LibGuides: U.S. History: African American &amp; African Diaspora

Recommended Databases

Except from March 13th, 1971 issue of The Black Panther publication, advocating for the release of political prisoners. Via the database, African American Periodicals, 1825-1995.

Below is a list of databases focused on primary sources related to the historical experience of African Americans and the African Diaspora in the United States.

African American Communities (AAC) This link opens in a new window
1869 - 1985. Features personal diaries and scrapbooks, pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records and in-depth oral histories.
Presents multiple aspects of the African American community through personal diaries and scrapbooks, pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records and in-depth oral histories.
African American Historical Serials Collection This link opens in a new window
1829 - 1922. Unlimited users.
The African American Historical Serials Collection, developed in conjunction with American Theological Library Association (ATLA) features more than 170 unique periodical titles related to the history of African American life and culture, with extensive coverage of religious organizations, churches, and institutions. Material was published between 1829 and 1922. See here for a full title list.
African American Newspapers, Series 1 This link opens in a new window
1827 - 1998. When completed, will provide online access to approximately 270 African American U.S. newspapers. Features papers from more than 35 states. The newspapers were scanned from the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Kansas State Historical Society and the Library of Congress.
Updated regularly (until completed). When completed, will provide online access to approximately 270 African American U.S. newspapers. Features papers from more than 35 states. The newspapers were scanned from the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Kansas State Historical Society and the Library of Congress.
African American Newspapers, Series 2 This link opens in a new window
1835-1956. Unlimited users.
Updated regularly (until completed). When completed, will provide online access to approximately 270 African American U.S. newspapers. Features papers from more than 35 states. The newspapers were scanned from the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Kansas State Historical Society and the Library of Congress.
African American Periodicals This link opens in a new window
1825 - 1995. Unlimited users. Features more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations bulletins, annual reports and other genres.
African American Periodicals, 1825-1995, features more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations bulletins, annual reports and other genres.
African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Most current file. Unlimited users.
Updated regularly. A comprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture, coupled with sophisticated technology permitting precise search and browse capabilities. Features over 7,500 articles from Oxford's authoritative reference works, approximately 100 primary sources with specially written commentaries, over 1,000 images, over 100 maps, over 200 charts and tables, timelines to guide researchers through the history of African Americans and over 6,000 biographies.
Some of the titles included in this access are:
- African American Artists before the Twentieth Century
- African American National Biography
- Africana
- Black Women in America, Second Edition
- Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present
America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
1690 - 1990s. Unlimited users.
Updated regularly. Includes more than 1,000 U.S. historical newspapers published between 1690 and the 1990s, including titles from all 50 states. Search by dates/eras, article types (news & opinion, election returns, letters, poetry/songs, legislative, prices, advertisements, matrimony & death notices), region/state, and newspaper name.
Black Drama This link opens in a new window
19th century - present. Unlimited users.
Updated regularly. Contains approximately 1200 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays. The content represents North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Many of the works are rare, hard-to-find, or out of print.
The database covers key writings of the Harlem Renaissance, works performed for the Federal Theatre Project, and plays by critically acclaimed dramatists of the 1940s. The collection includes musical comedies, domestic dramas, folk dramas, history plays, anti-slavery plays, one-act plays, and other works. Many were published in a wide range of magazines and anthologies, others have never before been published or performed.
Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records and Personal Papers, Part One This link opens in a new window
The Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century consists of 73 collections of primary source documents from the records of federal government agencies, the personal papers of African Americans and the records of civil rights organizations. Features records from NAACP, SCLC, SNCC
The Organizational Records and Personal Papers bring a new perspective to the Black Freedom Struggle via the records of major civil rights organizations and personal papers of leaders and observers of the 20th century Black freedom struggle. The three major civil rights organizations are the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs.

Through records of Claude A. Barnett's Associated Negro Press, this module also branches out to cover other aspects of African American life in the 20th century, like religion, sports, education, fraternal organizations, and even the field of entertainment.
Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records and Personal Papers, Part Two This link opens in a new window
Dates of coverage vary. Unlimited users.
This Black Freedom module is highlighted by the records of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Africa-related papers of Claude Barnett, and the Robert F. Williams Papers. Rounding out this module are the papers of Chicago Congressman Arthur W. Mitchell, the Chicago chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, and records pertaining to the Mississippi Freedom Summer.
Black Studies in Video This link opens in a new window
Coverage varies. Unlimited users.
This collection is a black studies portfolio that brings together seminal documentaries, powerful interviews, and previously unavailable archival footage surveying the black experience. The collection contains 500 hours of film covering African American history, politics, art and culture, family structure, gender relationships, and social and economic issues.
HistoryMakers This link opens in a new window
The interviews reveal the broad scope of narratives of African American men and women who have made significant contributions to American life, history, and culture during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. The interviews reveal the broad scope of narratives of African American men and women who have made significant contributions to American life, history, and culture during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
This resource’s unique content is primarily composed of video oral histories recording the African American experience in the first-person. Testimonies captured in The HistoryMakers Collection interviews are conducted in homes and offices across the United States and abroad. The interviews reveal the broad scope of narratives of African American men and women who have made significant contributions to American life, history, and culture during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Race Relations in America This link opens in a new window
Documenting three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights, this resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by the Fisk University Race Relations Department which with its annual Institute were set up by the American Missionary Association to investigate problem areas in race relations and develop methods for educating communities and preventing conflict.
Documenting three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights, this resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by the Fisk University Race Relations Department which with its annual Institute were set up by the American Missionary Association to investigate problem areas in race relations and develop methods for educating communities and preventing conflict. Department’s staff and Institute participants, including Charles S. Johnson, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall.
Search across Adam Matthew primary source databases using AM Explorer
Sabin Americana This link opens in a new window
1500 - 1926. Materials describe every aspect of life in the Western Hemisphere from 1500 to the 1890s. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military and more.
Provides over 14,000 primary source titles based on Joseph Sabin's bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana. Materials describe every aspect of life in the Western Hemisphere from 1500 to the 1890s. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more. Searchable in a variety of ways, including: author, title, year of publication, and subject.
Slavery, abolition and social justice This link opens in a new window
1490 - 2007. Unlimited users. Provides a portal for slavery studies, bringing together documents and collections covering an extensive time period spanning six centuries, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Offers images of many thousands of original manuscripts, pamphlets, books, paintings, maps and images not available elsewhere,
Provides a portal for slavery studies, bringing together documents and collections covering an extensive time period spanning six centuries, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Offers images of many thousands of original manuscripts, pamphlets, books, paintings, maps and images not available elsewhere, links to other online sources approved by scholars and a series of contextual essays by leading authorities from around the world.
Includes extensive coverage of topics such as the African Coast; the Middle Passage; the varieties of slave experience (urban, domestic, industrial, farm, ranch and plantation); Spiritualism and Religion; Resistance and Revolts; the Underground Railroad; the Abolition Movement; Legislation; Education; the Legacy of Slavery and Slavery Today.
Search across Adam Matthew primary source databases using AM Explorer
Slavery and the Law This link opens in a new window
1777 - 1867. Unlimited users.
Slavery and the Law is a collection of archival primary sources.
Series I: Petitions to State Legislatures offers access to important but virtually unused primary source materials that were scattered in state archives of Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The collection includes virtually all extant legislative petitions on the subject of race and slavery.
Series II: Petitions to Southern County Courts were collected from local courthouses, and candidly document the realities of slavery at the most immediate grassroots level in southern society. It was at county courthouses where the vast majority of disputes over the institution of slavery were referred.
Slavery and the Law also includes State Slavery Statutes, a master record of the laws governing American slavery, covering 1789–1865.

Plantations Records (Part I): Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations From The Revolution Through The Civil War
1775 - 1865.
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Series A: Selections from the South Carolina Library, University of South Carolina:
Part 1: The Papers of James Henry Hammond, 1795–1865
Part 2: Miscellaneous Collections
Series D: Selections from the Maryland Historical Society
Series H: Tulane and Louisiana State Museum
Series I: Selections from LouisianaState University:
Part 1: Louisiana Sugar Plantations
Part 2: Louisiana and Miscellaneous Southern Cotton Plantations
Part 3: The Natchez Area
Part 4: Barrow, Bisland, Bowman, and Other Collections
Part 5: Butler Family Collections
Part 6: David Weeks and Family Collection
Series M: Selections from the Virginia Historical Society
Plantations Records (Part II): Records of Southern Plantations From Emancipation To The Great Migration
1863 - 1915.
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Series B: Selections from the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, Louisiana State University Libraries:
Part 1: Louisiana Sugar Plantations
Part 2: Louisiana Cotton Plantations
Part 3: Louisiana Sugar Plantations (Bayou Lafourche and Bayou Teche)
Part 4: Mississippi Cotton Plantations
Part 5: Albert Batchelor Papers
Part 6: Weeks Family Papers
Series C: Selections from the South Carolina Library, University of South Carolina:
Part 1: The Hammond Family Papers
Part 2: Selected Collections

Visualization showing a chart of "Income and expenditure of 150 Negro families in Atlanta, Ga., U.S.A."

Visualization by W.E.B Du Bois, 1900. (Public Domain, Library of Congress)

African American Artists in Collections- explore a selection of works by African American artists included in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.

Black Inventor, online museum focusing on top Black inventors over the last 300 years

Black Joy Archive - "The archive is intended to serve black people as a therapeutic practice in self-preservation and self-esteem, as we are continually asked to face painful imagery of folks who look like us...an open-call was made for individuals to submit images of their joy - be it childhood or family photos, candids or personal artwork they have created."

BlackPast.org - an online reference center makes available a wealth of materials on African American history in one central location on the Internet. These materials include an online encyclopedia of over 4,000 entries, the complete transcript of more than 300 speeches by African Americans, other people of African ancestry, and those concerned about race, given between 1789 and 2016, over 140 full text primary documents, bibliographies, timelines

Civil Rights Digital Library - includes a digital video archive of historical news film and other primary sources. Can browse by media type.

Commerorator Newspaper Collection, 1991-2012 - newspaper printed in South Berkeley from 1990-2013 by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party.

Guide to the Ida B. Wells Papers, 1884-1976 - partially digitized collection including original manuscripts, correspondence, newspapers and journal articles written and compiled by Ida B. Wells

HBCU Library Alliance Digital Collections - collection of primary sources from HBCU libraries and archives. Includes photographs, university correspondence, manuscripts, images of campus buildings, memorabilia, event programs, and more.

Library of Congress: African American History Online Resources - A large number of primary source collection materials related to African American history are digitized and available online via the Library of Congress's website, including manuscripts, newspaper articles, images, and rare books

RADAR: Repository of AUC Digital collections, Archives, and Research - Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library's institutional repository, including including research and scholarly output, archival collections, and theses and dissertations. Materials included in RADAR have been selected and deposited by the students and faculty of the member schools, Clark Atlanta University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College, and Spelman College, and the librarians of the Robert W. Woodruff Library.

Rosa Parks Papers, 1866-2006 - includes approximately 7,500 items in the Manuscript Division, as well as 2,500 photographs in the Prints and Photographs Division, documents many aspects of Parks's private life and public activism

Schomburg Digital Collections @NYPL - scroll down to see collections related to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; collections include photographs, prints, rare books, archival material, and more.

South Side Home Movie Project Archive - Collects, preserves, digitizes, researches and screens home movies made by residents of Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods. The archive includes small-gauge films (8mm, Super8mm, 16mm) covering a period from the 1920s to the 1980s.

Umbra Search African American History - this tool searches more than 500,000 digitized African American primary sources (letters, manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, etc.) from over 1000 participating archives, libraries, and museums in the U.S. From the Univ. of Minnesota.

These notable archives contain archival material that often requires in person access. Visit the specific archive's website to explore options related to digital access or scanning requests.

African American History @ Stuart A. Rose Archives - robust primary resource materials covering six principle collecting areas--Civil Rights and Post-Civil Rights Movements, Black print Culture, Blacks and the Left, African American Literature and the Arts, Expatriate Literary and Cultural Figures, and African Americans and Sports. Located at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.

African American Museum & Library at Oakland - holds primary and secondary materials which preserve the history of African Americans in Northern California and the Bay Area. Contains over 160 collections documenting prominent families, pioneers, churches, social and political organizations. Located in Oakland, CA.

Amistad Research Center - collects, preserves, and provides 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. Located at Tulane University.

Atlanta University Center Archives - includes the archives of Clark Atlanta University, Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College and Spelman College. Also has many individual, familial, and organizational collections representing the breadth of African American experiences.

Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture - holds nearly 4000 primary and secondary source materials which preserve the history and culture of African Americans in Charleston, the South Carolina Low Country, and South Carolina at large. Located at the College of Charleston.

Black Archives of Mid-America - collects and preserves historical materials and artifacts related to the African American experience in the Midwest with an emphasis on Kansas City, MO region. Located in the historic 18th and Vine District in Kansas City, MO.

The Black Film Center/ Archive - collects and preserves films and related materials which have substantial participation by African American writers, actors, producers, directors, musicians, and consultants as well as those which depict some aspect of the black experience. Located at Indiana University-Bloomington.

Fisk University Special Collections and Archives - over 130 primary resource collections of African American scholars, poets, writers, artists, and businessmen including the complete Charles W. Chesnutt Papers. Located in Nashville, TN.

Henry Hampton Collection @ the Film and Media Archive - most notably known for his Eyes on the Prize documentary series chronicling the Civil Rights Movement. Henry Hampton's filmic legacy--over 58,000 items-- as well as organizational records for the historic Blackside Inc, production company are preserved here. Located at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Moorland-Spingarn Research Center - one of the oldest African American archives in the country. Includes the Howard University Archive. Located in Washington, D.C.

National Archive for Black Women's History - only archive solely dedicated to the history of African American women. Core collection includes historic corporate records of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), along with personal papers, and corporate records of organizations mostly associated with the NCNW. Located in Landover, MD.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture - one of the world's leading research facilities devoted to the preservation of materials on the global African and African diasporan experiences. Contains over 11 million items in its non circulating collections. Located in New York City, NY.

Tuskegee University Archives Repository - Notable HBCU founded by Booker T. Washington. Collection includes books (including faculty publications), manuscripts, Tuskegee University periodicals and newspapers, ephemera, photographic images, disc and tape recordings, and other archival items. Located in Tuskegee, AL.

Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection @ Chicago Public Library - Largest African American history and literature collection in the Midwest with a strong focus on the black experience in Chicago. Contains photographs, manuscripts, rare books, and organizational records. Located in Chicago, IL.

Featured Newspapers

A select few of historical African-American newspapers in our collection.

Atlanta Daily World
Publication Date: 1932-2000
An early and influential African American daily newspaper; oldest Black newspaper in Atlanta, Ga. Format: microform
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta Constitution, coverage 1881-2001, microform & print newspaper
Atlanta Journal, coverage 1889-2001, microform & print newspaper
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, coverage 2001-present, microform, print newspaper, online access from 1991-current

Chicago Defender (Historical) This link opens in a new window
1910 - 1975. Unlimited users. Online access to full image of articles published in the Chicago Defender from 1910 to 1975. The Chicago Defender was the most influential African-American newspaper of the 20th century. With the majority of its readership outside the Chicago region, it served as the de facto national black newspaper in the U.S.
Includes the full image of articles published in the Chicago Defender from 1910 to 2010. You can browse individual issues by clicking Publications at the top of the screen, or search by keyword(s), author(s), article title, date ranges, and more. Includes illustrations and advertisements. The Chicago Defender was the most influential African-American newspaper of the 20th century. With the majority of its readership outside the Chicago region, it served as the de facto national black newspaper in the U.S. The Defender covered events in the South, such as lynchings, that Southern black newspapers could not safely report. The paper was a major influence for the Great Migration of African Americans to the North in the early 20th century. Later issues of the Chicago Defender are in the Ethnic NewsWatch database.

Featured: NAACP Papers

NAACP Papers: Branch Department, Branch Files and Youth Department Files This link opens in a new window
1913 - 1972. Unlimited users.
The NAACP branch files in this module chronicle the local heroes of the civil rights revolution via NAACP branches throughout the United States, from 1913-1972. The contributions of scores of local leaders—attorneys, community organizers, financial benefactors, students, mothers, school teachers, and other participants—are revealed in these records. The Branch Department, Branch Files, and Youth Department Files in this module of NAACP Papers will allow researchers at all levels new opportunities to explore the contributions of NAACP local leaders. The branch files also indicate how effectively the NAACP national office used the branch network to advance the NAACP national program. The Youth Department Files document how the NAACP tapped the energy and talent of college students and other young people at the state and local levels.
Additional information is available on the History Vault LibGuides site.
NAACP Papers: Special Subjects This link opens in a new window
1909 - 1972. Unlimited users.
The NAACP was involved in several subjects that did not rise to the level of major campaigns but were still vital to the organization. This module contains records on those subjects, and in so doing, reveals the wide scope of NAACP activism and interest.These files cover subjects and episodes that are crucial to the NAACP's history, such as civil rights complaints and legislation, the Klan, Birth of a Nation, the Walter White-W. E. B. Du Bois controversy of 1933-1934, communism and anticommunism during the years of the "red scare," the congressional prosecution of Hollywood personalities, the prosecution of conscientious objectors during World War II, NAACP’s relations with African colonial liberation movements, NAACP fundraising and membership recruitment, urban riots, the War on Poverty, and the emergence of the Black Power Movement.
Additional information is available on the History Vault LibGuides site.
NAACP Papers—Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff files This link opens in a new window
1909 - 1970. Unlimited users.
Contains internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country. It charts the NAACP's work and delivers a first-hand view into crucial issues: lynching, school desegregation, and discrimination in the military, the criminal justice system, employment, and housing, among others. It provides a comprehensive view of the NAACP’s evolution, policies, and achievements from 1909–1970.
Additional information is available on the History Vault LibGuides site.
NAACP Papers—The NAACP's Major Campaigns: Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces This link opens in a new window
1909 - 1972. Unlimited users.
Major campaigns for equal access to education, voting, employment, housing and the military are covered in this module. The education files in this module document the NAACP’s systematic assault on segregated education that culminated in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Files from 1955 –1965 focus on the NAACP’s efforts to implementthe Brown decision as well as to combat de facto segregation outside of the South.
Additional information is available on the History Vault LibGuides site.
NAACP Papers—The NAACP's Major Campaigns: Legal Department Files This link opens in a new window
1956 - 1972. Unlimited users.
This module consists of Papers of the NAACP Legal Department from 1956-1972. For the period from 1956-1965, this includes the working case files of the NAACP’s general counsel, Robert Carter. Among the topics covered in these cases are school desegregation, abuses of police procedure, freedom of speech, desegregation of public facilities, voting rights, housing discrimination, and employment discrimination. A small sampling of the important cases in this module include NAACP v. Alabama (freedom of association), Gomillion v. Lightfoot (voting rights), Allen v. County School Board and Griffin v. County School Board (school desegregation in Virginia), Ogletree v. McNamara (employment discrimination), and Powell v. McCormack (seating of Congressman Adam Clayton Powell in the U.S. House of Representatives).
Additional information is available on the History Vault LibGuides site.
NAACP Papers—The NAACP's Major Campaigns: Scottsboro, Anti-Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Response This link opens in a new window
1909 - 1972. Unlimited users.
This NAACP module focuses on the NAACP’s efforts regarding anti-lynching, peonage, and discrimination in employment and the criminal justice system. A rich set of records in this module is the NAACP file on one of the most celebrated criminal trials of the 20th century – the case of the Scottsboro boys. In this case, nine young black men were accused of raping two white women on a train in northern Alabama. Sixteen days after their arrest, eight of the nine teenagers were sentenced to death in the electric chair. All eight escaped execution when the Supreme Court, in the landmark case of Powell v. Alabama, ruled that the defendants had been inadequately represented by counsel.
Additional information is available on the History Vault LibGuides site.

UT Austin Black Diaspora Archive

The Black Diaspora Archive (BDA) is a collaborative project at UT Austin. Established in 2015 and housed at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, the BDA collects documentary, audiovisual, digital, and artistic works related to the Black Diaspora of the Americas and Caribbean. This encompasses historical publications, contemporary records, personal papers, and rare material produced by and/or about people of African descent—including scholars, professionals, community groups, activists, and artists.

Credit

Thank you to ACRL African American Studies Librarians Interest Group & Atlanta University Center Black Studies Libguide