Research and Course Guides: Topic: African American History: Find Primary Sources

Find Primary Sources in Books

Search LibrarySearch to find primary sources in books and ebooks. When searching, you will want to use specific subject headings in your searches to single out the primary source materials. These subject headings are specialized "tag" added to the records to books by catalog librarians to provide accurate descriptions of books. Using the following keywords your search will help you find the source material you seek:

correspondence	personal narratives
literary collections	pictorial works
memoirs	diary or diaries
sources	documents
songs and music	journals
speeches	writings

Find Primary Source Books, Magazines and Newspapers

Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
The African American Studies Center contains brief articles on all aspects of the African-American experience along with images, primary sources, time lines, maps, tables, and reference resources.

Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub
A digital collection of historical newspapers from across Minnesota, including several African American newspapers.

Chicago Defender (Historical) This link opens in a new window
This database provides you with access to the complete content the African-American newspaper, The Chicago Defender (1910-1975) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
Pittsburgh Courier (Historical) This link opens in a new window
This database provides you with access to the complete content of the African-American newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive collection of newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press. All articles are full-text. Updated quarterly. 1990- .

Washington Bee
Digital archives of the Washington Bee newspaper from 1886 - 1912.

Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
In this database, you will find full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. The collection encompasses the entire 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life.
Civil War Era This link opens in a new window
This database of Civil War materials provides you access to nearly 2,000 pamphlets and all articles from eight newspaper titles (3 from the North, 3 from the South and 2 from border states) dating from 1840 to 1865.
New York Times (historical) This link opens in a new window
Complete searchable content of The New York Times from 1851 to 2020 including articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
Washington Post (historical) This link opens in a new window
Complete searchable content of Washington Post from 1877 to 2008 including all articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500–1926 This link opens in a new window
Sabin Americana, 1500–1926 is digital archive of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean the from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s.
American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new window
With this database you have access to 1,500 magazines, newspapers and popular journal titles published in the United States dating 1741 through the 1930s.
Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new window
Use the Readers' Guide Retrospective index to locate articles published in popular press magazines and journals dating from 1890 to 1982.

Find Images, Artifacts, and Recordings

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Thousands of prints and photographs from the collections of the Library of Congress
Smithsonian Institution Collections
Digital images of photographs, prints and other materials from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution's museum, archives and library collections.
Ad*Access
The Ad*Access Project presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. [Duke University Library Digital Collection]
Library of Congress Digital Collections
This collection features materials from the Library of Congress.

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Over 2 million images from around the world, covering many time periods, cultures, and disciplines; discoverable alongside JSTOR’s journals, books, and other primary sources.

Google Images
Includes millions of images

Naxos Music Library Jazz This link opens in a new window
Naxos Music Library Jazz streaming audio database offers tens of thousands of tracks of classic and contemporary jazz, blues, and R&B performed by international jazz artists. Users can select music by composer, artist, ensemble, instrument, label, or genre. Playlists can be created for personal or classroom use. Limited to 5 simultaneous users.

Selected Primary Source Materials on the Web

Hallie Q. Brown Community Archives
Materials from the Hallie Q. Brown Community Archives (HQBCA), primarily relating to the Rondo Neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota,

The Crisis magazine (1910 - 1922)
Digitized copies of The Crisis, an African-American magazine founded by W. E. B. DuBois.

The Crisis magazine (1922 - 1923)
Digitized copies of The Crisis, an African-American magazine founded by W. E. B. DuBois.

The Crisis magazine (1911 - 2011)
The Crisis, founded by W.E.B. Du Bois as the official publication of the NAACP, is a journal of civil rights, history, politics, and culture and seeks to educate and challenge its readers about issues that continue to plague African Americans and other communities of color.

National Museum of African American History and Culture
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture.

Documenting the American South
A project of the University of North Carolina, this collection provides access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture.

Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture
The Schomberg Center at the New York Public Library provides access to a variety of source materials relating to African-Americans

Jim Crow Museum
Located at Ferris State University, the Jim Crow Museum collects objects and collections related to racial segregation, civil rights and anti-Black caricatures

Duluth Lynchings
The Minnesota Historical Society provides access to a digital collection of materials related to the Duluth (MN) lynchings.