Tag Archives: archive

Colonization

Colonization is the process by which one power dominates another. This can be the way a more powerful country takes control of another, but it’s also the way one culture seeks to control another by usurping the established cultural civilization of another. This has happened time and again since human beings migrated out of Africa — as they defeated tribes and gained territories, as they morphed languages and destroyed religions, they also changed their own culture. Societies have evolved by snuffing out the weaker cultures, and taking control of their languages, their rituals, the details of their social structures that made the conquered culture unique....

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Black Abolitionist Archive , , , , , , , , Updated: February 17, 2016

“Keep Cool”

The United States v. Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad, tried before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841, was made famous in the film Amistad in 1997. The National Archives site gives readers more information on the history of this case and the remarkable events that led to it:

“In February of 1839, Portuguese slave hunters abducted a large group of Africans from Sierra Leone and shipped them to Havana, Cuba, a center for the slave trade. This abduction violated all of the treaties then in existence. Fifty-three Africans were purchased by two Spanish planters and put aboard the Cuban schooner Amistad for shipment to a Caribbean plantation. On July 1, 1839, the Africans seized the ship, killed the captain and the cook, and ordered the planters to sail to Africa. On August 24, 1839, the Amistad was seized off Long Island, NY, by the U.S. brig Washington. The planters were freed and the Africans were imprisoned in New Haven, CT, on charges of murder.”...

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Black Abolitionist Archive , , , , , , Updated: February 27, 2016

Salutatory from Mr. Bell

As part of Black History month, the focus of this week’s blog post is on journalist and abolitionist, Philip Alexander Bell (1808-1889). According to Blackpast.org (described on the site as an Online Reference Guide to African American History), we learn that Philip A. Bell was born in New York City and involved in early abolitionist politics in the Northeast. He “… attended Colored Citizens Conventions as early as 1830 and established his first newspaper, the Weekly Advocate, in 1837 after working for William Lloyd Garrison’s Liberator.”...

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Black Abolitionist Archive , , , , , , , Updated: January 6, 2016

“The Merry Christmas Time”

Christmas celebrations in the late 1800s weren’t anything like they are today. The focus was on church activities, caroling, and the warm gathering of family and friends. Gifts were secondary to the celebration of this holy season, and giving was more about caring than buying expensive presents. For those whose very existence depended on the kindness of strangers, support from charity and provisions for the poor were appreciated more than ever to help them through the harsh winters and desperate times....

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Black Abolitionist Archive , , , , , , , , , Updated: December 23, 2015

Print Theses Bibliography Now Available

This month, we introduce a new section of our Special Collections page where users can easily locate the call numbers and location of any of these print theses by searching through an easy to use digital bibliography of these print theses. Searches can be made by author, degree, program, year, or title. It’s really worth a look, even if you aren’t doing research....

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Thesis Collections , , , , , Updated: December 3, 2015

The Varsity News

January 1, 1918, the first publication of the Varsity News appeared on the campus of Detroit College. From the first issue to today (for almost 100 years), the Varsity News has been a very important part of campus life. It keeps students informed and connected; it offers a bridge between students and faculty activities; and it continues a tradition of providing news to the university community that may not be found any other way....

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Varsity News Collection , , , Updated: October 20, 2015

“Where is Charles O’Conor?”

The U.S. Civil War officially began in the early months of 1861. Rumblings of war and early warning signs were very apparent in the months and years preceding this official date, however. Members of the free black population were already taking steps during this time to sabotage what they called the “slavocracy” as an economic institution. And they were doing a great job of it. Slowly but surely each patient step toward disruption through “agitation” (as they called it), legal wranglings, and speaking engagements was making an impact....

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Black Abolitionist Archive , , , , , , , , , Updated: October 7, 2015

Introducing the University of Detroit Chorus Collection

The UDM Libraries/Instructional Design Studio is pleased to announce the addition of the University of Detroit Chorus Collection to our digital archives. Materials from the collection of former Chorus member, Gerald Gruska (1959-1963) are now available in digital format dedicated to the legacy of the University of Detroit Chorus and Choral Society/Club. The archive spans the early years of the Chorus from 1949 to 1970, and focuses on Chorus Directors George McLeod and Don Large. Additional material will be added as it becomes available....

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University of Detroit Chorus Collection , , , , , , , Updated: October 29, 2015

The Library

These days the library has become more of a center for learning, sharing, and community than a warehouse of books. In its early days, however, students and faculty who used the library were regarded as “customers” who checked out books in a very formal fashion. They looked up the call numbers printed on cards maintained using the Dewey Decimal System, and a technician or librarian would retrieve the books for them through a system of call boxes and “dumb waiters.” It was very formal, very procedure oriented, and very tedious for all concerned....

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University of Detroit Tower Yearbook Collection , , , , , , , Updated: September 29, 2015
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