Library Guides: Historical Primary Sources: United States: Civil Rights

Online Resources

1964 Freedom Summer Collection
More than 100 manuscript collections documenting the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964. In them you will find official records of organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); the personal papers of movement leaders and activists such as Amzie Moore, Mary King and Howard Zinn, letters and diaries of northern college students who went South to volunteer for the summer; newsletters produced in Freedom Schools; racist propaganda, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and brochures, magazine articles, telephone call logs, candid snapshots, internal memos, press releases and much more.
American Race Relations: Global Perspectives, 1941-1996 (FBIS)
Thousands of commentaries on African American, Hispanic American, Asian American and Native American history covering foreign reactions to America's struggles with racial justice from the Jim Crow era to the Civil Rights movements and beyond.

Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movements
Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movements focuses on unearthing and digitizing the histories of civil rights activism by the everyday citizens of Black, Latine, Indigenous, and Asian American/Pacific Islander communities. The program will include up to four collections, targeted for completion by the end of 2025.
The first collection in development will focus on the African American experience and will draw on primary source materials from colleges and universities, historical societies, public libraries, community archives and other institutions.
Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle
"This collection is drawn from the FBI Surveillance Files on the Black Liberation Army, a black nationalist-Marxist militant organization that operated in the 1970’s.
"[1970-1983]
Composed largely of former Black Panthers, the organization’s stated goal was to “take up arms for the liberation and self-determination of black people in the United States.” (1970 - 1983).
Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement: The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)
Drawn from the personal collection of Dr. Muhammad Ahmad, founder of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM). [1962-1999]
"RAM was engaged in voter registration and education drives, protesting segregation and police brutality, and demanding Black Studies at colleges and universities.

Although RAM was dissolved in 1968 it influenced the African People’s Party, Black Panther Party, League of Revolutionary Black Workers, and many others. (1962-1999)"

Brown v. Board of Education Digital Archive
Contains documents and images which chronicle events surrounding this historically significant case up to the present

Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle
This database offers the opportunity to study the most well-known and also unheralded events of the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century from the perspective of the men, women, and sometimes even children who waged one of the most inspiring social movements in American history. This category includes NAACP Papers, federal government records, organizational records, and personal papers regarding the 20th Century Black Freedom Struggle. The collections in this category include documentation on the major events of the civil rights era, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Rides, March on Washington, Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Selma to Montgomery March, and other events spanning the full 20th Century.

Civil Rights Digital Library
Publications, video, oral histories, and more documenting the civil rights movement
Civil Rights Greensboro
Archival resources documenting the modern civil rights era in Greensboro, North Carolina, from the 1940s to the early 1980s.
Civil Rights History Project
Filmed oral history interviews of people involved in the movement.
Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive
Includes a selection of digitized photographs, letters, diaries, and other documents. Oral history transcripts are also available, as well as finding aids for manuscript collections.
Latino Civil Rights during the Carter Administration, 1979-1981 (HV)
Documents the Carter administration’s policies addressing Latino civil rights, including issues of immigration, labor, and education. Records include correspondence, reports, and policy discussions, highlighting government efforts and community responses.
March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project
Photographs, unedited news film footage, text documents, and oral history interviews illustrating the history of civil rights in Milwaukee

Race Relations in America
A collection of primary source material from the Race Relations Department at Fisk University, focusing on race relations across three pivotal decades in the struggle for civil rights in the United States. [1943-1970]
The work of the Department highlighted topics such as poverty and inequality, class, housing, employment, education and government policy. This resource sheds light on the work of the Department through the digitization of extensive records from the Department’s archives, now held at the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans.

Reverend J. H. Jackson and the National Baptist Convention, 1900-1990 (HV)
Features records documenting the leadership of Reverend J.H. Jackson within the National Baptist Convention. Topics include the Convention’s role in civil rights advocacy, religious education, and addressing racial inequality. The collection highlights Jackson’s efforts to navigate tensions between activism and traditional religious values within the Black church.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Digital Gateway
The site combines narrative with hundreds of videos and documents to tell the story of one of America's most influential black freedom movement organizations.

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Historical Primary Sources: United States: Civil Rights

Online Resources