Research Guides: AAS 380 / AMS 382: Public Policy and the U.S. Racial State: Finding primary sources

Using secondary sources to find primary sources

The quest for primary sources can often start from reading a good academic book on your topic. In addition to the sources listed below, you may find others of interest by checking the footnotes, endnotes and bibliography of a published secondary source.

Finding primary sources in library catalogs

Start with a keyword search in the Catalog. If you find something that looks useful, look at the detailed view of the catalog record and try to identify the "subject" assigned. For many topics, there's an official term used in all library catalogs, like:

Public housing
Discrimination in criminal justice administration--United States
Police misconduct—United States—Prevention
Drug control—United States
Racism in education—United States
Criminal justice, Administration of—Political aspects—United States
African American high school students--Education--United States

Then, do the Subject search with the authorized Subject heading. You may wish to include one of these words as a keyword or a subject:

statistics
surveys
sources

To find the papers of an individual, search for that person as an author, e.g. Johnson, Charles Spurgeon
To find the records of an organization or government body, use the name of the organization as an author e.g. National Urban League

To find a U.S. government document, do an Advanced Search that combines your keywords with the Author "United States"

To find works published in a particular time and place, explore the search options. It is usually possible to limit your search by date, language, or location of publication.

Please also explore the shelves in the African American Studies Reading Room, which has a number of compilations of primary source documents. Some examples include:

Black Americans : a statistical sourcebook
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room E185.86 .B52563
1991-2009 available
Historical Statistics of Black America by Jessie C. Smith (Editor); Carrell Horton (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room E185 .H543 1995
ISBN: 0810385422
Publication Date: 1994-10-01
Nearly 2000 tables of statistical information on blacks in North America from colonial times until 1975. Subject-specific chapters are chronologically arranged and reflect developments in black history. Subjects include slavery, and the migration of blacks into the south between 1870 and 1910.
Handbook of Tests and Measurements for Black Populations by Reginald L. Jones (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room BF176 .H37 1996
ISBN: 0943539072
Publication Date: 1996-03-01
States' laws on race and color by compiled and edited by Pauli Murray
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room KF4757.Z95 M87 1997
ISBN: 0820318833
Publication Date: 1950
The Supreme Court, Race, and Civil Rights by Abraham L. Davis; Barbara Luck Graham
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room KF4755 .D38 1995
ISBN: 0803972199
Publication Date: 1995-07-27
Providing a well-rounded presentation of the constitution and evolution of civil rights in the United States, this book will be useful for students and academics with an interest in civil rights, race and the law. Abraham L Davis and Barbara Luck Graham′s purpose is: to give an overview of the Supreme Court and its rulings with regard to issues of equality and civil rights; to bring law, political science and history into the discussion of civil rights and the Supreme Court; to incorporate the politically disadvantaged and the human component into the discussion; to stimulate discussion among students; and to provide a text that cultivates competence in reading actual Supreme Court cases.
Justice Department Briefs in Crucial Civil Rights Cases, 1948-1968 by Michal R. Belknap (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room KF4755 .J87 1991
ISBN: 0824033868
Publication Date: 1992-01-01
Volume 18 of Civil rights, the White House, and the Justice Department, 1945-1968
The Civil Rights Record by Richard Bardolph
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room KF4757 .B373 1970
ISBN: 069019448X
Publication Date: 1970-01-01
Freedomways Reader by Esther Cooper Jackson; Constance Pohl
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room HT1581 .F735 2000
ISBN: 0813367697
Publication Date: 2000-01-11
From 1961 to 1985, a period of massive social change for African Americans, Freedomways Quarterly published the leaders and artists of the black freedom movement. Figures of towering historical stature wrote for the journal, among them Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, President Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere. Three Nobel Prize laureates appeared in its pages--Dr. Martin Luther King, Pablo Neruda, and Derek Walcott--and several Pulitzer Prize winners--Alice Walker and Gwendolyn Brooks. No other journal could boast such a long list of names from the civil rights movement: Freedomways was like no other journal. It was unique.Yet despite the well-known names, few Americans have heard of this national treasure. Why? Simply put, the United States was not ready for this journal in 1961. Today, many Americans cannot remember a United States where racial segregation was legal, but in 1961, many of the battles for integration were still to be won.This book is subtitled Prophets in their Own Country because the editors and contributors to Freedomways were not honored at the journal’s inception. Eventually, however, much of their vision did come to pass. Until now, these documents, which show the depth and breadth of the struggle for democracy, had been lost to the public. The publication of the Freedomways Reader restores this lost treasury. It contains what amounts to an oral history of the liberation movements of the 1960s through the 1980s. Through the reports of the Freedom Riders, the early articles against the Vietnam War and South African apartheid, the short stories and poems of Alice Walker, and the memoirs of black organizers in the Jim Crow south of the Thirties, one can walk in the footsteps of these pioneers.
Combatting Housing Discrimination by Michal R. Belknap (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room KF5740 .C66 1991
ISBN: 0824033744
Publication Date: 1991-09-01
Volume 6 of Civil rights, the White House, and the Justice Department, 1945-1968
The Black Worker by Philip S. Foner (Editor); Ronald L. Lewis (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room HD8081.A44 B56
ISBN: 0877221367
Publication Date: 1979-10-01
Employment of Blacks by the Federal Government by Michal R. Belknap (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room JK723.A34 E46 1991
ISBN: 0824033701
Publication Date: 1991-12-01
Volume 4 of Civil rights, the White House, and the Justice Department, 1945-1968
Equal Employment Opportunity by Michal R. Belknap (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room HD4903.5.U58 E78 1991
ISBN: 0824033728
Publication Date: 1991-10-01
Volume 5 of Civil rights, the White House, and the Justice Department, 1945-1968
Encyclopedia of the Great Black Migration by Steven A. Reich
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room E185.6 .E54 2006
ISBN: 0313329826
Publication Date: 2006-05-30
The Great Migration brought immense change to the entire American nation, as millions of African Americans left the South in search of social, economic, and political justice. This encyclopedia describes the movement of southern African Americans to the urban North and West in the broadest social, economic, cultural, and most importantly, political context. Entries provide students and researchers with information about the key people, places, organizations, and events that defined the era of the migration from 1900 to the 1990s.
The Drive to Desegregate Places of Public Accommodation by Michal R. Belknap (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room KF4757 .D75 1991
ISBN: 0824033787
Publication Date: 1991-12-01
Volume 9 of Civil rights, the White House, and the Justice Department, 1945-1968
Desegregation of Public Transportation, Facilities, and Programs by Michal R. Belknap (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room KF4757 .D47 1991
ISBN: 0824033760
Publication Date: 1991-11-01
Volume 8 of Civil rights, the White House, and the Justice Department, 1945-1968
Desegregation of Public Education by Michal R. Belknap (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room KF4155 .D47 1991
ISBN: 0824033752
Publication Date: 1991-10-01
Volume 7 of Civil rights, the White House, and the Justice Department, 1945-196
Urban Race Riots by Michal R. Belknap (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room F574.D49 N485 1991
ISBN: 0824033809
Publication Date: 1991-10-01
Volume 11 of Civil rights, the White House, and the Justice Department, 1945-1968
The Black Women Oral History Project by Ruth Edmonds Hill; Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America Staff (Contribution by)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room E185.86 .B545 1991
ISBN: 0887366066
Publication Date: 1991-01-01
Integration of the Armed Forces by Michal R. Belknap (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room UB418.A47 I58 1991
ISBN: 0824033698
Publication Date: 1991-11-01
Volume 3 of Civil rights, the White House, and the Justice Department, 1945-1968
Blacks in the Military by Bernard C. Nalty (Editor); Morris J. MacGregor (Editor)
Call Number: African American Studies Reading Room UB418.A47 B55
ISBN: 0842021833
Publication Date: 1981-11-01

Digital Primary Sources - general

African American Experience This link opens in a new window
Full-text digital resource exploring African American life and culture. Targeted and thematic search options are featured to find articles, documents, images, and more.
African American Communities This link opens in a new window
Focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina this resource presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity.

Race relations in America, 1928-1976
Based at Fisk University from 1943-1970, the Race Relations Department and its annual Institute were set up by the American Missionary Association to investigate problem areas in race relations and develop methods for educating communities and preventing conflict. Documenting three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights, this resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by the Department's staff and Institute participants, including Charles S. Johnson, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall.

HistoryMakers This link opens in a new window
Oral history interviews with more than 2,600 historically significant African Americans in fields such as the arts, business, education, entertainment, the law, the military, politics, religion, and science.

Digital Primary Sources - government documents

Proquest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Indexes publications of the U.S. Congress such as hearings 1824+ (including previously unpublished hearings: Senate 1824-1992 and House 1833-1982), committee reports, documents and prints. Material is available in microfiche and/or electronic. Essential tool for doing legislative history research. Includes Congressional Research Reports from 1916+, Bills & Laws 1789+, U.S. Serial Set from 1789+, Annals of Congress from 1789-1824, Register of Debates from 1824-1837, Congressional Globe from 1833-1873, and Congressional Record from 1873+. Also includes Executive Branch Documents 1789-1948 and Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations 1789+.

Federal surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984
Contains reproductions of hundreds of FBI files documenting the federal scrutiny, harassment, and prosecution to which black Americans of all political persuasions were subjected. Many of the documents originated with black "confidential special informants" enlisted by the FBI to infiltrate a variety of organizations. The collection provides detailed coverage of: "Negro radicals" and their organizations; the FBI's infringement of First Amendment freedoms; and its preoccupation with black radicalism between 1920 and 1984.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and race relations, 1933-1945
This collection contains 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. FDR assumed the presidency of a nation in which white supremacy was a significant cultural and political force. Many states denied or severely restricted voting rights to African Americans and used their political power to further diminish their status and to deny them the benefits and opportunities of society. There was constant pressure on FDR to support anti-lynching legislation. But civil rights were a stepchild of the New Deal. Bent on economic recovery and reform and having to work through powerful Southern congressmen, whose seniority placed them at the head of key congressional committees, the president hesitated to place civil rights on his agenda. FDR's record on civil rights has been the subject of much controversy. This new collection from FDR's Official File provides insight into his political style and presents an instructive example of how he balanced moral preference with political realities.

Women Working, 1800-1930: Women's Bureau Bulletins This link opens in a new window
Explores women's roles in the United States economy between 1800 and the Great Depression.

Peonage files of the U.S. Department of Justice

Hein Online Library This link opens in a new window
Also includes most major court decisions

Digital Primary Sources - newspapers, periodicals, and ephemera

African-American Newspapers, 1827-1998
Full-text collection of African American newspapers printed across the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries.
African American Periodicals, 1825-1995
Online collection of academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations' bulletins, annual reports and other diverse periodicals.

ProQuest African American Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Reveal Digital Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
Collection of magazines, journals, and newspapers of the alternative press from the 1960s, including feminists, anti-war groups, African-Americans, Native-Americans and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

Digital Primary Sources - papers of political and social movements

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
Collection of full-text primary and secondary sources. To find material by and about African American women use the Search feature to limit results to texts, people, or movements.
The quest for labor equality in household work: National Domestic Workers Union, 1965-1979.
The collection consists of records of the [National] Domestic Workers Union (U.S) from 1965-1979. The correspondence (1965-1979) reflects efforts in organizing the Union and includes such correspondents as Julian Bond, Senator Sam Nunn, Senator Herman Talmadge, Allen Williams, Andrew Young, and other Georgia and national political figures. The subject files (1967-1979) cover a myriad of topics illustrating the Union's involvement in the Black community, the Manpower Program, the Career Learning Center, the Homemaking Skills Training Program, Maids Honor Day, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), and various federal agencies. The collection contains minutes of the Union, the Citizen's Advisory Committee on Transportation, the Citizens Neighborhood Advisory Council, and MARTA. The collection also contains selected files relating to Equal Opportunity Atlanta, which funded many of the Union's projects.
Black economic empowerment: the National Negro Business League
Booker T. Washington, founder of the National Negro Business League, believed that solutions to the problem of racial discrimination were primarily economic, and that bringing African Americans into the middle class was the key. In 1900 he established the League "to promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro" and headed it until his death.

History Vault This link opens in a new window
Includes federal government records related to civil rights and COINTELPRO, papers of NAACP, Mary McLeod Bethune, A. Philip Randolph and Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, SCLC, CORE, SNCC, and others.

Digital Primary Sources - economic and social data

Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Allows user to visually analyze and understand the demography of the United States through the use of interactive maps and data reports from 1790 to the present. Also includes the 2011 censuses for Canada and the United Kingdom.

Mapping Inequality
Mapping Inequality introduces viewer to the records of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation on a scale that is unprecedented. Here you can browse more than 150 interactive maps and thousands of "area descriptions." These materials afford an extraordinary view of the contours of wealth and racial inequality in Depression-era American cities and insights into discriminatory policies and practices that so profoundly shaped cities that we feel their legacy to this day.
Statistical abstract of the United States

Manuscript collections in Princeton University Library

Princeton University Library has a number of collections of manuscripts that reflect African American history. You may search the list of Finding Aids at https://findingaids.princeton.edu/.

Some collections of note include:

American Civil Liberties Union Records
https://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/MC001.02.02/#description