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Scholarly & Research Articles
- Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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- What's included? Citations to and full text of over 8,500 journals and magazines, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Covers a wide range of academic subjects including the arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences, technology, and more.
- What dates are covered? Coverage varies, but generally covers the mid 1990s - present. Updated daily.
- America: History and Life with Full Text (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? Citations to and the full text of hundreds of full-text history journals about the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes features such as the ability to search by time period.
- What dates are covered? 1955 to the present
- Historical Abstracts (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? Indexing and abstracts of journal articles and other materials on the history of countries other than the United States and Canada. Updated monthly.
- What dates are covered? 1450 - Present
Primary Source Databases
- Colonial America (AM) This link opens in a new window
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- What's included? Files from the National Archives, UK's CO 5 file class. Consists of the original correspondence and entry books of the Board of Trade, the Secretary of State for the Southern Department and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, together holding responsibility for the British possessions in mainland North America and the Caribbean. Made up of letters, charters and commissions, instructions to officials, military documents (including war diaries), newspapers, printed pamphlets, public notices, maps and many other material types, the documents shed light on all aspects of life in colonial America – political, economic, military, cultural and social.
- What dates are covered? 1606-1822
- Colonial Caribbean (AM) This link opens in a new window
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- What's included? Primary sources covering British governance of 25 islands in the Caribbean, drawn from the Colonial Office Files from the National Archives of the UK. Includes administrative documentation, trade and shipping records, minutes of council meetings, and details of plantation life, colonial settlement, imperial rivalries across the region, and the growing concern of absentee landlords.
- What dates are covered? 1624-1870
- Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice (AM) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? Digitized archival collection of thousands of original manuscripts, pamphlets, books, paintings, maps, and images related to trans-Atlantic slavery and abolition. Containing source material from some 30 libraries and archives across the Atlantic word, the collection includes significant coverage of Slavery Today, US court records from the local, regional and State Supreme Court level, documents on the Islamic slave trade, as well as sources on urban slavery, interracial education, the Day Law in Kentucky, desegregation, and social justice. Documents are presented alongside contextual essays contributed by leading academics in the field.
- Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law (HeinOnline) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? Legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world, including every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. Also includes: hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery; every English-language legal commentary on slavery published before 1920; all modern law review articles on the subject.
- Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War (ProQuest History Vault) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? Consists of nine modules: Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Law and Order in the 19th Century (1636-1880); Confederate Military Manuscripts and Records of Union Generals and the Union Army; Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War, 1865-1877; Slavery and the Law; Slavery in Antebellum Southern Industries (1700-1896); and Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantation Records, Parts 1-4.
- What dates are covered? 1636 - 1915.
- What else should I know? See ProQuest History Vault for descriptions of each database component.
Popular Media & Newspaper Articles
- African American Newspapers Series 1 and 2, 1827-1998 (America's Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? More than 350 U.S. newspapers covering a century and a half of the African American experience. Includes historically significant papers from more than 35 states and features many rare 19th-century titles.
What dates are covered? 1827-1998
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection, Series 1-5 (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? Full-text from more than 6,500 historical periodicals and magazines, provided by the American Antiquarian Society.
- What dates are covered? 1693-1877
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? Page image and full-text index to The New York Times. Additional year of content added annually.
- What dates are covered? 1851 - 2018.
- Readers’ Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? Access almost 100 years of cultural history with citations to over 3 million articles that appeared in 373 leading U.S. magazines.
- What dates are covered? 1890 - Present.
Online Resources
- Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)
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Founders of Black History Month, "the mission of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is to promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about Black life, history and culture to the global community." - Black Facts Online
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A searchable database that allows you to look up Black history facts for every day of the year. Maintained by a Boston-area technology consultant. - Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 (Library of Congress)
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"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 of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)..." - Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (Library of Congress)
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Links to digitized historic (1800's to early 1900's) American newspapers intended for an African-American audience. - H-Afro-Am
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Part of the H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine community, this is a forum for scholarly research in African American history. - Museum of the African Diaspora
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Based in San Francisco, the MOAD's web site hosts online exhibitions with images and text related to the African Diaspora. - National Museum of African American History and Culture
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A project of the Smithsonian Institution this website contains links to topics relevant to African Americans and also lists resources and exhibitions. - Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library)
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- Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 (Library of Congress)
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"Contains just over a hundred pamphlets and books (published between 1772 and 1889) concerning the difficult and troubling experiences of African and African-American slaves in the American colonies and the United States." - Voices from the Days of Slavery (Library of Congress)
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Personal narratives of former slaves, gathered through interviews conducted from 1932-1975. - W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research
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Named after the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1895, this website provides links to current research projects, fellows program and other research databases. A project of Harvard University.
Encyclopedias & Reference Sources
African American National Biography by Call Number: URI REF E185.96 A4466 2008ISBN: 9780195160192Publication Date: 2008-02-18This multi-volume set contains a wealth of information on famous African Americans. Each article includes a list of further readings and information about locating published obituaries where available.
Africana by Call Number: URI REF DT14 A37435 2005ISBN: 0195170555Publication Date: 2005This five-volume encyclopedia contains detailed entries on a broad range of topics related to the African and African American experience: historical, political, cultural, and more. Many articles contain illustrations and bibliographies.
Black America by Call Number: URI REF E185 .B537 2011ISBN: 9780313341120Publication Date: 2011Arranged alphabetically by state, each entry provides a chronology of important events, an historical overview, short profiles of notable individuals, and a bibliography for further reading.
Encyclopedia of African American History by Call Number: URI Reference E185 E544 2010ISBN: 9781851097692Publication Date: 2010-02-01This three-volume encyclopedia explains major terms and provides biographies of famous figures in African American history. Entries include bibliographies.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619 - 1895 and 1896 to the Present by Call Number: URI REF E185 E5453 2009ISBN: 9780195167795Publication Date: 2009-02-02Covers major topics in African American history from the Colonial period until the present. Articles include bibliographies for further research.
Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora by Call Number: URI REF DT16.5 E53 2008ISBN: 9781851097005Publication Date: 2008-07-29This three-volume encyclopedia outlines major topics related to African "origins, experiences, and culture." Topics include biographies, themes, countries, traditions, and more. Includes bibliographies.
Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion by Call Number: URI Ref. E447 E53 2007ISBN: 9780313332715Publication Date: 2006Entries highlights key slave revolts throughout North America, and also includes rebellions in the Caribbean and South America.
Milestone Documents in African American History by Call Number: URI REF E184.6 M55 2010ISBN: 9781935306054Publication Date: 2010-05-01This four-volume set includes the text of important documents as well as an overview, context, and further readings. Also available online at http://history.salempress.com.uri.idm.oclc.org/doi/book/10.3735/mdaa.
