Pictures are worth more than a thousand words! Consider DeeDee Baldwin’s website. “Against All Odds (AAO)” is the project I chose. DeeDeee Baldwin’s website has pictures painstaking collected and presented on the Home page; they are verifiable primary sources. We learn above 150 African Americans served in the Mississippi State Legislature to say the least. Details are important. As the project director, Dr. Baldwin started the project in 2018 as a digital archive for the sake of reparations. The 1863 years of Reconstruction are covered to the 1890s. There are nicely located links: Home, The Legislators, Sources, Miscellaneous, Contact/Info. Although initially at the bottom of the page, click one link; then all appear neatly above near the task bar.
Against All Odds: The First Black Legislators in Mississippi brings to mind another momentous work. But in that case a book. I speak of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’ well documented The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade. This is what Dr. Baldwin said about the African Americans he wrote about. “They were farmers, teachers, ministers, and blacksmiths. Some were born free in the North, while others were born enslaved in Mississippi. Some were highly educated, and others had been forbidden by law to be taught to read.” Viewers can see some of everything. Portraits (many retrieved). Newspaper clippings. Biographical information. Census records. Maps. Citizenship verification. DeeDee Baldwin portrays elegance.