LibGuides: HISTORY 189S: Slavery and Its Afterlives: Find primary sources

Guide to Primary Sources

Finding and Using Primary Sources
Primary sources are those created contemporaneously to whatever period a researcher is studying. In contrast to secondary sources, they don't provide any analysis on a given topic after the fact; instead, they reflect on information or events as they unfolded (for example, a newspaper article, from the time of a particular historical event, discussing the historical event as it happened). Primary sources are especially useful for researchers because they reveal how certain topics and ideas were understood during a specific time and place. The particular primary sources you might use in your research, as well as how you find them, can vary a lot based on your field of study. This guide aims to provide helpful information on where to go about searching for primary sources, both at Duke and beyond.

Black Abolitionist Papers
Black Abolitionist Papers searches a unique set of primary sources from African Americans actively involved in the movement to end slavery in the United States between 1830 and 1865. The content includes letters, speeches, editorials, articles, sermons, and essays from libraries and archives in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. Over 15,000 items written by nearly 300 Black men and women are available for searching.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries
Search for primary sources from North American women from colonial times to the 1950
Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive
Search primary sources related to the history of slavery from the 15th through the early 20th century
Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War
Search for primary source materials on the plantation system and its impacts.
Southern Life, Slavery and the Civil War: Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War
Search primary documents on the Reconstruction period including records of the U.S. Army’s Office of Civil Affairs, the Freedman’s Hospital, and the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company.

ProQuest Black Studies
Combines primary and secondary sources, leading historical Black newspapers, archival documents, government materials, video, writings by major American Black intellectuals and leaders, and essays by top scholars in Black Studies.
Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle
Search for primary source materials on the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th century. Includes NAACP Papers, federal government records, organizational records, and personal papers.
HistoryMakers Digital Archive
View oral history video interviews with thousands of historically significant African Americans in the arts, business, education,entertainment, law, the military, politics, sports, religion, science, and medicine.

ArchiveGrid
Search for archival materials from archives, libraries, museums and historical societies. This is an open access database.
WorldCat
Search over 36 million items from libraries worldwide

SlaveVoyages
Search across the records of almost 35,000 slaving voyages that forcibly embarked over 10 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. This is an open access database.

Digital Public Library of America
The DPLA is an all-digital library that aggregates images and metadata from libraries, museums and institutions around the country.
Colored Conventions Project
Records and exhibits documenting the 19th century gathering of African Americans in political meetings in the United States and Canada to promote civil and human rights.
Umbra Search African American History
"Umbra is a digital library that brings together materials documenting African American history and cultural life from archives, libraries, museums, and other US repositories. Umbra features thumbnail images and descriptive information about photographs, manuscripts, documents, books, sound files, video files, and other freely available resources."