Black Abolitionist Papers, 1830-1865 MFE
1153
In this collection of primary sources the anti-slavery movement
that precipitated the Civil War may be seen through the eyes of
black abolitionists. The collection encompasses approximately
15,000 articles and documents of almost 300 black abolitionists in
the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, France and
Germany. Collection also includes articles, essays and editorials
from some 200 African-American abolitionist and reform newspapers;
correspondence of key African leaders; receipts, poems, and other
miscellaneous documents. The guide provides indexes by author,
recipient of letters, and formal titles.
Black Culture; A Core Collection of the African-American
Experience MFM 1178
A collection of approximately 6,000 titles including books,
pamphlets, speeches, photographs, dissertations and other valuable
papers documenting the past three centuries of the black experience
in America and Europe. Material was selected from the extensive
collection at Atlanta University's Trevor-Arnett Library.
Black Newspaper Collection MFM 1155
Collection contains most of America's foremost black newspapers,
covering 15 states, beginning in 1896 and updated each year with
current issues. Editorial viewpoints range from the conservative
to the near-radical and represent some of the most respected voices
in African-American journalism. Newspapers included in the core
collection are Amsterdam News (New York, NY), Atlanta
World (GA), Baltimore AfroAmerican (MD), Call &
Post (Cleveland, OH), Journal & Guide (Norfolk, VA),
Los Angeles Sentinel (CA), Michigan Chronicle
(Detroit, MI), Muslin Journal (Chicago, IL), St. Louis
Argus (MO). Beginning in 1975 the newspapers in the core
collection have been indexed. Additional titles included are
Birmingham World (AL), Forward Times (Houston,
TX), Louisville Defender (KY), New Crusader
(Chicago, IL), Philadelphia Tribune (PA), Gary
Crusader (IN), Indiana Herald (IN), Kansas City
Call (MO), Milwaukee Courier (WI), and Post
Tribune (Dallas, TX).
Black Workers in the Era of the Great Migration, 1916-
1929 MFM 1042
During World War I one-half million black Americans left the South and streamed into northern industrial centers
as the war economy, cessation of foreign immigration, and the mobilization of the armed forces created new job
opportunities for workers in industry. Known as the "Great Migration", this exodus continued and doubled in volume
during the next decade. This collection of documents focuses on migration and labor and the impact on black
America during the first decade of this Great Migration. Federal agencies generated a multitude of surveys, reports,
and case files. Those with explicit mention of black workers and their living and working conditions are included
here. Part of "Black Studies Research Sources" series.
Claude A. Barnett Papers MFM 1041
Claude Barnett (1889-1967), ranked by Ebony magazine as among the one hundred most influential black
Americans, founded the Associated Negro Press (ANP) in 1919 and remained its director through nearly half a
century of social change. By providing its member newspapers with coverage of activities within black communities
across the country and current national trends and events, the ANP helped create a national black culture and
increased black awareness of national news. Todd Library has Part 3 - Subject Files on Black Americans, 1918-1967
which includes topical files containing stories clipped from ANP releases. The topical files are divided into the
following series: agriculture; colleges and universities; economic conditions; entertainers, artists, and authors;
medicine; military; philanthropic and social organizations; politics and law; race relations; religion; and Claude A.
Barnett personal files. Microfilmed from holdings of the Chicago Historical Society.
East St. Louis Race Riot of 1917 MFM 1040
World War I and the immediate postwar era were marked by a number of bloody racial confrontations. One of the
most important and the one with the highest death toll occurred at East St. Louis, Illinois, on July 2, 1917. Because
of the volume and nature of the surviving evidence, it is also the race riot which is most accessible to historians for
scholarly investigation. Because the riot resulted in the virtual suspension of commerce between Illinois and
Missouri for up to ten days, the U.S. Congressional committee that conducted the investigation was called the House
Select Committee to Investigate Conditions in Illinois and Missouri Interfering with Interstate Commerce between
These States. The transcripts of the hearings and related records reproduced in this collection are at the National
Archives. Also included is the transcript of the criminal conspiracy trial of Dr. LeRoy Bundy, the principal leader
of the East St. Louis black community who was charged with inciting the riot.
Exploration and Colonization of Africa (1794-1844) MFM 496
Letters, treaties, narratives, travel accounts, and journals concerning French and British colonization activities,
explorations of the interior of Africa, missions to the Barbary States, and the expeditions to the Niger to abolish slave
trade (1839-1841 and 1841-1843) are in this collection.
Federal Surveillance of Afro-Americans (1917-1925) MFM 1163
During the First World War and the subsequent Red Scare years the Justice Department and its Bureau of
Investigation, the intelligence branches of the Army and Navy, the State and Post Office Departments, and other
federal agencies engaged in widespread investigation of anyone deemed politically suspect. Black Americans were
special targets because they were perceived by some as particularly receptive to the radical ideas. This collection
of records provides a vast treasure of source materials documenting the major social movements and key figures in
early 20th century black history, tracing the development of America's first domestic surveillance apparatus, and
illuminating the conflict between the needs for a country to protect basic individual freedoms and to protect itself
from threats to its security and existence. For more information on surveillance of radicals during this period, see
MFM 1175, U.S. Military Intelligence Reports: Surveillance of Radicals in the United States, 1917-1941.
(Item # 128)
Martin Luther King, Jr., FBI File MFM 1176
The 17,000 page file on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. compiled by headquarters officials at the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, details the heavy surveillance that was directed against America's foremost civil rights leader
throughout the 1960's. Through these declassified FBI documents researchers may follow the development of King's
career and civil rights activities. Part I (without a special title) (16 reels) consists of hundreds of FBI memos,
reports, and summaries of King's activities as well as his conversations with associates. Because the fruits of
wiretaps placed by the FBI on King's own home, office, and hotel rooms are under court order that will keep them
sealed at the National Archives until 2027, no verbatim transcripts of these wiretaps can be made public. However,
Part II, "The King-Levison File", originates from wiretaps placed on the phones of Stanley Levison, a New York
lawyer and businessman and King's trusted confidant with whom he spoke on an almost daily basis for more than
six years. The transcripts and summaries in this section shed light not only on King's many civil rights activities
and his involvement in related causes, but on his personal feelings toward and reactions to the events of the last six
years of his life. Note should be taken of the "Correlation Summaries" which are lengthy inventories listing every
FBI file reference to a specific individual, such as Dr. King, not contained in the main file on that person. Also,
Reel 16 of Part I is a file of newspaper clippings, wire service stories, and other public source materials concerning
King that FBI headquarters collected. This subfile provides an extensive sample of nationwide press coverage of
King without having to search through scores of individual newspapers. Part of "Black Studies Research Sources"
series.
Negro Periodicals in the United States, 1840-1960 MFE 117 & MFM 1213-5
A project devoted to the history of social change and to preserving the literature, science, music, art, religion, facts,
fiction, and traditions of the Negro Race. Reproduces approximately thirty periodical titles.
New Deal Agencies and Black America MFM 1165
This collection contains the major portion of National Archives materials which relate to the New Deal-black
experience between 1933 and 1940, with a few instances of records extending to 1943. Materials come from the
files of the Office of Education, National Youth Administration, Department of Interior, Civilian Conservation Corps,
U.S. Employment Service of the Department of Labor, Office of the Secretary of the Department of Labor, National
Recovery Administration, Department of Commerce, and Works Progress Administration. Part of "Black Studies
Research Sources" series.
Papers of George Washington Carver, 1864-1943 MFM 1148 George Washington Carver did much in his lifetime to promote racial harmony and black achievement in American life. This historical archive traces the remarkable career of this slave-become-scientist and is the most complete collection of Carver's public and private papers available to libraries. Collection includes memorabilia, correspondence to and from Carver, Carver's writings, writings about Carver, and miscellaneous materials relating to Carver's life and work.
Papers of W. E. B. DuBois, 1877-1965 MFM 1149
William Edward Burghardt DuBois (1868-1963) was one of the earliest and most influential spokesmen for African-
American liberation, and he pioneered many of the strategies and programs of the American civil rights movement.
DuBois was a historian and a prolific author with 21 books to his credit, the most famous of which is The Soul
of Black Folk (1903). As an internationally known author and activist, DuBois corresponded with some of
the most important figures of his time, including Sherwood Anderson, Andrew Carnegie, Albert Einstein, Martin
Luther King, Jr., Margaret Mead, Booker T. Washington, and Roy Wilkins. Collection documents the changes in
DuBois's political and social philosophy over the years as he shifted more and more toward radicalism and
eventually at the age of 93 joined the Communist Party of America.
Peonage Files of the U.S. Department of Justice, 1901-1945 MFM 1164 A federal statute of 1867 outlawed peonage, but it was not enforced until 1898. Peonage is a form of labor control that relies on debt to compel a worker. This microfilm publication, primarily from records in the National Archives, is rich in legal, social, and labor history. It contains fresh material on federal prosecutions under the peonage statute; it illuminates the uses of power, especially of local law enforcement officials who often sided with employers to compel workers to pay off their debts or remain at work; and it demonstrates the aggressive although often futile attempts of the Justice Department and Supreme Court to stop the practice. While most complaints involved black rural workers, at times immigrants, coal miners, and others from among the poor and ill-educated fell victim to peonage. Part of the "Black Studies Research Sources" series.
Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior Relating to the Suppression of the African Slave
Trade and Negro Colonization, 1854-1872 MFM 488
These records include letters relating to slave trade, to the case of the Slave Bark Augusta, to the claims of Lucius
Peyton, to James Mitchell (Emigrant Agent), to the colonization project at Haiti, to John Seys, and to the affairs of
the American Colonization Society.
Slavery in Ante-Bellum Southern Industries MFM 1251 This collection of source materials on slave life includes correspondence, business records, financial and legal papers, slave task books, and some manuscripts. The use of hired slaves for industrial labor is covered in detail. Although only approximately 5% of the South's slave population was engaged in industrial work in the two decades prior to the Civil War, valuable primary documentary evidence survives here because of the kinds of records kept by industrial enterprises and the survival of those records in this collection at Duke University Library. The extraordinary value of the collection derives from the insight the materials provide into the daily life of the slaves. Information concerning food, clothing, and housing of slaves as well as the use of resources and priorities can be found here.
Slavery Source Materials MCD 1507
Reproductions of 441 books and pamphlets "written before the Civil War by and about the Negro and about slavery
and anti-slavery." Among the topics covered are the abolition movement, conditions of slaves, the Fugitive Slave
Law, the slave trade, history of slavery, travels through the slave states, anti-slavery tracts, and religious views on
slavery. Arranged alphabetically, one list by author and separate list by title when no author is given.