LibGuides: Black Studies: Resources

United States

Silent Protest Parade on Fifth Avenue, New York City, July 28, 1917 in response to the East St. Louis Race Riot. Retrieved from NYPL.

Not all of these resources will be solely dedicated to Black History, but all of them include collections that will pertain to Black Studies. Be sure to read the description (by hovering over the "i") to learn more about what collections are available.

100 Milestone Documents The Our Documents initiative is a cooperative effort among National History Day, The National Archives and Records Administration, and USA Freedom Corps and documents chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965. It includes resources on the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, the Civil Rights Act, and more.
African-American Archaeology: History and Cultures From the African Diaspora Archaeology Network (ADAN), "this web site is designed to provide convenient access to online presentations and resources concerning the subjects of African-American archaeology, history and cultures, and broader subjects of African diaspora archaeology and heritage."
African Americans in California - UC Berkeley Books, pamphlets, archival collections, film, etc. and content from the regional NAACP archives.
African American Odyssey "The exhibition The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship, showcases the incomparable African American collections of the Library of Congress. Displaying more than 240 items, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings." The exhibit "explores black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century."
American Memory Provides open access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. Collections are primarily from the Library of Congress, but also includes material from other institutions. These collections include African-American Band Music & Recordings 1883 to 1923, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project 1936 to 1938, Civil Rights History Project, Frederick Douglass Papers, African American Perspectives: Materials Selected from the Rare Book Collection, Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights 1860s-1960s, and many more.
Amistad Research Center at Tulane University "Amistad Research Center is committed to collecting, preserving, and providing open access to original materials that reference the social and cultural importance of America's ethnic and racial history, the African Diaspora, human relations, and civil rights."
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute - Resource Gallery Contains documents and oral histories of the Birmingham Civil Rights movement. Requires Flash.
Black Abolitionist Archive "The Black Abolitionist Digital Archive is a collection of over 800 speeches by antebellum blacks and approximately 1,000 editorials from the period. These important documents provide a portrait of black involvement in the anti-slavery movement; scans of these documents are provided as images and PDF files."
Civil Rights Digital Library The Civil Rights Digital Library promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale
Documenting the American South: First Person Narratives of the American South "Documenting the American South (DocSouth) includes sixteen thematic collections of primary sources for the study of southern history, literature, and culture." This includes the collections "The Church in the Southern Black Community," "North American Slave Narratives," and more. Even collections such as "Oral Histories of the American South" will include histories on topics such as the Civil Rights Movement and more.
Frederick Douglass Project at University of Rochester "This project seeks to digitize all of the Frederick Douglass materials held in the collections of the University of Rochester Library." Douglass was active in this area for 25 years.
The History Makers This is the nation's largest African American video oral history collection. "By recording, preserving and sharing the life stories of thousands of African Americans, from President Barack Obama to the oldest living black cowboy, The HistoryMakers is a leader in helping to educate and enlighten millions worldwide through refashioning a more inclusive record of American history."
Massachusetts Historical Society MA Historical has a vast array of digital collections, primarily centered on early colonial and American Revolution, abolitionist & antislavery movements, and also including some useful historical images and papers (including presidential papers).
National Archives: America's Historical Documents "The National Archives preserves and provides access to the records of the Federal Government."
National Museum of African American History & Culture Collections Search the collections of the National Museum of African American History & Culture to see high resolution images and contextual information on different objects, letters, documents, and more.
Umbra Search African American History This resource "brings together hundreds of thousands digitized materials from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the country" on African American history and pays "homage to the Umbra Society of the early 1960s, a renegade group of Black writers and poets who helped create the Black Arts Movement."
W. E. B. Dubois Papers - UMass Amherst Online collection

Women and Social Movements in the US This link opens in a new window A resource for students and scholars of U.S. History and U.S. Womens History. This collection includes 123 document projects and an archives of over 5,100 documents organized around the history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1600 and 2000. Scope: United States. Dates: 1600 to 2000.

Keep in mind that some of the resources listed in our Africana box will also be of use for research in this area, such as "In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience."

Africana: Africa and the African Diaspora

The African Diaspora Archaeology Network (ADAN) "The ADAN provides a focal point for archaeological and interdisciplinary studies of African diasporas, with news, current research, information and links to other web resources related to the archaeology and history of descendants of African peoples."
African Studies on the Internet from Columbia University A comprehensive list of resources online for the study of African and Africana studies. This will include multiple countries and geographic regions.
Africana & Black History NYPL Digital Collection "This digital compilation was developed in support of the NYPL website, "The African American Migration Experience," a sweeping 500-year historical narrative from the transatlantic slave trade to the Western migration, the colonization movement, the Great Migration, and the contemporary immigration of Caribbeans, Haitians, and sub-Saharan Africans."
Basler Afrika Bibliographen: Poster Collection "The poster collection currently encompasses about 6,300 posters from and about Africa. Most stem from the last four decades."
Center for Black Music Research Resources Founded at Columbia College Chicago in 1983, the Center for Black Music Research exists to illuminate the significant role that black music plays in world culture by serving as a nexus for all who value black music, by promoting scholarly thought and knowledge about black music, and by providing a safe haven for the materials and information that document the black music experience across Africa and the diaspora." Use their resources page to find discographies, bibliographies, and more.
In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience From the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture "In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience presents a new interpretation of African-American history, one that focuses on the self-motivated activities of peoples of African descent to remake themselves and their worlds."
Maps of Africa: UT Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection Maps of Africa, primarily produced by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Slave Movement During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries "This site provides access to the raw data and documentation which contains information on the following slave trade topics from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: records of slave ship movement between Africa and the Americas, slave ships of eighteenth century France, slave trade to Rio de Janeiro, Virginia slave trade in the eighteenth century, English slave trade (House of Lords Survey), Angola slave trade in the eighteenth century, internal slave trade to Rio de Janeiro, slave trade to Havana, Cuba, Nantes slave trade in the eighteenth century, and slave trade to Jamaica."

Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new window This HeinOnline collection brings together a multitude of essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. Scope: Worldwide. Dates: 18th-21st centuries.

Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database "This website provides the most comprehensive source of data currently available on the trans-Atlantic slave trade." In addition to a wealth of educational materials, gathered by Emory Univeristy and partners, it also contains records of nearly 35,000 slaving voyages between 1514 and 1866, gleaned from original documents and historical publications located in archives, libraries, and other institutions throughout the world.

Keep in mind that some of the resources listed in our United States box will also be of use for research in this area, such as documents and oral histories from enslaved persons in databases like "Documenting the American South."

Newspapers

Review the Finding Newspapers page on this guide for databases such as AllAfrica, Black Newspapers, Ethnic Newswatch, and more historical newspapers.

Protest and Activism at SLC

Online Collection of Protest and Activism Documentation at SLC
The documents in this collection are intended to represent the history of various protests and student actions on the campus of Sarah Lawrence College.

Black Studies: Resources

Primary Resources

United States

Africana: Africa and the African Diaspora

Newspapers

Protest and Activism at SLC