Primary sources provide first-hand evidence or accounts of historical events. In general these are documents that are created closest to the time that you are researching. Primary sources may be created at the time of the event or at a later date by persons present at the event and may include slave narratives, letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, speeches, official documents and records, photographs, paintings, and other creative works.
Afro-American History Series
Reproduction of documents relating to Black history in America
Main Micro Fiche 1182(58 microfiche)
Civil Rights Digital Library
Hosted at the University of Georgia, the web site includes primary
sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives,
museums, public broadcasters, including unedited news film from major
networks in Georgia.
Civil Rights Resource Guide
From the Library of Congress, includes access to the digital collections of the Library of Congress, as well as external links.
Du Bois Online
The digitized papers of W.E.B. Dubois held at UMass Amherst; includes photos, correspondence, essays, lectures, and notes.
Documenting the American South
A collection of primary resources for the study of Southern history, literature, & culture.
U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
A
good source for researching federal civil rights policy, this site
includes a FAQ page, committee and task reports. A good source when
researching federal civil rights policy.
Some Indexes and Databases also provide access to primary source material
American Association for Affirmative Action
An association of professionals managing affirmative action, equal opportunity, diversity and other human resource programs.
Black Freedom Struggle
Primary source materials from organizations, including SCLC, RAM, and other organizations and personal papers, including Claude Barnett and Bayard Rustin. Also includes primary materials related to legislature and case law.
Center for Individual Rights
A non-profit public interest law firm "dedicated to the defense of individual liberties against the increasingly aggressive and unchecked authority of federal and state governments."
Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall Law Library
"The Marshall Law Library has been digitizing the historic documents of this important Commission, which since 1957, has attempted to examine issues dealing with race, ethnicity, religion, and, more recently, sexual orientation."
The Papers of the Congress of Racial Equality, 1941-1967 (microform)
Main Micro Film #2694-2742
Guide: Main Micro Index E185.61 C67 P3 guide
The Papers of the Congress of Racial Equality: Addendum, 1944-1968 (microform)
Main Micro Film #2276-2300
Guide: Main Micro Index E185.61 C67 P3 Suppl. guide
Papers of the NAACP, Part 1 and Part 4 (microform)
Meetings of the Board of Directors, records of annual conferences, major speeches, and special reports, 1909-1950, and voting rights campaign, 1916-1950
Main Micro Film #3038
Guide:Main Micro Index E185.61 N3P3
SNCC, 1960-1966
"This site covers the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from its birth in 1960 to 1966, when John Lewis was replaced by Stokely Carmichael as chairman."
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee papers, 1959-1972
Main Micro Film 2301-2373
Guide: Main Micro Index E185.61 .S86 1981 guide
American Association for Affirmative Action
An association of professionals managing affirmative action, equal opportunity, diversity and other human resource programs
Center for Individual Rights
A non-profit public interest law firm "dedicated to the defense of individual liberties against the increasingly aggressive and unchecked authority of federal and state governments."
Other Sources at Colby or Bates
Papers of the NAACP. Part 21, Relations with the modern civil rights movement, 1956-1965 (microform) 22 reels and printed guide
Records of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, 1895-1992 (microform) 26 reels and printed guide
Roper Center
A database of public opinion polls since 1935.
African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: A National Bibliography
Main Ref Z6944.N39 A37 1998
The "Subject and Features Index" lists over 150 publications devoted to women
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998
More than 270 African American newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries.
America's Historical Newspapers
Database of cover-to-cover reproductions of hundreds of historic newspapers, 1690-1922.
Chicago Defender (1910-1975)
Ethnic Newswatch
Includes full text of newspapers and periodical published by ethnic and minority presses in the US.
LexisNexis Academic
Includes US and international newspapers, newswires, and tv and radio transcripts
Proquest Newspapers
Includes 500 U.S. and international news sources, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and various Maine newspapers.
Affirmative Action Review: Report to the President
July 1995 report to the President
of the United States on federal affirmative action programs, includes a history of affirmative action, a review of federal programs, rationale and justification, statistics
demonstrating its effects, overviews of existing affirmative action
programs, and text of the President's directive.
Civil Rights During the Johnson Administration, 1963-1969: A Collection From the Holdings of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin Texas. (microform)
Main Micro Film #2490-2535
Civil Rights During the Kennedy Administration, 1961-1963: A collection From the Holdings of the John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts(microform)
Main Micro Film #2601-2619
Guide: Main Micro Index JC599 .U5 C567 guide
FBI: FOIA/Privacy Website
Provides access to information from the FBI’s Central Records System, including previously inaccessible files on civil rights figures.
Federal Surveillance of Afro-Americans (1917-1925): The First World War, The Red Scare, and The Garvey Movement (microform)
Main Micro Film #1966-1990
Guide to the collection is at Main Micro Index E185.61 .F434 1985 guide
The Martin Luther King, Jr. FBI File (microform)
Main Micro Film #3092 (25 reels)
Guide: Main Micro Index E185.97.K5 M34 guide
