Digital collections of historical material on many topics. Includes manuscripts, printed books and periodicals, and government documents. Material comes from the U.S. National Archives, the U.K. National Archives, and many other libraries and archives. Listed below are digitized African American resources that are included in Archives Unbound.
The Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle (BLA) was an underground, black nationalist-Marxist militant organization that operated from 1970 to 1981. Composed largely of former Black Panthers (BPP), the organization’s program was one of "armed struggle" and its stated goal was to "take up arms for the liberation and self-determination of black people in the United States." The BLA carried out a series of bombings, robberies (what participants termed "expropriations"), and prison breaks.
Date range: 1970-1983
Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement: The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) This collection of RAM records reproduces the writings and statements of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) and its leaders. It also covers organizations that evolved from or were influenced by RAM and persons that had close ties to RAM. The most prominent organization that evolved from RAM was the African People’s Party. Organizations influenced by RAM include the Black Panther Party, League of Revolutionary Black Workers, Youth Organization for Black Unity, African Liberation Support Committee, and the Republic of New Africa. Individuals associated with RAM and documented in this collection include Robert F. Williams, Malcolm X, Amiri Baraka, General Gordon Baker Jr., Yuri Kochiyama, Donald Freeman, James and Grace Lee Boggs, Herman Ferguson, Askia Muhammad Toure (Rolland Snellings), and Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael).
Date range: 1962-1999
Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s. Organized alphabetically by organization, this collection covers a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, cultural, and economic issues. It sheds light on internal organization, personnel, and activities of some of the most prominent American radical groups and their movements to change American government and society. Date range: 1956-1971.
· COINTELPRO: The Counterintelligence Program of the FBI
The FBI Counterintelligence Program file contains details of the bureau’s attempts to "expose, disrupt, and neutralize" groups that J. Edgar Hoover perceived as threatening to national security. The material in this file, spanning COINTELPRO’s existence from 1956 to 1971, is especially valuable for the view it offers of the U.S. political climate in the 1960s. The file is organized in sections that reflect the bureau’s interests, among them the Communist Party of the USA, Black nationalist "hate" groups, White "hate" groups, the Socialist Workers Party, and Cuban groups supporting Fidel Castro.
FBI File on the Black Panther Party, North Carolina
Documents in this file, spanning the years from 1968 to 1976, are mainly surveillance reports and investigative and legal memoranda, but also include Black Panther Party publications, transcriptions of speeches by black militant spokespersons, digests of FBI phone intercepts at party headquarters and some of the party’s internal records and correspondence
FBI Files on Malcolm X
Malcolm X, one of the black militant movement’s most controversial figures, joined the Black Muslims while serving a prison sentence and, on his release in 1952, became a minister in Elijah Mohammed’s Nation of Islam. Later breaking with his group, he converted to orthodox Islam and founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. The FBI opened a file on Malcolm X in 1953 and continued surveillance until his assassination in 1965
FBI File: MIBURN (Mississippi Burning)
In the summer of 1964, civil rights advocates Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Earl Chaney were working in rural Mississippi and were abducted and killed by local Ku Klux Klan members. Their murders were among the first to be tried under the new Civil Rights Act. This file includes bureau letters, memoranda and prosecuting reports on the case.
FBI File on Muslim Mosque, Inc.
Founded by Malcolm X after his break with the Nation of Islam, Muslim Mosque, Inc. was a politically-oriented movement affiliated with the orthodox Islamic religion. The file contains memoranda by Special Agents in Charge and supporting documentation.
FBI File on the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU)
Organized by Malcolm X after his break with the Nation of Islam, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) was under surveillance from its establishment until it dissolved in the 1960s. This file contains memoranda by FBI agents with supporting documentation
FBI File on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was organized in 1960 to encourage voter registration for blacks in the Deep South. Under Stokely Carmichael, the group pushed for economic enfranchisement and advocated black supremacy.
The FBI maintained a file on the SNCC because Communists were believed to be infiltrating its leadership. This file comprises reports from nineteen cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco. Each section is in chronological order, spanning 1964 to 1973. The file contains addresses, membership, and information on groups believed to associate with the SNCC.
FBI Investigation File on Communist Infiltration of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
This file documents the FBI’s investigation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which was organized in 1957 in Atlanta, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as president.
Federal Surveillance of African Americans
Between the early 1920s and early 1980s, the Justice Department and its Federal Bureau of Investigation engaged in widespread investigation of those deemed politically suspect. Prominent among the targets of this sometimes coordinated, sometimes independent surveillance were aliens, members of various protest groups, Socialists, Communists, pacifists, militant labor unionists, ethnic or racial nationalists, and outspoken opponents of the policies of the incumbent presidents. Between the early 1920s and early 1980s, the Justice Department and its Federal Bureau of Investigation engaged in widespread investigation of those deemed politically suspect. Prominent among the targets of this sometimes coordinated, sometimes independent surveillance were aliens, members of various protest groups, Socialists, Communists, pacifists, militant labor unionists, ethnic or racial nationalists, and outspoken opponents of the policies of the incumbent presidents. Date range 1920-1984.
This collection consists of a select group of small microfilm products. These include the following:
COINTELPRO: Black Nationalist "Hate" Groups
The FBI Counterintelligence Program file contains details of the bureau’s attempts to "expose, disrupt, and neutralize" groups that J. Edgar Hoover perceived as threatening to national security. The material in this file, spanning COINTELPRO’s existence from 1956 to 1971, is especially valuable for the view it offers of the U.S. political climate in the 1960s.
FBI File on A. Philip Randolph
Philip Randolph (1889-1979), an outspoken black labor leader, is perhaps best remembered as the organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He was elected a vice president of the AFL-CIO in 1955. This file includes memos and correspondence, most dating from the 1940s with some coverage into the early 1960s.
FBI File on Adam Clayton Powell
Controversial politician and clergyman Adam Clayton Powell was active in many labor organizations and "militant" groups. He was elected to New York City council in 1941, and first elected to U.S. Congress in 1945. In 1967, Powell was excluded by the House of Representatives for alleged misuse of House funds, contempt of New York court orders concerning a libel judgment against him and conduct unbecoming a member.
FBI File on the Atlanta Child Murders (ATKID)
The file, dating from June 1980, contains memos, letters, lab tests, a detailed account of the trial and records of civil-rights questions regarding the case raised by Georgia Representative Mildred Glover and others.
· FBI File on the Black Panther Party, North Carolina
Documents in this file, spanning the years from 1968 to 1976, are mainly surveillance reports and investigative and legal memoranda, but also include Black Panther Party publications, transcriptions of speeches by black militant spokespersons, digests of FBI phone intercepts at party headquarters and some of the party’s internal records and correspondence.
FBI File on the Committee for Public Justice
The Committee for Public Justice (CPJ), an affiliate of the ACLU, was formed in 1970 to voice concern over the "period of political repression" it perceived the nation to be entering. After the CPJ denounced the FBI, the bureau enlisted conservative media figures to help neutralize the impact of the committee’s findings. This file continues after Hoover’s death in 1972, including efforts by Directors L. Patrick Gray and Clarence M. Kelley.
FBI File on Elijah Muhammed
Born Elijah Poole in 1897, "the Messenger of Allah" assumed leadership of the movement later known as the Nation of Islam in 1934. The file contains material the FBI collected to show immoral, subversive, or criminal activity in order to discredit him as a leader of the Nation of Islam.
FBI File on the Highlander Folk School
The Highlander Folk School was established in Monteagle, Tennessee, in 1932 by Myles Horton, a native Tennessean who wanted to "provide an educational center in the South for the training of rural and industrial leaders, and for the conservation and enrichment of the indigenous cultural values of the mountain." The school initially educated union workers who were considered promising leadership material; then, in the 1940s, it began accepting African Americans into its program, and emphasis shifted toward aiding southern rural workers. This change raised suspicions among conservative groups, and eventually the school’s charter was revoked because state law required private schools to be racially segregated. This FBI file, spanning 40 years, is rich in school-produced materials and local news clippings. It will interest labor historians, civil rights scholars and researchers investigating postwar anticommunism, since the school was constantly suspected of having Communist ties.
FBI File on the Ku Klux Klan Murder of Viola Liuzzo
Like the "Mississippi Burning" investigation, this was one of the first cases to test the new Civil Rights Act. The file on this important case contains FBI letters, memorandums, teletypes and more.
FBI File on Malcolm X
Please Note: This file supersedes the 2-roll Malcolm X: FBI Surveillance File, published by Scholarly Resources in 1978. Approximately 9,000 pages of documents have been released since the original file was published, including memoranda from the FBI.
FBI File: MIBURN (Mississippi Burning)
In the summer of 1964, civil rights advocates Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Earl Chaney were working in rural Mississippi and were abducted and killed by local Ku Klux Klan members. Their murders were among the first to be tried under the new Civil Rights Act. This file includes bureau letters, memoranda and prosecuting reports on the case.
FBI File on the Moorish Science Temple of America
The FBI investigated the Moorish Science Temple for its alleged hostility toward capitalism and its efforts to incite revolution. This collection is organized into geographic sections demarcating FBI headquarters and various field offices, including Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia. It is filed chronologically within the geographic sections. Materials contain correspondence, memos, reports, interviews and pamphlets.
FBI File on the Murder of Lemuel Penn
This FBI file documents the investigation and trial of murdered African-American U.S. Army Reserve Officer Lemuel Penn. It contains a large number of newspaper clippings, numerous reports concerning Klan-related activities, including statements from eyewitnesses, and photographs of areas where Klan meetings were held. It also includes correspondence with Lester Maddox, Thurgood Marshall and Lyndon Johnson. The FBI file on the murder of Lemuel Penn is an important resource for studying the civil rights movement, segregation and the Ku Klux Klan.
FBI File on Muslim Mosque, Inc.
Founded by Malcolm X after his break with the Nation of Islam, Muslim Mosque, Inc. was a politically-oriented movement affiliated with the orthodox Islamic religion. The file contains memoranda by Special Agents in Charge and supporting documentation.
FBI File on the NAACP
These files on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) cover the years 1923 to 1957, and reflect bureau investigations into the NAACP’s supposed connections with the Communist party.
FBI File on the National Negro Congress
Among these files, materials are synopses of news reports regarding the National Negro Congress (NNC), announcements of its meetings, copies of its constitution and membership rosters and the bureau’s investigative reports.
FBI File on the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU)
Organized by Malcolm X after his break with the Nation of Islam, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) was under surveillance from its establishment until it dissolved in the 1960s. This file contains memoranda by FBI agents with supporting documentation.
FBI File on Paul Robeson
The FBI’s investigation of, and dissemination of information about, actor/singer Paul Robeson and his Communist party association contributed significantly to the ruin of his career. This file includes all the bureau reports on Robeson and his wife, news clippings and transcripts of his telephone conversations.
FBI File on the Reverend Jesse Jackson
The files of the FBI on Jesse Jackson span the years 1967 to 1984 and include the original investigative file on Jackson detailing his early career as head of "Operation Breadbasket" and PUSH (People United to Save Humanity); records of various threats made against him; documents from class-action suits in which he joined against the FBI, CIA, and City of Chicago; and information regarding FBI and Secret Service protection of Jackson as a presidential candidate in 1984.
FBI File on Roy Wilkins
Roy Wilkins, a prominent member of the NAACP, served as acting secretary and later as executive secretary. He was a key figure in the prevention of Communist infiltration of the NAACP. Provided is information on Wilkins’s connections to such figures as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Paul Robeson. The file is also rich in Black Panther Party documents critical of Wilkins.
FBI File on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was organized in 1960 to encourage voter registration for blacks in the Deep South. Under Stokely Carmichael, the group pushed for economic enfranchisement and advocated black supremacy. The FBI maintained a file on the SNCC because Communists were believed to be infiltrating its leadership. This file comprises reports from 19 cities, including Atlanta (SNCC national headquarters), Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco. Each section is in chronological order, spanning 1964 to 1973. The file contains addresses, membership and information on groups believed to associate with the SNCC.
FBI File on Thurgood Marshall
This lightly excised FBI file is of great value to those studying African-American history and the civil rights movement.
FBI File on W. E. B. Du Bois
NAACP founder W. E. B. Du Bois was investigated by the FBI for suspected Communist ties. In 1951, the Peace Information Center he was running was indicted as a suspected Communist "front" organization. The file contains coverage on this event and the last section consists of newspaper clippings about Du Bois.
FBI Investigation File on Communist Infiltration of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
This file documents the FBI’s investigation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which was organized in 1957 in Atlanta, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as president.
FBI Surveillance File: Malcolm X
Malcolm X, one of the black militant movement’s most controversial figures, joined the Black Muslims while serving a prison sentence and, on his release in 1952, became a minister in Elijah Mohammed’s Nation of Islam. Later breaking with his group, he converted to orthodox Islam and founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. The FBI opened a file on Malcolm X in 1953 and continued surveillance until his assassination in 1965. This file, encompassing 2,300 pages, gives insight into the various factions and leaders of the black militant movement during the 1950s and ’60s, as well as details on the FBI’s attempts to neutralize it.
FBI Investigation File on Marcus Garvey
The FBI investigation File on Marcus Garvey is an informative source on his role as a spokesman for black nationalism, on the American black community of the 1920s, and on the origins of the black social protest and separatist movements.
*Printed guides to accompany microfilm are housed in Microform Services on A-floor in Firestone Library.
The Black Power Movement. Part 1. Amiri Baraka, from Black Arts to Black Radicalism
ReCap Microfilm 11800 Online guide Printed guide (FilmB) E185.615.B521 9 reels
The collection documents Amiri Baraka’s leadership role in the Black Arts Movement and activism in the Black Power Movement.
The Black Power Movement Part 2. The Papers of Robert F. Williams
ReCap Microfilm 11744 Online guide Printed guide (FilmB) E185.615.B522 26 reels
“The Robert F. Williams Papers cover Williams’s career from his leadership of the Union County, North Carolina, NAACP branch in the 1950s and early 1960s, through his life in exile in Cuba and China between 1961 and 1969, to his return to the United States in 1969, and his local activism in Baldwin, Michigan, from the mid-1970s until his death in 1996.”
The Black Power Movement Part 3. Papers of the Revolutionary Action Movement, 1962-1996
ReCap Microfilm 11801 Online guide Printed guide (FilmB) E185.615.B523 17 reels
Reproduces the writings and correspondence of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford); RAM internal documents; records on allied organizations, including African Peoples Party, Black Liberation Army, Black Panther Party, Black United Front, Black Workers Congress, Institute of Black Studies, League of Revolutionary Black Workers, Republic of New Africa, and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee; rare serial publications, including Black America, Soulbook, Unity and Struggle, Black Vanguard, Crossroads, and Jihad News; and, government documents such as the FBI file on Max Stanford, testimony about RAM’s role in the urban rebellions, and subject files covering key leaders associated with RAM including Malcolm X, Robert F. Williams, Amiri Baraka, and Assata Shakur, as well as on subjects such as the Black Power Conferences, the reparations movement, political prisoners, and more.
The Black Power Movement Part 4. The League of Revolutionary Black Workers, 1965-1976
ReCap Microfilm 11876 Online guide Printed guide (FilmB) E185.615.B524 3 reels
“This collection of records of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW) consists of the files collected by General Gordon Baker Jr., one of the founding members of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) in 1968 and the LRBW in 1969.”
FBI file on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
ReCap Microfilm 09178 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.61 .F355 2 reels
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Papers, 1959-1972
ReCap Microfilm 04530 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.5.xS78 73 reels
Covers the activities of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) founded in 1960 at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. The organization was known for staging nonviolent protests and sit-ins.
See also Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee of California, The Movement
Microfilm S00846 Underground press collection. Listing of contents ((Film B) Z6951.U4)
FBI files on Black extremist organizations.
ReCap Microfilm 12456 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.615 .F534 2005 8 reels
Part 1 contains Cointelpro files on black hate groups and investigation of the Deacons for Defense and Justice.
Part 2 covers Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panther Party.
Oakland Museum of California. Political Posters
“The “All Of Us Or None” (AOUON) archive project was started by Free Speech Movement activist Michael Rossman in 1977 to gather and document posters of modern progressive movements in the United States. Though some early works are included, its focus is on the domestic political poster renaissance that began in 1965 and continues to this day. When Rossman died May 12, 2008 his family donated the collection to the Oakland Museum of California.”
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975
“Popular Culture explores the dynamic period of social, political and cultural change between 1950 and 1975. The resource offers thousands of colour images of manuscript and rare printed material as well as photographs, ephemera and memorabilia from this exciting period in our recent history.”
Social Protest Collection, 1943-1982
“The Social Protest Collection held at the Bancroft Library at the University of California is a large collection, covering mainly 1960 to 1975. It was gathered by the Social Protest Project for the university’s undergraduate library between 1969 and 1982.
The collection consists of pamphlets, leaflets, flyers, posters, and other ephemera and primarily relates to the Vietnam War and Civil Rights demonstrations. There is also significant material on Black Power, the women’s movement, lesbian and gay rights, Third World issues, political documentation from the Left and Right, campus labour disputes and the movement against nuclear power and weaponry.”
