Includes bibliographical references and index

African origins : beginnings to ca. 1600 C.E. -- From Africa to America, 1441-1808 -- Slavery in North America, 1619-1740 -- African Americans in the age of Revolution , 1741-1783 -- Slavery and freedom in the new republic, 1775-1820 -- Black life in the slave South, 1820-1860 -- The northern Black freedom struggle and the coming of the Civil War, 1830-1860 -- Freedom rising : the Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Reconstruction : the making and umaking of a revolution, 1865-1877 -- Black life and culture during the nadir, 1877-1915 -- The new Negro comes of age, 1915-1930 -- Catastrophe, recovery, and renewal, 1930-1942 -- Fighting for a double victory in the World War II era, 1938-1950 -- The early civil rights movement, 1945-1963 -- Multiple meanings of freedom : the movement broadens, 1961-1976 -- Racial progress in an age of backlash and change, 1965-2000 -- African Americans in the 21st century