Black Quotidian: A Digital Humanities Approach to Teaching African American History

Abstract

Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African-American Newspapers [blackquotidian.com] is a digital humanities project designed to highlight moments from ordinary lives in African American history. Each day I post at least one Black newspaper article from that date in history, accompanied by a brief commentary. Taking the ordinary aspects of African American history seriously means recognizing the richness and diversity of Black lives, cultures, and communities. I continue to be surprised by the amazing stories that live in the archives of Black newspapers. Black Quotidian brings several hundred of these stories to web audiences, and, in the process, the project is changing how I think about, write about, and teach African American history.