African-American Studies: General Databases and Historical Newspapers

Avalon Project at Yale Law School: African-Americans-- Biography, Autobiography and History

Black Americans - Pew Research Center

Explore the diverse views and experiences of Black people in America with in-depth surveys and other research. The Pew Research Center's work focuses on three themes: Black identity, the economic and social mobility of Black people in America, and Black representation in American political and social life. 

National Museum of African American History & Culture - Open Access Collection

Umbra: Search African American History "is a freely available discovery tool, created for use by the public for the research and study of African American history and culture. It assembles a national collection of digital materials—images, videos, books, and more—for use by scholars, artists, parents, students, and educators. Materials displayed in Umbra are provided by libraries, museums, and other repositories around the country."

African American Odyssey

From the Library of Congress American Memory site. Unique collection of rare books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, photos, films, and recordings documenting the African American experience.

The History Makers

The single largest archival collection of its kind in the world. The goal is to complete 5,000 interviews of both well-known and unsung African American HistoryMakers. The objective is to include the stories of individual African Americans along with those of African American organizations, events, movements and periods of time that are significant to the African American community. The HistoryMakers is the next methodic and wide-scale collection effort since the WPA Slave Narratives Project.

Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers

Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about African American newspapers published between 1690-present (2,553 newspapers are available for viewing on this site.).

Freedom's Journal (1827-1829) - The first African-American owned and operated newspaper in the United States

Indianapolis Recorder

What began as a two-page church bulletin by co-founders George Pheldon Stewart and William H. Porter, the Indianapolis Recorder is now one of the top African-American publications in the nation. Established in 1897, the Indianapolis Recorder focused on local people and events in Indianapolis but also reported national events. IUPUI University is pleased to present the Indianapolis Recorder Digital Collection. Providing access to the 1899-2005 run of the Indianapolis Recorder will have an impact on researchers from all walks of life. Whether you are a family historian, an academic researcher or part of the media, this collection will help you search for and access historically important stories of African-Americans individuals, organizations, and events in Indianapolis, Indiana in the 20th and 21st centuries.