograph showing an African American being arrested by two policemen in Detroit, Michigan. One mounted policeman looks on and another stands guard. The photograph was taken in February 1942, almost certainly on 28 February, by Arthur Siegel. Part of the photograph's caption reads: 'Riot at the ...

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African American teacher and pupils at a segregated rural school in Oklahoma, 1940

This is a black-and-white photograph showing an African American female teacher with two students in a school in Creek County in the US state of Oklahoma. The photograph was taken by Russell Lee in February 1940. Part of the caption he wrote for the image reads, 'This year, despite the fact the white school received free ...

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'Girl at Gees Bend', 1937

This is a black-and-white photograph of Artelia Bendolph, a member of an African American tenant farming family at Gee's Bend in Alabama, USA. The photograph was taken by Arthur Rothstein. Bendolph is portrayed looking out through an unglazed window. The open window shutter lined with sheets of newspaper is to the left ...

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Treasures of American history - online exhibition

This is an online exhibition showing the objects, artefacts and images that make up some of the treasures of US history. The treasures shown in this exhibition document eight of the challenging situations and issues that have helped to shape the USA. Topics include: revolution and the new nation; slavery; western expansion; ...

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First African American tenants moving into the Sojourner Truth housing project, 1942

This is a black-and-white photograph showing an African American family attempting to move into the Sojourner Truth housing project in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The photograph was taken in February 1942 by Arthur Siegel. Part of its caption reads 'Riot at the Sojourner Truth homes, a new U.S. federal housing project, caused ...

Interactive

In digestion

Follow the passage of food through the human body. Select foods and drinks and decide how to digest them. For example, choose to chew, to add saliva to the mouth or add gastric juices to the stomach. Watch how the body reacts to changes. Find out more about digestion along the way and answer questions.