Guide to open-access collections of historical African American newspapers, from Cornell University.

Black Thought and Culture is an electronic collection of approximately 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings by major American Black leaders—teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other figures—covering 250 years of history. In addition to the most familiar works, Black Thought and Culture presents a great deal of previously inaccessible material, including letters, speeches, prefatory essays, political leaflets, interviews, periodicals, and trial transcripts.

"This primary source collection presents the international impact of African American activism against slavery, in the writings and publications of the activists themselves. Covering the period 1830-1865, the approximately 15,000 articles, documents, correspondence, proceedings, manuscripts, and literary works of almost 300 Black abolitionists show the full range of their activities in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Germany. "

"Slavery in Antebellum Southern Industries presents some of the richest, most valuable, and most complete collections in the entire documentary record of American slavery, focusing on the industrial uses of slave labor. The materials selected include company records; business and personal correspondence; documents pertaining to the purchase, hire, medical care, and provisioning of slave laborers; descriptions of production processes; and journals recounting costs and income. The work ledgers in these collections record slave earnings and expenditures and provide extraordinary insight into slave life. The collections document slavery in such enterprises as gold, silver, copper, and lead mining; iron manufacturing, machine shop work, lumbering, quarrying, brickmaking, tobacco manufacturing, shipbuilding, and heavy construction; and building of railroads and canals."

Growing digital collection of primary resources selected from Harvard University's collections.

"This collection includes all the existing autobiographical narratives of fugitive and former slaves published as broadsides, pamphlets, or books in English up to 1920. Also included are many of the biographies of fugitive and former slaves and some significant fictionalized slave narratives published in English before 1920."

These still and moving images, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.

"In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience presents a new interpretation of African-American history, one that focuses on the self-motivated activities of peoples of African descent to remake themselves and their worlds."

"This digital memorial raises questions about the largest slave trades in history and offers access to the documentation available to answer them. European colonizers turned to Africa for enslaved laborers to build the cities and extract the resources of the Americas. They forced millions of Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas, and from one part of the Americas to another. Analyze these slave trades and view interactive maps, timelines, and animations to see the dispersal in action."

"umbrasearch.org brings together hundreds of thousands digitized materials from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the country" that celebrate African American history and culture.

"Includes over 100,000 items of correspondence (more than three quarters of the papers), speeches, articles, newspaper columns, nonfiction books, research materials, book reviews, pamphlets and leaflets, petitions, novels, essays, forewords, student papers, manuscripts of pageants, plays, short stories and fables, poetry, photographs, newspaper clippings, memorabilia, videotapes, audiotapes, and miscellaneous materials."

A link to the inventory for this collection of the 1969 literary magazine produced by the Association of Black Collegians at Colgate University. It contained poems, essays, and texts of speeches.

A link to the inventory of Children of the Sun, the multicultural anthology published by the Cultural Center at Colgate University. The editor hoped that it would "let others know - there was a community at Colgate that was determined to leave behind a legacy! A community of Afro-Americans, Afro-West Indian, Hispanics, and Asians that insisted that the world know who we are!"

A link to the inventory of Like It Is!!!, a 1980 publication that had the stated purpose "to enhance the minority relations with the Colgate community, focusing upon the minority presence at Colgate. This publication will offer the minority students the opportunity to express the cultural, aesthetic, and political and social aspirations of the misunderstood majority peoples of the world."

A link to the inventory for the Association of Black Collegians Newspaper, a 1972 publication "written and published by the black students of Colgate University." It included articles on current events, both local and national; essays; photographs; and poems.

A link to the inventory for Prism magazine.

A link to the inventory of materials on the Besmanbomara Literary Society. The May 1922 issue of The Crisis reported that "the Besmanbomara Literary Society has been organized by colored students at Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y. Its object is the production of a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the achievements of the Negro in all the higher pursuits of life. All men who fulfill the following requirements are eligible for membership: 'Sympathy with the objects of society and affiliation by blood with the darker races.' The society meets weekly, each meeting being featured by a paper on some phase of racial progress."

A link to the inventory of the ALANA Cultural Center records.

A link to the inventory for the Colgate University Protest and Activism collection. This collection contains photographs, correspondence, press releases, newspaper clippings, and other material related to the sit-in of April 1968. Also includes a web archive of the activities of the student protest and sit-in that occurred in September 2014. The admissions building sit-in was to protest inequality and demand an inclusive environment on campus.

A link to the SCUA Materials Request form to submit a request to see the biographical file for Gordon B. Hancock, which contains information on his life after Colgate and correspondence with University offices.