How to find resources?
Primary source research is not fast. This type of research can take time, so be patient with yourself and ensure you have allotted enough time to be successful in your research.
Linked below are a number of research collections specifically containing information about African American individuals throughout American history. Click through them and either browse or search via keyword for specific items.
Remember, just because you tried one search and didn't achieve results, this doesn't mean what you are looking for doesn't exist. You might have to try various keywords, even some historical terms, or try searching in various places before you are successful with your search.
Primary Sources Online
- Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories - Library of Congress CollectionThe recordings of former slaves in Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories took place between 1932 and 1975 in nine states. Twenty-three interviewees discuss how they felt about slavery, slaveholders, coercion of slaves, their families, and freedom. Several individuals sing songs, many of which were learned during the time of their enslavement. The individuals documented in this presentation have much to say about living as African Americans from the 1870s to the 1930s, and beyond.
- North American Slave Narrativescollects books and articles that document the individual and collective story of African Americans struggling for freedom and human rights in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. This collection includes all the existing autobiographical narratives of fugitive and former slaves published as broadsides, pamphlets, or books in English up to 1920.
Made available by the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. - Black Abolitionist ArchiveThe Black Abolitionist Digital Archive is a collection of over 800 speeches by antebellum blacks and approximately 1,000 editorials from the period. The collection is searchable by keyword or you can browse by keyword, author, publication or organization.
- Fold3 - Black History CollectionFold3 provides convenient access to military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served. This collection on Black History focuses specifically on African American history from 17th Century slavery to the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
- Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938 - Library of Congress CollectionBorn in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Projects Administration (WPA).
- African American Perspectives: Materials Selected from the Rare Book CollectionMaterials selected by the Library of Congress from the African American Pamphlet Collection and the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection published from 1822 through 1909, by African-American authors and others who wrote about slavery, African colonization, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and related topics. The materials range from personal accounts and public orations to organizational reports and legislative speeches.
- James Birney Collection of Anti-Slavery PamphletsAs an abolitionist writer and publisher, James Birney recognized that books, pamphlets and newspapers were the lifeblood of anti-slavery agitation. In 1891, his son William presented his father's collection of over 1,000 books and pamphlets to The Johns Hopkins University. It contained materials gathered by James Birney in the course of his anti-slavery labors, and items gathered by William Birney while preparing a biography of his father. Over the years the collection has been augmented and now includes both anti- and pro-slavery material; printed speeches; African colonization; politics and campaign biographies; and black education.
- Frederick Douglass Papers - Library of CongressDouglass Papers, from the Library of Congress's Manuscript Division, contains approximately 7,400 items (38,000 images) relating to Douglass' life as an escaped slave, abolitionist, editor, orator, and public servant. The papers span the years 1841 to 1964, with the bulk of the material from 1862 to 1895. The collection consists of correspondence, speeches and articles.
- Anti-slavery Manuscripts Collection at the Internet ArchiveThe papers of William Lloyd Garrison and other historical figures central to the Boston anti-slavery movement can be viewed and downloaded for free. You can browse by subject or keyword.
- Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery CollectionNumbering over 10,000 titles, May's pamphlets and leaflets document the anti-slavery struggle at the local, regional, and national levels. Sermons, position papers, offprints, local Anti-Slavery Society newsletters, poetry anthologies, freedmen's testimonies, broadsides, and Anti-Slavery Fair keepsakes all document the social and political implications of the abolitionist movement.
Primary Sources through the UHV Library
You can find primary sources in things like books and anthologies. Books can contain diaries, letters, and other types of primary sources. In our library catalog (see the search box below) you can search the following keywords to find primary source material on U.S. slavery topics. Note that these are just ideas to get you started and not all of the keywords that might work:
- Slave narratives
- Slavery Personal narratives
- Slaveholders Diaries
- Slaves' writing
- African American Heritage (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Search essential historical records for African Americans, including Federal Census, Marriage and Cohabitation Records, Military Draft and Service Records, Registers of Slaves and Free(d) Persons of Color, Freedman's Bank, and more. Proquest
Search Library Catalog
Primary Sources at the Victoria Regional History Center
The Barry A. Crouch Collection is located in the Victoria Regional History Center in the UHV Library. This collection consists of Mr. Crouch's research notes, monographs, and historical records created or collected by Dr. Crouch throughout his career.
A large part of the Barry A. Crouch Collection consists of information on the Freedmen's Bureau, reconstruction and slavery.