Research Portal: African American Experience: Research Databases

Associate Librarian for Public Services

Michael Walker

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Contact:

University Libraries
Box 9406
Petersburg, VA 23806

804-524-6946

Recommended Databases

Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Devoted to primary source material in American history that includes selected African American newspapers from the 19th century. Information archived is from leading historical periodicals and books, and includes eyewitness accounts of historical events, vivid descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, commerce as seen through advertisements, and genealogical records.
African American Historical Serials Collection This link opens in a new window
Includes African American periodicals, annuals and reports published from 1829-1922 including materials from African American religious organizations and social service agencies.
America: History and Life with Full-Text This link opens in a new window
Full coverage of articles and dissertations covering the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture and Law This link opens in a new window
Collection contains all known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery, including cases into the 20th century because long after slavery was ended there were still court cases based on issues emanating from slavery.
Historical Abstracts with Full-Text This link opens in a new window
Article abstracts and citations of books and dissertations covering world history from 1450 to the present; excludes the United States and Canada.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics and other fields of the humanities and social sciences. Consult the online tables of contents for holdings, as coverage varies for each title.
ProQuest Black Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Offers the full-text and image article from Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), Chicago Defender (1910-1975), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), Norfolk Journal & Guide (1921-2003), and the Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002).
ProQuest History Vault: Black Freedom Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Primary source material from federal agencies, letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, and diaries are among the unique resources available in digital format for the first time. Module one consists of 37 collections of organizational records and personal papers, and the second module is comprised of 36 collections from federal government agencies.

The Fountain: Search VSU's Collections

Additional Resources

HBCU Library Alliance Digital Collection.

A Digital Collection Celebrating the Founding of the Historically Black College and University is a collection of primary resources from HBCU libraries and archives. It includes several thousand scanned pages and represents HBCU libraries first collaborative effort to make a historic collection digitially available. Collections are contributed from member libraries of the Historically Black College and University Library Alliance.