These are just a few of the primary source collections available to you through Wellesley and on the open web. For more ideas, see our Primary Sources guides for History and Literature, or contact me for help finding sources related to your topic!
A growing collection of nearly 3,000 oral history video interviews with both well-known and unsung African Americans, highlighting the history, lives, careers, and accomplishments of African Americans across a wide variety of fields.
Thousands of articles by scholars focused on the lives and events that have shaped African American and African history and culture, along with primary source documents, encyclopedias, and biographies.
Focusing primarily on Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and North Carolina, this resource documents multiple aspects of African American communities through pamphlets, news, letters, photos, maps, and oral histories. Themes include arts and culture, civil rights and Black power, education, policing, and faith and religion.
Dates: 1810-2011 CE
A primary source archive of photographs, sound recordings, transcripts, interviews, administrative reports, and statistics on topics such as housing, employment, the labor movement, school desegregation and church integration.
Dates: 1943-1970 CE
Millions of full-text books and other publications from academic, research library, and other collections from around the world.
To access the largest number of volumes and features, please log in as a Wellesley user:
Select the LOG IN button and then choose Wellesley College from the drop-down menu. You may then be prompted to authenticate yourself via the Wellesley login screen.
Full-text of 282 Black American newspapers.
Dates: 1827-1998 CE
Full text of more than 170 wide-ranging publications by and about African Americans, including academic journals, magazines, newsletters, reports, and other genres.
Dates: 1825-1997 CE
The full text of one of America's biggest African-American newspapers. Browsable by article type (obituary, editorial, etc).
Dates: 1909-1975 CE
A full-text primary source archive of the New York Amsterdam News, an African-American newspaper. Articles, editorials, and images that chronical the cultural, social, and political developments within Black communities in New York City and beyond during the 20th century.
Dates: 1922-1993 CE
Full-text historical news articles in major American and British newspapers, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and more.
Dates: 1791-2003 CE
Full text of more than 60 newspapers from across Africa, in English and other languages.
Dates: 1800-1922 CE
Full text of alternative press newspapers, magazines, and journals, produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press, and alternative literary magazines.
Dates: 1950-2023 CE
Full text newspapers, magazines, and journals from ethnic, minority and Native presses. Filter by ethnic group and language.
Dates: 1960 CE-Present