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Resources for African American Research
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration holds a wealth of material documenting the African American experience, and highlights these resources online, in programs, and through traditional and social media.
National Archives' resources »
Image credit: Photograph of a Young Woman at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. with a Banner, U.S. Information Agency. Press and Publications Service. ca. 1953-ca. 1978. (Library of Congress)
Selected Exhibits and Collections
African American Educators, Education and Schools (Library of Congress) 8Hide All
- American Women and Education: African American Schools
- Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879-1961)
- Frederick D. Patterson (1901-1988)
- Moton Family Papers (1850-1991)
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- The Rosenwald Schools: Selected Works from the Library of Congress Collections (Web Guide)
- Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
Art & Design 6Hide All
- African American Artists in the Collection (National Gallery of Art)
- African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting (Smithsonian Institution)
- American Art, 1900–1950: The Evans-Tibbs Collection (National Gallery of Art)
- The Art of Tattooing (Smithsonian Institution)
- Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection (Library of Congress)
- Josef Nassy (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Baseball 2Hide All
Civil Rights 35Hide All
- 400 Years of African American History (National Park Service)
- Abraham Lincoln Papers (Library of Congress)
- A Day Like No Other: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington (Library of Congress)
- Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights History Project (Smithsonian Institution)
- Mary Church Terrell Papers
Become a virtual volunteer: Help the Library of Congress improve access to African American history! Transcribe the writings of Mary Church Terrell through the By the People project. - Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling (National Archives)
- Changing America – Traveling Exhibition (National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963 (Smithsonian Institution)
- Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Civil Rights Act of 1964 (National Archives)
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom (Library of Congress)
- Civil Right History Project Collection (Library of Congress)
- -- Civil Rights History Project Collection, 2010-2016: Finding Aid (Library of Congress)
- -- The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories (Library of Congress)
- Confrontation Between Black Demonstrators and Segregationists at a "White Only" Beach (World Digital Library)
- Created Equal (National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Frederick Douglass: American Visionary (National Park Service)
- Frederick Douglass Newspapers Collection, 1847 to 1874 (Library of Congress)
- The Frederick Douglass Papers (Library of Congress)
- Freedom Riders (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Freedom: The African American Struggle for Rights & Justice in Words and Images (Library of Congress)
- From Ghana's Independence to Selma’s Bloody Sunday: A Civil Rights Love Story (Smithsonian Institution)
- March on Washington Tour from the National Archives on HistoryPin
- A Moral Appeal to an Amoral Society: MLK's Nonviolent Direct Action (Smithsonian Institution)
- NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom (Library of Congress)
- National Archives African American History Month Set on Flickr
- Official Program for the March on Washington (National Archives)
- The Papers of Rosa Parks (Library of Congress)
- Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination: Documentation by Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Photographer (Library of Congress)
- Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court ruling (National Archives)
- Records of Rights (National Archives)
- Voices of Civil Rights Exhibition (Library of Congress)
- Voting Rights Act of 1965 (National Archives)
- W.E.B. Du Bois in Cyberspace (National Endowment for the Humanities)
- With an Even Hand: Brown v. Board at Fifty Exhibition (Library of Congress)
Culture & Folklife 24Hide All
- #DontMuteDC: An Oral History (Smithsonian Institution)
- African American Heritage and Ethnography (National Park Service)
- African American Newspapers, 1859—1922 from the Chronicling America Collection (Library of Congress)
- African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship Exhibition (Library of Congress)
- African Immigrant Folklife (Smithsonian Institution)
- African American Perspectives: Materials Selected from the Rare Book Collection (Library of Congress)
- African American Photographs Assembled for 1900 Paris Exposition (Library of Congress)
- Black College Life in the New Deal (A National Archives exhibit in the Google Cultural Institute)
- A Celebration of Brazil in D.C.: Festival Afro-Bahia (Smithsonian Institution)
- The Chandeliers “Looked Like Diamonds”: Stories from a White House Worker (Smithsonian Institution)
- Discover Amazing Americans: Activist Mary Church Terrell (Library of Congress)
- Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942 (Library of Congress)
- Free to Use and Reuse: African-AmericanWomen Changemakers (Library of Congress)
- Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture (Smithsonian Institution)
- Maggie Walker National Historic Site Virtual Exhibit (National Park Service)
- McNeill Collection Daguerreotypes （Library of Congress)
- A Nigerian Yoruba Naming Ceremony in the Washington DC Area (Smithsonian Institution)
- Portrait of Black Chicago (National Archives)
- The Progress of a People Exhibition (Library of Congress)
- Ralph Ellison Collection (Library of Congress)
- Rhode Island Folklife Project Collection (Library of Congress)
- South Central Georgia Field Project Collection (Library of Congress)
- StoryCorps Griot Project (Smithsonian Institution/CPB)
- The Will to Adorn: African American Dress and the Aesthetics of Identity
Government & Politics 2Hide All
Historic Places 11Hide All
- African Reflections on the American Landscape: Identifying and Interpreting Africanisms (National Park Service)
- Civil Rights in America
- The Legacy of Slavery
- The Buffalo Soldiers (National Park Service)
- National Register of Historic Places celebrates African American History Month (National Park Service)
- National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom (National Park Service)
- Telling All Americans' Stories: African American Heritage
- Travel the Amistad Freedom-Seeking Story
- Visit African American Heritage Sites
- "We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement” (National Park Service)
- “Where We Could Be Ourselves": African American LGBTQ Historic Places and Why They Matter (National Park Service)
Military 15Hide All
- African-Americans at War: Fighting Two Battles, Stories from the Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)
- African American Military Heritage (National Park Service)
- African Americans in the Revolutionary Period (National Park Service)
- Buffalo Soldiers (National Park Service)
- Buffalo Soldiers: The 92nd in Italy (Library of Congress)
- Charles Bernard Rangel (Veterans History Project, Library of Congress)
- Julius Wesley Becton, Jr. (Veterans History Project, Library of Congress)
- Legends of Tuskegee (National Park Service)
- Liljenquist Collection of Civil War Photos (Library of Congress)
- Lt. Henry O. Flipper's Quest for Justice: "As honorable a record in the Army as any officer in it" (National Archives)
- Soldiers in Uniform (World Digital Library)
- The Spirit of Tuskegee Blog (in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution)
- Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial (National Gallery of Art)
- William A. Gladstone Afro-American Military Collection (Library of Congress)
- The William A. Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs (Library of Congress)
Music & Performing Arts 13Hide All
- African American Band Music and Recordings, 1883-1923 (Library of Congress)
- Afropunk: The Alternative Black Experience (Smithsonian Institution)
- How Laura Veirs Introduced a New Generation to the Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten (Smithsonian Institution)
- Katherine Dunham Collection (Library of Congress)
- "Now What a Time": Blues, Gospel, and the Fort Valley Music Festivals, 1938-1943 (Library of Congress)
- Photos of the Harlem Renaissance (Library of Congress)
- Ragtime (Library of Congress)
- Rhythm and Blues (Smithsonian Institution)
- Session Notes from Songs of Our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Institution)
- Song of America: Ethiopia Saluting the Colors (Library of Congress)
- Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip (Library of Congress)
- William P. Gottlieb Collection of Jazz Photography (Library of Congress)
- The Zora Neale Hurston Plays (Library of Congress)
Social Media 14Hide All
- African American History Month Pinterest Board by the Library of Congress
- African American Portraits 1820 to 1920 -- Pinterest Board from the Library of Congress
- Blog post – A “Reliable Source” for the Assurance of Adequate Accommodations (Library of Congress)
- Blog posts from the Library of Congress Blog related to African Americans
- Blog posts from the Library of Congress’ Headlines and Heroes blog celebrating African-American history
- Blog posts from the American Folklife Center related to African Americans (Library of Congress)
- Blog post -- Rare Book of the Month: W.E.B. Du Bois' Brownies (Library of Congress)
- The Brownies' Book 1920-1921 -- Pinterest Board from the Library of Congress
- Citizen Archivist -- making the records of the National Archives more discoverable (National Archives)
- Emily Howland Album -- Pinterest Board from the Library of Congress
- Exploring Place in African American History (Library of Congress)
- Recognizing African-American Veterans This Month and All Other Months Too (Library of Congress)
- Works by African American Artists from the Collection (National Gallery of Art Pinterest board)
- Year-Round African-American Music History at LOC
Slavery and Emancipation 20Hide All
- Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 (Library of Congress)
- The District of Columbia Emancipation Act (National Archives)
- The Emancipation Proclamation (National Archives)
- Freedom on the Move [A database of fugitives from American Slavery] (National Endowment for the Humanities and Cornell University)
- From Slavery to Freedom: The African American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909 (Library of Congress)
- Grabo. The Armistad [sic] Negroes, Drawn from Life, by Wm. H. Townsend. (World Digital Library)
- The Meaning and Making of Emancipation eBook (National Archives)
- Omar Ibn Said Collection (Library of Congress)
- Omar Ibn Said Collection (Library of Congress)
- Portrait of Mauma Mollie (World Digital Library)
- Sketches of the Amistad Captives (World Digital Library)
- Slave Societies Digital Archive (Vanderbilt University & National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 (Library of Congress)
- Slavery & Abolition (National Park Service)
- Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty (Smithsonian Institution & The Thomas Jefferson Foundation)
- Thompson and Chesson Scrapbooks: Scrapbooks related to the abolition of slavery, (19 scrapbooks)(Library of Congress)
- Uncle Tom's Cabin for Children, 1908 (Library of Congress)
- Underground Railroad Quilt Codes: What We Know, What We Believe, and What Inspires Us (Smithsonian Institution)
- Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Stories (Library of Congress)
- Voyages: The Transatlantic Slave database (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
Resource Guides (Library of Congress) 30Hide All
- Web Guides -- African American History
- African American Business Resources
- The African American Mosaic: Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture
- African American Women in the Sciences and Related Disciplines
- African American Science Books for Younger Readers
- African American Sites in the Digital Collections
- African Business Guide
- Afro-American Genealogical Research
- Billy Taylor Papers—Finding Aid
- Carmen McRae Collection of Musical Arrangements and Other Materials—Finding Aid
- Charles Mingus Collection—Finding Aid
- Civil Rights History Project Collection -- Finding Aid
- Dexter Gordon Collection—Finding Aid
- Digitized Newspaper Articles related to African American History Topics (Chronicling America)
- Eric Dolphy Collection—Finding Aid
- Ella Fitzgerald Collection—Finding Aid
- Fugitive Slave Ads: Topics in Chronicling America
- Great Migration: Finding Pictures
- Gwendolyn Brooks, U.S. Poet Laureate, 1985-86
- Langston Hughes and His Poetry
- Law Library of Congress - Legislative and Executive Branch Documents
- Lester Horton Dance Theater Collection—Finding Aid
- Library of Congress – African & Middle Eastern Reading Room
- Mary Church Terrell Papers—Finding Aid
- Max Roach Papers—Finding Aid
- National Negro Opera Company Collection—Finding Aid
- Primary Documents in American History: Emancipation Proclamation
- Rita Dove, U.S. Poet Laureate, 1993-95
- Silent Protest Parade: Topics in Chronicling America
- Soul Food with a Focus on Health: Selected Resources