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. Click on the titles below to read more about individual collections.
The CRDL features a collection of unedited news film from the WSB (Atlanta) and WALB (Albany, Ga.) television archives held by the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia Libraries.
The Civil Rights History Project. Survey of Collections and Repositories
The Civil Rights History Project Act was created by an act of Congress in 2009, sponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Carolyn McCarthy (NY) and co-sponsored by Representatives Sanford D. Bishop (GA), William Lacy Clay (MO), John Lewis (GA) and Mike Quigley (IL). The law directs the Library of Congress (LOC) and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to conduct a survey of existing oral history collections with relevance to the Civil Rights Movement (CRM), and to record new interviews with people who participated in the Movement. There are 1308 collections are available in the database.
Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive
“Mississippi was a focal point in the struggle for civil rights in America, and Hattiesburg, home of The University of Southern Mississippi, had the largest and most successful Freedom Summer project in 1964. The civil rights materials collected at the University document a local history with truly national significance. The Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive includes a selection of digitized photographs, letters, diaries, and other documents. Oral history transcripts are also available, as well as finding aids for manuscript collections.”
This collection brings together a large number of documents on the implementation of "freedom of choice" school desegregation plans in the South and bordering states.
Federal records pertaining to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), compiled by Walter B. Hill, Jr. [and] Trichita M. Chestnut.
Global Nonviolent Action Database
"The database, which continues to grow, already includes 50 civil rights cases. You'll find iconic campaigns like the Montgomery bus boycott and some that are less known, like the 1958-59 sit-ins in Kansas City, MO and the 1960 St. Paul's College student boycott of a segregated movie theater in Virginia. The database is sponsored by Swarthmore College with support from Tufts and Georgetown Universities."
The NAACP Papers collection consists of 6 modules. The NAACP Papers collections contains internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country. It charts the NAACP's work and delivers a first-hand view into crucial issues. With a timeline that runs from 1909 to 1972, the NAACP Papers document the realities of segregation in the early 20th century to the triumphs of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and beyond.The Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century consists of four modules: two modules of Federal Government Records, and two modules of Organizational Records and Personal Papers, offering unique documentation and a variety of perspectives on the 20th century fight for freedom. Major collections in these modules include Civil Rights records from the Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush presidencies; the Martin Luther King FBI File and FBI Files on locations of major civil rights demonstrations like Montgomery and Selma, Alabama or St. Augustine, Florida; and the records of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
NAACP Papers: Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff Files
NAACP Papers: Branch Department, Branch Files, and Youth Department Files
NAACP Papers: Special Subjects Search this Module Browse Collections
NAACP Papers: The NAACP's Major Campaigns--Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces
NAACP Papers: The NAACP's Major Campaigns--Legal Department Files Search this Module Browse Collections
NAACP Papers: The NAACP's Major Campaigns--Scottsboro, Anti-Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor,
and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Responses
Printed guides to accompany microfilm sets are housed in Microform Services on A-floor in Firestone Library.
American Civil Liberties Union Archives, 1917-1950
MC001 Seeley G. Mudd Library Finding Aid
Consists of the records of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), documenting its activities in protecting individual rights under the leadership of Roger Baldwin. Its primary aims have been the defense of free speech and press, separation of church and state, free exercise of religion, due process of law, equal protection of the law, and privacy rights of all citizens. The collection contains primarily correspondence and clippings. Also included are the records of the ACLU’s predecessor organization, the National Civil Liberties Bureau (1917-1920) of the American Union Against Militarism (AUAM) and some material documenting a 1912 Industrial Workers of the World free speech trial.
American Civil Liberties Union Archives, 1950-1995
MC001 Seeley G. Mudd Library Finding Aid
Documents the activities of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in protecting individual rights between 1950 and 1995. The collection contains correspondence, clippings, court documents, memoranda, printed matter, minutes, reports, briefs, legal files, exhibit materials, and audio-visual materials. Also included are materials from ACLU affiliate organizations, the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee and national office legal department records (1945-1960).
Civil Rights and Social Activism in the South, Series 1-3
ReCap Microfilm 12030 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.6.C585 2007 104 reels
Online guide to Series 1, Parts 1-2 Online guide to Series 2
Series 1, Civil rights and social activism in Alabama. Part 1, The John L. LeFlore papers, 1926-1976 (15 reels); Part 2: Records of the Non-Partisan Voters League, 1956-1987 (29 reels) -- Series 2, The Legal Battle for Civil Rights in Alabama. Part 1, Vernon Z. Crawford reords, 1958-1978 (6 reels); Part 2: Selctions from the Blacksher, Menefee & Stein records (37 reels) -- Series 3: James A. Dombrowski and the Southern Conference Educational Fund (17 reels).
Civil Rights During the Bush administration: subject file of the White House Office of Records Management, 1989-1993
ReCap Microfilm 12460 Guide (FilmB) E185.615 .B87 2008 23 reels
"Microfilmed from the holdings of the George Bush Presidential Library, College Station, Texas." “The documents reproduced in this publication are records of the Bush Administration, 1989-1993, in the custody of the National Archives."
Civil rights during the Carter administration, 1977-1981
ReCap Microfilm 12451 Guide (FilmB) E185.615 .C3518 2006
Part I, Sections A-D
Reproduces document files collected by the office of Louis E. Martin, special assistant to the president, whose primary focus was on civil rights issues and minority affairs. Documents include internal White House memoranda, correspondence between White House and federal agency officials, government reports, invitation lists for major events, correspondence from individuals and organizations, and newspaper articles and editorials.
Civil Rights During the Eisenhower Administration
ReCap Microfilm 12450 Guide (FilmB) E185.61.C483 2006 14 reels
Part 1. White House central files. Series A, School desegregation.
Civil Rights During the Kennedy Administration, 1961-1963
ReCap Microfilm 05859 Guide (FilmB) JC599.U5 C59 47 reels
A collection from the holdings of the John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts. Part 1. The White House Central Files and Staff Files and the President’s office Files. Part 2. The Papers of Burke Marshall, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
Civil Rights During the Johnson Administration, 1963-1969.
ReCap Microfilm 05445 Guide (FilmB) JK1717.L38 69 reels
Part 1. White House Central Files. Part 2. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Administrative History. Part 3. Oral Histories. Part 4. Records of the White House Conference on Civil Rights, 1965-1966. Part 5. Records of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission).
Civil Rights During the Nixon Administration, 1969-1974.
ReCap Microfilm 09172 Guide (FilmB) E185.615. C587 46 reels
Part 1. White House Central Files.
Detroit Urban League Papers, 1916-1950, at the University of Michigan
ReCap Microfilm 09607 Printed guide (FilmB) F574.D49 N454 35 reels
Fannie Lou Hamer Papers, 1966-1978
ReCap Microfilm 11839 Printed guide (Film B) E185.97.H35 A3 2005a 17 reels
Noted civil rights activist and co-chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Race Relations
ReCap ReCap Microfilm 12390 Printed guide: (FilmB) E806 .F6917 2008 18 reels
This is a collection of essential materials for the study of the early development of the Civil Rights Movement--concerned with the issues of lynching, segregation, race riots, and employment discrimination.
Papers of the Civil Rights Congress
ReCap Microfilm 11925 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.61.C59 1988 125 reels
Part 1. Case Files. Part 2. Files of William Patterson and the National Office. Part 3. Publications. Part 4. Communist Party USA files. Part 5. Citizens Emergency Defense Conference.
“The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) was established in 1946, and fought for the protection of the civil rights and liberties of African Americans and suspected communists primarily through litigation, political agitation, and the mobilization of public sentiment. African American lawyer and Communist leader William Patterson served as executive secretary of the organization throughout its existence.”
Papers of the Congress of Racial Equality, 1941-1967
ReCap Microfilm 04276 Printed guide (FilmB) Z1361.N39 M46 1980 49 reels
Founded in 1942 by a group of interracial pacifists, CORE was one of the most important national organizations of the African American freedom movement.
Papers of the Congress of Racial Equality: Addendum, 1944-1968
ReCap Microfilm 04562 Printed Guide (FilmB) E185.61.P36
Papers of the NAACP
ReCap Microfilm 05354 Guide (FilmB) Z1361.N39 G84 1001+ reels
Organization records of America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization.
President Truman’s Commission on Civil Rights
ReCap Microfilm 05573 Guide (FilmB) E813.J84 10 reels
Records of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1954-1970
Microfilm 10096 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.61.S687 61 reels
pt. 1. Records of the President’s office (21 reels) -- pt. 2. Records of the Executive Director and Treasurer (22 reels) -- pt. 3. Records of the Public Relations Dept. (10 reels) -- pt. 4. Records of the Program Dept. (29 reels).
Bayard Rustin Papers
ReCap Microfilm 11662 Printed guide (Film B) E185.97.R93 B392 23 reels
Reproduces the papers of noted civil rights leader and political activist Bayard Rustin. The originals are in the A. Philip Randolph Institute, New York N.Y., which were transferred from the Institute to the Library of Congress.
The Sixities: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives, 1960-1974 (Digital)
Contains letters, diaries, oral histories, posters, pamphlets, and audio and video materials documenting the key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America.
Southern Civil Rights Litigation Records for the 1960s
ReCap Microfilm 05448 Printed guide (FilmB) KF4756.A1 G84 or (SF) KF4756.A1 G84 170 reels
Contains the records of major civil rights cases from the archives of the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Lawyers Constitution Defense Committee, and individual attorneys.
William H. Hastie Papers. Part 2. Civil Rights, Organizational, and Private Activities
ReCap Microfilm 11824 Printed guide (FilmB) KF373.H38A25 42 reels
Attorney William Henry Hastie was the first African American appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by President Truman in 1949. Part 2 of the collection documents his activities as a civil rights lawyer, educator, and judge. Part I, covering his opinions are available in the Federal Reporter in print, LexisNexis and Westlaw (online in both the academic and law school versions).
