History - Primary Sources: African Americans

Click "Exhibition" and page through using the "Next" links (lower right of the page) to see various images and primary documents. (National Library of Medicine)

Includes primary sources on slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, black in the World Wars, and the Civil Rights Movement. (Footnote.com)

Includes a number of documents and images related to 19th century African American history. Click "Browse Subjects" to find subjects related to African Americans, or just do a search. (New York Public Library)

An interactive mapping tool for visualizing primary data drawn from legal records, newspapers and other archival and published sources, about everyday life in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, 1915-1930. Focuses on the lower socioeconomic end of the population rather than the affluent members of Harlem society. (Note: the map images themselves are not primary documents, but the data being mapped is original data from primary sources, as detailed on the Sources tab.) (Univ. of Sydney)

Paul Heinegg's books available online.

Educational resource ideal for students, teachers, and institutions alike. Access interviews, biographies, videos, archival photography, and more for over 3,300 African Americans known and unknown. .

Collection details NCWC's work with veterans of the First and Second World Wars in the U.S. (1927, 1942-46) Largely photographs of social events, religious events, etc. Many images feature African American soldiers and children, as well as interracial groups and events. (Catholic Univ. of America)

1956 edition of a travel guide series (1936-1964), intended to provide African American motorists and tourists with information about where they could board, dine, and sightsee comfortably and safely during the era of segregation. Browse or search the book, or explore the many of the listed places on an interactive map. (Univ. of South Carolina)

Well-known African American attorney Walter L. Gordon collected these photographs taken by the African American newspaper the California Eagle. The photos depict black social life in Los Angeles, leading members of the black community, black resorts, local political figures, jazz legends, and more. (UCLA/Univ. of California Los Angeles)