African-American Primary Sources - Microforms

Microform Collections

Africans in the News (microfilm, M9666)

Black Biographical Dictionaries, 1790-1950 (microfilm, M6580, guide)

The Black Power Movement (microfilm and guides)

Part 1: M9481
This collection of Amiri Baraka materials covers Baraka's career, from his involvement in the Black Arts movement in the mid-1960's through his nationalist and Marxist periods.  The collection consists of rare works of poetry, organizational records, print publications, over one hundred articles, poems, plays or speeches by Baraka, a small amount of personal correspondence, and oral histories.  The documents span from 1960 to 1988.

Part 2: M9501
Guide located here: http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/upa_cis/group.asp?g=141
This collection of Robert F. Williams papers includes a wealth of William's personal correspondence as well as a near complete series of transcripts of the program: "Radio Free Dixie", a complete edition of The Crusader, the large FBI file on Williams, dating to the late 1940's (as well as the CIA and State Dept. files on Williams), copies of his speeches and writings, extensive news clippings on his career, miscellaneous rare publications of the Black Power Movement, and photographs of his life in America, Cuba and China.

Part 3: M9578
This collection of Papers of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) consists of the personal files of RAM founder and National Field Chairman Muhammad Ahmad and of RAM members John H. Bracey, Jr. and Ernie Allen Jr.  This collection of RAM records reproduces the central writings and position statements of RAM and its leaders.  It also covers organizations that evolved from or were influenced by RAM and persons that had close ties to RAM.

Part 4: M9659
The League of Revolutionary Black Workers, 1965-76.

Mary McLeod Bethune Papers (microfilm, M7369)

Writings, diaries, scrapbooks, biographical materials, files on the National Youth Administration and women's organizations, 1918-1955, Correspondence files, 1914-1955, Subject files, 1939-1955, and Administration of Bethune-Cookman College and the Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation, 1915-1955.

NAACP Papers (microfilm, M5100)

The Negro in the Military Service of the U.S., 1639-1886 (microfilm, N4368)

Papers of A. Philip Randolph (microfilm, M9547)

Papers of Arthur B. Spingarn (microfilm, M9586)

Correspondence, memoranda, minutes of meetings, wills and estate files, reports, briefs, hearing and trial transcripts, and other papers relating chiefly to Singarn's service with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as vice president, chairman of the legal committee, and president (1911-1965)

Papers of Frederick Douglass (microfilm, M9254)

"... Papers which were in the Douglass' library at the time of his death in 1895, ... relating principally to his career during and after the Civil War".

Papers of the American Slave Trade (microfilm, M7343)

Selections from the Rhode Island Historical Society, the Newport Historical Society, and Records of the U.S. Customhouses.

Papers of W.E.B. Du Bois (microfilm, M6659)

Proceedings of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery: 1778, 1792, 1796, 1798, 1800, 1812, 1816, 1817, 1819, 1821, 1823, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1855 (microfilm, N402, no guide)

Race, Slavery and Free Blacks (microfilm, M9548)

Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War (microfilm, M6133, M6142-M6146, M6481, M6523, M6527, guides)

"Plantation records illuminate nearly every aspect of plantation life.  Not only business operations and day-to-day labor routines, but family affairs, the roles of women, racial attitudes, relations between masters and slaves, social and cultural life, the values shared by members of the planter class, and the tensions and anxieties that were inseparable from a slave society, all are revealed with a fullness and candor unmatched by any of the other available sources.  Moreover, these records are immensely valuable for studies of black slavery.  Needless to say, since they were compiled by members of the white master class, they provide little direct evidence of the inner feelings and private lives of the slave population.  But they are the best sources of information about the care and treatment of slaves, about problems in the management of slave labor, and about forms of slave resistance short of open rebellion.  They also tell us much about the behavior of slaves, from which historians can at least draw inferences about the impact of slavery on the minds and personalities of its black victims."

Rhodes House Anti-Slavery Papers (microfilm, N2606)

Material relating to America from the anti-slavery collection in Rhodes House, Oxford; mainly 1839-1868.

Slave Narratives (microfiche, N89 and DC Slave Narratives, M5467 - no guides)

Various papers of this collection online: http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/index.html

"On file in Washington ... was a large body of slave narratives, photographs of former slaves, interviews with white informants regarding slavery, transcripts of laws, advertisements, records of sale, transfer and manumission of slaves, and other documents.  As unpublished manuscripts of the Federal Writer's Project, these records passed into the hands of the Library of Congress Project for processing; and from them has been assembled the present collection of some two thousand narratives from the following seventeen states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia."

Slavery in Ante-Bellum Southern Industries (microfilm, M6727)

Series D, Part 1
Selections from the University of Virginia Library; Mining and Smelting Industries.

Southern Women's Diaries (microfilm, M6464 and guide)

"The collection brings together the manuscript diaries of thirty-two women who lived in the American South during the nineteenth century.  The written accounts begin in the early 1800's ... while the focal point of many of the diaries is the War with eyewitness reports of it's devastation, the collection provides a record of day-to-day life on plantations, the more comfortable coastal cities and small inland towns."

State Slavery Statutes (microfiche, S201.717 and guide)

"This collection documents how the legislatures of the American South maintained slavery from the time of independence until the 1860's, when the Emancipation Proclamation, the armies of Sherman and Grant, and finally the Thirteenth Amendment brought an end to slavery ... In this project we have attempted to find and publish every statute passed in the fifteen slave states that dealt with slavery, free blacks and the broader issue of race."

Newspapers

There were few newspapers published for blacks prior to the twentieth century.  The few that are held here are indicated below.  Dates in brackets [ ] indicate scattered holdings.  A call number following the dates is for microfilm.  Those issues held in paper form are indicated by the word paper following the dates.

Colored American (New York, NY)

Call Number: S5753
Holdings: Mar. 7, 1840-Mar. 13, 1841

Emancipator (Boston, MA)

Paper
Holdings: Mar. 17, 1842
                 [ 1845-1846 ]

Freedom's Journal (New York, NY)

Call Number: N3621
Holdings: Mar.-Dec. 1827
                 1828-Mar. 1829

Weekly Anglo-African (New York, NY)

Call Number: N2593
Holdings: [ 1861-1865 ]

The following list is for Southern newspapers published between the 1730's and 1865.  These newspapers may shed some light on the black experience through advertisements and articles concerned with slaves and slavery.  These titles are arranged alphabetically.

Alabama Beacon (Greensboro, AL)
Alexandria Gazette (Alexandria, VA)
Baltimore American (Baltimore, MD)
Baltimore Patriot (Baltimore, MD)
Baltimore Weekly Sun (Baltimore, MD)
Banner of the Constitution (Washington, DC)
Charleston Courier (Charleston, SC)
Charleston Mercury and Morning Advertiser (Charleston, SC)
Charleston Observer (Charleston, SC)
Chronicle (Hayneville, AL)
Columbus Enquirer (Columbus, GA)
Constitution (Washington, DC)
Corner Stone (Columbus, GA)
Daily Bulletin (Charlotte, NC)
Daily Columbus Enquirer (Columbus, GA)
Daily Constitutionalist (Augusta, GA)
Daily Dispatch (Richmond, VA)
Daily Express (Petersburg, VA)
Daily Intelligencer (Petersburg, VA)
Daily Morning Chronicle (Washington, DC)
Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC)
Daily National Journal (Washington, DC)
Daily Sentinel (Raleigh, NC)
Daily Sun (Columbus, GA)
Daily Union (Washington, DC)
Edenton Gazette (Edenton, NC)
Evening Star (Washington, DC)
Examiner (Frederick, MD)
Federal Republican (Baltimore, MD)
Federal Union (Milledgeville, GA)
Gazette of the State of Georgia (Savannah, GA)
Globe (Washington, DC)
Hagerstown Mail (Hagerstown, MD)
Highland Messenger (Asheville, NC)
Huntress (Washington, DC)
Inquirer (Richmond, VA)
Macon Telegraph (Macon, GA)
Madisonian (Washington, DC)
Maryland Gazette (Annapolis, MD)
Mississippi Free Trader (Natchez, MS)
Natchez Daily Courier (Natchez, MS)
National Era (Washington, DC)
National Intelligencer (Washington, DC)
National Journal (Washington, DC)
National Republican (Washington, DC)
New Orleans Bee (New Orleans, LA)
New Orleans Price Current (New Orleans, LA)
North Carolina Gazette (New Bern, NC)
Paul Pry (Washington, DC)
Raleigh Register (Raleigh, NC)
Republican Banner (Willams Port, MD)
Savannah Morning News (Savannah, GA)
South Carolina Gazette (Charleston, SC)
Southern Banner (Athens, GA)
Southern Field and Fireside (Augusta, GA)
Southern Watchman (Athens, GA)
Star (Raleigh, NC)
Staunton Vindicator (Staunton, VA)
Sumter Republican (Americus, GA)
Sun (Baltimore, MD)
Torch Light and Public Advertiser (Hagerstown, MD)
Tri-Weekly Constitutionalist (Augusta, GA)
Union (Washington, DC)
United States Telegraph (Washington, DC)
Universalist Herald (Notasulga, AL)
Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, VA)
Virginia Herald (Fredericksburg, VA)
Watchman of the South (Richmond, VA)
Weekly Constitutionalist (Augusta, GA)
Weekly Union (Washington, DC)
Western Democrat (Charlotte, NC)
Yadkin and Catawba Journal (Salisbury, NC)

Periodicals

 Periodical Collections:

The American Periodicals Series, 1700-1900 (Call number S5327). 

The guide to the collection is needed to find the specific location information for each title, therefore it is usually best to request help at the Bostock Library help desk.  A staff member can direct you to the guide area and help with interpreting the guide. 

Individual Periodical Titles:

The following periodicals are available in the microfilm collection.    Each of the periodicals here is grouped according to the subject content.  Following each title are the years of that particular title on microfilm in the collection.

Colonizationist Periodicals

The African Intelligencer

Holdings: July 1820

The African Repository

Holdings: 1825-1892

Colonizationist and the Journal of Freedom

Holdings: Apr. 1833-Apr. 1834

 

Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Periodicals

Abolition Intelligencer and Missionary Magazine

Holdings: May 7, 1822-Mar. 1823

The Abolitionist

Holdings: 1833

The Anti-Slavery Examiner

Holdings: 1836-1937

The Anti-Slavery Record

Holdings: 1835-1837

Genius of Universal Emancipation

Holdings: 1821-1839

The Liberator

Holdings: 1831-1865

The Liberty Bell

Holdings: 1839-1858

National Era

Holdings: 1847-1860

 

Pro-Slavery Periodicals

DeBow's Review

Holdings: 1846-1880

The Old Guard

Holdings: 1863-1870

Southern Quarterly Review

Holdings: 1842-1857

 

Miscellaneous Periodicals

Juvenile Magazine

Holdings: May 1811-Aug. 1813
Note: Of particular interest because the Juvenile Magazine was designed for the use and entertainment of blacks, and particularly for use in schools.  Among the contents were an account of Arthur Donaldson's Philadelphia School for Blacks, miscellaneous material on blacks and slavery, a history of Africa, an arithmetic section, biographical sketches, religious material and a good deal of poetry.