Library Guides: AAS 101: Research Methods for African American Studies: Finding Primary Sources

Examples of Primary Sources

Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Federal Government Records This link opens in a new window
Federal Government records relating to the role of civil rights organizations in pushing for civil rights legislation and the interaction between African Americans and the federal government in the 20th century
Major collections in this module include the FBI Files on Martin Luther King Jr.; Centers of the Southern Struggle, FBI Files covering five of the most pivotal arenas of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s: Montgomery, Albany, St. Augustine, Selma, and Memphis; and records from the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

African Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area
Call Number: BANC PIC 1985.079--AX Bancroft Library
Finding Aid
We wanted a revolution: black radical women, 1965-85: a sourcebook
Call Number: HQ1421 .W4 2017 Main (Gardner) Stacks

Black Newspapers

Some African American historical and current newspapers are available electronically through subscription databases from UC Berkeley.

African American Historical Newspapers (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
African American Historical Newspapers provides researchers with unprecedented access to perspectives and information that was excluded or marginalized in mainstream sources. Use this link to search across a range of newspapers significant to African American history.
Access includes: Atlanta Daily World‎ (1931 - 2010), The Baltimore Afro-American‎ (1893 - 2010), Chicago Defender‎ (1909 - 2010), Cleveland Call and Post (1934 - 2010), Los Angeles Sentinel‎ (1934 - 2010), Louisville Defender (1951 - 2010), Michigan Chronicle (1939 - 2010), New York Amsterdam News‎ (1922 - 2010), Norfolk Journal and Guide‎ (1916 - 2010), The Philadelphia Tribune (1912 - 2010), (Pittsburgh Courier‎ (1911 - 2010) .

African American Newspapers (Accessible Archives)
Includes The Canadian Observer, The Christian Recorder, The Colored American, Frederick Douglass’ Paper, The Freedmen’s Record, Frederick Douglass Monthly, Freedom’s Journal, The National Era, The Negro Business League Herald, The North Star, Provincial Freeman, and the Weekly Advocate.
African American Newspapers in the South, 1870-1926 (Accessible Archives)
African American Newspapers in the South, 1870-1926 provides a unique journalistic record of the African American experience in segregated southern America. Includes all complete runs of representative newspapers from the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

African American Newspapers, Series I (1827-1998) This link opens in a new window
Provides access to over 280 African American newspapers from around the country.
This collection includes historically significant African American Newspapers from more than 35 states and features many rare 19th-century titles. Also includes several California titles like the Los Angeles Tribune (1943-1960), Oakland Sunshine (1915-1922), and Western Outlook (1914-1928), and the Elevator (1865-1898).
19th Century U.S. Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Images of both full pages and clipped articles for hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers. (Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers)
For each issue, the newspaper is captured from cover-to-cover, providing access to every article, advertisement and illustration.
Ethnic NewsWatch (ENWH) This link opens in a new window
Index of over 200 ethnic, minority, and native press publications, including news, culture, and history topics. Searchable in English and Spanish. (ENWALL) [1960 - present]
Also includes a retrospective backfile of titles (1960-1989).

Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847 to 1874
This online collection presents newspapers edited by Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), the African American abolitionist who escaped slavery and became one of the most famous orators, authors, and journalists of the 19th century.

Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
Over 1000 alternative press titles focusing on the 60s, 70s and 80s. Includes publications by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinos, gays, lesbians and more. [1960 - 2000]

The Library's Newspaper & Microforms Room holds a number of African American newspapers from throughout the U.S. Papers on microfilm are shelved in title order by state. Currently received print titles are shelved by title. Some titles are also available in the Bancroft Library. Examples of California papers are listed below. Click on the newspaper title to link to its UC Library Search record.

The California Voice (Oakland) Location: News/Micro NEWSFILM-1 (separate issues)

Flatlands (Oakland) Location: News/Micro MICROFILM 78777, Bancroft BANC NMP 6764:2:3

The Oakland Post Location: News/Micro NEWSPRINT-1

The Sacramento Observer Location: News/Micro NEWSFILM-1

The Sun-Reporter (San Francisco) Location: News/Micro NEWSFILM-1

The Peninsula Bulletin (East Palo Alto) Location: News/Micro NEWSFILM-1

Los Angeles Tribune (Los Angeles, 1941-1960) Location: library only has selected issues, mainly from 1947-1952 in News/Micro NEWSFILM-1; 1943-1960 are included in African American Newspapers, Series 1.

The California Eagle (Los Angeles) Location: library has 1913-1930, 1944-53 in News/Micro NEWSFILM-1

The Stanford Library has one of the largest collection of newspapers in print and microfilm in the United States. They are available for on-site viewing by UCB affiliated persons. The Center for Research Libraries lends newspapers on microfilm to UCB patrons.

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AAS 101: Research Methods for African American Studies: Finding Primary Sources

Find primary sources using these guides

Examples of Primary Sources

Black Newspapers