LibGuides: Primary Sources (United States History): African Americans

African Americans

Purpose

This is a selected bibliography of primary source collections pertaining to African American history available online. Please note, the library is not responsible for the content on these sources and it is the student's responsibility to properly cite from the proper location. There may also be secondary sources included in these collections and it is up to the student to evaluate if the item qualifies as a primary or secondary source.

African American History: American Memory from the Library of Congress
Page provides links to various African American collections from the Library of Congress.
African American History: Primary Documents
Transcriptions of significant documents related to African American History.
African America Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907
Digitized collection of pamphlets pertaining to African American history and culture. Features many well known African American authors such as Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington.
African American Women: Duke University Libraries
Letters and memoirs of three African American women (two former slaves, one a daughter of former slaves).
Black Abolitionist Archive: University of Detroit Mercy
Hundreds of digitized primary sources pertaining to the Black Abolitionist Movement in America. For other digital archives, return to the main page for UDM
Born in Slavery: From the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress
From the Library of Congress, over 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery from the Federal Writers' Project.
Brown V. Board of Education: University of Michigan Digital Archive
Documents and images related to the Supreme Court Case "Brown v. Board of Education."
Civil Rights Digital Library
News videos, sound recordings, books, articles, flyers, newsletters, reports, records, diaries, photographs and much more pertaining to the Civil Rights movement in America. Fully searchable, or browse by events, people, topics, places or media type.
Digital Schomburg Images of 19th Century African Americans
Over 500,000 prints and photographs of African Americans in the 19th century.
Documenting the American South: The Church in the Southern Black Community
Collection of biographies, autobiographies, church documents, sermons and more pertaining to African American history in Southern churches.
Famous Trials: University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
Primary and secondary sources related to famous trials throughout world history, including trials related to African American history.
The Geography of Slavery in Virginia
Transcriptions of advertisements for runaway slaves, documents, court records, etc. pertaining to slavery in Virginia.
In Motion: The African American Migration Experience
Images, photographs, maps and other primary and secondary sources pertaining to the movement of Africans and African Americans throughout history. From the Transatlantic Slave Trade to the Great Migration to 20th century immigration.
Modernist Journals Project: The Crisis
Fully digitized issues of the Crisis magazine, a publication of the NAACP focusing on civil rights and equality issues. Digitized issues cover the years 1910-1922
Say it Plain, Say it Loud: A Century of Great African America Speeches
Recorded speeches of prominent African American leaders of the 20th century.
Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860
Large collection of pamphlets and books published between 1772 and 1889 pertaining to African American slaves in the colonial and U.S. legal system.