Newspapers
- Ethnic NewswatchAccess the full-text of articles from newspapers, magazines and journals of ethnic, minority, and native presses from 1958 to present.
- Harper's weeklyProvides access to Harper's Weekly, the illustrated 19th and early 20th century "national newspaper," from 1857-1912.
- ProQuest African Historical NewspaperEach of the thirteen Historical Black Newspapers provides researchers with unprecedented access to perspectives and information that was excluded or marginalized in mainstream sources. The content, including articles, obituaries, photos, editorials, and more, is easily accessible for scholars in the study of the history of race relations, journalism, local and national politics, education.
Manuscripts and Archival Resources
- African and African Diaspora CommunityFounded in 1943, Negro Digest (later “Black World”) was the publication that launched Johnson Publishing. During the most turbulent years of the civil rights movement, Negro Digest/Black World served as a critical vehicle for political thought for supporters of the movement.
- African Memory: African history collectionThe Library's Africa collections are comprised of a multitude of different documents ranging from general histories of the continent, private letters, governmental colony yearbooks, diplomatic memoirs, exploration and documents concerning the process of decolonization.
- Black Drama: Third EditionBlack Drama, now in its expanded third edition, contains the full text of more than 1,700 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 200 playwrights from 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. More than 40 percent of the collection consists of previously unpublished plays by writers such as Langston Hughes, Ed Bullins, Willis Richardson, Amiri Baraka, Randolph Edmonds, Zora Neale Hurston, and many others.
- Black freedom struggle in the 20th century. Organizational records and personal papersConsists of personal papers of African records of civil rights organizations. Among the collections are: Papers of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM); Mary McLeod Bethune Papers; Records of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC); Records of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Bayard Rustin Papers; Claude A. Barnett Papers.
- Fanny Lou Hamer Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and WomanPrimary sources from the records of civil rights activist, Fanny Lou Hamer. Among the included materials are correspondence, financial records, photographs, and others.
Printed and Published Primary Sources
- African PeriodicalsThe first Black-owned and operated newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, which was founded in 1827, was prominent in the advocacy of African Americans by African Americans. The first edition of the newspaper noted: “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.” That sentiment trailblazed a special history of news for and by African Americans since.
- Black Authors, 1556-1922: Imprints from the Library Company of PhiladelphiaOver 550 works written by black authors from the Americas, Europe, and Africa.
- Black Short Fiction and FolkloreAccess over 82,000 pages and an estimated 11,000 works of short fiction produced by writers from Africa and the African Diaspora from the earliest times to the present.
- Black thought and culture : African Americans from Colonial times to the present.Access over 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings by major African American leaders, teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers and other figures covering 250 years of history.
- Black Women WritersThis resource contains literature and essays related to feminism by black women writers from the United States, Caribbean, and over 20 African countries.