This resource page is designed to provide website visitors, students, scholars, researchers, teachers, and general readers with historically grounded, non‑partisan sources explaining the role of slavery in the origins, conduct, and outcome of the American Civil War. The focus is on primary evidence, respected scholarship, and clear historical interpretation, consistent with the educational mission of the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia.
National Museum of African American History & Culture
Slavery & Freedom 1400–1877
"What to the Slave is the 4th of July?"
Speech by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852 in Rochester, NY
(Read by James Earl Jones)
"Split in Two: The Dred Scott Decision - 1857" Minnesota Historical Society
"Mud Sill Speech" by James Henry Hammond March 4, 1858
"Cotton is King Speech" by James Henry Hammond March 4, 1858
John Brown’s Last Speech - October 16, 1859 (Performed by David Strathairn)
"Corner Stone Speech" by Alexander H. Stephens March 21, 1861
"John Brown's Body" December 16, 1861 - Performed by Jim Knable
"Negroes and the National War Effort"
Speech by Frederick Douglass on July 6, 1863 in Philadelphia, PA
Civil War and Reconstruction Documents - The Founders Library
National Constitution Center
"Civil War and Reconstruction: The Battle for Freedom and Equality" National Constitution Center Exhibit
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson
Confederate Reckoning by Stephanie McCurry
"The Valley of the Shadow - Two Communities in the American Civil War" by New American History
"Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938 - Voices and Faces from the Collection" Library of Congress
Publications of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project
Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad by Andrew K. Diemer
"Slavery and the Civil War" The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History YouTube Lectures
American Battlefield Trust - Selected Articles and Videos on Slavery
Abraham Lincoln Online - Selected Speeches and Writings by Abraham Lincoln
"Come and Join Us Brothers: The Legacy of Camp William Penn"
by Hidden City - Exploring Philadelphia's Urban Landscape
Soldiers and Sailors Database - National Park Service
What This Cruel War Was Over by Chandra Manning
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government by Jefferson Davis
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory by David W. Blight
Questions or comments:
contact@civilwarmuseumphila.org
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