In this section, you will find links to our research guides related to Africana Studies. These internet links have been selected by librarians. When searching the web and finding resources that have not been selected by information professionals, you want to make sure that the information you've found is valid and from a reliable source.
Use our Library guides to help you find reliable sources on the web:
Evaluating Information Sources on the Web
*This list is a work in progress*
Africa (sub-Saharan), Migration Policy Institute
Research publications and articles on Sub-Saharan African migration to North Africa, Europe, North America, and beyond with a focus on outcomes once settled in country of destination and the roles that diasporas and development policies play in the economic improvement of these African nations. See also MPI's Central America & the Caribbean page.
African American and African Diaspora Studies, New York Public Library
A multitude of library research guides from NYPL on African American and African Diaspora topics. Some examples are Binding Us Together: Quilts of the African Diaspora, Black Comics and Graphic Novels, Black Feminism Introductory Research Guide, Guide to the Schomburg Center's Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division and NYC's Early African American Settlements
African American Historical Serials Collection, New York Public Library
Over 170 titles (from 75 different institutions) published between 1829 and 1922 detailing African American life and religious organizations. Login using your NYPL library card.
African American History, National Archives
A wealth of online materials documenting the Black experience in the United States across time including subject guides such as Guide to Black History, subject categories such as Black Power and Voting Rights, archival documents such as Records that pertain to American Slavery and the International Slave Trade, digital images such as Pictures of African Americans During World War II and online National Archives exhibitions such as What was Black College Life Like in the New Deal?
African American History Digital Collections, Library of Congress
Numerous digital collections from the Library of Congress including African-American Band Music & Recordings, 1883 to 1923, Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress, Rosa Parks Papers.
Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami
The Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami "collects, preserves, and provides access to primary and secondary sources of enduring historical, research, and artifactual value which relate to Cuba and the Cuban diaspora from colonial times to the present."
CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, The City College of New York
Nation’s first, university-based research institute devoted to the study of people of Dominican
descent in the United States and other parts of the world with a mission to produce and disseminate
research and scholarship about Dominicans, and the Dominican Republic. Their Archives and Library is the first and only collecting primary and secondary source material about Dominicans in the United States. Highlighted features: First Blacks in the Americas: The African Presence in the Dominican Republic, History of Dominican Music in the United States and Fighting for Democracy: Dominican Veterans from World War II.
Early Caribbean Digital Archive (ecda), Northeastern University
Publicly available archive to pre-twentieth-century Caribbean material presenting a literary history of the Caribbean written or related by black, enslaved, Creole, indigenous, and/or colonized people with the goal of understanding the colonial nature of the archive and using it as a site of revision and remix in exploring ways to decolonize the archive.
Latin America & the Caribbean Migration Portal, Migration Policy Institute
First comprehensive website that tracks developments on immigration policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Authoritative research, data, and analysis produced by MPI, governments, international organizations, and researchers.
National Museum of African American History and Culture's Digital Resource Guide
NMAAHC's digital resource guide includes sections such as Talking About Race, Curator Chats on Museum exhibitions and links to the Museums video collections such as the NMAAHC YouTube channel.
New York Slavery Records Index
Records of enslaved persons and slave holders in New York State from 1525 though the Civil War. More than 38,000 searchable records.
Say it Plain, Say it Loud: A Century of Great African American Speeches, American RadioWorks
Biographical information and public speeches (both to listen online and read transcriptions) by an eclectic mix of black leaders.
Slavery in New York, New York Historical Society
New York was the capital of American slavery for more than two centuries. This website is a companion to the New York Historical Society's 2005 exhibition focusing on the period from the 1600s to 1827, when slavery was legally abolished in New York State presenting the rediscovery of the collective and personal experiences of Africans and African-Americans in New York City. Some materials of significance: Buried Stories: Lessons from the African Burial Ground, Laws Affecting Blacks in Manhattan and Life Stories: Profiles of Black New Yorkers During Slavery and Emancipation.
*This list is a work in progress*
African American Activists of the 20th Century: Selected Pictures, Library of Congress
Portraits of individuals from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division collections, all with no copyright restrictions that affect their use.
African American History Digital Collections, Library of Congress
Numerous digital collections from the Library of Congress including African-American Band Music & Recordings, 1883 to 1923, Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress, Rosa Parks Papers.
Africana Age: African & African Diasporan Transformations in the 20th Century
Photographs, prints, manuscripts, and periodicals from New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture illustrating the Africana Age.
Images of African-American Slavery and Freedom, Library of Congress Digital Collections
Photographs of African Americans During the Civil War: A List of Images in the Civil War Photograph Collection, Library of Congress
Images grouped into broad subject categories (based on what can be discerned from the images and the text found on them): African American soldiers, Naval scenes, "Contrabands," "freedmen" and refugees
African Americans in military camps and sites of military activity, Other Images of African Americans,
Images that do not show African Americans, but include related subject matter (e.g., slave pens, white officers of African American troops).
Pictures of African Americans During World War II, National Archives
*This listing is a work in progress*
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938
More than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves.
Civil Rights History Project, Library of Congress/Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture
Oral history collection of interviews with people participating in the struggle for justice, freedom and equality for African Americans in the United States. More than 1200 items consisting of born-digital video files, digitized videocassettes, digital photographs and full-text transcripts for all interviews. Interviews also available on the Library of Congress YouTube site and NMAAHC website.
Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories, Library of Congress
These recordings of former slaves took place between 1932 and 1975 in nine states. "Twenty-three interviewees discuss how they felt about slavery, slaveholders, coercion of slaves, their families, and freedom. Several individuals sing songs, many of which were learned during the time of their enslavement. It is important to note that all of the interviewees spoke sixty or more years after the end of their enslavement, and it is their full lives that are reflected in these recordings. The individuals documented in this presentation have much to say about living as African Americans from the 1870s to the 1930s, and beyond."
The Anti-Slavery Manuscripts Project by the Boston Public Library is currently in a crowd sourced transcription phase to which anyone can contribute.
The Howland Album is a photograph album at the Library of Congress with photograph portraits of Harriet Tubman, John Willis Menard, and other anti-slavery contemporaries. These images are freely available online
New York State Slavery Records Index A searchable compilation of records that identify individual enslaved persons and their owners, beginning as early as 1525 and ending during the Civil War.
Slavers of New York is currently available as a Twitter feed. This is a sticker project to identify NYC locations named after slave holders.
U.S. National Archives: Records Relating to Fugitive Slaves, 10/17/1837 - 4/30/1860
Slavery and Anti-Slavery collections on the transatlantic slave trade, the global movement for the abolition of slavery CUNY access
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law all known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. (JJay access)
Slavery in New York - an online exhibition following the 2011 exhibit at the New-York Historical Society.
Slave Voyages Provides digital access to more than 48,000 transatlantic and intra-American slave trade journeys. A project based at Emory University.
May Anti-Slavery Pamphlets at Cornell - The pamphlets in Samuel J. May's Anti-Slavery library are now available as electronic searchable text.
Slavery, Abolition, Emancipation, and Freedom: Primary Sources from Houghton Library is an ongoing 2021 project at Harvard University.
Born in Slavery Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project, 1936-1938 and The Frederick Douglas Papers are available from the Library of Congress - American Memory Project.
Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL) Enslaved and Freed African Muslims: Spiritual Wayfarers in the South and Low Country
National Archives of Canada - The Anti-Slavery Movement in Canada
National Geographic - The Underground Railroad
Spartacus Educational (UK)- The Anti-Slavery Society
The Vermont Historical Society - The Underground Railroad Project
Slavery Microfiche Collection - this collection of microfiche is arranged by 31 subjects, including sources on anti-slavery, slaves' and slavers' homelands and historical events such as Harper's Ferry and the Dred Scott Case. Some of the content may be digitally available from the above sources. Two boxes of microfiche and a bibliographic guide are shelved next to each other in the Microfiche Area - Special Collections cabinets- HT 861 .M52 1983