Sometimes collections of primary source documents are republished in books. To find books like these, search WPI Library Search for books about your topic and add keywords like sourcebook, documents, primary sources, documentary history, papers, letters, journal, diary, memoir, or autobiography to your search terms. You can also search for books written by the people you are studying.
Biographical information on people from throughout history. This resource is provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in partnership with the Massachusetts Library System (MLS). The purchase is supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Search full text and images 1851-2020 including news, illustrations, editorials, and advertisements.
Online archive of eBooks and complete backruns of scholarly journals in a variety of academic fields.
The Book of Negroes: African Americans in Exile after the American Revolution by 
The Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln, and Slavery Through Primary Sources by 
The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader by 
Hair Matters by
Substantive, ethnographically informed research on the politics of Black hair Drawing on interviews with over 50 women, from teens to seniors, Hair Matters is the first book on the politics of Black hair to be based on substantive, ethnographically informed research. Focusing on the everyday discussions that Black women have among themselves and about themselves, Ingrid Banks analyzes how talking about hair reveals Black women's ideas about race, gender, sexuality, beauty, and power. Ultimately, what emerges is a survey of Black women's consciousness within both their own communities and mainstream culture at large.
To find primary sources via Google, try adding keywords like primary sources, documents, archives, journals, papers, letters, or documentary history to your search terms.
Digitized historical African American newspapers available through the Library of Congress.
Chronicles "America's journey through slavery" with historical documents. Primary source material is linked under "Resource Bank" in each of the four parts.
Duke University's collection of interviews, photographs, and oral history project files chronicling African-American life in the American South with a particular focus on the era of legal segregation and its immediate aftermath from the 1890s to the 1970s.
Black Freedom features select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history.
BlackPast.org is dedicated to providing the inquisitive public with comprehensive, reliable, and accurate information concerning the history of African Americans in the United States and people of African ancestry in other regions of the world.
A digitized collection of Booker T. Washington's papers, speeches, etc. from the Library of Congress.
Includes images, texts, and sound/video clips.
The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute curates all forms of Hiphop material culture including recordings, videos, websites, films, original papers, works, references, productions, conferences, meetings, interviews, publications, research, formal proceedings, etc.
A large number of primary source collection materials related to African American history are digitized and available online via the Library of Congress's website, including manuscripts, newspaper articles, images, and rare books.
"North American Slave Narratives" collects books and articles that document the individual and collective story of Black people struggling for freedom and human rights in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.
This website is a digital archive for hundreds of historical images, paintings, lithographs, and photographs illustrating enslaved Africans and their descendants before c. 1900.
Aggregates collections of primary source material - from libraries, archives, and cultural heritage organizations - that document African American history and culture.
The American Antiquarian Society "has assembled [one of the world's] largest and most accessible collection of books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, periodicals, children's literature, music, and graphic arts material printed before the twentieth century in what is now the United States. The library of over four million items also includes a substantial collection of secondary texts, bibliographies, digital resources, and reference works."
The Massachusetts Historical Society "is the nation’s first historical society and one of the greatest repositories of American history, life, and culture."
Houghton’s "collections related to Black history range from the 18th century through today, but have historically been difficult to discover amongst all the other material. This collection brings together a curated collection of materials ranging from the Early Republic through Reconstruction."
