English & American Literature : African American Literature

Features many relevant essays by leading scholars, primarily arranged by time period (1609-1865, 1865-1917, 1917 and beyond) and browsable by title. From the National Humanities Center--TeacherServe.

This is a national poetry organization that supports the artistic and professional growth of African American poets.

Founded in 1988 by young black writers as a salon in Boston, The Dark Room Collective emerged as one of the most important literary collectives whose individual members, through their books of poetry, essays, and literary citizenship and service, have significantly contributed to American literature and culture.

Literary foundation and publisher of Poetry Magazine, its mission is to promote poetry in the wider culture; the site links to selected poems and provides short but insightful literary biographies of poets worldwide.

Created by the Academy of American Poets. Portal to thousands of poems as well as hundreds of poet biographies, essays, interviews, and poetry recordings—with new material being added continuously.

Literary Hub aims to be a single, trusted, daily source for all the news and ideas related to contemporary literary life, focusing on literary fiction and nonfiction. Content includes news, works of fiction and poetry, a book review aggregator, podcasts, and audiobooks.

Listen to over 40 years of interviews with Terry Gross on NPR's "Fresh Air." Interviewees include writers such as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Colson Whitehead, Ta-Nehisi Coates.

“1619” is a New York Times audio series, hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, that examines American slavery. Listen to the episodes and/or read the transcripts.

Click here to read the description and scope of this project.

Comprehensive archive that brings together primary source materials from the collections of many libraries, museums, public broadcasters, and other organizations. There is also a collection of links to secondary educational materials.

This is a set of results based on the search "african american" across all Library of Congress digital collections. You may also search for individual items, using your own search terms.

Browse this digitized content by Object Type, Communities and Social Life, History and Social Change, People, and Music and Musicians.

This collection holds and provides access to books, serials, and microforms containing information by and about people of African descent throughout the world, concentrating on the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. Geographically, the collection emphasizes the Americas, the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

BlackPast was conceived to provide reference information on people of African ancestry in the U.S. and around the world. The website includes an online encyclopedia, @300 speeches by African Americans and other people of African ancestry from 1789 to 2012, primary documents, timelines, bibliographies, and more.

Repository of primary source materials on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American Civil Rights Movement. While no documents are digitized, find biographical information on Mr and Mrs King, a bibliography of books by and about Dr. King, and the text of The King Philosophy.

FBI files on Martin Luther King, Jr. part 1 of 2

FBI files on Martin Luther King, Jr. part 2 of 2

FBI files on Malcolm X

Documents EJI's multi-year investigation into lynching in twelve Southern states during the period between Reconstruction and World War II. Published by The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) a non-profit committed to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

This museum is on the campus of Ferris State University and-according to the website-houses the nation's largest collection of artifacts documenting Jim Crow and racist caricatures of African Americans, from its origins to the present day. Its stated aim is to use objects of intolerance to teach tolerance and promote social justice.
The online exhibits (linked under "Museum" in the top menu bar) embed images, artifacts, videos, and documents from the collection.

Digital publishing initiative that provides access to primary sources (texts, images, and audio files) related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections (including North American Slave Narratives) of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.

Audio-recordings of 23 former slaves that took place between 1932 and 1975 in nine states. An additional 2,300 non-audio interviews with ex-slaves are available online from the Library of Congress: Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938.

Note: It's important to read the essays on this page that contextualize the interviews, the interviewers, and the interviewees.

This growing collection of 1200+ images (portraits, maps, illustrations, etc.) have been selected from a wide range of sources, most of them dating from the period of slavery. This project is a collaboration of universities and corporations.

[UNC Greensboro] DLAS is a dynamic resource compiling independent online collections focused upon race and slavery in the American South, made searchable through a single search interface. While the current focus is North Carolina, there is considerable data for all 15 slave states and Washington, D.C. Included are slave deeds, runaway slave advertisements, and The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (see entry below).

This digital memorial allows analysis of the ships, traders, and captives in the Atlantic slave trade, 1514-1866. Three databases comprise this resource: Trans-Atlantic, Intra-American, African Names.

Part of the UK Parliament website. Find out about Parliament's relationship with the transatlantic slave trade, and the public campaign that finally abolished it

This collection presents full transcriptions and images of runaway and captured ads for slaves and servants placed in Virginia newspapers from 1736 to 1803, and a number of other documents related to slaves, servants, and slaveholders, including court records, other newspaper notices, slaveholder correspondence, and assorted literature about slavery and indentured servitude.

Access images, videos, and other cultural objects from museums and archives across the US. Includes digitized photographs, posters, and more. Topics include the Civil Rights Movement and online exhibitions include Activism in the U.S.

Provides free access to 800,000+ images (some in public domain) digitized from the The NYPL's collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs, streaming video, and more. Search by keyword or Browse Collections.
To find items relating to African Americans, try this: in the Search box, type "african american". On the next page, if you want to focus your search, click TOPIC in the side bar and then select the collection in the list you wish to view. Also, use the Search box at the top to search for individual items (e.g., "james baldwin").

This humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin has extensive collections which encompass literature, photography, film, art, and the performing arts.There are 80+ digitized collections on a variety of topics in literature, photography, and the performing arts. Find texts, interviews, photographs, etc.

An educational resource designed for teachers and students featuring primary sources from the Newberry Library's (Chicago) holdings, contextual essays, and discussion questions. See also Digital Newberry.