African and African American Studies Research Guide

From the Internet Archive, an important collection of indexed events relevant to #blacklivesmatter, with links to online source material and archived web pages

From the National Archives, a collection of numerous sites and resources related to African American history and topics including Black Power, voting rights, Black college life, civil rights leadership, and more. Includes online exhibits.

Library of Congress research guide on their collections and useful resources

One of the first African American digital resources developed by the Library of Congress, this online resource guide presents long full-text and occasionally illustrated essays on topics such as abolition, migration, the WPA, and colonization, Liberia, and the American Colonization Society.

Online exhibit of full text and images from the Library of Congress collections, organized chronologically via chapters on slavery, Antebellum free Blacks, the Civil War and reconstruction, the "Booker T. Washington era," both World Wars, and the civil rights movement.

Lengthy and substantive research guide provides suggested readings (books, articles, journals) and relevant search techniques for the topic. From the Library of Congress and their Science Reference Services' "Science Tracer Bullets Online" website.

Lengthy and substantive research guide provides suggested readings (books, articles, journals) and relevant search techniques for the topic. From the Library of Congress and their Science Reference Services' "Science Tracer Bullets Online" website.

Exemplary online resource presents text and images from the renowned Schomburg Center on the topic of African American women writers of the 19th century. Contents are searchable by title, author, and by literary genre (poetry, essays, etc.). Also includes a number of accompanying essays.

Provides access to a multitude of sources concerning the African Diaspora, including archaeology, history, and culture.

Companion website to the PBS 4-part documentary, covering the years 1450 through 1865. Includes individual online chapters for various sets of years, with narrative text, maps, illustrations, and other resources. Includes student and teacher guides, plus information about the documentary series.

Exhibit and online resources from the National Museum of African American History & Culture

This important new digital library focuses on significant achievements in African American history. Provides biographical videos and more on a number of prominent individuals and historical movements; additional text is provided for some profiles. Biographical videos include Maria Stewart, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, Ella Baker, Robert Church Sr., Fred Hampton, Sojourner Truth, Lewis Latimer, Madam CJ Walker, Marcus Garvey, Ida B. Wells, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Phillis Wheatley, and Benjamin Banneker. Accessibility: Videos have closed captions.

Collection of full-text narratives from thirteen African American former slaves. Includes brief biographies of each narrator, plus bibliographies and other sources for further study. From the University of Virginia.

Hundreds of pre-Civil War anti-slavery & emancipation speeches and essays. From the University of Detroit Mercy Libraries. Includes images, audio files, and browse/search capabilities. Also includes a link to their site within Second Life, the online virtual world.

PBS collection of "videos and web-exclusive features including documentaries or programs about Black women who have made a special mark on their communities and the world," including Angela Davis, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and many more.

"The only archive in the world dedicated to collecting, preserving, and making available historically and culturally significant films by and about Black people."

Companion website and streaming video from the well-known Black Public Media / PBS program; seasons 1-3 available.

The official website for the Black Lives Matter network

Michigan State University holds archival collections of Black Panthers posters, papers of Stokely Carmichael, 1967-02-17, and the Stuart N. Dowty and Janet Goldwasser collection of radical materials

Lengthy and substantive research guide provides suggested readings (books, articles, journals) and relevant search techniques for the topic. From the Library of Congress and their Science Reference Services' "Science Tracer Bullets Online" website.

From the Library of Congress: "... more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the US"

Authoritative definitions, bibliographies, discographies, and links to online vendors for African American & African diaspora musical styles, including jazz, gospel, folk styles of all kinds, rhythm and blues, reggae, Cuban son, Dominican and Haitian merengue, Puerto Rican bomba and plena, plus pan-Caribbean salsa, and Brazilian samba. From Columbia College.

"The Charlottesville Syllabus is a resource created by the Graduate Student Coalition for Liberation to be used to educate readers about the long history of white supremacy in Charlottesville, Virginia. With resources selected and summaries written by UVa graduate students, this abridged version of the Syllabus is organized into six sections that offer contemporary and archival primary and secondary sources (articles, books, responses, a documentary, databases) and a list of important terms for discussing white supremacy." (Description from their website)

Online collection of multimedia primary resources documenting the Civil Rights movement. Includes authoritative texts, photographs, moving images, and sound files culled from the collections of numerous collaborating libraries, archives (including television and media archives), and museums.

Find relevant digital humanities projects online via this site

"Documenting the American South (DocSouth), a digital publishing initiative sponsored by the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture. It supplies teachers, students, and researchers at every educational level with a wide array of titles they can use for reference, studying, teaching, and research."

From CUNY's Dominican Studies Institute, this scholarly website provides information and primary source material (digitized archival manuscripts, maps, etc) on Black history in the Dominican Republic.

Online full text of the papers of this important 19th century African American abolitionist.

From the University of Rochester Libraries

Online photo-intensive exhibits on various topics, including a compelling historic exhibits on Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela, and Apartheid; US Civil Rights movement, and more. Site can be searched or browsed. Image sources include Life Photo Collection; Getty Museum: various library archives, and special collections.

Scholarly multimedia website from Columbia University describes arts and culture, the neighborhood, and politics of Harlem. Includes authoritative full text, high quality streaming video and music files, photos, oral histories, and excerpts from a number of publications.

Scholarly collection of online bibliographies, a chronology, study guide, and more information on Malcolm X, his work, and his legacy. Includes many scholarly and authoritative links elsewhere, plus interactive discussion features.

Important public policy group established in 1910.

"The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) is the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its impact on the social advancement of America. The privately funded, 501 c3, not-for-profit organization was established in 1990 and is in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri’s Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District. The NLBM operates two blocks from the Paseo YMCA where Andrew “Rube” Foster established the Negro National League in 1920."

This website from the University of Wisconsin makes available to registered users selected raw data on the slave trade to the Americas. Specific data includes "Records of Slave Ship Movement between African & the Americas, 1817-1843," "Angola Slave Trade in the 18th Century, 1723-1771," and various records regarding the slave trade to Cuba, Jamaica, Rio de Janeiro, and elsewhere. An invaluable resource.

"Dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality." Provides timely and invaluable documentation on hate groups, responding to hate and teaching tolerance, and promoting social justice.

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.