This collection is under development by an ASCCC OERI discipline lead. The curated list provided here is intended to facilitate faculty selection of an OER text in lieu of a commercial text. If you are aware of additional resources that should be included, please contact us via our general OER e-mail. Resources with a C-ID designation are listed numerically by C-ID number and followed by a collection of OER by course title when there is no C-ID to reference.
Using an openly licensed resource that is missing from the list below? If so, please let us know.
OER by C-ID
Introduction to African American Studies (C-ID AFS 100)
- Introduction to African American Studies: An Anthology of Essays on Radical Black Thought, Intellect, and Culture (Jimenez, Mahnzili, Monroy, Phillips, and Wilkins, ASCCC OERI) (CC BY-NC)
Introduction to African American Studies is a groundbreaking Open Educational Resource (OER) that provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary exploration of Black Studies. Drawing from Africana Studies, Black Feminism/Womanism, Black Psychology, and Cultural Studies, this anthology amplifies the voices of activists, scholars, artists, and clinicians working to challenge anti-Blackness and reclaim the intellectual traditions of Afrikan American communities. By centering Black life and knowledge, this collection examines abolitionist thought, cultural memory, and the transformative power of Black intellectual traditions. It addresses historical erasure, systemic oppression, and the ongoing struggle for justice, providing students with a critical foundation in the discipline. As the first freely available OER of its kind, this text ensures equitable access to Black Studies at a time when such scholarship is increasingly under attack. Engaging, thought-provoking, and deeply rooted in social justice, Introduction to African American Studies is an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand and contribute to the discourse on Black radical thought, intellect, and culture.
African American History of the U.S. to Reconstruction (C-ID AFS 140)
- African American History (Lumen) in LibreTexts (Licenses vary.)
This resource provides historical material that offers context for African American experiences, ranging from African heritage to the days following the end of legalized chattel slavery in the United States in the Reconstruction era.
African American History of the U.S. since Reconstruction (C-ID AFS 141)
- Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience (Joshua Farrington et al., 2019)
Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience (Joshua Farrington et al., 2019) in LibreTexts (CC BY-NC)
This text gives instructors, students, and general readers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of African Americans’ cultural and political history, economic development, artistic expressiveness, and religious and philosophical worldviews in a critical framework.
Course Resources
- Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies (DeGraff, MIT Open Courseware, 2017) (CC BY-NC-SA) This open-access course provides an introduction to Black Studies, and it includes sample assignments, presentation assignments with examples, lecture videos, and instructor insights. Note that some of the images and sources used within the courses are noted as copyrighted materials.
- African American History: From Emancipation to the Present (Holloway, Open Yale Courses, 2010) (CC BY-NA-SA)The purpose of this course is to examine the African American experience in the United States from 1863 to the present (2010). Prominent themes include the end of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction, African Americans’ urbanization experiences, and the development of the modern civil rights movement and its aftermath. This open course includes assignments and a reading list that could be adapted for different classroom contexts and updated with more recent material.
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